TETFund interventions in tertiary education and Echono’s leadership consistency

BY ADAGHER TERSOO

“The height by great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night” — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, an American poet.

This thought bears striking parallelism to the fecundity of fresh ideas, vision and drive that Sonny Echono, the executive secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), has brought to redefine the interventions processes and programmes of TETFund in our tertiary education whose impact cannot be overemphasized.

These building blocks are buoyed by a dint of hard work, courage and clear-minded focus, Echono has brought to the TETFund, and indeed, the entire nation what an average leader may not be able to accomplish in five years.

Whoever advised President Muhammadu Buhari to appoint Sonny Echono as executive secretary has offered one of the most patriotic and generational services to our nation. Let us start with the curriculum review, skill acquisition/ entrepreneurship, and advancement of information and communication technology, the executive secretary has consistently pushed for the drive of these innovations to reposition the fund.

In the area of agri-economics, the zeal to bring the needed transformation in the nation’s agricultural sector, TETFund has formed a partnership with the Brazilian government and Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) to achieve the objective. The deal was sealed at the first Agricultural Research and Innovation Fellowship for Africa (ARIFA) Symposium held at the Federal University of Viçosa, Brazil, with the theme, ‘Pedagogic Retooling Strategy for Africa’s Agricultural Research and Innovation System: Lessons from Brazil’.

Others are deepening research development and innovation, and provision of funds for capacity building of lecturers to equip them with requisite skills for entrepreneurial and research studies in digital technologies.

It then behoves Nigerians to know that these reforms would also prepare Nigerians for global competitiveness with the end goal of building a knowledge economy and increasing the country’s global presence.

The tempo and consistency of Echono’s leadership were further acknowledged by the chairman of the TETFund technical advisory group, Charles Aworh, at the public presentation of 10 TETFund-sponsored textbooks in Abuja recently where he commended the fund for this laudable feat, stating that the transformation brought on board by the current leadership is result-oriented and will advance the educational curriculum. Praising the chief executive for the milestones achieved within just a few months in office, the minister of education Goodluck Nana, in his remarks at the ceremony, highlighted that the scarcity of tertiary textbooks in Nigeria is alarming and the proportion is evident not only in the quality of books but also in the number of books produced locally. He, therefore, commended TETFund for the establishment of the TETFund higher education book development project.

With this, it is evident that Echono’s leadership is strategic, focused and productive for every stakeholder in the Nigerian project. We have an overseer of an educational agency who is always thinking on his feet and whose commitments are sincere pursuits for the overall good of the nation.

An average TETFund staff today is a watered garden and sufficiently motivated to ply his or her job with contentment and renewed strength. It is therefore not surprising that their productivity is rising higher every day.
The leadership of Sonny Echono is a sweet song on the lips of his staff and buoyant blessings for the whole nation.

The permanent secretary, in his own address at the book launch, applauded TETFund for the strategic conceptualization of seven special publication centres across the country, laying emphasis that it will go a long way to guarantee the protection of intellectual property in academia.

He further noted that with these reforms, TETFund will not only change the narrative in our educational sector but promote a knowledge-based generation and encourage a reading culture in the country.

TETFund as an education agency under Sonny Echono’s charismatic leadership is no doubt soaring higher and adding great value to the nation’s education sector. All good-spirited Nigerians must therefore accord the executive secretary support to sustain the patriotic service to our fatherland.

Tersoo, a public affairs analyst, writes from Abuja