By Joshua Tosin Ogunsakin 
The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has commenced the construction of new multidisciplinary research laboratories in the country.
The organisation said that six of such laboratories would be established across the country.
It said that while four of these state-of-the-art facilities are currently under construction in Port Harcourt; Kano; Abuja and Lagos, two more will commence before the end of the year.
Executive Secretary of TETFund, Sonny Echono, stated this on Monday in Abuja while receiving the leadership of the Nigerian Institute of Architects (NIA), led by its President, Mobolaji Adeniyi.
Echono said the new multidisciplinary research laboratories will enable researchers to conduct all types of research locally, eliminating the need to send samples abroad for analysis.
Echono, who was the 28th President of the Institute, also promised to mobilise friends of the agency for the furnishing of the Institute’s Resource and Exhibition Centre currently under construction, as requested by the President.
The TETFund boss also endowed an annual prize at the Institute’s Architecture Annual Awards, sponsorship of publication of its journal among others.
He revealed that the agency would soon commission iconic projects across the country, adding that four of these projects would be unveiled in Kano and Osun states before the end of August.
Echono said, “The biggest observation that was made when I came in here is the fact that we were dotting our campuses with all sorts of blocks, and we’re now transiting to iconic buildings.
“I am pleased to report that on Thursday, we’ll be commissioning some of such projects that I feel proud to associate with, and then Nigerians will see what the new type of architecture of our campuses that reflect the ambience that is required. Because campus architecture has its own serene its own grandeur that is known all over the world. And they were trying to recreate that in our campuses.
“Thereafter, we will be in Osun, where we are also going to be commissioning several projects before the end of the month. So Nigerians will begin to see what our campuses should look like, not some of the horrible videos that we’ve seen depicting inhumane living environment.”
Adeniyi applauded the intervention agency under Echono for the development of infrastructure in the educational sector.
She called for patronage of more NIA members, especially in the design of institutions’ infrastructure.
“These interventions in Nigeria’s Tertiary Education sector have left indelible marks in the annals of our educational development. We commend specifically the much heralded initiative of the TETFund Centres of Excellence (TCoEs) interventions across some Tertiary Institutions nationwide. That our institutions are referred to as Citadels of Knowledge & Learning isn’t a misnomer. The axiom in itself connotes a certain level of characteristic command of presence and ambience which are aptly exhibited by our first generation universities,” she stated.