President Bola Tinubu has directed the Tertiary Education Trust Fund to increase the number of modern hostels in tertiary institutions from 36 to 72 by the year 2025.
The Executive Secretary, TETFund, Sonny Echono, disclosed this during a meeting with the leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students.
The president’s direction to the fund follows his efforts to guarantee industrial harmony in postsecondary institutions, according to a statement the fund made on Tuesday.
According to the statement, which was signed by the Director of TETFund Public Affairs AbdulMumin Oniyangi, Echono also urged students to make sure that campus property is not vandalised during the next nationwide rallies.
Echono, who emphasized the need to ensure a stable academic calendar, said when the President “was told about frequent disruptions in the academic calendar, the president gave specific instructions to the minister that one of your first expectations is for us to have harmony in the sector, so we can have a predictable academic calendar that our students will go to school and know when they will graduate and ensure that that is kept.
Echono disclosed that the fund has commenced the construction of 36 modern hostel facilities in tertiary institutions in 2024 and has been given the directive by the president to increase them to 72 in 2025.
He also noted that after raising the issue of campus transportation with the president, he directed the fund to work with relevant agencies to convert existing buses to CNG and provide mass transit buses for students on campus as part of TETFund’s intervention for next year.
On the issue of power on campuses, Echono lamented that some universities were charged between N300 million to N400 million as electricity bills in one month, wondering how the institutions can cope if there is no urgent intervention.
He disclosed that TETFund has commenced conversations and held a meeting with people from the Ministry of Power to find a way to address the issue of power supply in tertiary schools.
He further revealed that the president has also directed the immediate payment of four months salary arrears owed Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU.
