….Stakeholders Seeks Innovative Measures As Solution
Victor Salami
Stakeholders at the Annual Education Writers’ Association of Nigeria (EWAN) summit have called for innovative measures to tackle high electricity tariffs in the country’s tertiary institutions.
According to the stakeholders, this became necessary because availability of affordable and stable power supply is essential in the delivery of impactful education to Nigerian students.
The summit held at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka, on Wednesday, has the theme: “High Tariffs: Resolving Electricity Crisis in Nigeria’s Education Institutions with stakeholders from education, energy, communication, and financial sectors in attendance.
UNILAG’s Vice Chancellor, Professor Folasade Ogunsola while acknowledging that energy crisis is a national issue, which affects other sectors, said education is fundamental and it should be spared from agony of unstable and expensive power supply which impedes the delivery of evidence-based knowledge to Nigerians.
Professor Ogunsola stated that most universities and educational institutions are in debt due to accumulating power tariffs.
“Today’s topic is a threat in the Nigerian Education system. Universities in particular are expensive enterprises; on their own, they are not meant to be absolutely a commercial enterprise; they are essential for development especially in a country such as ours.
“Universities have been moved to Band A, which means we are now paying what commercial enterprises are paying. Most Universities are badly funded and we are not allowed to charge commensurate prices over our students to ensure that our costs are met. I’m hoping that by the time we leave here today, there will be suggestions and recommendations that will help resolve the electricity crisis because the present model cannot work,” she said.
The Minister of State for Education, Yusuf Sununu, expressed hopes that the summit will push forward innovative measures to tackle the energy supply problems.
Sununu said that as part of the government’s commitment, the Federal Ministry of Education is engaging the public-private partnership model to address the issue, especially in the school systems.
The Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETfund), Arch. Sonny Echono in his paper entitled: “Refocusing Support for Nigeria’s Tertiary Institutions towards a Sustainable Future” said unstable power supply has a negative impact on tertiary institutions in the country.
He explained that this will have impact on educational facilities such as internet connectivity, to the operations of laboratories and workshops and all research facilities because they are all dependent on constant power. “Ultimately, it affects the quality and delivery of teaching and learning of both staff and students in Nigeria’s higher institutions.
He added that the electricity crisis not only affect education sector alone but all sectors, adding that there is the need to address the issue of power loss or wastage.
“We must minimize energy loss and improve efficiency. We must curb inefficiencies in our system and to do this, there is the need for sensitization among Nigerians, he said.
He however called on individuals and organizations who could provide alternative means of power and sustainable electricity for public tertiary institutions to send in their proposals and they will be reviewed.
Arch. Echono explained that the initiators of the TETfund scheme indicated that it should only provide supplementary support to all levels of public tertiary education with the paying of debt relief, funding for the rehabilitation, restoration and consolidation of tertiary education in the country.
“We provide instructional materials and equipment in schools; we sponsor, promote and encourage research and publication, to support our academic and non-academic staff through various staff training and programmes.
“TETfund remains committed to this mandate of providing this support to our tertiary institutions in order to improve the quality of teaching and learning and to position the institution to attain better institutional ranking,” he added.
Earlier, EWAN Chairman, Mojeed Alabi explained that the summit seeks to proffer practical solutions to energy crisis in the education sector and government must have the political will to invest in affordable power supply from the basic to the tertiary level of education.
Alabi called for research based solutions to the crisis of energy bedeviling tertiary institutions across the country.
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