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TETFUND AND TERTIARY EDUCATION
The federal government should deploy TETFund as a catalyst to revamp tertiary education in Nigeria
Following the announcement by Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) of a record-breaking N1.5 trillion collection for 2024, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has called for the utilisation of all accumulated funds. While we subscribe to transparency and accountability in utilising the funds, TETFund must strive to make a difference in tertiary education in Nigeria. At a period when many senior academic staff continue to take their services to countries where they are more appreciated, the depletion of scholarship is now aided by inability to attract academics from other countries. The implications are clear: limited skilled human resources have contributed to the declining quality that continues to elicit concern from stakeholders.
At a recent session between TETFund and heads of beneficiary institutions, the Executive Secretary, Sunny Echono, said the strategic engagement aligns with new efforts to optimise performance and enhance the quality of tertiary education in the country. With the recent increase in education tax from 2.5% to 3%, according to Echono, TETFund is poised for even greater impact, improving infrastructure, academic programmes, and accessibility for all students. “It is crucial that we engage constructively to set a clear course for the Fund’s direction and operational priorities,” he said.
Indeed, ASUU President, Emmanuel Osodeke, decried the situation where accumulated funds were not being utilised. “We found that there is a lot of money stuck in central banks. Over the past 20 years, many universities have not been able to utilise it” said Osadeke. “In 2021, when we negotiated with the government towards the end, this money, in the assessment, seems as if we don’t have the capacity to use it.”
Despite its important role in the society, it is obvious that there is dearth of qualified academic staff to drive the universities. But this is a general malaise. Most of the institutions of higher learning are not only suffering from inadequate infrastructure, ill-equipped laboratories, overcrowded classrooms, but they are also ill-staffed. As we have argued repeatedly, government should pay more attention to tertiary education and provide a conducive environment that will make our youths globally competitive. Decayed infrastructure in the institutions should be enhanced while quality journals and books should be made easily available. If Nigeria wants to compete in the prevailing knowledge economy, policymakers must ensure that research departments in our universities are adequately funded. The best universities are those with resources to attract the best and the brightest.
A panel on challenges of public universities (otherwise called the Needs Assessment Panel) by the National Universities Commission (NUC) implied in their report sometime ago that poor funding was a major problem in the universities. Most of the institutions provide less than optimal circumstances for creditably discharging their basic functions of teaching and research. They are no good libraries, decent research laboratories, conducive environment, attractive pay, and modern technological gadgets which facilitate teaching and learning. The increase in the number of schools, as well as the drop in funding, also adversely affected the quality of academic staff.
The birth of TETFUND opened a window of opportunities as it initiated the funding of many postgraduate students to some prestigious universities in Europe and North America. But this window itself was abused by many recipients who reportedly collected scholarship funds but avoided travelling abroad for training, a practice aided ironically by some TETFUND officials. It is therefore little surprise that many graduates of Nigerian universities are unemployable, as they lack sufficient knowledge, skills and possibly other attributes that will enable them to serve themselves, their employers and the society.
For a country in hurry to develop, and in dire need of top scientists and engineers to catch up with today’s knowledge economy, Nigeria is too far behind in education.
