The Board of Trustees, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), has taken a final stand on the issue of delay in completion of approved projects in all its beneficiary institutions, warning that affected institutions will not get approval to commence new projects in the 2027 allocation cycle.
The BOT Chairman, Aminu Bello Masari, in a statement by the Director, Public Affairs of TETFund, Abdulmumin Oniyangi, noted the reasons given for the unacceptable development, which range from volatility in market prices of key building materials like cement, reinforcement bars, sanitary/electrical fittings, among others. This is why a new intervention line dedicated to completing the affected projects was introduced in 2023.
“As a result of the above initiative of the Board of Trustees, a recent review confirmed that it yielded the desired result as many of the affected projects have been completed following this initiative,” he stated.
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However, the Chairman, BOT, frowned at the continued occurrence of non-adherence to stipulated timelines in completing TETFund sponsored projects as noticed recently.
“Lack of continuity in project implementation by heads of beneficiary institutions who prefer to start new projects, delays in processing of payments to contractors handling the projects are largely responsible for the avoidable development,” he noted.
The Board also warned that TETFund sponsored projects would not be allowed to be negatively impacted by internal bureaucracy and politics within beneficiary institutions.
Therefore, as a lasting solution to the recurring problems of distressed projects, the BOT has approved the following measures for immediate implementation:
All Beneficiary Institutions (BI) are to compile a comprehensive list of all projects that have exceeded their planned completion period by more than 6 months, indicating causes of delay and proffering remedies; The projects are to be ranked in order of relevance and priority, with detailed costing for their completion.
The board further approved the establishment of a robust supervision mechanism involving members of the Board of Trustees and the Physical Planning and Maintenance Departments of beneficiary institutions to ensure projects are delivered on time, within approved costs and to specified quality standards.
Institutions with delayed projects will be required to prioritise the completion of these projects under their Annual, Zonal and High Impact Intervention lines. Accordingly, no new projects will be admitted from the identified beneficiary institutions for the 2027 Intervention cycle.
Monitoring teams comprising members of the BOT and technical staff of the Fund shall carry out on-the-spot assessment of the affected projects and examine proposals from affected Beneficiary Institutions on programmes for their completion. These shall be conducted within the months of August and September 2026 ahead of the October 2026 statutory meeting of the BoT for the consideration of projects to be admitted into the 2027 disbursement guidelines.
