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Tag: TETFUND

  • TETFund adopts stringent measures to protect public funds

    TETFund adopts stringent measures to protect public funds

    Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Dr. Abdullahi Baffa, has said the agency has come up with stringent measures for its special intervention project (SIP) grants in order to protect public funds.

    Dr. Baffa, in a statement in Abuja said the agency had discovered that most beneficiary institutions fail to make use of the grants allocated to them for development of infrastructures.

    He said this during the commissioning of some TETFund projects in Gombe State University and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Centre at the Federal University, Kashere, Gombe state. Baffa was accompanied by Ag. Director, Education Support Services, Dr. Salihu Girei and Head, Legal and Board Secretariat, Barrister Adamu Abubakar.

    The TETFund chief commended the management of the university for the projects.

    “I must say that I am super impressed by what I have seen. For me this is the product of leadership, the quality of leadership, the sincerity of leadership and vision of leadership in the university. Once you have a purposeful leadership with vision, clear focus, you will see result.

  • Benue institutions get N3b from TETFUND

    Benue institutions get N3b from TETFUND

    executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund Dr. Abdullahi Baffa has appealed to Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, to monitor the N3 billion released to its higher institutions.
    TETFund released the money to the State University, Federal University of Agriculture, the state-owned Colleges of Education, Oju and Katsina-Ala, and the Benue Polytechnic, Ugbokolo, for infrastructure development.
    Baffa spoke when he visited Ortom at the Benue People’s House, yesterday.
    The schools also got money to train their teachers.
    According to Baffa, TETFund believes in training teachers and making the environment conducive for learning. He praised Ortom for his peace efforts since assuming office.
    Ortom assured Baffa he would personally monitor the projects for which the funds were released.
    He said his administration abhors corruption, and reiterated his call on members of his cabinet to go into business if they want quick money.

  • Create legislation on intellectual property rights – Don

    Create legislation on intellectual property rights – Don

    A call has gone out to National Assembly to make a legislation to safeguard and enforce intellectual property rights in Nigeria.

    This  call was made by Prof. Emma Okoye of the Department of Accountancy, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka,in an interview with journalists in Awka on Monday.

    He said that the legislation would allow innovators to reap the benefit of their creative ideas and reward their risk-thinking ventures.

    “Without effective intellectual property enforcement, it will be difficult for Nigeria to benefit from global innovation networks.

    “Most overseas innovation firms will hesitate to invest or form partnerships with Nigeria if their intellectual property right will be readily stolen,’’ he said.

    The professor of accountancy also called for urgent action from all stakeholders to help steer the Nigerian economy back on the path of recovery.

    Okoye said that universities as the citadel of learning and innovation have critical roles to play.

    “In this regard, the government as proprietors of public universities needs to provide the enabling environment needed to harness the potentials of the universities.

    “For example, the Federal Ministry of Education through interventionist agencies like TETFUND should set aside substantial amount to fund both basic and applied research.

    “Empower each institution to establish technology transfer offices to provide incentives to individuals and companies for the production of new goods and services,’’ he said.

    Okoye said that sustained investment in innovation and research was also essential for national development.

    “To achieve this, government needs to invest not less than 3 per cent of her GDP to make any meaningful impact on research and development,’’ he said

  • Nasarawa varsity begins issuance of certificates to graduates

    Nasarawa varsity begins issuance of certificates to graduates

    The Nasarawa State University, Keffi, has commenced  issuance of original certificates to the past six sets of its  graduates.

    Prof. Mohammed Mainoma, the Vice-Chancellor of the university, told journalists on Thursday in keffi, Keffi Local Government Area of the state.

    Mainoma said the original certificates of graduates of the institution from 2009 to 2015 were ready adding that interested graduates should apply for them through the office of the Registrar.

    “The usual procedure is that an institution will  only commence issuance of original certificates to its graduates after convocation is held.

    “The fact that the Nasarawa State University, Keffi, has not held convocation for those who graduated from the institution since 2009, does not mean they cannot get their original certificates.

