The Senate on Thursday 3rd November 2016 proposed an amendment to the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) ACT 2011 during a deliberation of a report by its Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFUND. The amendment to the TETFUND ACT proposes that the National Assembly should be included in the process of allocation and disbursement of funds belonging to TETFUND. It also seeks to include the National Assembly in the confirmation of appointments of the Executive Secretary, Chairman and Members of the Board of Trustees of TETFUND. In both instances, the decision is presently the prerogative of the President of Nigeria.
Presenting the Committee’s report titled ‘‘Gross Mismanagement of Education Tax Fund from 2011-2015’, Sen. Jibril Barau (APC:Kano) highlighted that the following issues had been raised for the Committee to investigate :
- That some institutions get multiple allocations for special interventions while others do not;
- That TETFUND granted a loan to the Federal Ministry of Education to organize a workshop and retreat in the US and Kenya in 2014-2015 outside of guidelines of in its Act;
- That the sum of N500 million was spent on advert and media in 2015 without any visible outcome;
- That about N200 billion of the Education tax collected between 2012-2013 was diverted to unknown and unspecified uses unrecognized by the Act.
Sen. Jibril Barau (APC:Kano) also highlighted that subsequent to a Senate resolution on the matter, his committee had invited Dr. Abdullahi Bichi Baffa, Executive Secretary of TETFUND to give clarity on the matter. He also added that the committee held several meetings with TETFUND officials, Ministry of Education officials, Ministry of Finance, Accountant General and the Debt Management Office before arriving at the following findings:
- That there was no tertiary institution in the country that had not benefitted from the special intervention of TETFUND at one time or the other;
- That the TETFUND board did not give a loan to the Federal Ministry of Education to organize any retreat or workshop in US or Kenya;
- That the provision of N500 million for advertisement and media also encompassed other programmes. Also, that its internal working budget was always from a 5% cost of administration provided by the Act and not from the intervention fund;
- That the Tertiary Education Tax Collections for 2013funds amounting to two hundred and seventy three billion, nine hundred and thirty one million, two hundred and fifty four thousand, seven hundred and eighty naira and fifty one kobo (N273, 931,254,708.51) was not transferred to the TETFUND project account in 2014, but was diverted to finance various expenditures such as providing critical infrastructure in universities and paying allowances of Academic Staff of Nigerian Universities on approval by former President Goodluck Jonathan.
However, the Committee Chair admitted that the diversion of funds from TETFUND was enabled due to a gap in the TETFUND Act 2011, which provides for only the President’s approval in the allocation and disbursement of funds without obtaining approval from the National Assembly in line with democratic dictates of checks and balances. Furthermore the report noted that the present situation where the Executive Secretary and members of the Board of Trustees are solely appointed by the President and not confirmed by the Senate pose challenges in raising objections where funds are diverted for other purposes.
The report also noted that despite nearly one trillion spent between 2011 and 2015 by TETFUND, the state of infrastructure in Nigerian Universities remained abysmal. The Senate also resolved to ensure a refund of all monies borrowed from the Education Tax Account to address the numerous infrastructural projects to be executed across the country.
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