The Executive Secretary of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Prof Suleiman Elias Bogoro, has called on vice Chancellors of Universities and heads of other tertiary institutions in Nigeria to work against the signing into law of the TETFund Bill, which was among the 46 bills passed by the 7th National Assembly (NASS).
Bogoro, who made the call onTuesday at the 30th Conference of the Association of Vice Chancellors of Nigeria Universities (AVCNU), hosted by the Rivers State University of Science and Technology (RSUST), noted that the bills, which was passed in 10 minutes alongside other 45 bills, was capable of destroying the university system in Nigeria.
The reason, according to him, is because the National Assembly not only did not make enough and adequate consultations with relevant stakeholders, but also expunged vital areas that have kept tertiary institutions of loath in the country.
“It is not a question being biased; the fact is, in that Act, the last paragraph was unbelievable. That Act sort to redefine what the university ought to be, and in the final part of the definition, the word ‘Degree’ was missing.
“I couldn’t believe it! So, join me to advocate that Mr. President should not sign that bill because it will kill TETFund, and it will kill the universities”, he said.
While explaining the important roles TETFund has played since its inception in developing tertiary institutions, including polytechnics and colleges of education, in terms of upgrading them to global standard, Bogoro noted that signing the bill into law will only gradually bring down the quality of Nigeria’s tertiary institutions to what it was about seven years ago.
“I can tell you that among public tertiary institutions, there are those that seven years ago, did not have more than five to eight disciplines/programmes/departments that met accreditation requirements of the regulatory agency (Nigeria Universities Commission (NUC). In many cases, not up to 30-40 per cent of the disciplines met accreditation requirements. Today, the reverse is the case.
“At the moment, most of our public tertiary institutions may be lagging behind by less than 10 to 20 per cent. I think this shows the impact of TETFund’s intervention”, he said.
Earlier in his welcome address at the occasion, christened “Garden City 2015”, with the theme, “The Role of ICT in University Administration and Curriculum Delivery”, the host Vice Chancellor, Prof Barineme Fakae, stated the extent to which his administration has exploited ICT to upgrade the RSUST to a foremost e-varsity in Nigeria.
“It is worth noting that the introduction of Information and Communication Technology in our core academic and administrative processes has changed the way the business of education is conducted in our university… Our university is now being transformed into a creative, information–based and productive agent of change.
“We believe that it is the adoption of e-approach that catapulted our university from the 76th to the 12th  position among Nigerian universities based on recent Webometric ranking, and the first state university to appear on this league table by ‘Ivy’ international colleges and universities organizations”, he said.