Tag: TETFund

FG Rebrands University Ranking Body, Sets Sights on Building Africa’s Own Oxford

CSNewsLeave a Comment on FG Rebrands University Ranking Body, Sets Sights on Building Africa’s Own Oxford

The Federal Government is strengthening Nigeria’s national university ranking system with support from expanding its scope to include polytechnics and colleges of education under a rebranded body now known as the Nigerian Tertiary Education Ranking Advisory Committee, replacing NURAC. Officials said the new committee, NTERAC, will go beyond producing rankings to institutionalise the process, helping institutions and their leadership understand the data, methodology and standards required for credible rankings, with the ambition of building a framework not just for Nigeria but for Africa. The national ranking system will sit on the Nigeria Education Data Initiative platform, consolidating education data in one place to give Nigerians a clearer picture of institutional performance, with participation made mandatory for all public and private tertiary institutions. Officials said strengthening the domestic system would help Nigerian universities compete better on global platforms such as Times Higher Education, thanking the NTERAC team led by Prof Peter Okebukola and TETFund for their support. The Federal Government framed the initiative as part of a broader ambition to build Africa’s own version of Oxford and Cambridge, urging Vice Chancellors, Rectors and Provosts to work with the new committee to raise standards across the sector. By Asiwaju Adekunle Saheed

Continue Reading

Idris to North Central: Let TETFund Turn Your Classrooms Into Economic Engines

CSNewsLeave a Comment on Idris to North Central: Let TETFund Turn Your Classrooms Into Economic Engines

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, has said the Federal Government’s investment in tertiary education through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund will help unlock the North Central region’s vast agricultural, mineral and energy potential, speaking at the 2026 TETFund North Central Zonal Town Hall Meeting in Lokoja, Kogi State. Idris said universities, polytechnics and colleges of education in the zone must be tied directly to its development needs, producing scientists, engineers, agricultural experts, technicians and entrepreneurs capable of unlocking the region’s opportunities. He pointed to the 2026 TETFund intervention as proof of that commitment, with roughly N2.53 billion allocated to each public university, N1.87 billion to each polytechnic and N2.06 billion to each college of education. He described the figures as more than budget lines, representing laboratories that can be equipped, lecture halls that can be built and research that can be supported, while pressing institutions to focus not only on churning out graduates but on research, innovation and job creation. He also highlighted the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, technical education and digital skills programmes as tools widening opportunity for young Nigerians, calling education both an economic and a national security investment. Kogi State Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo said tertiary institutions must move beyond producing graduates to becoming centres of practical solutions, calling for research that tackles real problems in agriculture, mining, healthcare, manufacturing and renewable energy rather than staying confined to theory. Idris urged TETFund to keep its intervention funds transparent and closely monitored and called on stakeholders to ensure the town hall’s recommendations translate into measurable action. The meeting drew the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, represented by Prof Babatunde Bernard, former Kogi Governor Captain Idris Wada, and TETFund Board of Trustees Chairman Rt Hon Aminu Bello Masari, among other dignitaries. By Asiwaju Adekunle Saheed

Continue Reading