The executive secretary (ES) of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) Sonny Echono has said that desk officers are responsible for the day-to-day operations that exist between the Fund and beneficiary institutions and their ignorance of the process will hinder implementation of projects.
The ES who disclosed this during a workshop organised for Desk Officers in Makurdi on TETFund Intervention Programmes in Beneficiary Institutions to dialogue on ways to improve its operations and ensure that the smooth process of accessing interventions and their implementation by the institutions is realised.
Echono urged institutions to always engage competent and qualified desk officers and position them strategically to make them fully informed on the nature and methods of TETFund operations.
He warned beneficiary institutions against engaging desk officers that are inexperienced saying, „desk officers are expected to be fully equipped and knowledgeable about our guidelines and mandate.
This workshop is expected to bridge the gaps that exist between the Fund and our beneficiary institutions regarding our procedures and processes regarding all our intervention lines.”
The TETFund boss said, „The choice of the theme, ‘Improving TETFund Intervention Programmes and processes in beneficiary institutions’ was deliberate. As I have stated earlier desk officers are the interface between the beneficiary institutions and the Fund, regarding all activities and interventions from the beginning to the end.
„We initiated this session to gather valuable feedback on TETFund intervention projects. This input has been instrumental in refining our strategies and ensuring that our projects are tailored to meet the specific needs of beneficiary institutions.
„We must look at the challenges and shortcomings in the actualization of our mandate for which you our desk officers are no doubt, stakeholders. And some of the policies and engagements l carried out aim at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of our mandate and interventions across our beneficiary institutions
„As a result, the Desk Officers of our institutions are expected to be fully equipped and knowledgeable about our guidelines and mandate. This workshop is expected to bridge the gaps that exist between the Fund and our beneficiary institutions regarding our procedures and processes with regards to all our intervention lines,“ he added.
He informed that the Fund’s guidelines have recently been updated and shall be made available to them soon. “So I want to take this opportunity once again to remind you of the significance of this workshop and urge you to utilise this platform to discuss some of the issues affecting your institutions and our intervention lines. Your ideas, suggestions, and contributions on how best you think we can improve our intervention lines remain valuable and significant to our operations,“ he said.
On the review of the audit process, Echono said, „We took proactive steps to address issues related to distressed projects across institutions, by revisiting our audit process and implementing a robust Monitoring & Evaluation policy, we have been able to achieve smoother and faster execution of physical infrastructure interventions.“
