The TheExecutive Secretary of Tertiary Education Fund (TETFund), Sonny Echono, has disclosed that over N400 billion was disbursed to tertiary institutions across the country last year.
Echono, told journalists, that the amount represented the backlog of previous years that were not accessed, and disbursement for year 2023. He explained that the funds were in two phases, with the approved disbursement for year 2023 alone amounting to N320 billion. He said: “I am also pleased to report that today they have accessed more than that. The reason is that we have a backlog of allocations from previous years that some institutions have not accessed, but because we streamlined the process and created an avenue to assist the institutions in accessing their backlog, that number has grown.
“So, now, we are in the neighbourhood of about N400 billion that were disbursed to institutions last year, far in excess of the budget because most of the outstanding allocations are now being accessed. We are also removing little bottlenecks hampering the completion of these projects,” he said.
Echono further added that TETFund can not be extended to private institutions for now due to the extant law of the country. He said: “The only way we collaborate with private institutions currently is in the area of research because we know that it is universal and we know that knowledge is collaboration.”
“So, we are encouraging them to participate and we sponsor people or private individuals who have ideas. Going forward, if the law is amended and extended, we will have no exceptions.”
