Protest: How TETFund’s proactive measures helped to protect tertiary institutions’ assets

As the nationwide protest enters its third day, a rare feat has been witnessed since the advent of higher institutions in Nigeria 76 years ago: the absence of violence.

From the Nigerian Students’ Union protest against colonialism in 1960; Ali Must Go protests (against education minister) in 1978; Dele Giwa protests in 1986; June 12, 1993 protests (against annulment of presidential election); 2010 Save Nigeria Group protests; 2012 Occupy Nigeria demonstrations against fuel subsidy removal; 2017 Resume or Resign protests against ex-President Muhammadu Buhari’s absence to 2020 #EndSARS protests against police brutality, institutions of higher learning have always been directly or indirectly involved.

Unfortunately, this has led to destruction of TETFund assets and other infrastructure in our public tertiary institutions as virtually all the demonstrations turned violent.

With the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) providing infrastructure in beneficiary institutions, the Sonny Echono-led management team took proactive measures by tasking Nigerian students to be on the watch out in all campuses and protect school infrastructure by ensuring that hoodlums do not infiltrate the campuses to cause havoc during the protests.

Speaking at a meeting with a delegation of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), led by its National President, Lucky Emonefe, on the eve of the protests, the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Arc. Sonny Echono, reeled out a series of interventions in infrastructure targeted at ensuring conducive learning environment for students across all tertiary institutions which must be protected.

“I am enjoining you to please be on the watch out in all your campuses. All our TETFund assets, all the buildings that taxpayers money has been used to provide; not only should you ensure that you protect them, please nobody should go and destroy them. Let us not give chances to these hoodlums who will take advantage of your legitimate demands to cause havoc,” he said.

Echono, who stressed the need to ensure a stable academic calendar, said when President Bola Tinubu “was told about frequent disruptions in the academic calendar, the President gave specific instructions to the minister that one of your first expectations is for us to have harmony in the sector, so we can have a predictable academic calendar that our students will go to school and know when they will graduate and ensure that that is kept.”

He added: “We are also pleased that this same president gave a charge to us at TETFund that we must do everything possible to improve the learning experience of our students, the quality of education we are getting and improve your welfare on campus.”

Echono also disclosed that the Fund has commenced the construction of 36 modern hostel facilities in tertiary institutions in 2024 and has been given the directive by the President to increase them to 72 in 2025.

“This year we are doing about 36 of them and are at various stages; many of them have fulfilled procurement circle. Others are being done through public private partnership. I was there to launch the one in Akwa Ibom and I have been informed that three others are ready to commence.

“But the good news is that Mr. President has directed that we intensify this. So instead of doing 36, next year we’ll be doing 72,” he said. He also noted that after raising the issue of campus transportation with the President, he directed the Fund to work with relevant agencies to convert existing buses to CNG and provide mass transit buses for students on campus as part of TETFund’s intervention for next year.

On the issue of power in campuses, Echono lamented that some universities were charged between N300 million to N400 million as electricity bill in one month, wondering how the institutions can cope if there is no urgent intervention.

He, therefore, disclosed that TETFund has commenced conversations and held a meeting with officials from the Ministry of Power to find a way to address the issue of power supply in tertiary schools.

“It’s going to be one of the major issues we are going to look at when we call our major stakeholders meeting of all heads of schools. We have to put our heads together to see how we need to have alternative power sources that will reduce the burden.

“As I speak, some universities are getting N300 million, N400 million bill for electricity in one month. How can they cope? Some are even rationing; they have light for only four hours a day,” he said. He further revealed that the President has also directed the immediate payment of four-month salary arrears owed to the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU).

He, therefore, urged the student leaders to dissuade other youths from engaging in acts that could cause social disorder as the government was willing to listen to their demands.

Echono noted that the government has heard the youths and was willing to address all the demands they are making, urging aggrieved youths to seek negotiation channels rather than resorting to protests they can’t guarantee would not be hijacked by hoodlums.

The TETFund boss said President Tinubu listens to all complaints and urged the students to articulate their demands and seek audience with those in authority for negotiation.

“Whatever is the concern of our students, what are their demands and what are their expectations, we make bold to say, we have a listening president; we have access to this president and when you make your views known we’ll always convey it,” he said.

On his part, the National President of NANS, Emonefe, noted that the leadership of the students’ body resolved not to embark on the national protest because it has realised that most of the interventions the students were enjoying were not gotten through protests. He stressed that if students join the protests, infrastructure in tertiary institutions would be destroyed.

“We didn’t get them through protest and we believe that through dialogue we can achieve more. The student loan, we didn’t get it through protest. “If we protest, we will not get results; things will be destroyed, our academic calendar will be obstructed, and we will spend more years in school. We don’t want that.

“We want to set up a committee to ensure that those who want to use our students and mobilise them in our campuses are monitored. Those who want to infiltrate our campuses, we are not going to accept; they cannot use us,” the NANS President said.

He also expressed delight at TETFund’s proposed intervention in power, describing it as an issue which is very important to Nigerian students. He appealed to TETFund to, as part of its intervention in the subsector, build a befitting secretariat for Nigerian students and support agricultural projects for universities in which students can be engaged and institutions can generate funds.