The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has announced an allocation of N1 billion for the construction of student hostels across 12 educational institutions in Nigeria as part of its 2024 intervention cycle.
This disclosure was made by Executive Secretary of TETFund, Sonny Echono, during a one-day workshop entitled ‘Emerging Areas of Students Needs in Beneficiary Institutions’ held in Abuja.
The allocation
According to Echono, the beneficiary institutions—comprising six universities, three polytechnics, and three colleges of education—are spread across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones.
The funding, he explained, will serve as an equity contribution in partnerships with private developers for the construction of the hostels.
Highlighting a key development, Echono shared, “I am pleased to inform you that the Africa Plus Partners, in partnership with Akwa Ibom State University, will launch the construction of a 1,600 capacity students’ hostel through the support of TETFund on May 15.”
The Executive Secretary acknowledged the persistent issues of student accommodation, which include overcrowding in existing dormitories and many students having to live off-campus.
“The existing hostels are not only grossly inadequate but most of them are in deplorable conditions especially with regard to functional utility and sanitation,” he stated, emphasizing the impact on student performance and wellbeing.
Echono also highlighted the long-standing government efforts to build student hostels nationwide and the necessity of involving the private sector through Public Private Partnership (PPP) models to address these challenges effectively.
In addition to housing, the Fund is focusing on enhancing the teaching profession and the effectiveness of teaching practice interventions for educators and student teachers.
“Teaching practice provides experiences to supervisors and student teachers in-real time in the teaching environment and is crucial for honing their pedagogical skills,” Echono explained, emphasising its importance in developing potential teaching professionals.
Concluding his remarks, Echono noted a recent directive from the Federal Ministry of Education, which included recommendations from the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission on teaching practice allowances.
He stressed the need for a revision of the current funding template for teaching practice to align with these new guidelines, signaling ongoing improvements in the sector’s funding strategy.
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What you should know
The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) is an agency in Nigeria, established to provide supplementary support to all levels of public tertiary institutions.
- Its history dates back to the early 1990s when the government, acknowledging the chronic underfunding of universities and other higher education institutions, initially set up the Education Tax Fund (ETF) in 1993.
- The ETF was created under the Education Tax Act No. 7 of 1993 and was charged with the responsibility of managing and disbursing funds accrued from education taxes collected from companies operating in Nigeria, calculated at 2% of their assessable profit.
- This fund was designed to improve the quality of education in universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education by ensuring consistent funding primarily for infrastructural development and maintenance, academic staff training and development, instructional materials, and research.
In 2011, the ETF underwent a significant transformation when it was renamed the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).
- This change marked a focus solely on tertiary education, as the basic and secondary educational levels were removed from its mandate.
- This was part of a move to more effectively channel resources into the higher education sector to boost the quality of tertiary education in the country.
- TETFund’s mandate involves the direct disbursement of funds to public tertiary institutions to aid in the execution of projects, promote creative and innovative approaches to educational learning, and enhance research capabilities.
The fund is still largely financed through the 2% education tax paid by registered companies in Nigeria.
TETFund has been instrumental in the development of numerous projects across Nigerian public tertiary institutions, including the construction of lecture theaters, libraries, laboratories, and more recently, the provision of financial support for hostel building to address the accommodation crisis in many institutions.
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