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Tag: TETFUND

  • Private varsities and TETFund

    When the Federal Government set up the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) in the early ’90s following submissions of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) the role was clear: To serve as an intervention agency charged with  managing, disbursing and monitoring the education tax to public tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

    At the initial stage, the government widened the scope of the funds to cover all public education institutions in Nigeria, from primary to tertiary. But in 2011, the government amended the law, through an Act scaling it down to cover the original concept. It imposed a two percent “Education Tax” on the assessable profit of all registered companies in Nigeria.

    Furthermore, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) was empowered by the Act to assess and collect this Education Tax. The Fund thereafter administers the tax imposed by the Act and disburses the amount to tertiary educational institutions at Federal and State levels. It also monitors the projects executed with the funds allocated to the beneficiaries. This was to serve as buffer against the federal and state allocations which often falls short of meeting the needs of tertiary institutions.

    Over the last couple of months however, there has been a debate whether private universities in the country should benefit from the fund. Late last year, the Proprietor of Elizade University, Ilara-Mokin, Ondo State, Chief Michael Ade-Ojo, during the Eighth International Conference of the West African Research and Innovation Management Association (WARIMA) at the university, requested government give financial support through the fund to private universities “so that the institutions can continue to be partners with government in the provision of access to education in our country.”

    Similarly, the 29th Meeting of the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Registrars of Private Universities in Nigeria (CVCRPU) under the chairmanship of Prof. Timothy Olagbemiro, Vice-Chancellor Bowen University, Iwo held at the university in Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State, also requested for a slice of the fund. The CVCRPU, at the meeting noted that apart from contributing immensely to the development of tertiary education by opening up more admission spaces, money in the fund includes taxes paid by private universities and they should therefore not be denied from benefiting from this fund. The committee has representatives from more than 50 licensed private universities in the country.

    So that it doesn’t look like a lone wolf cry by private varsities, the Vice Chancellor of Federal University of Technology, Minna, Prof. Musbau Akanji called for the review the 2011 Act to enable private universities to benefit. He was the pioneer vice chancellor of Al-Hikmah University, a private university. The Vice Chancellor of Achievers’ University, Owo, Ondo State, Prof. Tunji Ibiyemi also recently insisted that like the government-owned universities, they are in the business of providing social services; therefore government should extend financial assistance to them as players in the education sector.

    Not done yet, the Vice Chancellor of Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State, Professor Eghosa Osaghae, equally pleaded with the Federal Government to extend the fund to private varsities in the country because both public and private universities have the same goals of training and research but are all underfunded, which the government is aware of.

    The quest by all to have a share of the fund is not unfounded considering the amount involved. The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) in 2012 said it had remitted more than N591 billion to public tertiary institutions in the last couple of years. Stashed somewhere in the bank vaults is another N8 billion research fund which the Education Minister, Alhaji Ibrahim Shekarau, claims is lying idle and domiciled with TETFund and another yet to be accessed N100 billion meant for infrastructure development. Are you still surprised as to why private universities are screaming for access to TETFund’s pot of honey?

    Those on the side of public tertiary institutions like the Executive Secretary of the fund, Suleiman Bogoro, stated that it is not the responsibility of the federal government to fund private varsities. “Government does not own private institutions. Government is funding its institutions and that is public tertiary institutions…unfortunately, in this country, a number of private tertiary institutions are commercially oriented.”

    His views are also shared by ASUU, ASUP and other unions in the education sector and civil society groups who all submitted that since private tertiary institutions are established with the motive of making profit, it would be wrong for them to access the funds. “On no account should public funds, such as TETFund and the Petroleum Technology Development Fund, be used to fund private education institutions and associated enterprises,” the unions stated recently.

    It is quite understandable and clear why the unions are standing their ground on this issue. Private varsities are known for charging high fees that exclude a sizeable proportion of mainly indigent students from attending them. For example, it is on record that one of the private institutions in the country is currently charging as high as N1.59 million per session, others charge N1.1 million; however, some undergraduates in others still pay about N400, 000 per year.

    There is, therefore, a huge fees differential when compared with public universities where the fees charged by some first generation public universities range between N40, 000 and N64, 450. This range however applies only to fresh intakes. The fees for returning undergraduates are lower. Last year, there were series of riots by undergraduates in public tertiary institutions across the country when authorities tried to adjust fees to conform to current realities.

