President Bola Tinubu has asked the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) to raise the number of modern hostels in tertiary institutions from 36 to 72 by 2025.
Sonny Echono, Executive Secretary of TETFund, announced this during a meeting with the leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students.
According to a statement made by the Fund on Tuesday, the president’s direction to the Fund was part of his intentions to establish industrial harmony in higher institutions.
The statement, written by TETFund’s Director of Public Affairs, AbdulMumin Oniyangi, stated that Echono also encouraged students to ensure that public property on campus is not destroyed during the planned nationwide rallies.
Echono, who emphasised 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.
“We are also pleased that this same president gave a charge to us at TETFund that we must do everything possible to improve the learning experience of our students, the quality of education we are getting, and your welfare on campus.”
Echono said that TETFund began building 36 modern hostel facilities in tertiary institutions in 2024 and has been directed by Tinubu to enhance the number to 72 in 2025.
“This year we are doing about 36 of them and are at various stages; many of them have fulfilled the procurement circle. Others are being done through PPP. I was there to launch the one in Akwa Ibom, and I have been informed that three others are ready to commence.
“But the good news is that Mr. President has directed that we intensify this. So instead of doing 36, next year we’ll be doing 72,” he said.
He also stated that, after discussing campus mobility with the president, he authorised the fund to collaborate with appropriate organisations to convert existing buses to CNG and provide mass transit buses for students on campus as part of the TETFund’s intervention for the coming year.
On the issue of power on campuses, Echono bemoaned that some colleges were charged between N300 million and N400 million in electrical bills in a single month, raising concerns about how the institutions can cope if no immediate action is taken.
He revealed that TETFund has begun discussions and met with officials from the Ministry of Power to find a solution to the problem of power supply at tertiary schools.
“It’s going to be one of the major issues we are going to look at when we call our major stakeholders meeting of all heads of schools. We have to put our heads together to see how we need to have alternative power sources that will reduce the burden.
“As I speak, some universities are getting N300 million, N400 million bills for electricity in one month. How can they cope? Some are even rationing; they have light for only four hours a day,” he said.
He further mentioned that Tinubu has also directed the immediate payment of four months of salary arrears owed by the by the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU.
