Tag: TETFUND

The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has announced a Special Intervention initiative aimed at addressing persistent power failures in the nation’s tertiary institutions.

Chairman of the TETFund Board of Trustees, Aminu Masari, revealed this on Wednesday while inaugurating the steering committee on the Alternative Energy Solution Initiative for higher institutions.

Masari, a former governor of Katsina State, stated that the initiative aligns with TETFund’s commitment to supporting the government’s efforts to ensure a stable power supply in universities, polytechnics, and colleges across the country.

He emphasized the critical role of electricity in learning and research, noting that inadequate power supply remains a major challenge in many tertiary institutions.

Masari said: “We all know the combination of many factors to include the increase in tariff which has become unbearable to these institutions coupled withe other issues.”

According to him, power demand, among other things, was critical to learning and research, preparing the way for the development of the students.

The committee, which has Sunday Adepoju, a member of TETFund BoT as chairman, was given an initial two months to summit a preliminary report. 

It will, however, be part of the implementation team.

Read Also: TETfund to help varsities tackle high energy costs

It would be recalled that the Federal Government had planned to provide power supply to tertiary institutions through the Rural Electrification Agency (REA). 

The REA aims to provide captive solar hybrid power plants to 15 federal tertiary institutions and two teaching hospitals. 

This initiative was part of the government’s efforts to increase electricity access to underserved Nigerians.

The lack of power supply has been a significant challenge for tertiary institutions in Nigeria, affecting the learning environment and academic activities. 

The provision of a reliable power supply is expected to improve the quality of education and research in these institutions.

Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund),  Mr Sonny Echono, has pledged the agency’s intervention for tertiary institutions affected by crippling high energy cost.

This, he said,  is to complement the efforts of the federal government amid plans  to install solar energy panels in some of the institutions.

Some public universities like the University of Lagos, the University of Ibadan and Ahmadu Bello University, because of their categorisation as Band A users by electricity distribution companies, contend wiith monthly power bill in excess of N300 million. Echono spoke  in Lagos at the weekend where TETFund won the New Telegraph Newspaper’s award as the Most Improved Government Agency in 2024.

The TETFund boss expressed optimism that this year  would be a great one for the agency, as it consolidates on previous gains and moves into another level of its intervention activities.

“The award is dedicated to Mr President and the Minister of Education who have been pushing us to ensure judicious use of allocated resources and to also ensure that our beneficiary institutions use resources allocated to them judiciously too.

“2025 we believe is going to be our brightest year of intervention as we are going to tailor our interventions to the needs of our beneficiary institutions. We are focusing on things like power.

We know that most of our beneficiary institutions are facing the challenge of paying energy bills and we are going to key into the move by the federal government to provide solar power to a number of public tertiary institutions.”

Read Also: N30trn Ways and Means: Senate panel accuses CBN of frustrating probe

“We will also improve the condition for teaching and learning. We will improve the conditions of hostels and we will enhance research efforts and capacities of our lecturers. We will ensure that our research centres are excellent in nature and that we won’t need to send research samples abroad again.

“We will continue efforts to improve the

capacities of our institutions to become centres of excellence and thereby improve their global rankings and also make our students to be globally competitive,” he said.

Echono allayed the fear of being overwhelmed by the constant establishment of higher institutions by the government, as it is mandatory for it to cater for such institutions.

“The more the merrier. We have a high rate of population growth and a high demand for higher education. In a situation where over two million candidates seek admission to tertiary institutions yearly and between 600,000 and 700,000 are admitted, we still need more higher institutions.

We welcome new challenges and we are ready to fulfil our mandate,” he said.

The Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, Arc. Sonny Echono, has called for the full implementation of the University Autonomy Act 2007.

Echono said that the full implementation of the 2007 Act would provide a uniform framework for autonomy across all the universities in Nigeria, enabling them to achieve academic excellence as well as contribute to national development.

He spoke while delivering lecture on ‘University autonomy and the challenge of quality tertiary education in Nigeria’ at the ninth convocation of the Federal University of Oye Ekiti, lamenting that the implementation was of the university autonomy Act was limited to the federal universities.

The TETFUND boss, however, stressed the urgent need for stakeholders in the Nigerian university system to collaborate in ensuring total implementation of the Act beyond federal universities.

He noted that autonomy is essential for the universities to achieve operational efficiency and effectiveness, adding that ivory towers must enjoy administrative, financial, and academic autonomy to provide innovative solutions to national challenges and compete globally.

Echono noted that the autonomy would enable Nigerian universities to initiate ideas, improve quality education, and contribute to national development. 

The TETFUND boss also highlighted the benefit of university autonomy including collaboration with industries, alumni, and other institutions, which would enhance their infrastructure and facilitate global competitiveness.

