The Federal Government has expressed plans to construct student hostels in 36 tertiary institutions across Nigeria, with a commitment to build more, once the initial set is completed.
The Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, Sonny Echono, made this known during a meeting with the new leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students, led by its President, Lucky Emonefe.
Echono in a statement issued by TETFund’s Director of Public Affairs, AbdulMumin Oniyangi on Wednesday, pointed out that there is increased allocation for the maintenance of TETFund infrastructures above five years in the 2024 intervention cycle.
The TETFund boss also promised to address the state of the NANS secretariat and incorporate the students’ body for joint monitoring of projects in beneficiary institutions.
Acknowledging the housing challenges faced by students in higher institutions, Echono noted that the government has initiated a policy to ensure that 50 to 60 per cent of students live on campus, aiming to provide solid buildings that can compare with international standards.
“As I speak, this year, we shall be providing hostels for students in 36 tertiary institutions across the country.
“We realise that some of the places where our students live are very deplorable. And only about 15 per cent of our students are staying on campus. Many of them are living outside campus, and 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. There is also a 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. And provide those hostels. And 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,” he stated.
Echono however urged students to leverage TETFund’s digital services platform, the Tertiary Education Research, Applications, and Services, to access educational resources and research materials.
He also noted that other services such as sponsored mobile internet access, EagleScan for plagiarism checking, aggregated journal and research subscription inclusive of EBSCO, Blackboard Learning Management System, digital literacy, and intervention funding, are available to both public and private tertiary institutions in the country.
“We will continue to support NANS, and partner with NANS because there is no doubt that in any policy, programme, or project that you want to do in the education sector, students must be at the centre of it. Higher institutions exist because of students,” Echono added.
Reacting, the NANS President, Emonefe, commended TETFund’s budget for 2024 and the new Students’ Loan Bill before the National Assembly.
He however praised President Bola Tinubu for his commitment to education and thanked Echono for supporting the bill at a recent public hearing.
He said: “We are not going to relent. We are going to complement your efforts to ensure that these gigantic projects that TETFund is ensuring in our tertiary institutions.
“On our part, we are going to monitor, supervise, and protect education infrastructure to complement the efforts of what Mr. President and TETFund is doing.”
Among those who attended the event are: Senator Ned Nwoko, a member of the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFund, and a lawmaker representing Delta North Senatorial District.
However, Nwoko pledged the support of the committee for Nigerian students.
