The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has issued a warning to beneficiary institutions, cautioning that failure to meet performance benchmarks or proper fund management could lead to delisting from its intervention programmes.
Speaking at a one-day strategic engagement held in Abuja on Monday with heads of institutions, bursars, and procurement officers, TETFund’s Executive Secretary, Arc. Sonny Echono, stressed that the move is not punitive, but necessary to protect the integrity of the Fund’s mission.
“Let me be clear, institutions that consistently fail to access, utilize or retire funds appropriately, or that fall short of enrollment and academic performance thresholds, risk being delisted as TETFund beneficiary institutions,” Echono stated.
He added that the Fund is committed to channeling its resources toward institutions that uphold standards of good governance, transparency, and accountability.
According to Echono, the engagement was designed to tackle persistent challenges in the tertiary education system, improve the execution of funded projects, and ultimately raise the quality of higher education in Nigeria.
The meeting also featured remarks from Dr. Joshua Atah, who represented the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Professor Abdullahi Ribadu.
Dr. Atah conveyed goodwill from the NUC and commended TETFund for organizing the forum.
He highlighted the importance of periodic engagements, saying they provide opportunities to assess the effectiveness of TETFund-supported initiatives.
The NUC representative lauded TETFund’s significant contributions to infrastructure, research, staff development, and academic excellence.
“Without its support, public education would struggle to survive,” he said.
He further praised the Fund’s flexibility, especially in suspending international scholarships to reallocate funds to areas of higher priority.
Calling for greater responsiveness from institutions, he urged them to ensure interventions are meaningful and executed efficiently.
He encouraged stakeholders to embrace open and constructive dialogue throughout the engagement, emphasizing the shared responsibility in advancing tertiary education in Nigeria.
