The Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Sonny Echono, has listed the agency’s expectations from heads of beneficiary institutions, saying meeting them will transform the institutions and reposition them to be globally competitive.

Echono, who spoke at the retreat held for members of the fund’s board of trustees, said despite added responsibilities, the agency is committed to making positive changes and contributions to the education sector. He listed the expectations to include high quality projects and prompt delivery of same, 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 well. They must be efficient in planning, accessing and managing the funds given them. They must be prompt in dealing with contractors. We don’t want any waste of time that would make our projects be caught up in the web of inflation,” he stated. Echono also disclosed that the agency is introducing more efficient supervisory mechanisms to ensure that quality is not compromised.

“They should also take advantage of the opportunities we are giving them in the area of research, innovation, and entrepreneurship, among others. We are also encouraging them to improve on revenue generation, so that they won’t be too dependent regarding funding,” he said.

On the added responsibilities given the agency, such as being part of the source of revenue for the student loan scheme, Echono said there is no cause for alarm.

“First, our revenue has been increased as the education tax is now three per cent. We are also more prudent and efficient in the management of our resources, and following up on the collection of the revenue that should accrue to us. We will surely not disappoint in the discharge of our mandate,” he assured.

Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Aminu Masari, said under his leadership, the fund would strive to advance higher education in the country. He urged members to leverage their wealth of experience to contribute significantly to the development of the sector.

He also called for collaboration between the board and management to maximise the agency’s impact.

In his paper titled: “The role of the board in transforming the future of higher education in Nigeria,” the immediate past Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, said the future of Nigeria lies in the quality of its tertiary education.

Rasheed noted that without TETFund, many institutions would find it difficult to function effectively, while many may not have survived. “That shows how important the agency is to the sector. Every hand must be on deck to support and make it do better,” Rasheed added.