ETF disburses N3.7b to polytechnics
From Mohammed Abubakar, Kaduna
THE Education Trust Fund (ETF) has said that it has allocated N3.7 billion to the 54 federal and states polytechnics for the year 2009.
However, the ETF is worried that a N23.672 billion pool of funds had remained unused by the polytechnics after the first quarter of this year.
Chairman, Board of Trustees, ETF, Musa Babayo, disclosed in Kaduna yesterday at the Fund's Annual Strategic Planning Workshop with beneficiaries that while the ETF has been discharging its obligations to beneficiaries consistently over the years, some of them have not lived up to expectation by their inability to fully access their yearly allocations for the purpose of rehabilitation, restoration and consolidation of educational infrastructure.
He added: "Concerned by this development, the Board of Trustees endorsed the drastic measure initiated by the Fund to curb the trend. This led to the publication of the names of the institutions with their huge amounts of allocations still outstanding with a date-line of December 31, 2009 for utilisation or forfeiture of same."
However, Babayo commended universities in the country for taking steps towards accessing their outstanding allocations with positive indicators for the completion of on-going projects before the end of the year.
Presenting the yearly ETF report on funds disbursements, Executive Secretary of the body, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said the essence of publishing the record of institutions that had accessed the fund allocated to them was not to embarrass them but to make them account for the money they earlier drew and to propel them to submit acceptable proposals for subsequent allocations.
Yakubu added that publication had engendered proper prioritisation of projects in accordance with the core mandate of the Fund, saying that so far, no institution has submitted any proposal outside the mandate set out by the Fund.
He sought the support of the polytechnics for the Bill currently before the National Assembly aimed at reforming the operations of the Fund and free it of the Basic Education sub-sector so that more money could be made available to the polytechnics.
Also, as part of innovations at the ETF, allocations to the schools would now be given to them in the first quarter of each year instead of the current practice of giving them the money in the last quarter of the year, to avoid a rollover of projects.
Executive Secretary, National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), Nuru Yakubu, said his Board, as the regulator of technical education in the country, would ensure effective implementation of the ETF programmes.
Citing their overriding importance to the technological development of the country, Yakubu urged the ETF to increase its allocations to the polytechnics.
He said: "If education is the key to prosperity of any society, technical education is the master key to the prosperity of any society."
A breakdown of the allocation shows that each polytechnic received N38.34 million from sponsorship of projects like building of classrooms studios and laboratories; N25 million for staff training and development; N5 million for library development projects; N3 million for research work and N1 million for the publication of internal academic journals to aid research efforts.
