TETFund is lifeblood of tertiary education in Nigeria – Stakeholders

The Chairman, House of Representatives’ Committee on Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Miriam Onuoha, was categorical when she recently described TETFund as the lifeblood of tertiary education in Nigeria and consequently called for its sustenance. In fact, the lawmaker was convinced that no right-thinking Nigerian should think of scrapping such an impactful agency. Onuoha spoke during the commissioning of N1.

3 billion building projects of the Fund at Ebonyi State University (EBSU), Abakaliki, where she called on all stakeholders to support the sustenance of the agency. She also commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for making funds available to the agency to ensure the successful completion of the edifices in the school. The committee chairman, who spoke against the backdrop of the Tax Reform Bill at the National Assembly, argued that considering the impactful role TETFund has played in the development of tertiary education in the country, it should be further strengthened.



Her words: “TETFund has become the life wire of tertiary education in Nigeria and therefore, deserves to be sustained. I say this from the legislature and as the oversight committee, having toured the length and breadth of Nigeria to oversee these projects. “It is therefore not right that the child you have nurtured to grow will be starved of life or the air with which the child deserves to live.

I believe that the President is a father, and he is a listening President, and has listened to the reports just as the bill is being read today for the second time in the House of Representatives. “When it gets to the committee stage, I will be one of those who will champion the fact that one does not throw away the baby with the bathwater. All that needs to be done, all that has been complained about by stakeholders regarding substandard projects, abandonment and delay in accessing projects are the reasons the government and the legislature embarked on oversight.

” Interestingly, the emergence of Arc Sonny Echono as the Executive Secretary of TETFund has addressed the issue of delay in project funding. It also introduced measures to monitor the standard of projects in benefiting institutions. All these reforms were glaring to lawmakers as they carried out their oversight functions.

For instance, Onuoha stated that she had visited more than 46 universities across the country to inspect their projects and that what she saw was marvelous and amazing. “Honestly, what I saw in more than 46 universities I visited was amazing and marvelous, and I maintain that rather than scrapping TETFund, it should be sustained because it is the lifeblood of tertiary education in the country,” she stressed. Speaking at the event, Governor Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi State, represented by his Deputy, Princess Patricia Obila, commended TETFund for its various interventions in tertiary institutions, noting that the assistance has become instrumental to the infrastructural and educational advancement of the university.

Nwifuru further commended President Tinubu for his Renewed Hope initiative, which, in the governor’s words, has facilitated transformative projects in the university and other sectors in the state. He also applauded TETFund for its support for infrastructural development in its beneficiary institutions across the country. Earlier in his address, Echono said the three projects commissioned at the state university were the annual interventions for the years 2016-2019 (merged), 2020 and 2021-2022 (merged) totaling N1,339,791,726.

06. Echono, represented by Babatunde Olajide, in charge of TETFund Monitoring and Evaluation in Nigeria, said the projects were delivered successfully in line with the agency’s guidelines. He recalled that TETFund’s interventions at the university had seen remarkable and plausible strides in the utilisation of its allocations for infrastructure-based projects in the institution.

He disclosed that since the commencement of TETFund interventions at the university in 1999, the institution has received allocations totaling N12,313,420,341.34 for infrastructure-related interventions, cutting across the annual, special high impact and zonal interventions, among others. He said the statistics revealed that about 85.

1 per cent of the funds had been accessed and deployed to address infrastructural deficiencies in the university, expressing confidence that the projects undertaken with the funds would have a remarkable impact on teaching, learning, and research. He commended the management of the university for assiduously monitoring and ensuring the successful delivery of the various intervention projects executed from inception. He also commended Governor Nwifuru, the University Governing Council, members of staff and the various project teams for their support in ensuring that the projects were successfully delivered.

Echono expressed optimism that the projects would strengthen the university’s efforts to become a global player in the tertiary education sub-sector and significantly contribute to research and development. On his part, the Vice Chancellor, Ebonyi State University, Prof. Chigozie Ogbu, re-echoed that TETFund is the lifeblood of tertiary education in Nigeria, having promoted a conducive teaching and learning environment for students.

While commending Governor Nwifuru for his commitment to education, which he said, has led to the transformation being witnessed in the university, Ogbu, however, requested that TETFund grants a special allocation to complete the Advanced Reference Research Laboratory and a zonal allocation for the landscape of the Faculty of Management block at the university..