The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has expressed its commitment to collaborating with the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) to ensure a uninterrupted supply of electricity to universities and other higher education institutions in the nation.
Arc. Sonny Echono, the Executive Secretary of TETFund, made this declaration on Tuesday during a courtesy visit to his office by Salihijo Ahmad, the Managing Director of REA, in Abuja.
Echono emphasized the significance of a consistent power source in tertiary institutions and commended REA’s Energizing Education Programme (EEP), which has been implemented in selected universities and teaching hospitals nationwide.
“There is sheer acceptance that this is important for us as we move to improve not just the physical infrastructure but also ICT infrastructure and research infrastructure in our institutions.
“A lot of these require constant supply of power. There are certain samples you must put at certain temperature for a prolonged period. There are certain operations you do in medical laboratory that you cannot afford power to cease even for a second.
“And, if we really want to guarantee a learning environment that can compete with others across the globe, one of the primary things we can do is to guarantee power in our campuses,” Echono said.
The head of TETFund also urged REA to enhance and rejuvenate the program in universities and institutions that have faced difficulties with the EEP. Additionally, he mentioned that TETFund would investigate the potential for obtaining extended funding from the African Development Bank (AfDB) for future iterations of the program.
“You can get long term finance at affordable interest rate and it will enable us do more,” Echono said.
On the other hand, Salihijo mentioned that the EEP, with the aim of delivering reliable and eco-friendly electricity to 37 federal universities and seven university teaching hospitals throughout the nation, has already been initiated in 24 universities and specific teaching hospitals.
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