Read Also: NITDA partners Flutterwave, Alami to boost digital transformation

He said,”Autonomy enables universities to enhance their infrastructure network using their collaboration with industries, alumni, and other educational and research institutions. 

“University autonomy also provides opportunities for global collaboration between many universities to share ideas and experiences, pedagogy used for effective teaching and learning processes, offer shared courses, dual degree programmes, cultural exchange programmes, research collaborations between different countries, and facilitate global competitiveness”, Echono added. 

The TETFUND boss also identified that inadequate funding of tertiary education remained a threat to quality education in Nigeria, saying many institutions were finding it difficult to build classrooms as a result of inadequate funding.

“Except for the intervention of TETFUND, many tertiary institutions in Nigeria were finding it difficult to build classrooms and lecture halls, equipment laboratories and workshops and provide research grants to their academic staff,” he said.

The House of Representatives Committee on Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) have called for sustenance of fund in the tertiary institutions across the country.

The committee said rather than scrapping TETFUND, it should improved and sustained.

Chairman of the committee, Miriam Onuoha stated this on Thursday in Abakaliki, capital of Ebonyi state 

She spoke at the permanent site of Ebonyi State University (EBSU) during the inauguration of three new TETFUND projects in the university.

She described TETFUND as the life wire of tertiary education in the country.

She expressed the hope that President Bola Tinubu will not support the call by some persons in the country to scrap the fund.

Onuoha averred that if TETFUND is scrapped many people will be jobless as according to her, the fund has created a lot of jobs for Nigerians.

She said: “TETFUND has become the life wire of tertiary education in Nigeria and therefore deserved to be sustained. I say this from the legislature and as the overnight committee having tour the length and breath of Nigeria to oversight 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 deserved to live..

“TETFUND also have a host of staff and with zonal offices already spread across the country. I want to say that if TETFUND is scrapped, it will lead to loss of jobs.

“I believe that the President is a father and he is a listening President and he has listened to the reports just as the bill is being read today for the second time in the House of Representatives.

“When it will get to a committee stage, I will be one of those who will champion that you don’t throw away a baby with the bathing water. 

“All that need  to be done, all that have been complained by the stakeholders about substandard projects, abandonment, delay in accessing projects. All of these are the reasons government and the legislature embark on oversight”.

Executive Secretary of TETFUND, represented by Babatunde Olajide said the three inaugurated projects in the university were Annual interventions of years 2016-2019 (Merged), 2021-2022 (Merged) and 2020 amounting  to N1,339,791,726.06, all delivered successfully in line with the TETFund guidelines

“We are optimistic that these projects will strengthen efforts of the university to become a global player in the tertiary education subsector and significantly contribute to research and development. 

“I salute the doggedness of the Management and urge you to maintain focus and ensure consistency in realising the mandate of the university.

“Our resolve as a fund is to ensure that our interventions are sustained and improved upon as much as possible to enable our institutions undertake bigger, and more laudable and impactful projects that will make them become globally competitive and situate them in enviable positions among their peers both nationally and globally. 

“We shall continually engage with our beneficiary institutions towards ensuring the delivery of iconic and impactful intervention projects in subsequent intervention years.

“Let me use this opportunity to inform you that government has directed that the 2025 intervention allocation for physical infrastructure be utilized for the comprehensive rehabilitation/upgrade of old dilapidating infrastructures, in view of the massive and embarrassing level of decay of existing buildings in our institutions. 

“The purpose of this is to give the learning environment a facelift that is conducive for teaching, learning and research, comparable to what is obtainable abroad. Consequently, no new structures are to be built with the upcoming year 2025 TETFund allocations for physical infrastructure”, he stated.

Governor Francis Nwifuru, represented by his Deputy, Patricia Obila commended TETFUND for infrastructural development in higher institutions across the country.

The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has said it sponsored 23,938 lecturers for PhD programmes and 17,700 others for Master’s degrees in the last 13 years.

TETFund also said it sponsored over 18,766 lecturers for doctor of philosophy (Ph.D) and over 14,159 others for Master’s degree programmes within the country between 2011 and 2024.

The agency said over 5,172 other lecturers got its sponsorship to overseas institutions for Ph.D. programmes and 3,541 for Master’s degrees in overseas tertiary institutions within the same period.

TETFund’s Executive Secretary Sunday Echono announced this at the weekend while delivering the convocation lecture of the Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) at Ago-Iwoye in Ogun State.

The agency boss said the fund had also supported 120,441 lecturers in federal and states’ Colleges of Education under its teaching practice supervision programme.