    “So, the Senate and other organs of the university have already approved their results and the original certificates have been printed, awaiting graduates to come and collect them,” he added.

    Mainoma explained that graduates were not responsible for the inability of the university to hold convocation so they could not be made to suffer the consequences.

    “So many organisations had threatened to withdraw the services of our graduates for their inabilities to provide original certificates, hence, the need for this decision,”  he said.

    Mainoma said that the university was unable to hold its convocation due to financial constraint, adding that the institution was having a shortfall of over N100 million monthly to pay staff salaries.

    He added that the institution owed a debt of over N2 billion as allowances for both academic and non-academic staff of the institution since 2011.

    Mainoma, however, commended the Nasarawa and Federal Governments for supporting the university in terms of manpower development and provision of infrastructure.

    He said there were 13 TETFund projects in the university, out of which eight had been completed with five ongoing.

    Mainoma also said that over 100 staff of the university were currently undergoing various local and international training courtesy of TETFund.

  • TETFund spends N122b on varsities, others

    TETFund spends N122b on varsities, others

    THE Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) said it spent N122 billion as part of its tertiary education intervention to universities, polytechnics and colleges of education from the N156.3 allocated for the purpose this year.
    The agency, according to its Executive Secretary Abdullahi Baffa, still had about N34 billion as outstanding disbursements in its 2016 budgetary allocation.
    He spoke during an oversight function by the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFUND, led by its Chairman, Senator Jibrin Barau in Abuja.
    According to Baffa, the agency disbursed N57 billion to universities from the N74 billion allocated, with N17 billion left as balance.
    A breakdown of the figures showed that N31 billion was disbursed to polytechnics from the allocated N40 billion with N8.4 billion as outstanding disbursements.
    The statement added that the agency spent N32.8 billion from the N45 billion allocated to colleges of education with an outstanding N8.6 billion.
    “For the universities, we have allocated about N74 billion and we have disbursed about N57.7 billion and there is a balance of N16 billion. For the polytechnics, N40 billion was allocated, N31 billion disbursed, with about N8.6 billion balance.
    “For the colleges of education, N41.5 billion was allocated, N32.8 billion disbursed and about N8.6 billion outstanding. In total, we have allocated N156.3 billion,” he said.
    Baffa added that 50 per cent of registered companies in Nigeria were evading the two per cent education tax to the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS).
    Barau urged the agency to ensure that universities returned to global competitive heights.
    He encouraged Baffa to come up with suggestions in the amendment of the TETFund Act to allow the agency to achieve its mandate.

  • Ripples in the Senate over TETFund abuse allegations

    Ripples in the Senate over TETFund abuse allegations

    Reactions of lawmakers at the Red Chamber during the week show that in the days ahead, the Senate will take the initiative to pass a bill that will reform the Technical Education Fund (TETFUND), reports Assistant Editor, Onyedi Ojiabor

    IT was one of the high profile motions ever proposed in the Senate. Senators were agitated as the mover of the motion, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, reeled out mind bugling allegations of gross mismanagement of hard earned education tax funds.

    It was not difficult for the backers of the motion to secure the mandate of the upper chamber to launch investigative hearing into the management of funds by officials of the money spinning education agency.

    The Senate had on December 2nd, 2015 resolved to deliberate on a motion on alleged gross mismanagement of Education Tax Fund between 2011 and 2015. The adoption of the resolution was unanimous, apparently due to the weight of the claims.

    The allegation however collapsed like a pack of cards after what was described as a meticulous investigation by the committee saddled to dig into the charges.

    The assertions contained in the motion may have crumbled under the weight of investigation but Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, strongly believed that Senate should take immediate steps to block loopholes in the management of funds especially when it has become obvious that some agencies are becoming larger than the government that created them.

    Chairman, Senate Committee on Tertiary Education and TETFund, Senator Jibrin Barau (Kano North), who was mandated to lead a team of his committee members to probe the allegations, presented report of the investigation of the allegations, detailing how the funds under probe were spent.

