Colleges of Arabic and Islamic Legal Studies across the 19 northern states have protested their removal as beneficiaries of the federal government's intervention under the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TERTFUND).

The colleges under the aegis of Conference of Provosts of Colleges of Legal and Islamic Studies in Nigeria recalled that they used to benefit from the intervention even as the infrastructure in their colleges was done through the fund.

They expressed their displeasure yesterday during the 34th regular meeting of the conference hosted by the Kwara State College of Arabic and Islamic Legal Studies, Ilorin.

The host provost, Dr. Musa Abdullahi, recalled that the conference under its pioneer leadership fought hard to get the colleges as beneficiaries of Education Trust Fund (ETF)/TETFUND.

"It is however sad to note that TETFUND has de-listed the institutions from its beneficiaries despite the fact that all colleges meet the required standard academically to enjoy the benefits", he said. Provost of the college from Ringim, Jigawa State, Dr. Abbass A. Abbas who spoke on behalf of the conference leadership, called on Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed and other northern governors to interface with the appropriate agencies to restore the TETFUND intervention.

"We don't know why our institutions were expunged or removed completely from TETFUND. The Kwara governor should intervene because if you look at it, 40 per cent of structures in this college and other colleges were built from TETFUND" he said.

Governor Ahmed who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Tertiary Education, Alhaji Jibril Baba Haruna, said any college above secondary school should benefit from TETFUND.