TETFund has continued to offer tremendous opportunities for tertiary institutions in the country that are facing critical strategic challenges, and it has also continued to provide interventions and partnerships that would be a strategic fit for the future, this important agency is therefore key to the future of tertiary education in the country, immediate past Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, has submitted.
Presenting a paper titled ‘The role of the Board of Trustees in transforming the future of higher education in Nigeria’, during the retreat held for members of the Board of Trustees of TETFund in Lagos, Professor Rasheed said the future of Nigeria lies largely in the quality of tertiary education that we have.
He has also called for synergy between the Board members and those in charge of the agency.
‘Without TEFFund, many public tertiary institutions would find it difficult to function effectively or would not have survived. This shows how important the Fund is to the education sector. Every hand must be on deck to support it and make it do better’ he said.
Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFUND, is a scheme that was established by the Federal Government of Nigeria in 2011 and tasked with managing, monitoring and disbursing education tax to government-owned tertiary institutions in the country.
Recall that Minister of Education, Professor Tahir Mamman had last month inaugurated seven prominent Nigerians as Chairman and members of the board of the agency.
Chairman of the board of TETFUND, Alhaji Aminu Masari, had, at different times, served as Katsina state Commissioner for Works , Speaker of the House of Representatives between 2003 and 2007 , and governor of Katsina state from 2015 to 2023
Members of the board are former Senator Sani Danladi, former rep Sunday Adepoju, an aerospace engineer, Chief Nurudeen Adeyemi Balogun, Esther Ukachukwu, Turaki Ibrahim, and Aboh Eduyok.
In his speech, Executive Secretary, TETFund, Mr Sonny Echono, talked about the expectations of the agency from the heads of beneficiary institutions noting that meeting these expectations will help transform the institutions in question to be globally competitive adding that the agency is well-positioned to make positive changes and contributions to the education sector despite taking on more responsibilities.
The expectations from heads of higher institutions according to him include high quality of projects, prompt delivery of projects among others.
‘We have set a high standard for our universities and other higher institutions benefiting from our intervention projects. They must manage the resources given to them very well. They must be efficient in their planning, accessing and managing the funds given them. They must be prompt in dealing with contractors. We don’t want any wasting of time that would let our projects be caught up in the web of inflation.
They must also up their supervision mechanisms. We are also introducing more efficient supervision mechanisms. The projects must be of optimal quality. They should also take advantage of the opportunities we are giving them in the area of research, innovation, entrepreneurship among others. We are also encouraging them to be able to improve on the revenue generation so that they won’t be too dependent regarding funding’ he said.
Urging the board members to leverage their wealth of experience to contribute significantly to the development of education in Nigeria, the agency, he added, is part of the sources of revenue for the Student Loan Scheme.
‘All the added responsibilities bestowed on us, we can cope. First, our revenue has been increased as the Education Tax is now three percent. We are also more prudent and efficient in the management of our resources and are following up on the collection of the revenue that should accrue to us. We are grateful to President Bola Tinubu for his support and magnanimity. We will surely not disappoint in the discharge of our mandate’ he submitted.
Also speaking, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of TETFUND, Rt Hon. Aminu Masari, a one-time governor of Katsina State, and former Speaker of the House of Representatives, promised that TETFund would do its utmost to advance higher education in the country under his leadership.
He paid tribute to the founding fathers of the agency and the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, for their efforts in getting it established while urging other members of the Board to recognize the privilege of contributing to the development of higher education and to rededicate themselves to service to the nation.
Masari also called on TETFUND management to collaborate closely with the Board to maximize the agency’s impact while assuring staff members that the Board would ensure that their expectations are met .
He also sought full cooperation in order to leave a lasting legacy in the development of education in the country-Team@orientactualmags.com Do you have any information you wish to share with us? Do you want us to cover your event or programme? Kindly send SMS to 08059100286, 09094171980 or get in touch via orientactualmag@gmail.com. Thank you
