Bloom:

GOV. MUTFWANG WELCOMES IDEM’S COMMITTEE TO PLATEAU, URGES THOROUGH INVESTIGATION ON TETFUND ALLOCATIONS

Following the mandate given to us by the House of Representatives to investigate the alleged abuse of 2.3 trillion naira generated as tertiary education tax by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFUND, our committee landed in Plateau state on Sunday and was received by the state governor, Caleb Mutfwang, at the state government house in Jos.

Governor Mutfwang thanked us for the visit and urged us to “be dispassionate, objective and thorough in our assignment, noting that our mandate “touches on the fabric of the future of the nation, which is education”.

He further noted that his administration places premium on education in the state, evident in his interface with management of Universal Basic Education, the newly established Senior Secondary Schools Board, and other agencies of government, in the last two weeks.

Earlier in his my remarks as leader of the delegation, I informed the governor that we were in Plateau state to interface with heads of schools and inspect TETFUND projects sited in their institutions.

We made it clear that the TETFUND projects inspected do not sum up to the 42 billion naira allocated to Plateau state in the last ten years, reason the House of Representatives sent us to the state to take stock for appropriate action.

We vowed to present a holistic report of the true picture of the state of infrastructure in institutions of higher learning across the country after our national assignment, as well as make recommendations that will seek to address the challenges bedevilling tertiary education in the country.

Addressing the heads of institutions before commencement of inspection, we frowned vehemently against being presented with false documents and information, warning that the law stipulates dire consequences for such action.

Schools we visited in the state were University of Jos, Plateau State University, Bokkos, Plateau State Polytechnic, Barkin-Ladi, Plateau State College of Education, Gindiri, Federal college of Education, Pankshin and Federal Polytechnic, N’yak Shendam.