The Board of Trustees of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has warned that beneficiary institutions with delayed intervention projects will not be considered for new projects in the 2027 allocation cycle.
The Chairman of the Board, Aminu Masari, gave the warning while announcing measures to address the persistent delays in the completion of TETFund-sponsored projects across tertiary institutions in the country.
Masari noted that the Board had identified several reasons for the unacceptable delays, including volatility in the prices of key building materials such as cement, reinforcement bars, and sanitary and electrical fittings.
He said it was in response to this challenge that the Board introduced a dedicated intervention line in 2023 specifically to support the completion of affected projects.
A recent review, according to him, confirmed that the initiative yielded positive results, with many of the affected projects now completed following the intervention.
However, the BOT Chairman expressed concern over the continued failure by some institutions to adhere to stipulated timelines for project delivery.
He attributed the recurring problem largely to lack of continuity in project implementation by heads of beneficiary institutions who prefer to abandon ongoing projects to start new ones, as well as delays in the processing of payments to contractors handling the projects.
The Board also warned that TETFund-sponsored projects will no longer be subjected to internal bureaucracy and politics within beneficiary institutions, stressing that such practices have continued to negatively impact project delivery.
To provide a lasting solution, the Board approved new measures for immediate implementation.
“All beneficiary institutions are to compile a comprehensive list of all projects that have exceeded their planned completion period by more than six months, indicating the causes of the delay and proffering remedies. The affected projects are to be ranked in order of relevance and priority, with detailed costing for their completion.
“In addition, institutions have been directed to put in place a robust and effective supervision team with the active participation of their Physical Planning and Maintenance Departments to ensure effective delivery of projects in terms of time, cost and quality standard,” he said.
The Board further directed that institutions with delayed projects must prioritize the completion of such projects under their Annual, Zonal and High Impact Intervention lines.
“Accordingly, no new projects will be admitted from the identified beneficiary institutions for the 2027 Intervention cycle,” Masari noted.
A statement signed by the Fund’s Director, Public Affairs Abdulmumin Oniyangi, disclosed that to enforce compliance, monitoring teams comprising members of the Board of Trustees and technical staff of the Fund will carry out on-the-spot assessment of the affected projects and examine proposals submitted by the institutions on plans for their completion.
The statement noted that the monitoring exercise is scheduled to hold within the months of August and September 2026, ahead of the October 2026 statutory meeting of the Board for the consideration of projects to be admitted into the 2027 disbursement guidelines.
(The Whistler)