Ogun sets up education trust fund for infrastructure deficit | EduCeleb
EduCeleb
2nd January 2021
The Ogun State government disclosed that it has set up a Tertiary Education Trust Fund to address infrastructure deficits in the state-owned tertiary institutions.
Governor Dapo Abiodun revealed this while commissioning a state-of-the-art 1,000-seater hall donated to the Ogun State College of Health Technology (OSCOTECH) in Ilese-Ijebu.
The hall was built and donated by a legal luminary and prominent indigene of Ilese Ijebu, Otunba Kunle Kalejaye (SAN) in honour of his sister, Mrs. Adetumbi Adebanjo (Nee Kalejaye) to mark her 72nd birthday anniversary.
The governor, who spoke through his Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Professor Abayomi Arigbabu, expressed worry over the deplorable state of infrastructure in tertiary institutions in the state, but said his administration was committed to returning the lost glory of education in the state.
Apart from regular payment of subventions to tertiary institutions, the governor said his administration had set aside N200million from the trust fund for infrastructural development in the institutions.
The governor also disclosed that he had ordered the payment of bursary awards to indigenes of the state in tertiary institutions across the nation 11 years after it was last paid.
Abiodun said, “For the first in the history of the state, this administration has introduced what we call the Ogun State Tertiary Education Fund which is like a local TETFund for infrastructural development in the tertiary institutions in Ogun State.
“There are some of the tertiary institutions in the state that ordinarily gets annual TETFund funding from the Federal government but for those that are not on that platform, Ogun State government has set aside N200million to be given to these institutions on an annual basis.
“The government has also introduced infrastructure intervention. It is a form of projects identified by the institutions on an annual basis which government of Ogun state will actually build.”
The governor, who commended the Kalejaye for the donation, called on corporate bodies and other individuals to emulate his gesture.
In his address, Kalejaye said the hall was one his numerous philanthropic projects which included scholarship funds, 98 functional boreholes, churches, mosques, schools and hospitals, among others.