The Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Arc. Sonny Echono has, no doubt, exceeded expectations. Even his critics can attest to his giant strides towards repositioning Nigeria’s public tertiary education through effective planning, research and development, timely release of funds and effective collaborations.
As one who believes so much in research and innovations, Echono has been able to engage in several reforms as well as partnerships to boost research and innovations that will help in producing graduates that can compete favourably with their counterparts from the rest of the world.
Little wonder his impact was immediately felt, not only at the Fund but also across government tertiary institutions and among relevant stakeholders due to the pace he adopted in executing his programmes and activities.
In the past three years, he has brought to bear his ideas and visions developed through his several years of experience in public service. Many knew Echono to have pioneered several innovative projects in the various ministries he served prior to his appointment as TETFund boss.
Some may attribute his timely and quality execution of projects, especially structures, to his profession as an architect. However, those who had worked closely with him linked it to his wide experience in public service. Aside from being an architect, Echono was one of the nation’s pioneering procurement officers and saw to the development of the procurement system that has come to change the narrative in public offices.
Accessible and easy going, Echono was noted for accommodating all, particularly those committed to creating desired impacts in their assigned duties.
He has been able to match words with actions to the extent that within a short interval of time, the nation could feel the impact of his administration in almost every area of intervention in higher education institutions. He is a versatile administrator who has helped in tackling some challenges confronting the Fund in procuring foreign exchange for scholars. His approach to issues has also helped in cleaning up a lot of the difficult corners that the Fund was said to be struggling with over time.
According to some of TETFund management staff, the striking thing about projects and programmes executed under Echono is that every one of them is taken on its own merit and its own cost as everyone is meant to be on their toes.
In the area of partnerships, the Echono has made appreciable impacts through sustainable collaborations between tertiary institutions and the industry. One of such partnerships was between TETFund and the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA).
The collaboration was to establish the Agricultural Research and Innovation Fellowship for Africa (ARIFA) innovation platform in Nigeria, with the intention of raising a skilled workforce to re-engineer the continent’s agricultural food sector in the next 10 years.
Echono informed that the Fund’s intervention in ARIFA will impact on faculties and departments across the nation’s tertiary institutions and will see to the delivery of science-led solutions towards improved livelihoods as well as sustain and advance academic excellence.
His ability to take research in tertiary institutions to a higher dimension shocked shades of opinions who felt that since he was not necessarily from academia, research funding may suffer.
“In fact, when he arrived at TETFund, being somebody that is not necessarily from the academia, some people or a good measure of opinion holders felt that not coming from the academia, he may not be able to follow through. But he has shown them that being versatile is the key. What the Fund needs is a person of his caliber – someone that has that kind of attitude and competence to deliver on all the requirements of the mandate,” said a staff member, who pleaded anonymity.
Echono believes that as an intervention agency for public tertiary institutions in the country, TETFund should be able facilitate the institutionalisation of Research and Development (R&D) in tertiary institutions as part of the developmental efforts.
To ensure that universities and other tertiary institutions in the country produce graduates that are globally competitive with necessary skills and innovations, he has equally taken TETFund into a collaboration with Innov8 Hub.
Tagged TETFund Alliance for Innovative Research (TETFAIR), the partnership is one of the several initiatives of TETfund under Echono. The yearly programme is designed for researchers and academics in public universities across the country who have ideas they want to translate into innovation, solutions and enterprise.
Participants applied in teams of two to four persons in each team and after rigorous evaluation by international experts, 19 teams were selected based on the innovativeness, viability and tangibility of their ideas. During the programme, participants would be taken through various courses that combine the intricacies, processes and procedures of Innovation Development, Prototyping and Venture Creation.
No doubt, Echono did not come to TETFund unprepared. He has changed the pace of work, and the attitude of those he works with has equally been impacted positively.
