Centre Lauds Echono Over TETFund Reforms

The Centre for Public Accountability (CPA) has passed a vote of confidence on the Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Arc. Sonny Echono, citing what it described as improved service delivery, infrastructural development and sustained intervention programmes in Nigeria’s tertiary education sector.

The group gave the commendation a press conference in Abuja on Thursday after conducting what it described as an independent assessment of TETFund’s activities and intervention projects across the country.

Executive Director of CPA, Comrade Olufemi Lawson, said the organisation deployed independent monitors, researchers, procurement observers and policy analysts to evaluate the implementation of TETFund projects, transparency in fund administration and compliance with statutory mandates.

According to him, TETFund under Echono’s leadership has continued to play a strategic role in strengthening tertiary education through infrastructure development, academic staff training, research support and digital transformation initiatives.

“Our findings indicate that TETFund has continued to play a strategic and indispensable role in the growth and development of tertiary education in Nigeria,” Lawson said.

“After a careful and evidence-based assessment of the operations of TETFund under the current leadership, the Centre for Public Accountability is convinced that the present management has demonstrated commitment toward the implementation of the Fund’s statutory mandate.”

The organisation noted that available records showed that between 2011 and 2024, TETFund disbursed over ₦1.8 trillion in interventions to public tertiary institutions across the country.

According to CPA, universities received over ₦918 billion, while polytechnics and colleges of education received more than ₦461 billion and ₦458 billion respectively within the review period.

The group further stated that more than 152,000 infrastructural projects had been executed through TETFund interventions nationwide, including lecture theatres, libraries, ICT centres, laboratories, hostels, entrepreneurship centres and faculty buildings.

Lawson said the agency had also sustained academic staff development through sponsorship of postgraduate programmes, conferences and professional training for lecturers and researchers in Nigerian tertiary institutions.

He added that TETFund’s increasing support for research, innovation, ICT infrastructure and digital learning had contributed significantly to improving educational delivery in public institutions.

The CPA also commended the Fund for maintaining intervention activities despite prevailing economic challenges, inflationary pressures and rising project costs.

Consequently, the organisation formally passed a vote of confidence on the management and board of TETFund led by Arc. Sonny Echono and Chairman of the Board, Aminu Bello Masari.

The endorsement, according to the group, was based on “evident infrastructural improvements in beneficiary institutions, expansion of academic and research support programmes, sustained intervention funding despite economic constraints, improved strategic planning and stakeholder engagement, as well as relative transparency in intervention allocation and implementation processes.”

The group, however, urged TETFund to strengthen its monitoring and evaluation systems to ensure efficient project execution and timely delivery across beneficiary institutions.

It also called on tertiary institutions benefiting from TETFund interventions to ensure prudent utilisation of allocated funds and avoid project abandonment.

CPA reaffirmed its commitment to continued independent monitoring of government institutions to promote accountability, transparency and effective service delivery across critical sectors of governance.