    On this issue, I’m of the opinion that we can arrive at a middle ground. Since private varsities charge huge fees, they should be compelled to set aside some percentage for research purposes. This position is valid considering the open fact that they are not charity organisations but are set up to make profits for their founders and stakeholders. A forward thinking private varsity should have plans in place on how to contact companies to sponsor research in areas that are beneficial to both.

    Since research benefits the entire public – private and public – I recommend a new approach to university research funding. We can borrow a leaf from the United States where, according to Reuters, the US federal government funds research across board. For example, about three-fifths, or $40.8 billion, of university research funding in Fiscal Year 2011 came from the Federal Government.

    It is on record that varsities get federal research grants through a competitive, project-specific application process, with the money funding all sorts of research. Grants can be as small as a few thousand dollars for projects lasting a few months to as much as tens of millions of dollars for work lasting a decade or more. Funds from states, localities, foundations, individuals, companies and other sources make up the rest of university research budgets.

    Shouldn’t we also at this stage be looking at ways of monitoring and regulating the excessive fees and charges by private varsities? I strongly believe we should since they are now clamouring for funds from the public till. In advanced countries like the United Kingdom which we are striving to emulate, the government places a limit as yearly fees to be charged by universities. A recent reforms being debated by stakeholders might see the government offsetting the bills of some indigent applicants in schools that charge premium. As a result, the government supported indigent students with a total of £708 million in 2013, up from £672 million in 2012.

    According to the UK Office of Fair Access, this is to ensure that poor students get access to university education. There is, however, a moratorium on repayment, which ends when the salary of a loan recipient is above £21,000 per year, while the loans are written off after 30 years. Back home, many Nigerians cannot afford university education without their parents running into debts.

    I believe we’ll be on the same page as we agree that the primary function of universities is teaching and researching to push the boundaries of human knowledge which therefore makes education critical to the development of the society. Every platform available to improve this should be maximised.

    I’ll sign off by saying since TETFund is aimed at improving tertiary education; a legitimate, transparent system should be in place to see a reduction in the fees private varsities charge – for those who want to access the fund. My watchword would be strict monitoring and regulation to curb excesses.

  • ‘Private universities should benefit from TETFUND’

    ‘Private universities should benefit from TETFUND’

    The Federal Government has been urged to review the Act establishing the Tertiary Education Fund (TETFUND) to enable the country’s private universities benefit.

    Vice Chancellor of Federal University of Technology, Minna, Prof. Musbau Akanji, made the plea in an interview with reporters in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.

    Prof. Akanji, who was the pioneer vice chancellor of Al-Hikmah University, said the review would develop the country’s educational system.

    He called on universities to imbibe the calendar culture of October to July, adding that it had been disrupted by strikes.

    The vice chancellor said some universities found it difficult to cope with the calendar.

    He said: “With the type of injection of funds that the Federal Government made available to public universities, if sustained, it is likely that the advancement of education will be assured.

    “I am of the opinion that privately-owned universities should benefit from Tertiary Education Trust Funds (TETFUND), because TETFUND is contributed by companies operating in Nigeria and private universities are training Nigerian children for the Nigerian economy.

    “I think government should have another look at the Act enabling TETFUND, so that private universities will benefit from it.”

    Prof Akanji emphasised that massive injection of funds to science and technology would bail Nigeria out of dependence on oil.

    His words: “At various fora, we have canvassed for massive fund injection to science and technology; there is no alternative to that. I was in France in 2010 and they showed a car that will be using water to drive. By the time that car is produced in commercial quantity, even if there is oil, nobody will buy it.

    “There is no alternative to massive funding of science and technology. So that there will be discoveries and innovations, and so that we will not rely on oil alone.

    “Nigeria used to live on agriculture before 60s. Where is that today? Nigeria should fund science and technology. I think the current trend by the National Universities Commission (NUC) that private universities must have 60/40 applied sciences to humanities is a step in the direction.”

  • Stakeholders hail TETFund on transparency

    Various stakeholders have applauded the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) for judiciously disbursing the two per cent Education Tax Fund (ETF) paid by registered companies yearly.

    They spoke at the Taxpayers Forum organised by the agency at the Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos to reward companies that have paid their taxes over the years.

