1 month ago
22
For years, Nigeria’s tertiary acquisition strategy has struggled nether the value of abandoned projects, stalled world programmes, and bottlenecks that dilatory down implementation of captious reforms.
However, a caller resoluteness to face these challenges caput connected is taking basal astatine the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).
During a caller strategical store successful Abuja, which brought unneurotic Directors of Physical Planning, Academic Planning, and ICT from crossed beneficiary institutions, TETFund’s Executive Secretary, Arch. Sonny Echono said the clip for excuses was over.
He said it was clip to streamline processes, deepen accountability, and guarantee that each involution achieves maximum developmental impact.
Describing the store arsenic much than a regular gathering, helium called it a “strategic convergence,” a deliberate forum to fortify organization capacity, resoluteness recurring challenges, and align TETFund’s interventions with nationalist priorities.
“Our purpose is to guarantee that each instauration represented present is good equipped to align much efficaciously with the Fund’s operational procedures for greater efficiency, accountability, and developmental impact,” helium told participants.
He besides urged them to usage the engagement arsenic a springboard for organization reform.
One of the astir talked-about announcements from the store was the suspension of the overseas grooming constituent of the TETFund Scholarship for Academic Staff (TSAS).
The decision, the Executive Secretary explained, was not taken lightly. Rising costs of overseas programmes and the troubling incidence of scholars absconding aft grooming made the exemplary unsustainable. But alternatively than scaling backmost its commitment, TETFund is redirecting resources to fortify section capacity.
“We volition proceed to enactment rigorous postgraduate and nonrecreational improvement programmes wrong Nigeria, ensuring that they present worth astatine a sustainable cost,” helium assured. This recalibration, helium argued, would not lone conserve resources but besides physique capableness wrong Nigerian universities themselves.
Also, the Fund’s renewed accent connected probe and innovation drew nods of approval. For the 2025 involution cycle, TETFund has scaled up allocations to the National Research Fund, the Research and Innovation Fund, and its Triple Helix Model,which fosters collaboration betwixt academia, industry, and government.
“These initiatives are expected to make applicable solutions to nationalist problems successful technology, agriculture, and healthcare portion fostering commercialization and cross-institutional partnerships,” the Executive Secretary explained.
A flagship successful this thrust was the rollout of the Tertiary Education, Research, Application and Services (TERAS) platform, a integer ecosystem designed to destruct paperwork, trim delays, and guarantee transparency. Institutions were urged to operationalize TERAS without delay, arsenic it volition soon go the default interface with the Fund.
With TERAS, TETFund hopes to plug leakages and fortify traceability, ensuring that each task is decently tracked from inception to completion.
Physical infrastructure has agelong been 1 of the astir disposable components of TETFund’s interventions. Across campuses, lecture theatres, laboratories, and hostels carnivore grounds to the Fund’s footprint. Yet, the situation of incomplete oregon abandoned projects has persisted.
For 2025, TETFund is taking a caller approach: prioritize consolidation and completion implicit unchecked expansion. According to the Executive Secretary, allocations volition absorption connected rehabilitating existing facilities and completing stalled projects alternatively than starting caller ones.
“We expect institutions to show accountability, prudence, and urgency successful ensuring the completion of these bequest projects,” helium cautioned.
To code systemic challenges, TETFund has besides established 2 peculiar committees. The Committee connected Power volition make interventions to tackle the chronic energy shortages crippling campuses, portion the Committee connected Special High Impact Projects (SHIP) for Medical Colleges volition absorption connected strengthening infrastructure for aesculapian education.
Already, 18 universities person benefited from the SHIP initiative, highlighting the Fund’s committedness to captious sectors.
Beyond contiguous interventions, TETFund is present looking to the future. A cardinal portion of its semipermanent sustainability strategy is encouraging Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs).
Areas specified arsenic pupil hostels, innovation hubs, and work centres, the Fund believes, should nary longer trust solely connected authorities funding. By tapping into PPPs, institutions tin physique fiscal autonomy portion sustaining world and infrastructural growth.
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