The Federal government has assured the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) that it will investigate the utilization of the TETFund Intervention by the Vice Chancellors of tertiary institutions.
The Federal Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa made this assertion during his remarks in response to concerns raised by the ASUU President at the public presentation of 72 TETFund-sponsored academic textbooks in Abuja on Wednesday, March 11, 2026.
“Several of our Vice Chancellors, Rectors, and Provosts are running the institutions like an empire. We need your (ASUU) help in ensuring that fiduciary responsibilities are met and that they are held accountable,” he said.
“All the money that we deploy to those institutions should be used the way they are meant to be used. We would work with you (ASUU) to ensure that that’s being done.”
The ASUU President, Chris Piwuna, had earlier raised a rising concern about the mismanagement of funds. He stated: “There is plenty of money being given to universities in recent years. Sadly, many of them have not utilised it effectively. While some of them have mismanaged it, others have used them for different purposes than what they were meant for.”
“They come back because they know that TETFund will make another disbursement to the institutions the following year. I think there should be more scrutiny about what’s been going on with TETFund interventions in the universities, especially in the Centres of Excellence.”
According to Professor Chris Piwuna, the addition of about six more Centres of Excellence to the existing 30 centres which are currently underperforming, is raising accountability concerns.
“TETFund has just added about six more Centres of Excellence to the existing 30 that are obviously underperforming. Most of them are performing below expectations. Hence, they must be made to account for those funds.”
“We are going to turn our searchlights on the Vice Chancellors and our universities soon. Honestly, we will. Because funds are not being properly managed at the university levels, we are going to take them up to make sure that they account for all of them,” Piwuna added.
TETFund is a statutory intervention agency established by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund Act 2011 to support public tertiary education in Nigeria.
It was created to supplement the funding of government‑owned universities, polytechnics and colleges of education by disbursing revenues from a two per cent education tax paid by registered companies.
TETFund’s mandate includes financing infrastructure, instructional materials, equipment, research and academic staff development across public institutions, intending to improve learning environments and academic quality.
Credit: PUNCH
