The Federal Government has commenced the process of constructing state-of-the-art hostels in 36 tertiary institutions across the country.

The Executive Secretary of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Arc. Sonny Echono, made the disclosure while playing host to the new leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), led by its President, Comrade Lucky Emonefe, in Abuja on Wednesday, March 20, 2024.

The TETFund boss added that the government would construct more hostels after the completion of the first set of constructions.

Speaking on the association’s call for maintenance of TETFund projects in beneficiary institutions across the country and the construction of NANS secretariat in Abuja, Echono said there was an increased allocation for maintenance of TETFund infrastructures above five years in the 2024 intervention cycle, just as he promised to look into it and get the buy-in of the Ministry of Education.

He said the agency would work out modalities to incorporate NANS for joint monitoring of projects across beneficiary institutions.

He said: “This year, we shall be providing hostels for students in 36 tertiary institutions across the country because we realise that part of the places where our students live are so deplorable.

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“Only about 15 per cent of our students are staying on campus. Many of them are living outside campus; some of them can’t even come back for evening lectures because of the cost and the trouble of walking all the way and coming back. And there is also the security situation in their areas.

“So we have a policy to ensure that as much as possible, we will do the minimum of 50 to 60 per cent of our students to live on campus. Those hostels will not be matchboxes and shanties. They will be solid buildings that can attract other students from anywhere in the world to compare with what other people enjoy when they leave Nigeria.”

The TETFund boss congratulated NANS leadership on its successful election and applauded the association for its constructive engagements on issues.

Nigerian students, Echono stressed, will continue to be at the centre of any project in tertiary institutions.

Echono also urged students to on-board on its digital services platform for tertiary institutions – Tertiary Education Research, Applications, and Services (TERAS) – to address critical challenges faced by students, researchers, and institutions in accessing educational resources and research materials.

On his part, Emonefe while citing the increase in TETFund’s 2024 budget and the new students’ loan, applauded President Bola Tinubu for his “love and commitment to the upliftment of education in Nigeria”.

He also lauded the TETFund boss for throwing his weight behind the students’ loan bill at the just concluded public hearing on the proposed legislation.

The Star