ABUJA, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)-The Centre for Public Accountability has described the Tertiary Education Trust Fund as a vital support system for Nigeria’s troubled higher education sector, warning that many public tertiary institutions could have suffered worse infrastructural decline and academic challenges without its interventions.
Speaking during a virtual press conference on Thursday, the Executive Director of CPA, Olufemi Lawson, said the organisation’s independent assessment revealed that TETFund remained central to the growth and sustainability of universities, polytechnics and colleges of education nationwide.
Lawson explained that the civil society group carried out several months of investigative and monitoring exercises across the country to assess TETFund’s projects, transparency, institutional effectiveness and service delivery under the leadership of the Fund’s Executive Secretary, Sonny Echono.
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He noted that the assessment involved researchers, education specialists, procurement monitors, policy analysts and field investigators who interacted with school administrators, lecturers, students, contractors and host communities across Nigeria.
“Our findings indicate that TETFund has continued to play a strategic and indispensable role in the growth and development of tertiary education in Nigeria,” Lawson stated.
He added that despite economic difficulties, inflation and increasing project costs, the Fund had sustained intervention programmes targeted at strengthening institutional capacity and improving learning environments.
According to the CPA, records showed that TETFund disbursed more than ₦1.8tn to public tertiary institutions between 2011 and 2024.
The organisation disclosed that universities received over ₦918bn within the period, while polytechnics got more than ₦461bn and colleges of education received above ₦458bn.
Lawson said the interventions had produced noticeable infrastructural and academic improvements in institutions across the country.
“Reports indicate that more than 152,000 infrastructural projects have been executed through TETFund interventions nationwide,” he said.
The projects, according to the organisation, include lecture halls, laboratories, libraries, hostels, ICT centres, faculty complexes, entrepreneurship centres, workshops and innovation hubs.
“Many institutions that previously suffered severe infrastructural deficits now possess significantly improved learning environments due to these interventions,” Lawson added.
The CPA also praised TETFund for supporting postgraduate education for lecturers and researchers, sponsoring academic conferences, encouraging institutional research and promoting digital transformation in tertiary institutions.
“Our findings show increased commitment to institution-based research funding, manuscript development, journal publication support and innovation-driven research interventions aimed at improving Nigeria’s knowledge economy and addressing national development challenges,” the organisation said.