By Francis Ugwu
Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has pledged to partner with Rural Electrification Agency, REA, to provide uninterrupted power in universities and other tertiary institutions in the country.
The Executive Secretary of TETFund, Arc. Sonny Echono, stated this on Tuesday during a courtesy visit to his office by the Managing Director of REA, Salihijo Ahmad, in Abuja.
Echono noted that the importance of steady power supply in tertiary institutions cannot be over-emphasized, commending the Energizing Education Programme (EEP) programme by REA in select universities and teaching hospitals across the country.
“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 TETFund boss also called on REA to revamp the project in some of the beneficiary institutions that have encountered challenges with the EEP.
According to him, TETFund would explore the possibility of getting longer term financing from African Development Bank (AfDB) for subsequent editions of the scheme.
“You can get long term finance at affordable interest rate and it will enable us do more,” Echono said.
Meanwhile, Salihijo, said the EEP, which was targeted at providing sustainable and clean power supply to 37 federal universities and seven university teaching hospitals across the country has already commenced in 24 universities and select teaching hospitals.
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