Most Public Tertiary Institutions In Nigeria Will Close Shop Without TETFund’s Intervention — Provost

Professor Faruk Rashid Haruna is the Provost, Federal College of Education (FCE}, Kontagora, Niger State. In this interview, he speaks on infrastructure development at the college and projects sponsored by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund). 

TELL us how many completed projects have been inaugurated

Well basically, 10 projects have been completed in addition to the unveiling of the auditorium, which we named after Colonel Sani Bello (retd). Out of the 10 projects that are scattered across six schools of the Federal College of Education, Kontagora, we have a lecture theatre and an office complex in some schools, while other schools have a Biological and Geographical garden. We also have a model office at the School of Business Education. So, 10 projects have been inaugurated, and of course the unveiling of the auditorium by Colonel Bello himself.

How would these projects impact on teaching and learning, and on the lives of the students of the college on resumption amidst the COVID-19 pandemic?

Well, generally speaking, if there are tertiary institutions that would have to comply with the COVID-19 protocols in Nigeria, I think the Federal College of Education Kontagora would be one of them because the projects cut across all the schools of the Federal College of Education, Kontagora. We have also reduced the level of interactions among the students of the college as well as the social distancing among the school population. I believe this is what all Nigeria’s tertiary institutions should do, and not only when we have problems like the COVID-19 pandemic, and then we begin to panic. I believe with the facilities now put in place for effective teaching and learning, we are ready for the re-opening of the college.  And as soon as the government makes a   pronouncement we will reopen the schools and commence academic activities.

What do you think is the cost of the projects sponsored by TETFund ?

These projects are scattered all over the campus, so I do not readily have the exact figure, but I think all the projects put together should be well over N1 billion.

Apart from allocation from TETFund, how have you been financing other projects since assumption of duties in 2018 as the provost of the college?

We do not have any other source of financing projects apart from TETFund. You are aware that TETFund is the only viable, available, reliable agency of government that supports institutions of government to grow, I am sure without the agency all the schools would have closed shop by now. However, the challenges of every school in Nigeria are almost the same, either infrastructural decay, or lack of them completely. And then of course in some schools, there are multiplications in terms of the number of students. Here in the Federal College of Education, Kontagora, it is a bit controlled. Of course, we met decayed infrastructure. There are buildings that were put up since 40 years. Some of them might not have been rehabilitated for quite some time.

Well, some of those challenges are normal because as human we always face challenges in life. But, I think the important thing is what are we doing to face the challenges? I think that is what we have just done. We have renovated a number of structures here in the college, and today we are not talking about renovated structures. I will tell you that the problems of the higher institutions of learning in the country today are the same, although  differs from one school to the other. Here, the challenges as I said earlier, have to do with infrastructure and if we are given the opportunity, we will still need additional students’ hostels and roads. COVID-19 has taught us a lot. When you want to apply social distancing, how many students can you actually accommodate in a class? How many students can you also accommodate in the hostels? I think the time has   come when government and institutions would have to obey the call of nature. I call it call of nature, because without the COVID-19 pandemic, we would not have realised our limitations as institutions and as a people in Nigeria. Generally, I can tell you that we are doing very well, but there are some few areas that we are struggling to face and then put them to better use by our students.