     The motion, he said, raised the following issues: That some institutions got multiple allocations of special interventions while institutions that are their peers did not receive any;

    That TETFund granted a loan to the Federal Ministry of Education to organise a workshop and retreat in United States and Kenya in 2014 and 2015 outside the guideline of the Act;

    That a whooping sum of N500 million was spent on advertisement and media in 2015;

    That TETFund spent nearly N1trillion between 2011 and 2015 without visible outcome; and

    That N200 billion collected between 2012 -2013 was diverted to unknown and unspecified uses not recognized under the Act.

    Senator Barau said that as part of its methodology for the probe, the Committee held several meetings with TETFund officials, Ministry of Education officials, Ministry of Finance, Accountant General and Debt Management Office.

    On the allegation that some institutions got multiple allocations of special interventions while institutions that are their peers did not receive any, Barau said top officials of TETFund explained that though the provisions of Section 7(2)(b) stipulates that the Board of Trustees shall “administer, manage and disburse tax on the basis of equality among the six (6) geo-political zones of the federation in the case of special intervention”, Section 7(4) further states that the Board of Trustees ”shall have power to give due consideration to the peculiarities of each geo-political zone in the disbursement and management of the tax.”

    It is in exercise of this power that TETFund gives grant of special intervention. However it is on record that there is no tertiary institution in the country that have not benefitted from the Special Intervention at one time or the other.

    On the issue of granting of loan to the Federal Ministry of Education and organising a workshop and retreat in US and Kenya in 2014 and 2015 outside the provision of the Act; Barau informed that it was submitted that no loan was granted to the Federal Ministry of Education and that the Fund did not organise any retreat or workshop in US and Kenya. However, a staff management retreat was organised in Abuja, anchored by the Public Service Institute of Nigeria during the period in question.

    The committee was also told that the Fund equally ran a one week capacity building programme for professors and researchers in the universities to build their capacity in research and development skills. According to him, plans were already on to extend the programme to senior researchers in Polytechnics and Colleges of Education.

    On the issue of a whooping sum of N500 million budgeted for adverts and media in 2015, Barau said it submitted that the money came from the administrative cost which is five percent of the total education tax collected which is allowed under the Act. The probe committee was further told that the N500m was not from intervention fund set aside for rehabilitation, restoration and consolidation projects in the tertiary institutions.

    Barau said top official of the agency justified the expenditure on the ground that stakeholders, investors and citizens needed to be encouraged to pay education tax by showcasing the numerous achievements which the Fund had made over the years.

    On the issue of spending nearly N1trillion from 2011to 2015, Barau said that TETFund submitted that the total money received by the Fund between 2011 and 2015 amounted to N507‚090‚848,969.87 and not N1 trillion as alleged.

    The amount, he said, was corroborated by Accountant General and the Central Bank of Nigeria

    The officials are said to have stated further that TETFund intervention had evidently improved the state of physical infrastructure, research, teaching and learning environment in the country’s institutions nationwide while Executive Secretary maintained that before the establishment of Tetfund, no Nigerian university was ranked among the top 100 in Africa, but that as at today, 28 Nigerian universities are now ranked among the top 100 in Africa.

    On the issue of diversion of N200 billion collected between 2012 -2013 to unknown and unspecified uses not recognised under the Act, Barau informed that the Executive Secretary informed the Committee that there was no diversion of funds whatsoever by TETfund rather the Federal Government, under the leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan in response to Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) agitations, in 2012, took the money and spent it on the implementation of agreement with ASUU on Revitalisation of Universities’ Infrastructural Needs in which the Federal Government committed to spending N1.3 trillion in six years beginning with N200 billion in 2013 and N220 billion yearly from 2014 to 2018.

    The panel boss said the actual money belonging to TETFund that was diverted to other uses by the former administration of President Goodluck Jonathan that was to be refunded was N273.99billion. This was the actual amount due to TETFund from Education Tax for 2013.

    The Committee was also informed that the approval for the refund had already been given in May, 2015 by former administration and that the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has revalidated the approval of the refund in September 2015 and directed that provision be made in 2016 budget.