    Government officials, vice chancellors, rectors and provosts of universities, polytechnics and colleges of education testified of how TETFund grants have helped improve infrastructure in their institutions, enabled staff training, provided equipment, books and instructional materials, and aided research.

    Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Education, Aminu Suleiman, endorsed the agency’s activities, describing it as a good job well done.  He said the success of the fund in improving facilities of tertiary institution is making lawmakers to consider establishing a similar agency to fund basic and secondary education.

    He said: “TETFund has not given me the opportunity to criticise.  Since I sought for and could not find, I therefore, resolved to support the fund to continue the good job it does.  If there is one good thing that the country has got right, it is TETFund.  Some of us have been tempted to say that we should create a similar fund to cater for primary and secondary education as well,’’ he said.

    Rector of the Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH), Dr Magaret Ladipo, affirmed that the taxes have been well utilised to improve quality of education in tertiary institutions.

    “TETFund is working; taxpayers’ money is well utilised.  If you come to YABATECH, apart from infrastructure, we are now bridging the gap between industry and the classroom.  Without TETFund, it would have been impossible,” she said.

    On his part, the Provost, College of Education, Katsina-Ala in Benue State, Dr Hans Senwua, said almost all infrastructure in public institutions can be credited to TETFund, while the representative of Prof Godwin Onu of Oko Polytechnic, said if the tax is increased by even one per cent, more development would be recorded.

    However, despite doing so well over the years, the vice chancellor, Bayero University Kano, Prof Adamu Rasheed Abubakar, in his paper, urged the agency to review how it funds research to strengthen the research capabilities of institutions.

    He said the institutions were not churning out relevant researches because they lacked the enabling environment.

    He said: “There is lack of enabling environment in tertiary institutions to embrace enterprise. This makes research from tertiary institutions unattractive to industry. But for TETFund, the universities did not have the capacity to do serious research.TETFund may need to slightly fine-tune its role to support high impact research and development.”

    In his presentation, the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Prof Suleiman Bogoro, said all categories of tertiary institutions in Nigeria benefited immensely from TETFund grants in the past three months.  He said the method for disbursement is fair and devoid of politics.

    He said: “In the past three months, we disbursed N912 million to every Federal and state university in this country; N681 million for polytechnics; N561 million for colleges of education. For the High-Impact fund, which is a special intervention fund to address particular identified needs, universities get N3 billion; polytechnics get N1 billion. Gradually, we are covering many institutions.”

    At the event, 100 companies were presented with plaques for faithfully paying the Education Tax Fund, which is collected by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and remitted to TETFund.

    One of the recipients, Mhammed Hijo, who collected on behalf of A. S. Yadin, a road construction company in Yola, said he was glad that the tax he paid was well utilised.

     

  • TETFund: VC makes case for private varsities

    Vice Chancellor of Oduduwa University, Prof Olajumo Olayiwola has urged the Federal Ministry of Education to include private universities among the beneficiaries of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).

    She said this during the convocation of the university.

    She said doing so would reduce the tuition fees charged by the private universities in the country, which would also bring joy to parents.

    Prof Olayiwola said instead of government seeing private universities in the country as means by which the proprietors generate money, they should be seen as indispensable contributors towards not only the development of education in the country but also providers of quality education education.

    At the convocation, 196 students graduated from various departments including Biochemistry, Microbiology, Computer Science, Industrial Chemistry, Physics, Accounting, Banking and Finance, Business Administration, Economics and Mass communication.

     

  • Extend TETFUND to private universities, says Afe Babalola

    Extend TETFUND to private universities, says Afe Babalola

    THE founder, Afe Babalola University, Chief Afe Babalola has called on the Federal Government to extend Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) to private universities.

    He made the call at the public presentation of a book “Law and its Leeway”, written in honour of a legal icon and Emeritus Professor of International Law, Prof. Isaac Oluwole Agbede.

    The book which is a compilation of 21 articles written by different experts all various aspects of law relating to Agbede’s specialisation was published by GEM Publication.

    Babalola, who was represented by a lawyer from the university, Sesan Fagbamise noted that since private universities also contribute to the wealth of knowledge in the society and parents of students in the universities tax payers, there was need for the government to stop depriving them access to such funds.

    He also tasked the government to ensure adequate funding of qualitative research in the country, noting that UNESCO’s recommendation of 25 per cent of budget allotted to education was feasible.