Echono announced that an estimated 19,302 academic workers across tertiary institutions in the country were sponsored to foreign conferences while 4,516 non-academic staff of public tertiary institutions had also benefitted from the same sponsorship.

He added that no fewer than 25,940 academic workers were sponsored to attend local conferences within the country, while about 45,005 non-academic workers got sponsorship to attend local workshops in beneficiary institutions within the country.

The convocation lecturer explained that the initiative was aimed at building the nation’s capacity, skills, and manpower need.

He put the cumulative number of academic and non-academic workers in public tertiary institutions the agency had sponsored to local and overseas conferences in the last 13 years at 94,763.

Read Also: Masari: more TETFUND interventions coming

Speaking on the topic: TETFund and Educational Development in Nigeria: The History, Treasures and Future, Echono noted that the agency had recorded laudable achievements under its various intervention lines, including infrastructural projects across universities, polytechnics and colleges of education, ranging from Senate buildings, classrooms, and lecture theatres.

The TETFund executive secretary said there was a need for Nigeria to invest more in the education sector as well as sustain the funding of higher institutions across the country.

He stressed that the future of Nigeria’s educational development should be anchored on strengthening tertiary education for sustainable national development in a post-subsidy era.

According to him, for Nigeria’s educational institutions to be competitive, tertiary institutions should move its focus from the overarching philosophy to a more flexible and diversified one.

Echono decried the poor budgetary allocation to the education sector, warning that the sector was grossly insufficient to address the needs and standards required to provide a world-class tertiary education system.

The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) has sponsored more than 23,938 lecturers for PhD programs and 17,700 for master’s degrees over the past 13 years.

Between 2011 and 2024, over 18,766 lecturers received funding for PhD programs, while more than 14,159 benefited from master’s degree sponsorships within Nigerian institutions. 

Additionally, 5,172 lecturers were funded for PhD studies abroad, while 3,541 pursued master’s degrees in overseas institutions.

The Executive Secretary of TETFUND, Arch. Sunday Echono, disclosed this while delivering the convocation lecture at Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) in Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State. 

He further revealed that 120,441 lecturers in federal and state colleges of education had received support under the fund’s teaching practice supervision program.

Echono added that 19,302 academic staff from tertiary institutions had been sponsored to international conferences, while 4,516 non-academic staff also benefited from similar sponsorships. 

Meanwhile, 25,940 academic staff and 45,005 non-academic staff were supported to attend local conferences and workshops across various institutions in Nigeria.

The convocation lecturer explained that the initiative was aimed at building the nation’s capacity, skills, and manpower need, just as he also puts the cumulative number of academic and non-academic staff of public tertiary institutions sponsored to local and overseas conferences in the last 13 years at 94,763.

Speaking on the topic’ TETFUND and  Educational Development in Nigeria: The History, Treasures and Future, Echono, said without doubt that TETFund had recorded laudable achievements under its various intervention lines to include infrastructural projects across universities, polytechnics and colleges of education that ranged from senate buildings, classrooms to lecture theatres amongst others.

He however said there was the need for Nigeria as a country to invest more in its education sector as well as find a way of sustaining the funding of institutions in the country. 

He explained that the future of Nigeria’s educational development should be anchored on strengthening tertiary education for sustainable national development in a post-subsidy era in Nigeria, adding that for our educational institutions to be competitive, the tertiary education system move its focus from the overarching philosophy of Nigeria to a more flexible and diversified one. 

Read Also: TETFUND chief Echono to deliver OOU’s 34th convocation lecture

He lamented the poor budgetary allocation to the education sector, warning that it is  grossly insufficient to address the needs and standards required to provide a world-class tertiary education system both in content and infrastructure for the country.

He said: “The budgetary allocation to the education sector in Nigeria is grossly inadequate to meet the needs and standards required to provide a world-class tertiary education system both in content and infrastructure, that is expected to provide the critical manpower needed for the country to develop.

 “Nigeria’s budgetary allocation to the entire education subsector from 2016-2022 was a meagre N4.68 trillion and approximately 5.94% of the total budget for the period. The figure falls short of the UNESCO recommended benchmark of 15-20%.

“In 2016, N480.28 billion [7.9% of the total budget] was allocated to the sector, 2017, N 448.44 billion [6.1%], N651.23 billion in 2018 [7.1%], N745.53 billion in 2019 [8.4%, N686.82 billion in 2020 [6.5%], N742.52 billion in 2021 [5.6%] and the sum of N923,79 billion was allocated to the sector in 2022 representing a low 5.4% of the total annual budget. The year 2024 budget dedicated an improved, but meagre 7.9% of the total annual budget to the education sector, while Ghana and Kenya dedicated 24.37% and 21.70% of their total annual budgets respectively to the educational sector.”