By Gloria Ikibah
The Speaker House of Representatives, Rep. Tajudeen Abbas, has restated the commitment of the 10th House to ensuring transparency and accountability in managing public funds.
Speaking at a public hearing organized by the House Committee on TETFUND and Other Services, on Friiday in Abuja, Speaker Abbas, who was represented by the House Leader, Rep. Julius Ihonvbere highlighted the significance of the proposed amendments to the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) Act (2011).
Abbas noted that TETFUND, established by an Act of the National Assembly in 2011, serves as an intervention agency supporting public tertiary institutions across Nigeria.
According to him, the agency focuses on providing educational infrastructure and facilitating capacity-building initiatives for academic staff.
he said: “It has been established through available data that the fund has substantially fulfilled its given mandate.
“However, there still exist some limitations in the existing legal framework that hinder the Fund from meeting the challenges posed by current realities and its obligations.
“The over-reliance on the Fund by beneficiary institutions has encouraged a lack of innovations by some of the tertiary administrators while the legal framework allowed some ambiguities and potential risks of arbitrariness.
“Particularly in the areas of the authorisation of withdrawals from the fund, and the assessment and clarity on taxable profits for the Fund’s contributions.
“The amendments are meant to provide for additional conditions for assessing funds for capital projects by beneficiary institutions and related matters.
“I understand that the current framework limits the effective oversight function of the National Assembly and questions the transparency and accountability procedures adopted by the administrators.
“The 10th House of Representatives has a responsibility as the People’s House to ensure accountability and transparency in the management of public funds,” he said.
In her address, the Committee Chairman, Rep. Mariam Onuoha, stated that the proposed legislation aims to address the challenges of poor project implementation, which have raised concerns about the actual use of funds in tertiary institutions.
She noted that, in response to complaints and controversies from stakeholders, the Speaker recommended amendments to Section 7 of the Act to strengthen guidelines for accessing and utilizing the funds.
Onuoha assured that stakeholders’ views and submissions would be carefully considered in the final report after the hearing.
“Public funds, once deployed are subject to accountability, probity and justification for the amount released which often is not enough.
“Even we are given little, that little demands accountability and probity; it is line with this that the committee will commence a school-by-school oversight from the second quarter of the year.
“This is to ensure direct inspection to observe how critical infrastructure are being executed, to see and document abandoned or distressed projects.
“If there are contractors who have collected money that have not done the job in accordance to the bill of quantity, the committee name and shame and make necessary recommendations for sanctions to blacklist them where necessary.
“We as a committee have participated in the ongoing tax reforms bill and have made our plea along other stakeholders on the need to exclude the clause affecting the operations of TETFUND.
“We are of the opinion that TETFUND opinion has become the lifewire of infrastructure development and capacities of lecturers across the tertiary institutions and haven come this far, it will not be right to throw away the baby and bath water.
“Issues bothering on operations of the TETFUND, the committee as mandated by section 88 and 89 of the Constitution empowers the committee to carryout oversight to ensure that they are corrected at the right time.
“This is to ensure a win-win and balanced implementation instead of ,” she said.
The Executive Secretary of TETFUND, Sonny Echono, who highlighted ongoing efforts to ensure effective management of the fund, criticized the unchecked establishment of tertiary institutions, particularly by state governments relying solely on TETFUND without proper financial plans.
According to him, to promote fairness, only one university, one polytechnic, and one college of education per state was eligible for funding each year.
He therefore urged lawmakers to prioritise expanding existing institutions instead of creating new ones, to ensure better allocation of resources.
President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, called for ASUU’s reinstatement on the TETFUND board and advocated for an independent monitoring committee to oversee projects from inception to completion.
Prof. Osodeke also warned that ongoing tax reforms could threaten TETFUND’s operations, stressing that the fund is crucial to sustaining Nigeria’s tertiary education system.