    “Adequate funding of research and education institutes must be encouraged. Private investors in education need funds and the government needs to make TETFUND go round including private institutions,” he said.

    Extolling the virtues of Agbede, Babalola emphasised the need for people to celebrate excellence and achievements.

    “Achievements are the end products of excellence combined with brain; and we are all here to celebrate excellence.

    According to him, the honouree was an embodiment of excellence.

    At the event were Vice Chancellor, Babcock University, Prof. Kayode Makinde; former Ekiti Information Commissioner, Dayo Ekundayo; Appeal Court judges, Justices Olubunmi Oluwoye and Elfreda Williams; High Court judges, Justices Opeyemi Oke, Oluwatoyin Taiwo and Moji Olato as well as renowned lawyers, Taiwo Osiptan (SAN) and Funke Adekoya (SAN), among others.

    In his remark, Makinde described Agbede as an ambassador of excellence in the field of academics.

    “Trees do not bear fruit, they bear the branches on which the fruits grow; Issac Oluwole Agbede is a scholar, and his impact in the society, has such an enduring effect that its ripples can be seen” he said

    Makinde extolled the academic virtues of Agbede and urged law students to imbibe the culture of legal research, so that their legacies would be replicated by those behind.

    Reviewing the book, Adekoya likened a good book to good food and praised the scholarly efforts of all those who contributed to the essays.

    The book, which is divided into Eight parts, (A-H), has 10 chapters, containing essays on various aspects of the law, such as: legal practice and procedure, international law, among others.

  • TETFUND trains 10,363 tertiary workers

    Ten thousand, three hundred and sixty-three academic and non-academic workers in tertiary institutions were trained within and outside Nigeria by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) between 2010 and 2014.

    TETFUND Executive Secretary Prof. Suleiman Bogoro spoke yesterday at the 27th Annual General Meeting and International Conference of the Nigeria Institution of Mechanical Engineers at Zaranda Hotel in Bauchi.

    He said TETFUND’s intervention in staff training was unrivalled in Africa and among the best in the world.

    Bogoro, who was conferred with an award, was a guest speaker.

    Presenting a paper on “Capacity Building and Infrastructural Development in Nigeria: The TETFUND Intervention in Nigerian Public Tertiary Educational Institutions, he said 3, 270 university workers, 3050 in polytechnics and 4, 043 in colleges of education were trained in the period under review.

    Bogoro said 1,633 doctorate degree holders were trained abroad and 3,041 in the country; 1,375 Master holders were trained abroad and 4,084 in the country.

    He said: “Today, the number of journals published in tertiary institutions has increased tremendously as a result of TETFUND’s intervention in academic staff training and development.

    “We have identified a number of theses and developed them into books to encourage book publication, not just carrying titles of P.hD and Master. We will continue to encourage book publication. Our mandate is to fill the gap of what is lacking in institutions.”

    Bogoro said TETFUND has sponsored over 17,933 academic and non-academic workers on conferences within and outside the country under its Conference Attendance Programme.

    “The objective is to provide opportunities for our lecturers to interact with their colleagues world-wide to the advantage of Nigeria’s education system,” he added.

    Nigerian Institution of Mechanical Engineers National Chairman Prof. Adisa Bello said the theme of the conference was apt because many developing countries, such as Nigeria, were looking for solutions to their problems.

  • Tertiary institutions underutilised N22.3b in 10 years, says TETFUND

    The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) expressed yesterday  regrets that institutions, which benefitted from the N22.3 billion intervention fund in the last 10 years, underutilised the funds.

    The Chairman, Board of Trustees of the fund, Dr. Musa Babayo, spoke in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, at a capacity building programme for laboratory technologists in tertiary institutions in the Northcentral and Southwest.

    The programme was titled: “Enhancing the Capacity and Productivity of Technician/Technologists”.

    Represented by Alhaji Idris Saidu, the TETFund former executive secretary, Babayo said the funds were released as intervention fund to procure technical and laboratory equipment for laboratories.

    “However, some of the equipment are either never been installed, underutilised or not being properly maintained by the respective benefiting institutions,’’ he said.

    According to him, the underutilisation is due to lack of trained laboratory technologists in the technical and vocational education in the country.

    “Specifically, between 2004 and 2007, seven billion naira was allocated to technical and vocational education, while N15.3 billion was released in 2011 for technical/vocational equipment.

    “This was through the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) to tertiary institutions,” he said.

