The House of Representatives has decided to look into the standard and quality of finished and continuing projects carried out by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) in tertiary institutions across the country to ensure value for money. Following a motion sponsored by Aderemi Oseni (APC, Oyo), the House requested that the Federal Ministries of Education and Finance, the National Universities Commission, TETFund, and development partners devise plans to refurbish first-generation universities, aiming to restore the universities' glory and quality.
Leading the debate on the motion, Oseni recalled that first-generation federal universities in Nigeria in the early 1960s exuded glory, glamour, quality, and class from the start and were also the pride of the nation at the time. He added that the standard and quality of these first-generation universities, in terms of faculty, students, and infrastructure, have attracted foreign students and international recognition worldwide.
He lamented that Nigeria’s first-generation universities—including the University of Ibadan, the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, among others—have lost the prestige they once enjoyed in the 1960s due to years of neglect and the gradual abandonment of their infrastructure and facilities.
According to him, this prolonged neglect has led to widespread decay, with lecture halls, hostels, and auditoriums now in deplorable condition. He further noted that the once vibrant university zoos, which used to attract tourists from across the country, have either become empty or completely vanished.
The lawmaker also criticized the quality of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) intervention projects, alleging that many of the recently completed works in selected universities are substandard and deteriorate faster than structures built over six decades ago.
He therefore urged the Federal Government to prioritize the rehabilitation of these first-generation universities to restore their lost glory and to probe the quality of TETFund projects to ensure proper accountability and value for public funds.