The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has warned beneficiary institutions that fail to properly utilise allocated intervention funds, stating that such institutions risk being delisted from future funding.
The Executive Secretary of TETFund, Sonny Echono, issued the warning in Abuja during a two-day strategic workshop for directors of physical planning, academic planning, and Information Communication Technology (ICT) from beneficiary institutions.
Echono said the workshop reflected the Fund’s commitment to strengthening the country’s tertiary education sector by addressing operational gaps through a better understanding of intervention guidelines.
He stressed that TETFund would not tolerate underperformance or mismanagement by any institution. “Let me reiterate that institutions that fail to access, utilise or retire funds in accordance with Fund guidelines or that underperform in key academic or operational benchmarks may face delisting as TETFund beneficiaries. This policy is not punitive but rather a mechanism to safeguard the integrity and effectiveness of our interventions,” he said.
The Executive Secretary explained that the primary objective of the workshop was to build the capacity of key personnel overseeing planning, implementation, and monitoring of TETFund-supported projects. “Our aim is to ensure that every institution represented here is well equipped to align more effectively with the Fund’s operational procedures for greater efficiency, accountability, and developmental impact,” he said.
“This engagement is more than a routine meeting: it is a strategic convergence designed to address recurring implementation bottlenecks, improve compliance, and enhance institutional performance. It is our collective responsibility to ensure that the gains from TETFund interventions are not only sustained but amplified through timely and judicious utilisation of resources,” he added.
Echono also outlined strategic priorities that would shape the Fund’s direction in 2025 and beyond, including changes to the TETFund Scholarship for Academic Staff (TSAS). He confirmed that the foreign training component of the scholarship had been suspended effective 1 January 2025.
“Firstly, regarding the Academic Staff Training and Development (AST&D) intervention, as you are all aware, the Fund has suspended the foreign training component of the TETFund Scholarship for Academic Staff (TSAS), effective January 1, 2025. This decision, though difficult, was necessitated by the rising costs of overseas training and incidences of scholar abscondment. However, our commitment to building local academic capacity remains strong. We will continue to support rigorous local postgraduate programmes and professional development initiatives that deliver value at sustainable cost,” he said.
He also reaffirmed TETFund’s continued focus on research and innovation, highlighting increased allocations for various programmes. “Secondly, research and innovation remain central to our mandate. For 2025, we have scaled up funding to the National Research Fund (NRF), the Research and Innovation Fund, and the Triple Helix Model for research-industry collaboration. These initiatives are expected to generate practical solutions to national problems, particularly in technology, agriculture and healthcare, while fostering commercialisation and cross-institutional partnerships,” Echono stated.
The workshop, which was also held across Nigeria’s six geo-political zones, featured paper presentations, question-and-answer sessions, and discussions on improving institutional compliance.
PIAK