    On allegation that some institutions got multiple allocations for special interventions while institutions that are their peers did not receive any, Barau said the Committee found out that Special Interventions were introduced to address critical needs of the institutions in areas where their normal allocations could not address such as programme upgrades, improvements of learning and teaching environments.      Besides, the committee discovered that there is no tertiary institution in the country that has not benefitted from special intervention at one time or the other.

    On the allegation that about N200 billion of the Education tax collected between 2012-2013 was diverted to unknown and unspecified uses not recognised in or permitted under the Act, the committee found out that funds which amounted to N273‚931‚254‚708.51, (two per cent Tertiary Education Tax) collections for 2013 was not transferred to TETFund project account in 2014.

    Committee, Barau said, discovered that the amount was diverted to finance various expenditures, including the Revitalisation of Universities’ infrastructure and payment of allowances of Academic Staff of Nigerian Universities during the period under reference on the approval of the former President Goodluck Jonathan.

    The committee informed that the diversion of TETFund money to other uses was possible because: The loophole in the TETFund Act, which allows only the President to be the approving authority for this very important agency that always has huge amount of money in its coffers without including the requirements of the National Assembly’s approval in line with the democratic dictate of checks and balances. This is in clear violation of Section 82(4) of the Constitution of Nigeria which states that “no moneys shall be withdrawn from the Consolidated Revenue Fund or any public fund of the Federation, except in the manner prescribed by the National Assembly,” and the fact that the Executive Secretary and the members of the Board of Trustees were all solely appointed by the President and not confirmed by the Senate made them not to have the strength to raise objection or to nip in the bud the diversion of TETFund money to other uses.

    Barau said the Committee recently found out long after the conclusion of its investigation that contrary to the assertion by a former Executive Secretary that the whole N273,931‚254‚708.51 billion was diverted to meet the expenditure as stated above, it was later revealed to the Committee by the recently appointed Executive Secretary that N10 billion out of the N273,931‚254‚708.51 billion was actually loaned to the PTDF which the PTDF had recently refunded to TETFund, leaving a balance of N263‚931,254‚708.51 billion to be refunded by the Federal Government of Nigeria.

    The revelation, Barau said, was made to the Committee about three weeks ago during an interactive meeting with the officials of TETFund, led by its new Executive Secretary, Dr. A. B. Baffa.

    On the claim that the Board granted a loan to the Federal Ministry of Education and also organised a workshop and pre-retreat in US and Kenya in 2014-2015 without recourse to guidelines of the fund, “the Committee found out that the Board did not give a loan to the Federal Ministry of Education and did not organise any retreat or workshop in US and Kenya as alleged.”

     On the allegation that the sum of N500 million budgeted for advertising and media 201S budget contravened rehabilitation, restoration and consolidation of Tertiary Education in Nigeria in accordance to section 3(i) of the TETFund Act 2011, the Committee agreed with Executive Secretary’s detailed explanation that the internal working budget was always from the five percent cost of administration provided by the Act and not from the intervention Fund.

     That after spending nearly one trillion naira between 2011 and 2015 by TETFund, the state of infrastructure in the country’s tertiary institutions is still very shabby, and mostly run down ”The committee found out that the Fund did not receive or spend N1 trillion between 2011 and 2015. The actual funds collected amounted to N507‚090‚848‚967.87.The 2013 collection as explained earlier was not remitted to TETFund but was diverted.”

     On recommendation, the committee said approval for allocation and disbursement of fund belonging to TETFund is vested entirely in the Executive Arm of Government, the Board of Trustees, the Minister, and Mr. President, to the exclusion of National Assembly against the democratic practices of checks and balances which makes for proper accountability. Thus, to prevent future diversion, misallocation and or any tendency inimical to the TETFund, the Committee recommends as follows:

    That in addition to the approval of Mr. President, the approval of National Assembly should be included in the process of allocation and disbursement of funds belonging to TETFund; that the appointments of the Executive Secretary and that of the chairman and members of the Board of Trustees of TETFund should be made by Mr. President and confirmed by the Senate; that the TETFund Act be amended to include (a) and (b) above; and that Senate should work to ensure the refund of all monies borrowed from the Education Tax Account as there are numerous infrastructural projects to be executed in the tertiary institutions around the country.

