The Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Sonny Echono, has said most tertiary institutions across the country lack relevant guidelines, procedures, and processes for accessing the fund.
Echono spoke in Owerri, the Imo State capital, during the opening ceremony of a two-day workshop organised by TETFund for its desk officers in the Southeast.
He said: “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.
“Such ignorance, many times, has led to avoidable problems that hinder the smooth and timely execution of TETFund intervention projects in tertiary institutions across the country.”
The TETFund executive secretary said the workshop was organised to enable heads of tertiary institutions and TETFund desk officers familiarise with the fund’s operations, standards, and benchmarks.
He said these would also enable them to attain transparency and effectiveness in accessing TETFund’s interventions.
Echono, who was represented by the Director of Strategic Planning and Development Department of the fund, Erivwo Inene, spoke on the topic: Improving TETFund Intervention Programmes and Processes in Beneficiary Institutions.
The TETFund boss noted that the desk officers of the fund’s various intervention lines would be able to play a significant role in the conception, reconciliation and implementation of the fund’s programmes and processes with the knowledge they acquire at the workshop.
He said the workshop was also aimed at engaging with the fund and discussing how to improve its operations and smoothen the process of accessing interventions and their implementation by beneficiary institutions.
“You are the critical intermediary between the fund and your chief executives, who are the accounting officers of the intervention allocations.
“This workshop is, therefore, expected to bridge the gap between the fund and our beneficiary institutions regarding our procedures and processes with regard to all our intervention lines,” he said.
Also, TETFund has reiterated its commitment to the speedy completion of its physical infrastructure interventions in Nigerian tertiary institutions.
Echono gave the assurance at the workshop in Owerri.
He said the fund had taken proactive steps to address issues related to distressed projects in higher institutions.
The TETFund boss said the fund does this by revisiting its audit process and implementing a robust monitoring and evaluation policy.
Echono urged the desk heads to utilise the workshop to discuss issues affecting their various institutions and the fund’s intervention lines.
