Buhari’s clarion call and Soludo’s eulogies on TETFund

BY ADAGHER TERSOO

The call by President Muhammadu Buhari in far away New York, at the 77th session of the UN general assembly, that: “No country can develop beyond the capacity of its educational system” bears striking parallelism to the current reforms and transformations going on at TETFund under the leadership of architect Sunny Echono.

The president spoke on Monday, September 19, 2022, while delivering Nigeria’s statement at the Transforming Education Summit (leaders’ roundtable) organised on the sideline of the 77th session of the United General Assembly.

This presidential statement re-echoed back home in Nigeria and gave credence to the eulogies by the Anambra state governor, Charles Soludo, when he paid a courtesy call to the executive secretary and top management staff of TETFund, on Tuesday, September 21, 2022, at the fund’s headquarters in Abuja.

Soludo, however, took time to applaud the TETFund for the good work it has done and what it is currently doing in tertiary institutions across the country.

The governor did not mince words when he reiterated that the good work of TETFund is visibly and littered in all tertiary institutions in all parts of the country. He acknowledged that TETFund is charged with the responsibility of rehabilitating, developing and improving the quality of tertiary education in the country with primary beneficiaries such as universities, colleges of education, polytechnics, monotechnics, staff training and development agencies, libraries, books development, research, ICT and capacity building.

The governor commended TETFund for its various interventions in the educational sector and research development. Soludo said that he was aware of the financial constraint the TETFund was facing compared to the available needs, reiterating that TETFund is giving a good account of itself despite the limited resources.

He, however, disclosed that he has a big agenda for the education sector in his state hence needs the partnership and cooperation of the TETFund in order to drive a value-based educational system in Anambra state.

He insisted that for the education sector to move forward, there is a need for impact-driven investment in the sector, hence, advocated for a special mechanism for delivery.

“With the tertiary institutions going the way they are now, there are still questions, still issues, we are not asking those questions but at some point, we are going to ask whether or how the government will be able to fund or adequately fund the number or the plethora of institutions or the mechanism of our delivery, especially with the brick and mortar system that we have, there will be questions,” he said.

He solicited that the three state-owned tertiary institutions in the state including Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Anambra Polytechnic, Mgbakwu and College of Education, Nsugbe, need to feel the impact of the TETFund.

In his response, the executive secretary, Sonny Echono, commended the Anambra governor’s visit and assured him that very soon, state-owned institutions in the state will begin to feel the impact of TETFund.

The executive secretary stressed that the interventions of TETfund are littered everywhere in all tertiary institutions in the country aimed at improving the infrastructure and learning environment in the tertiary institutions in the country.

He particularly said that TETFund projects are everywhere in tertiary institutions in Anambra state, especially in Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka but that the fund would do more in the state-owned institutions.

Adding that the scheme has also escalated its interventions in the area of academic scholarships on different flanks, which include Academic Staff Training and Development (AST&D); Conference Attendance intervention (CA), Institution Based Research (IBR) intervention, National Research Fund (NRF), Academic Manuscript into books (AMB) Intervention and Academic Research Journals (ARJ).

It is, however, worth reiterating that the coming of Echono as the chief executive officer of the TETFund has brought tremendous goodwill to the fund.

The fund has also witnessed huge changes and recorded a lot of achievements with the coming of the Echono.

Close observers of the happenings in the TETFund, especially the permanent secretary of the federal ministry of education, David Adejoh, recently, at a TETFund 10-book launch, opined that since Echono took over the mantle of leadership of the TETFUND as executive secretary, he has brought a measure of confidence and a huge sense of accountability in funds dispensation.

Charles Aworh, chairman of TETFund technical advisory group, also attest that Echono’s robust background in public procurement will bring accountability and transparency into the system.

Adding that the monitoring and evaluation strategy introduced by the current leadership, is a clear indication that the management of the fund under Echono is ready for public accountability. This, indeed, is the hallmark of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration.

It is, therefore, pertinent to call on all stakeholders in the tertiary education sector to consider supporting the TETFund in every way possible to enable it to achieve the desired objectives.

Tersoo, a public affairs analyst, writes from Abuja