     The recommendations were adopted. The implication is that in the days ahead, the Senate will take the initiative to pass a bill that will reform the Fund fundamentally, especially in the management and disbursement of funds.

     In the words of Senator Solomon Adeola, (Lagos West) “the Senate must amend the Act setting up the Fund for the National Assembly to be involved in the budgeting, allocation of funds and even disbursement of funds.

  • TETFUND to triple funds to varsities

    TETFUND to triple funds to varsities

    THE Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) has pledged to triple intervention funds to tertiary institutions to improve quality service delivery and provide solid infrastructure.

    Its Executive Secretary, Dr. Abdullahi Bichi Baffa, said this yesterday at the inauguration of the Academic Building, Centre for Gender and Development Studies and four lecture halls in Ekiti State University (EKSU), Ado-Ekiti, which was financed by the agency.

    Baffa added that his agency was also setting up National Research Fund, which, he said, would improve the knowledge of the academic workers and boost the ranking of the universities.

    He revealed that TETFUND has come up with Information Technology (IT) Support Intervention to support the creation and maintenance of functional websites for universities to market their researches and improve their presence on the cyberspace.

  • TETFund wants firms to up 2% education tax

    Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Dr. Abdullahi Baffa, has called for the expansion of two per cent education tax to more corporate companies.

    Baffa made the request at the seventh edition of the TETFund interactive forum jointly organised with the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) in Port Harcourt, River State.

    Baffa, in a statement in Abuja, called for the enforcement of tax payment compliance on companies to shore up TETFund revenue generation base.

    “One of the key things we want is enforced compliance. Those companies that are within the education tax net should pay correctly and those that are outside should be brought in,” the statement said.

    He said more institutions in Nigeria would soon be added to the list of top universities at the global level following the recent ranking of the University of Ibadan (801) among 1000 universities in the world.

    According to him, the improved ranking of UI by Times Higher Education World University Ranking was largely due to TETFund intervention projects.

    “It is very gratifying for the TETFund, as it is for every Nigeria, to hear that University of Ibadan is among the top 5 per cent universities in the world. This is one testimony that TETFund intervention is making the desired impact. Let me assure you and indeed, all other beneficiary institutions, that you would continue to enjoy the improved and determined support of TETFund at every step of your journey to the top of the league table.

    “To achieve this would require among other things, focused and targeted inflow of funding to our benefiting institutions through the Fund,” he said.

    The statement quoted the Executive Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Babatunde Fowler, as blaming the fall in the collection of education tax revenue on tax evasions, the uncooperative attitude of private sector operators and unpatriotic business organisations.

     

  • LAUTECH crisis, a sore thumb – Activists

    A group of human rights activists, Movement for Peace and Development, has warned that the debilitating situation in the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, is a simmering volcano which could in future have an even more devastating effect than a bomb blast, if not sincerely addressed.
    At a media briefing on Friday in Oyo town, Chairman of the group, Comrade Ayekale Olorunyomi, described the institution’s crisis as a “sore thumb sticking out as evidence of our collective shame and hypocritical claim to reform education, governance and the very future of Nigeria by past administrations, which we all profess to love so much.”
    According to him, in view of the fact that LAUTECH was adjudged one of the very best Nigerian universities, its current condition is best described as tragic.

    “One would really need to be heartless not to feel sorry for the poor students who always get the bad end of the stick and whose lives are being mortgaged in installments by the incessant problems bedeviling this hitherto to promising university.

    “One wonders how it is ever so impossible for us in Nigeria to set up and preserve anything of value without allowing ego and personal interest to run the deal.”

    Olorunyomi appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari, the institution’s Chancellor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and the two state governors of Oyo and Osun States, as well as the unions to see the current state of LAUTECH as a source of state and national embarrassments, hence the need to proffer urgent solution to the impasse.

    He said, “all such situations in the country deserve urgent attention before our youths are completely drained of every sense of patriotism and national pride. It is immoral and irresponsible for our leaders to invest so much resources and energy in political campaigns and horse trading all over the nation, while our institutions like LAUTECH is left to rot because of non – payment of staff salaries.”

