The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) is introducing a special intervention to fund alternative energy to address incessant power challenge in tertiary institutions.
Chairman, Board of Trustees of TETFund, Aminu Masari, disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja.
Alhaji Masari made the disclosure while inaugurating the steering committee for Alternative Energy Solution Initiative in tertiary Institutions
Masari said the initiative was part of the fund’s commitment to support government’s efforts at ensuring steady power supply in Nigeria’s tertiary institutions.
He stressed the importance of power supply as critical to learning and research, which was lacking in most tertiary institutions.
“We all know the combination of factors to include the increase in tariff which has become unbearable for these institutions, coupled with other issues,” he said.
The provision of reliable power supply is expected to improve the quality of education and research in tertiary institutions, Masari said.
The Federal Government also plans to provide steady power to tertiary institutions through the Rural Electrification Agency (REA).
The REA aims to provide captive solar hybrid power plants to 15 federal tertiary institutions and two teaching hospitals .
This initiative is part of the government’s efforts to address power challenge by increasing electricity access to underserved Nigerians.
While the exact timeline for the completion of this project is not specified, REA has made significant progress in increasing electricity access to underserved communities.
The agency has more than 67 mini-grids and 995,396 solar home systems deployed.
The steering committee, has been given two months to summit its preliminary report, and shall be part of the implementation team.
