Governor Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina has turned to the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) for aid in a bid to improve the state's education sector.
Masari, the speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives from 2003 and 2007, asked the TETFund to assist the state in providing infrastructure and training of manpower.
Speaking during a courtesy visit to the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Prof. Suleiman Bogoro, in his Abuja office, the governor said his government would be able focus on the lower levels of education if the Fund provides support at the tertiary level.
“If TETFund takes the burden of tertiary institutions, the state government will have more fund and resources going down to foundation education, which is primary and state education," Masari said.
Lamenting the dearth of qualified teachers, especially for English Language and Mathematics, the governor urged TETFund to focus on colleges of education (CoEs) in the state to produce teachers that will teach students.
"We are also looking at a situation where the capacity of the lecturers is improved; our colleges of education will start producing degree holders and master’s in education,” he added.
Responding, Bogoro said the agency would continue to partner with the state in provision of infrastructure.
“You have been seeing what we are doing in Katsina State in federal and state institutions; it is our desire to improve on what we have done," he said.
TETFund's mandate, according to information on its website, is "to provide focused and transformative intervention in public Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria through funding and effective project management."