    The Academic Staff Union of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology [LAUTECH], Ogbomoso, are currently on indefinite strike over harsh working environment.

    The institution, according to ASUU Chairman, Dr. Bodunrin Olaniran, is fast losing its seasoned academics due to what the academics referred to as “in conducive and harsh working environment”.

    So far, about six academic staff was reported to have left and without replacement and both the academic and non-academic staff are yet to receive their three months salaries.
    Since 2008, it was reliably gathered that there had been no grants for capital projects, as all on-going physical structures on campus were either NEEDS assessment or TETFUND, thus making it difficult to believe that the varsity is jointly owned by two states’ governments.

    Similarly, all internally generated revenues were being exhausted to augment payment of staff salaries while a sum of N 296 million was being  released monthly for the payment salaries, additional fund of about N84 million was being sourced for by the university management to a wage bill of between N360million and N380 million.

    This salary augmentation is adversely affecting promotion arrears, earned academic allowances, pensions and gratuity, office and laboratory facilities.
    Also, for the pat twenty-one months, no subvention has been made available to the institution, as Osun State owes eleven months, while Oyo State owes seven months.

    It was further learnt the university last received grants for research and development in 2010, as lecturers spend their personal money to carry out researches.

    The university’s Public Relations Officer, Lekan Fadeyi, said both the management and owner state governments are working round the clock to address the challenges.

  • Don laments favouritism in TETFUND grants

    Don laments favouritism in TETFUND grants

    The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) has been urged to review its grant-awarding process so more institutions can access funds for research.

    This appeal was made by Prof Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello of the Lagos State University (LASU) at the opening of the 7th International Congress of the African Association of Physiological Sciences and 36th Physiological Society (PSN) Scientific Conference held at the Welcome Centre Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos  yesterday.

    In an interview with journalists, Prof Olatunji-Bello, who is the Chairman, Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the four-day programme being co-hosted by LASU and the University of Lagos (UNILAG), lamented that dearth of funding for research was affecting the quality of physiology training and research, yet institutions, especially those in the south, could not easily access the public grants available for use.

    She said: “We have a great challenge of getting our researches going because of the poor state of our technology, poor state of infrastructure.  We have funds that are supposed to be released to public universities but there are so many bottlenecks that need to be removed – the bottlenecks that hinder us from assessing these funds.  They should review these criteria if not the funds are there lying waste.

    “Others are getting it; we are not getting it because there are so many things that they require that will not be available; nobody wants to go anywhere and do something illegal so we have been asking for these things and we don’t have it so let us just forget it which is why most universities are not able to assess the TETFUND.  But other universities seem to be able to assess it, mostly in the north.  Down south here we are not getting much from it.”

    Speaking on the relevance of the programme, which brought together prominent Physiologists from Egypt, Sudan, South Africa, United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia to Lagos, and other developed countries, President of the PSN, Prof A. Nwafor, said it would benefit Physiology teachers and students alike, especially the 50 sponsored by the United States to attend the programme.

    “This programme will address the case of technical training in the country. We really need it.  This way, we can get people from outside the country to tell us how to do it.  We lack instruments in Nigeria and this is where we can acquire instruments and educate people in Nigeria. America sponsored 50 students to be part of this; they are here now to learn,” he said.

    President of the International Union of Physiological Sciences (IUPS), Prof Denis Noble, said Nigeria would benefit from discussions at the programme, which has as theme: “Physiology and Biotechnology”.

    “All countries rich and poor depend on science and technology in order to be able to bring people out of poverty, raise standards of living, and improve healthcare.  All of these things stem from science so I hope this conference will bring together people from all around the world, very importantly Nigeria in itself and young scientists to help create that process by which you have improvements in social life, the rate of living and healthcare, all of those things flow from the development in science and technology,” he said.

    Chairman of the occasion, Prof Lanre Fagbohun, who is also the Vice-Chancellor, LASU, said recommendations from the congress would be useful to both the government and private sector.