Reps vow to unlock ‘idle’ N500b TETFund in CBN for varsities, others

Members of the House of Representatives have pledged to address the challenges hindering the tertiary institutions in the country from accessing the huge intervention fund allocated to them from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).

The House of Representatives Committee on TETFund and Other Services disclosed this in Kaduna on Thursday, saying that there is over N500 billion TETFund intervention fund lying in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) unaccessed by tertiary institutions across the country.

Chairman of the House Committee, Hon. Mariam Odinaka Onuoha, who led other members of the Committee on a courtesy visit to the Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani, said three Kaduna State-owned tertiary institutions have over N1.3 billion unaccessed TETFund intervention fund.

Addressing the governor, who was represented by his Deputy, Dr Hadiza Balarabe, the Committee Chairman commended President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to infrastructural development in Nigeria’s tertiary institutions, saying that 80% of the infrastructures dotting the institutions are on account of the TETFund intervention.

She said,“One of the key mandates of this committee is to ensure proper oversight of the tertiary intervention and to make proper account of all the monies that have been disbursed to bridge infrastructure gaps and improve teaching and learning across all tertiary institutions, as well as proper accounting of the budget estimate for TETFund and beneficiary institutions.

“The key responsibility of the committee is also oversight of the TETFund agency, which the committee embarked on in May. In that assignment, the committee found out that over N500 billion was lying in CBN unutilized. This money had been allocated to beneficiary institutions but was yet to be drawn.

“When we probed further, the committee was greeted with further excuses and reasons for this accumulated fund. We thereafter set up a committee following a resolution to ensure that there was dispatch to the effect that this accumulated funding had to be released to the institutions, notwithstanding the impediments or whatever challenges existed.

“The committee has come as a technical team to diagnose the problems as they are with various institutions, the challenges, and appropriate the right solutions to ensure that we get the money. The essence of the allocation in the first instance is to ensure that you deploy such funds for the academic needs.

“We are not unaware of the growing needs to improve funding and interventions within the 12 intervention lines of TETFund. But, I want to also use this opportunity to acknowledge the President for this intervention for TETFund. 80% of the infrastructures dotting the institutions today are on account of the TETFund intervention, and for that, we give kudos to the Federal Government for a good initiative.

“The TETFund intervention goes to three major state-owned tertiary institutions in Kaduna State: Kaduna State University, Nuhu Bamali Polytechnic, Zaria, and College of Education, Gidan Waya.

“For Kaduna State University, we have the unaccessed fund totaling N547 million, and this ranges from physical infrastructure, entrepreneurship, project monitoring, ICT support, library development, zonal intervention, academic staff training and development, institution-based research, publication of journals, conference attendance, manuscript development, equipment fabrication, advocacy, and teaching practice.

“These lines of interventions have also been extended to Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic, Zaria. And we have the unaccessed intervention for Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic standing at N724 million. For College of Education, Gidan Waya, we have it at N30 million.

“So, altogether, we have a total of N1.302 billion. Therefore, this committee has taken it upon itself to raise the alarm and create awareness on the need to properly access this money once allocated.

“You will agree with me that depreciation will always set in and that N500 million allocated to do this project in 2020 will not be able to do it now, but given the stringent conditions attached to the TETFund guidelines, with regards to prerequisites for accessing these funds, it will hitherto not be possible to readjust this funding. With the intervention of this committee and TETFund Agency, the committee has the resolution and mandate to, within this short period of time, make it possible for some of these conditions to be relaxed, such that you will be able to now rescope, redesign, and reprice these projects in a manner that this fund will be able to complete the projects.”

In her remarks, Deputy Governor of Kaduna State, Dr. Hadiza Balarabe, expressed her appreciation to the Committee for their dedication to resolving the challenges that hinder higher education institutions from accessing federal intervention funds.

She encouraged the heads of the state’s tertiary institutions present at the meeting to share their challenges openly with the House of Representatives, fostering a collaborative approach to finding viable solutions.

The meeting was also attended by leaders from various federal educational institutions in the state.

The Deputy Governor expressed her gratitude to the delegation for their visit and assured them that the state government would fully commit to any agreements reached during the meeting.

She encouraged all heads of tertiary institutions to identify and present the challenges they face, particularly those related to accessing funds.

The Deputy Governor also stressed the importance of maintaining consistent standards across all departments and elevating the state’s institutions to a higher level.

She acknowledged that while TETFund interventions are vital for the development of these institutions, sustaining these efforts across all schools has proven challenging for many in the state.