By Bashir Rabe Mani

The Tertiary Education Trust Fund( TETFUND) has spent about N7 billion on the execution of projects and training of staff at the Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, since 2011.

The Executive Secretary of the fund, Dr Abdullahi Baffa, stated this in Sokoto on Saturday when he inaugurated the N300 million Centre For Advanced Medical Research and Training (CAMRET), at the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto.

He said that the projects were executed at the two campuses of the university, as well as the teaching hospital.

Baffa listed some of the projects to include the centres of Urology and Nephrology, Research in Physical Sciences, Video Conferencing, as well as the extension of fibre optic cables for internet, among others.

In the area of training, he said several academic and non-academic staff were sponsored to attend various conferences, just as TETFUND sponsored the post graduate studies of others within and outside Nigeria.

” The fund places high premium on research and development and will not relent in this direction.

“ The fund will continue to do everything humanly possible to make Nigerian public tertiary educational institutions, meet global competitiveness,” he assured.

Baffa further disclosed that the fund was currently providing interventions in 202 public institutions.

In his remarks, the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Council of the university, Rtd Justice Pearl Enejere, commended the fund for contributing to the development and growth of tertiary education institutions in Nigeria.

The Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Abdullahi Zuru, lauded the fund for its sustained efforts to assist institutions to be more efficient and diligent.

” Without TETFUND, we might have probably since ‘packed our loads’ long ago and sought for other jobs, elsewhere,” Zuru said.(NAN)