The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has pledged to support the Kwara State Government in its efforts to convert the colleges of education in the state to universities of education.

The Executive Secretary, TETFund, Sonny Echono, stated this on Wednesday in Abuja while hosting the Kwara State Governor and Chairperson, Nigerian Governors' Forum, AbdulRahman AbdulRasaq, in his office.

Mr Echono assured the governor of TETFund's continuous partnership with the institutions to achieve the federal government's goals of creating a level playing ground for youths to contribute meaningfully to national growth and development.

He lauded the state for being a pacesetter in education in the northern part of the country.

“Kwara has always led the North even from the colonial period in education. And that has reflected also in the number of institutions that you have.

“I know you have three colleges of education. I am glad you are trying to do some conversion to universities of education now.

“Since 2020, we have focused more on Ilorin. So Lafiagi has suffered a little bit because of the numbers. But if they get converted that gives us the opportunity on two more,” the TETFund scribe said.

Earlier, Mr AbdulRasaq commended the Fund for the infrastructural development of higher institutions in the state, stressing that such had enhanced growth and development of education in the state.

The governor, who led some serving members of the National Assembly on the visit, thanked the TETFund management for various projects funded by the state's tertiary institutions.

He noted that the intervention agency had contributed in no small measures to the state's drive for economic reengineering, even as he called for more support.

Mr AbdulRasaq also called for assistance in the areas of security and water sanitation in the state's institutions.

“We will seek for more assistance. In Kwara, we are trying to convert all our colleges of education to universities of education. So we need your assistance to do that.

“But with what you have done with us, it is easy to convert them because the structures are there,” the governor said.