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Between September 2022 and now, about four governors have visited the Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Arc. Sonny Echono, over the condition of their respective states’ higher education and the need for Fund’s special interventions. Coming few months after the appointment of Echono, Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State requested a strategic partnership in the delivery of intervention projects in his state.

Since education is on the Concurrent List, he felt the only way to make greater impact would be to collaborate.
“I would like us to work together in a whole lot of areas we are interested in and in some years to come, we will be able to say that with the partnership with TETFund we were able to deliver this much. Impact measurement is very important”, he stated then.

Commending TETFund under Arc. Echono for its various intervention projects across the country, Soludo listed state’s institutions that were eager to welcome more of the Fund’s intervention projects.

Although worried that the increasing number of tertiary institutions across the country may overwhelm the Fund, he appreciated the fact that it has been filling the gap in terms of infrastructure.

“As you go from one higher institution to the other, you will see them, you have a way of branding the projects”, he stated.
Responding, Arc Echono pledged to look into his requests. “In Anambra, you will see a lot of our presence.

In June this year, Governor Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State, also visited the E.S for assistance to transform the education sector in the state. Admitting that Zamfara was not doing too well in education, he pleaded for urgent support. “As you are all aware, Zamfara is a small state facing the challenge of insecurity, most importantly in the area of education. If you check all the statistics, you will agree with me that Zamfara is not doing too well and therefore, we need to be encouraged.

“It is a known fact that without education, we will not be able to achieve anything and we will continue to be backward,” the governor said. “Bearing in mind the financial resources of the state, I have a limitation, and this is the place the help will come from. I am here, Zamfara needs help. I know you are doing very well but you can do better”, the governor said.

Again, the governor commended TETFund for its various projects across tertiary education institutions in the country.

In his usual commitment and willingness to help transform the sector, Arc Echono commended the governor for his passion and reinstated the Fund’s readiness to intervene, beginning with the issue of security as it affects educational institutions.

“We have harnessed the requests from the institutions. In fact, we started with one of them but we have about three that we believe we will be able to do something about in the next couple of weeks, and we will be able to make allocations in that regard.
“We will also make other interventions based on the approved guidelines that we already have while those that will not come this year, we will prioritise them for the next disbursement cycle,” Echono said.

One month after, the Fund played host to Kano State Governor, Alhaji Abba Yusuf, who came to seek additional funding for state owned universities to improve learning atmosphere. He admitted that investment in higher education could only be effective with the complementary efforts of TETFund. “We are determined to increase the capacity of our universities in the areas of infrastructure, research, “In terms of education, Kano State is like Oliver Twist, the more you help us, the more we crave for more support. That is why I am here personally. If you look at most universities in the country, without the support of TETFund, they won’t be where they are today in terms of educational facilities.

Echono in his response, described Kano State as a centre for both commerce and learning due to many universities in the state.

He however reminded the governor that TETFund intervenes in three institutions within a state – universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.
“The board of Trustees, in order to ensure we concentrate resources and achieve meaningful impact, placed limitations on a number of institutions. So, we do not encourage states to just establish multiple institutions with only the intention of targeting TETFund intervention.

Hosting Kaduna State governor, Senator Uba Sani, in August, Arc Echono revealed that N550 million was disbursed as a special intervention to the Kaduna State College of Education, Gidan Waya, to tackle security concerns.

He said the disbursement was beyond the normal allocations as the fund also disbursed N500 million to Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, for the completion of a project.
Although TETFund was created to assist government in funding tertiary institution, the Fund has lately been overwhelmed with the burden of funding physical infrastructure, research and innovations, science and technology, resource materials and intellectual enhancement of academic staff.