    Babayo said TETFund recognised  the importance of laboratory and technologists in facilitating and enhancing teaching and research activities in the area of scientific studies in tertiary institutions.

    He said this, therefore, aroused the interest of the fund in the provision of intervention fund for laboratory equipment in the tertiary institutions.

    “It has, therefore, become imperative that we match capacity building programme to the funds allocated for interventions in all tertiary institutions to ensure optimal benefit for the educational sector and the nation,’’ he said.

    Prof. Suleiman Bogoro, the TETFund Executive Secretary, said the fund was committed to the delivery of quality and would intervene toward the educational development of the nation.

    He implored other stakeholders in the education sector to continue their collaboration with the fund.

  • Wike counsels on TETFund

    Heads of Federal Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria have been advised to utilise their Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) intervention grants judiciously and for the purposes the money was released.

    Supervising Minister of Education, Chief Ezenwo Nyeson Wike, who gave the advice at the Stakeholders’ Town Hall Meeting on TETFund interventions in Tertiary Institutions in the Southwest held at the Trenchard Hall, University of Ibadan, debunked the claim that the Federal Government was not interested in education.

    Wike said the Federal Government has demonstrated its committed to education with the allocation of N1.3tr for infrastructural development in universities for a period of five years. He, therefore, called on institutions to access the N27b intervention fund with TETFund.

    Acting Executive Secretary of TETFund, Mallam Aliyu Na’iya, said the agency discourages delays in execution of projects, which is why intervention funds were released to the implementing institutions in three batches: 1st Tranche – 50 per cent, 2nd Tranche – 35 and final Tranche – 15, a system that gives no room for abandoned project.

  • NESG: N102b in TETFUND/UBEC; Sanusi and ‘kerocalamity’; Whistleblowers;

    NESG: N102b in TETFUND/UBEC; Sanusi and ‘kerocalamity’; Whistleblowers;

    As the Nigerian Economic Summit Group focuses yet another spotlight on Education, sadly, while some children have no desks, chairs, books and lab equipment, there is N69 billion in TETFUND and N33b in UBEC, totalling N102billion, un-accessed by potential beneficiary institutions. Is this an administrative, political will, red tape or corruption problem? NESG 2014 should insist that this be solved and some institution and state ministry of education officials should be investigated and perhaps removed for incompetence.

    Whistleblowing is dangerous to your employment health. But we, the honest, must improve efforts to clean up the growing cesspool. Remember the fertiliser, NITEL answering machine, NEPA guesstimeter, multiple pension, petrol, bunkering and kerosene scams, the funding of political parties from government coffers, and the questionable census figures from the 1956s? -All corruption.

    And now shamefully and perhaps illegally governments punish us for government failures by billing citizens to assess emissions from very expensive private generators bought for business survival and to replace government power failures. Is this not double punishment over-charging, illegality and government corruption? This must be challenged in court. In this cesspool, Nigeria needs many whistleblowers, websites, exhibitions and Museums.

    The exit of CBN GovernorSanusi, who is no saint, appears a vindictive step to shut him up, so close to the end of his term. Was it an attempt to prevent him using CB documents as backup when talking to NASS on the N10b kerosene scam? Sadly there are always others immediately available to take the place of fallen stars. We are all animals and the human is a very nasty animal. While one expects government agencies to cooperate we do not expect them to cooperate in corruption. No doubt he will ‘resurrect’ as the Emir of Kano and future Presidents will pay homage. Yes, he was excessively flamboyant and loud for a CB Governor. That asset will probably help him on speaking tours worldwide with the Wikileaks and the US security whistleblowers. He should be joined by Odumegwu whose successor at the Census Commission was warned against commenting on past rubbished Census figures which favour the North. It seems the politicians are the only ones who do not know that the census figures are a corrupt, malicious, malignant mathematical creation. Ostriches! Some people, and government insider Mafiosi or cabals, do not want the truth because it will question Nigeria’s foundation for unity.

    I disagreed with Sanusi’s policies like high base lending rate, the N5000 note, high interest rates, undisclosed bank bonuses and policy not to appreciate the naira to pre-Abacha levels $1:N88. His giving of billions in funds to ‘needy’ causes is not within the remit of CBN. The CBN’s job is to keep and improve the value of, and not spend, our money and to handle, hold and manage and invest our money wisely. He did not even pay CBN pensioners without a costly fight to the Supreme Court.

