FG To Inject N110bn Intervention Fund To Curb ‘Japa’ Syndrome

The federal government has announced a N110billion intervention fund to upgrade infrastructures of key tertiary institutions across the six geo-political zones of the country.

The decision, according to the Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, is to curtail the trend of medical professionals leaving the country for greener pastures abroad.

Alausa disclosed this while inaugurating the Ministerial Monitoring Committee on TETFund High Impact Intervention Project for Medical Schools Rehabilitation across the Six Geo-Political zones at the TETFund headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday.

Explaining the sharing formula, he said out of the Funds, N70billion will be spent on rehabilitating all the medical schools to be at par with international standard, while N15billion will go for building hostels for the medical students.

Recall that in recent times, there had been growing concerns of neglect of medical colleges across the country, a development that has been attributed to many Nigerians seeking opportunities abroad.

He said President Bola Tinubu has mandated key universities in the country to increase their admission quota for medical students, as a means of curbing brain drain in the medical profession.

According to Alausa, the idea behind the policy is to train more medical personnel both for local and international job opportunities.

The minister said the intervention will be sustained over a period of five years, by the federal government.

Earlier, chairman of the Board of TETFund, and former governor of Katsina State, Aminu Bello Masari, blamed Vice Chancellors for contributing to decay in the university system.

He said if this kind of intervention is sustained over a period of five years, the positive impact will become more glaring, because the results will trickle down to more medical personnel to serve the local population and well-equipped human capital for export to the international community.