AS the nation’s tertiary institutions lie in deplorable condition over inadequate funding, among others factors, it has been revealed that the Federal Government’s Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) of about N43 billion, meant primary for that end, remains unused.
Instead, the monies are kept in an account at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), while a part is invested to yield profits, which are ploughed back into the fund. However, TETFUND is said not to be the clog in efforts to access the funds but the tertiary institutions themselves.
Chairman of TETFUND, Dr. Musa Babayo, said at a programme in collaboration with the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission (ICPC) yesterday that most higher institutions do not meet the requirement to access these funds hence the money cannot be used despite the daunting needs for it.
He noted that his agency was interested in monitoring every project the funds are used for in order to prevent qualitative corruption, which might even be more dangerous than quantitative corruption. Therefore, “the funds are not accessed because we want to be sure they are used judiciously. If the requirements are not met, we can’t release funds no matter the pressure.”
Babayo defined quantitative corruption as frauds that involve figures while qualitative corruption could mean a classroom that was not well built, which collapse might result in the loss of lives. He noted that in 2013, N18 billion interest accrued from some of the investments from the funds and has been ploughed back.
Nevertheless, he disclosed the agency’s plan to disburse over N250 billion for projects and research in some higher institutions later in the year but warned: “If they fail to access it, we’ll keep the money in CBN.”
Speaking on the achievement of TETFUND, Babayo said that 30,000 projects have been executed in the last three years, adding: “All our projects are fully delivered. We have funded trainings and researches. Abandoned Ph.D theses are now funded. We have held workshops for tertiary institutions to make them understand better how the funds can be accessed.”
Earlier, an educationist and member of the ICPC Board, Prof. Olu Aina, had raised the issue of the unused funds while presenting a report of the National Conference on Transparency, Accountability and Ethical Values in Tertiary Institutions. The report was produced after the ICPC, in collaboration with TETFUND, completed a system study of Nigerian higher institutions.
He put the fallow funds at N65 billion, but Babayo clarified that N22 billion had now been accessed from it after the agency organised workshops to educate stakeholders on how to access the funds.
According to Aina, the review was necessitated by daily complaints from higher institutions about corruption within the system. The committee, which did the review, had discovered “shocking revelations of accumulated, unspent funds at TETFUND, and where spent, funds were used inappropriately,” he said.
Apart from useful recommendations, he said, the team had developed a template for prevention of corruption in the institutions and, “if proper investments are made in the education sector, Nigerian higher institutions will regain their lost glory.”
However, he regretted that institutions were not accessing the funds despite that the requirements do not negate procurement laws. The report recommended that, as a way to prevent corruption, ethics should be part of education development, while sanctions and penalties should be imposed to deal with infractions.
Also, standards should be established for ethical systems in all sectors, as “some institutions are riddled with corruption than the ground breaking research for which they were established.”
Interestingly, ICPC Chairman, Ekpo Nta, noted that Commonwealth countries were requesting the agency to help with their sectors’ systems review, as “our curriculum on fighting corruption has been upheld internationally.”
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