Reps promise relaxed conditions to access N500bn TETFund

The House of Representatives has vowed to address the challenges hindering tertiary institutions from accessing the N500bn Tertiary Institutions Trust Fund intervention fund lying unaccessed in the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The House Committee on TETFund and other Services disclosed this during a courtesy visit to the Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani, represented by Deputy, Dr. Hadiza Balarabe, on Thursday.

The Chairman of the committee, Mariam Onuoha, noted that three Kaduna State-owned tertiary institutions had over N1.3bn funds unaccessed.

She noted that the committee aimed to ensure proper oversight of the tertiary intervention, take proper account of disbursed funds, and address challenges hindering institutions from accessing the funds.

The committee commended President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to infrastructural development in Nigeria’s tertiary institutions, stating that 80 per cent of the infrastructures were due to TETFund intervention.

The committee said it would work to relax stringent conditions attached to TETFund guidelines, enabling institutions to access the funds and complete projects.

“One of the key mandates of this committee is to ensure proper oversight of the tertiary intervention and to make appropriate account of all the monies that have been disbursed to bridge infrastructure gap and improve teaching and learning across all tertiary institutions.

“The key responsibility of the committee is also the oversight of the TETFund agency, which it embarked on in May. In that assignment, the committee found out that over N500bn was lying in CBN unused.

“We are not unaware of the growing need 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.

“Eighty per cent 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,” she said.

She said the N500m allocated for a project in 2020 would not be able to achieve the same purpose at this time because of depreciation.

“You will agree with me that depreciation will always set in and the N500m 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,” the chairman said.

Balarabe thanked the committee for its dedication to resolving the challenges that had hindered higher 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 committee, to foster a collaborative approach to finding viable solutions.

She 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 were vital for the development of the institutions, sustaining these efforts across all schools had proven challenging for many in the state.

Balarabe, therefore, assured the lawmakers that the state government would work collaboratively with the institutions to address challenges hindering access to funds.

“We encourage our institution heads to openly share their challenges, particularly those related to funding, so we can work together to find solutions,” she said.