    However, Sanusi’s exposure of the ‘kerocalamity’ is redemptive and worthy of national honours. We need a WHISTLEBLOWERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA, WAN, and a website. We should all get whistles and on a particular ‘WAN’ day, blow them at officials committing crimes. We should call carry ‘WHISTLEBLOWER WHISTLES’ and blow them whenever we see a checkpoint, or other crime being perpetrated. There is corruption everywhere, from petrol station pump supervision, to hospital admissions, to exam success, to police stations, to the electricity we generate and the water we drink or the air we are allowed to inhale. There is real war by the Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen with many deaths and injuries and homeless. Nigeria must stand firm for Nigeria to survive. We must stop corruption at every level. Nigeria must fight but can it fight two battles on two separate fronts- corruption and the Boko Haram. Around the world, Venezuela, Ukraine, Thailand, we see the suffering and struggle for political purification. Bad politicians of every party must be forced out. Nigeria’s goose laying golden eggs days may be over. As our gallant soldiers defend Nigeria with their blood, from the internal and external war of Boko Harem, we must clean up the rest of the country. We must clean up the polity, which must not be allowed to fund itself from the treasury. We must clean up the civil service, stopping bribe-taking before every service is given or even appointing consultants as middlemen. We must clean up the bar and the judiciary. We must clean up our homes, offices and communities. Are you corrupt? Stop today before you kill Nigeria.

    One addition, can we not call on political parties not to fund, equip, use or be seen with thugs, other people’s children, for political war? Demand a ‘thug ban’? Let us have poster and advert wars but no physical violence. Sponsoring violent bodies or having them in one’s entourage should lead to expulsion from the party. The Ejigbo extortion and murder of women and girls is an opportunity to stop irregular behaviour by irregular ethnic or political militia/armies and police. To force them into visibility and responsibility there should be compulsory 1] Registration of members, 2] Name tags, large size, 3] Duty Rosters, 4] Mug shots, 5] Closer Supervision, 6] Prosecution and Punishment for breaches of the code and 7] Accessible Membership Lists. What manner of man would murder, beat and treat women this way unless he is in a criminal organisation? Go on ‘Blow a whistle!’.

     

     

  • Still on agenda setting

    In my piece on December 26, 2013 (Why we must set the agenda now), I wrote on the 12-man Monitoring Committee on the implementation of the recommendation of the Committee on Needs Assessment of Nigerian Universities. The committee was set up by the Federal Government in the thick of the 2013 suspended Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike. It is expected to oversee the execution of projects on the campuses of federal and state universities across the country.

    Chief Nyesom Wike, the Supervising Minister of Education, heads the committee. Other members include the Minister of Labour, Senator Atiku Abubakar Bagudu, Hon Jerry Alagbaoso, Permanent Secretary Federal Ministry of Education, Executive Secretary National Universities Commission (NUC), and Chairman Board of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TeTFund), Presidents of ASUU, NASU, Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and NAATS while Mr. Ifiok Ukim, Head of Legal Services at Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) will serve as Secretary. The Committee, after inauguration, constituted six monitoring teams for the six geo- Political zones with responsibility to monitor projects in all the universities within the zones.

    I wrote then that: “On paper, and in the news, this is right on point! But in reality most of us will say, ‘we’ve heard this before, we are hearing it now and will continue to hear it until something actually changes. For me, I believe the time to set the agenda is now.”

    I never knew I would have to revisit the issue so soon. On Sunday, January 5, this year news broke that the Implementation Monitoring Committee (IMC) has been working on a formula for allocating the funds. Recollect that in a Memorandum of Understanding reached at the conclusion of its negotiations with ASUU in December, the Federal Government had agreed to inject N1.3trillion this purpose, beginning with an initial deposit of N200billion with the Central Bank to be disbursed this year.

    Just a few days after its inauguration, some Nigerians started condemning the IMC as yet another unnecessary bureaucracy, even though there was a unanimous agreement that something drastic has to be done for the tertiary education sector. Such critics anchored their argument on the well over 60 other committees the Jonathan administration has set up since 2011. The question asked then was, what impact would the IMC make?

