The Centre for Public Accountability (CPA) has described the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) as one of the most critical pillars sustaining Nigeria’s higher education system, warning that many public institutions would have collapsed under the weight of infrastructural decay and academic decline without the agency’s interventions.
The civil society organisation made the declaration during a virtual press briefing on Thursday, following months of nationwide assessment of TETFund-funded projects and institutional interventions across universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education.
Executive Director of CPA, Olufemi Lawson, said the independent evaluation revealed that TETFund has continued to play a transformative role in strengthening tertiary education despite Nigeria’s worsening economic realities and rising cost of educational infrastructure.
According to Lawson, the assessment involved researchers, policy analysts, procurement experts, lecturers, students, contractors, and administrators drawn from various institutions across the country.
“Our findings clearly show that TETFund remains indispensable to the growth and survival of tertiary education in Nigeria. Without the agency’s interventions over the years, many public institutions would have deteriorated beyond recovery,” Lawson stated.
He disclosed that records examined by the organisation showed that TETFund disbursed over ₦1.8 trillion to public tertiary institutions between 2011 and 2024, with universities receiving more than ₦918 billion, while polytechnics and colleges of education received ₦461 billion and ₦458 billion respectively.
The CPA noted that the interventions have translated into visible infrastructural improvements in campuses nationwide, including the construction of lecture theatres, laboratories, ICT centres, libraries, hostels, entrepreneurship centres, innovation hubs, and faculty buildings.
Lawson explained that more than 152,000 infrastructural projects have reportedly been executed through TETFund interventions across the country, significantly improving teaching, learning, and research environments in many institutions previously plagued by poor facilities.
Beyond physical infrastructure, the organisation commended TETFund for investing heavily in postgraduate training, academic staff development, institutional research, manuscript development, journal publication support, and innovation-driven programmes aimed at improving Nigeria’s knowledge economy.
The group also praised the agency’s increasing commitment to digital transformation through interventions in internet connectivity, e-library systems, smart classrooms, and ICT-based learning initiatives.
According to the CPA, these investments have become increasingly important as Nigerian universities continue to adapt to modern technological demands and global academic standards.
While acknowledging the achievements recorded so far, the organisation noted that some challenges still persist in areas such as procurement procedures, project monitoring, execution timelines, and institutional compliance.
Lawson stressed that continuous reforms and stricter accountability mechanisms would be necessary to ensure that intervention funds are effectively utilised and projects completed on schedule.
Despite these concerns, the CPA passed a vote of confidence on the management of TETFund led by its Executive Secretary, Sonny Echono, as well as the Board Chairman, Aminu Bello Masari, citing what it described as “measurable progress” in institutional development and stakeholder engagement.
The organisation further urged beneficiary institutions to avoid project abandonment and ensure prudent management of intervention funds to maximise the impact of government investments in education.
Established under the TETFund Act of 2011, the agency is funded through education taxes paid by companies operating in Nigeria and has remained one of the major intervention mechanisms supporting public tertiary education.
Over the years, Nigeria’s higher education sector has struggled with inadequate funding, overcrowded classrooms, obsolete laboratories, poor hostel facilities, weak research capacity, and recurring industrial disputes.
