TETFund Recommits To Ensure Accountability, Transparency

The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has hinted that the Bureau for Public Procurement has agreed to partner with the Fund to ensure due process and seamless project implementation across institutions.

The partnership would ensure strong measures in place to curtail abuses of Public Procurement Acts on the discharge of its responsibilities, as well as entrenched accountability.

TETFund Executive Secretary, Arch. Sonny Echono stated this at a Desk Officers Workshop on the Fund’s Intervention Programmes in Beneficiary Institutions in Kano.

Echono expressed worry that most Desk Officers are ignorant of diligence public Procurement Acts, which led them to commit mistakes while conducting their duties.

“We partnered with the Bureau for Public Procurement in conducting this workshop, This has further enhanced the transparency and accountability of our operations, and the Workshop arose because most officials of our public Tertiary Institutions are not fully conversant with laid down procedures, standards, and processes with regard to the award and execution of public procurement in line with the act.”.

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The Executive Secretary also said  such ignorant times have led to avoidable problems that hinder the smooth and timely execution of TETFund intervention projects in tertiary institutions across the country.

He further notes that in order to address all problems relating to the exactions of projects by the Funds, a One-on-One engagement with beneficiary institutions has been adopted.

Adding, he said having a distressed project with a view to understanding the problems and preferring solutions as possible, and it has significantly reduced the number of abandoned projects that hitherto were rising in beneficiary institutions.

The TETFund boss was also concerned about the budgetary provision for security infrastructure and completion of projects in the 2023 intervention guidelines to enable them to solve some of the persistent problems in their intervention projects.

Echono explained that in the light of these efforts, it is obvious that the Fund has taken deliberate actions that are aimed at solving persistent problems and making our process more efficient.”

“As I have stated, the Desk Officers are the interface between the beneficiary institutions and the Fund regarding all activities and interventions from the beginning to the end.

“The Desk officers are responsible for the day-to-day operations that exist between the Fund and the institutions and are therefore positioned strategically to perform tasks and functions that require that they are fully informed on the nature and methods of TETFUND operations, ” he emphasized.

“As a result, the Desk Officers of our institutions are expected to be fully equipped and knowledgeable about our guidelines and mandate, and presentations shall update us about new policies or changes in our operations or personnel where necessary.”