President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has reiterated that his administration will keep putting tertiary education first, emphasizing the production of highly skilled graduates who can compete on a global scale.
The President restated the government’s pledge to assist academic institutions in order to raise their level of technological and economic competitiveness on a worldwide scale.
According to the Platinum Times, Tinubu spoke at the commissioning of projects at Tatari Ali Polytechnic (ATAP) and Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU) in Bauchi State, both worth over N873.666 million, as part of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund’s (TETFund) 2021–2022 merged intervention programs.
Under the leadership of Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tinubu emphasized that the Federal Government, which is led by the All Progressives Congress (APC), places a high premium on educational development.
He enumerated a number of initiatives that his administration had implemented, such as the student loan program, talks about student welfare with the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), and the approval of a waiver for members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) from the “No Work, No Pay” policy.
In order to improve funding for the education sector, the President further stated that he supported an upward revision of the Education Tax (EDT) to 3%, which will take effect in September 2023.
He said,
“We have introduced the students’ loan initiative to ease access to tertiary education for indigent students, meeting personally with the leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) to discuss the welfare of Nigerian students and recently, approving waiver of the ‘No Work, No Pay’ order on the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), which would pave the way for members of the union to receive part of their withheld salaries.
“These are part of conscious efforts being made by this administration to address students’ challenges and create industrial harmony between staff unions and the Government.
“As we all know, education plays a critical role in the socio-economic development of nations. Therefore, the commissioning of these projects today at the university would in no small measure further enhance teaching and learning and improvement of academic standards.
“I wish to reiterate that education forms an integral part of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration’s Renewed Hope agenda, hence the Federal Government would continue to provide necessary support towards making our educational institutions globally competitive for economic and technological development of the country.”