The Federal Government said it would stop advancing funds to the non-performing Centre of Excellence out of the 23 established years back.
The Minister of Education, Prof Tahir Mamman, disclosed this in Abuja while receiving two reports of TETFund’s ad hoc committees on Assessment/Review of TETFund Centres of Excellence and Operationalisation of Skills Development Special Intervention.
Mamman said the report analysis is a major policy shift in education, adding that the government will stop funding institutions that are not meeting their mandates.
He said, “The government is encouraging our scholars to simply rise to the occasion and deliver on their scholarship, what world-class scholars do; and we are not going to reward indolence. We can’t be giving free money to institutions that are not doing what they are supposed to do.”
The Executive Secretary of TETFund, Arc Sonny Echono, said the Fund will not grant funds to centres that are not living up to expectations.
Echono said: “If you were established five years ago and you are still in your infancy, you have not been able to provide modern laboratories, and facilities for scholars to come and learn, we want to know why. But we don’t want to be arbitrary.
He said some of the centres have done fantastically well since inception, adding “ that a lot of them are doing innovations.
Earlier, the Committee on the Assessment/Review of TETFund Centres of Excellence, led by Prof. Oyewale Tomori, in its report, declined to recommend any centre for upgrade.
