Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, and the President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, Bishop Wale Oke, have called on the Federal Government to make the Tertiary Education Trust Fund available to private and public universities in the country.
They made the call at the maiden Archbishop Benson Idahosa Memorial Lecture in Benin on Saturday.
Obaseki said, “The contributions to TETFUND are not from government alone. It is derived from taxes paid by Nigerians across the country. So, I think private universities should also be eligible, even if you have to put conditions.
“I think the right thing to do is to open up that funds for both private and public universities if you want to encourage excellence in the university system.
“It’s clear that Nigerian men of God now dominate the African continent when it comes to faith-based universities. Can you imagine what the university system would have been without faith-based universities?
“Without faith based universities, the rot in government schools would have been worse. Problems like endless strikes, cultism and sexual harassment do not encourage learning.”
On his part, Oke said, “I am appealing to the Federal Government and the National Assembly to include faith-based and other private universities in the TETFUND programmes.
“If you take the two per cent from all of us, why do you spend it on government universities alone? Federal universities have their yearly budget. I appeal to the government to please review the TETFUND Act 2011 so that private universities can be accommodated.
“Give us the money and in three years come and check our books to see how we spend the money. The money will assist in research and development. Faith-based universities have done well in developing students and staff.”
He described the late Archbishop Benson Idahosa as a man who saw today, yesterday, preached and lived faith.
Extolling the late Idahosa’s virtues, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, said, “Nobody can easily forget the numerous legacies that the late Archbishop Benson Idahosa left on earth. The great man of God asserted that coming generations would remember him.”
He added that Idahosa was being remembered because of the footprints he left on the sands of time.
- PUNCH.