Tinubu approves N683.4bn intervention fund for public tertiary institutions

President Bola Tinubu has approved an intervention fund of ₦683,429,268, 402.64 for public tertiary institutions in the country.

Sonny Echono, the executive secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), announced the president’s approval on Friday.

Echono was speaking during the TETFund’s strategic planning meeting with heads of beneficiary institutions in Abuja.

He said 90.75 percent of the ₦683.4 billion intervention is earmarked for direct disbursement.

The executive secretary said 8.94 percent is for special projects while a stabilisation of 2.27 percent is to address emerging issues.

“It is pertinent to note that this represents a very significant increase above our last year’s intervention and indeed every other year since inception,” Echono said.

“This remarkable success is due to sustained efforts at expanding and increasing the efficiency of collection of education tax and gracious concurrence of Mr President for an increase in the tax from 2.5 percent to 3.0 percent in the year 2023.”

According to the breakdown of the intervention fund, universities are to receive ₦1,906,944,930 each.

Polytechnics will get ₦1,165,355,235 each while colleges of education will receive ₦1,398,426,282 each.

This year’s intervention witnessed a boost as compared to last year where over ₦320 billion was disbursed.

TETFund, driven by a three percent education tax on the assessable profits of companies registered in Nigeria, funds capital projects, training of lecturers, and academic research in public tertiary institutions.

At the dawn of the Tinubu administration, federal universities upped their fees to adjust to rising inflation and the cost of logistics.

This led to nationwide campus protests that have mostly yielded no significant reductions.