Sanwo-Olu plans trust fund to finance varsities

The Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has expressed his plan to set up an education trust fund that will change the model of funding tertiary education in the country.

The governor stated this, according to a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Gboyega Akosile, on Thursday, when he received members of the visitation panel to the Lagos State University led by a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Prof. Abdulrahman Bello, at the State House, Marina.

The panel, set up in November 2021, turned in a 322-page report for the governor’s implementation towards meeting the university’s contemporary needs.

Sanwo-Olu said, “Now that we have three universities in Lagos, I believe there is a need for us to set up Lagos State Tertiary Education Trust Fund, which, in our view, will create a sustainable model and the funding that is required, both internally and externally, to strengthen academic research, learning and all that is necessary to keep these universities on track of their mission.

“This is an idea whose time has come at the appropriate period when many schools are under closure due to industrial disputes. I am issuing the responsibility to Attorney-General and Special Adviser on Education to create the legal framework for the birth of the Trust Fund. This will create a financial model that will ensure the sustainability of these schools.”

Bello said the panel received 40 memoranda from the Academic…