    But critics were assured that they would not lose a night sleep as the IMC would not be like those other committees, given its genesis and composition. To back up this postulation, we were reminded how it was central to the agreement reached between the Federal Government and ASUU last December and that its membership includes representatives of the Federal Government; the Committees of Pro- and Vice-Chancellors; the Secretaries of the NUC and the TETFUND and the leaders of various university trade unions, including ASUU and SSANU.

    With such ‘foolproof’ arrangement it was taken for granted that it would not be business as usual with this committee. Recollect also that Simeon Nwakaudu, the Special Assistant (Media) to the Supervising Minister of Education said the IMC “has the responsibility of directly monitoring the implementation of projects being executed with allocated funds in all the public universities of the country spread across the six geo-political zones. The projects to be executed are based primarily on the list of prioritised projects computed by the respective governing councils of the universities.”

    To further silence critics, he emphasised that “the IMC is not involved in the award of contracts, but principally set up to ensure that the best results are achieved over the period of six years that the Needs Assessment report of the public universities will be implemented.”

    Just when one was determined to watch things unfold, it has been observed that the “Nigerian factor” has stated rearing its head. One of such concerns is the dichotomy between federal and state universities in the allocation of the funds. According to newspaper reports, it was disclosed that the IMC “is working out the sharing formula between federal and state universities” partly because “This money is coming out of the Federal Government’s share of the federation account which does not include the states.”

    I find this argument, at this stage a prelude to future conflict on certain grounds. First, all public universities, Federal and state, are in a dire strait, and they were all identified and captured in the Needs Assessment Report. The entire image of public university education in the country is at stake. If the goal is to enhance this image by improving on teaching resources, infrastructure, and capacity building for lecturers, why not do so across board?

    My second concern is: If state universities were not going to ‘share’ in the reward, why allow them to close throughout the strike, while their lecturers participated in the strike along with their federal ounterparts? Already, state varsities are eagerly awaiting ‘huge funds’ from the Federal Government. Though not a prophet, I predict that some university administrators may soon face strike by their workers for not disbursing funds that they don’t have and may never have, if their institutions are discriminated against.

    The argument that the funds are coming from the “Federal Government’s share of the Federation Account”, certainly needs further clarifications. The Fed Govt already controls 56 per cent of the Federation Account. Besides, there have been allegations that it has been mopping up funds from the Excess Crude account and the Foreign reserve, while at the same time starving states of their necessary shares. States representatives, Pro-Chancellors and Vice-Chancellors of state universities, have a duty to intervene to prevent the discriminatory allocation of the infrastructure fund, if this is found to be the case.

    I’m not advocating a flat sharing structure; I advocate the use of criteria, such as campus size, student population, the nature and state of classrooms, and the quality of existing teaching resources. These should serve as critical factors to consider in the allocation of resources.

    The search for a secretariat is my major concern. The committee rightly believes it needs a secretariat to carry out its duties. Ordinarily, this should not raise eyebrows if there were no alternatives on ground. But this is Nigeria where you need to investigate every issue under the microscope as it were.

    Are there no alternatives? The answer is quite obvious as there are alternatives. The huge NUC complex in Abuja is one, or any of presentable varsities in the geo-political zones. But the “Nigerian factor” will call for a separate secretariat so that the NUC would not ‘interfere’ with the functions of the IMC. Note that this secretariat will come at a price that will start eating deep into the funds already earmarked for the corrective measures.

    Why am I saying this? A secretariat will probably come with recruiting fresh workers who would handle administrative and logistic functions of the committee. I had thought that such a secretariat is needed to accommodate the Committee’s computers and papers, while its staff is drawn from existing workers to be seconded there by federal and state governments as well as federal and state universities.

    Moreover, some Nigerians are of the opinion that the committee’s meetings would be rotated across the six geopolitical zones so that members could get closer to specific institutions and monitor the progress they are making. If this is the case, it won’t take long before the secretariat – which most probably would be in Abuja – start incurring huge overheads, thereby draining part of the allocated funds. Since it will last for at least six years, it may end up being filled with relatives, tribesmen and women and friends of committee members.

    This is not the time for this, what should concern us is transparency and posterity; and to crack our heads on how to bring a system that produced the likes of the late Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, the late Bala Yusuf, JP Clark and a host of other scholars who cut their teeth in our public varsities. At every point, Nigerians deserve to know the criteria of allocation; how much is allocated to which university; the projects attached to the funds; and how they are being executed.

    This is not asking for too much.