Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Professor Suleiman Bogoro has regretted that universities in Nigeria are being treated as political enclaves rather than research centres
“Sadly we are treating universities as if they are political enclaves, rather than enclaves or platform for deepening knowledge, creating knowledge and innovation.
“Sometimes, you see square pegs not being placed in square holes, even within the university system and these are areas that bother us.
“If you do not have somebody that believes, promotes, encourages and supports problem-solving research presiding over a university, then that university is destroyed.”
Professor Bogoro spoke today, November 20 at the 12th Founder’s Day and 9th Convocation ceremonies of Afe Babalola University (ABUAD) in Ado-Ekiti. He spoke on: “University As Catalyst for Regional Economic Development.”
He stressed that investment in research is the best way to actualise radical development in the nation, adding that no country can develop or make headway in innovation without adequate investment and exploration in research.
Professor Bogoro advised university administrators to place high premium on research to make the desired difference, saying: “endowment, research foundations are the DNA of Ivory towers over time.
The TETFund boss said that the organisation had been striving to make Nigerian universities gain recognition globally.
He said TETFund has signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with foreign universities as a way of promoting Nigerian universities to attain global reckoning.
“As part of the new paradigm at TETFund, we are committed to the internationalisation of our tertiary institutions, especially our universities.
“We are conversant with the ranking indices, metrics and parameters of universities globally.
“We are equally aware of the present status and positions of our universities on the parametric tables of global ranking of universities.
“TETfund under my leadership is committed to ensuring improvement and we are indeed changing the narratives in our universities.”
