TETfund to disburse N683bn intervention fund for tertiary institutions
President Bola Tinubu has approved the sum of N1429.268 billion as the intervention funds for public tertiary education institutions in the country in 2024.
The Executive Secretary of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Sonny Echono, disclosed this during the Fund’s strategic planning meeting with heads of beneficiary institutions in Abuja on Friday.
Echono stated that 90.75 per cent of the total budget was allocated for direct disbursement while 8.94 per cent was set aside for some designated special projects.
Additionally, a stabilization of 2.27 per cent was allowed to enable the Fund to respond to emerging issues.
He also disclosed that each University shall get for the Year 2024 intervention cycle, the total sum of N1,906,944,930.00, each Polytechnic N1,165,355,235.00
while each College of Education shall get N1,398,426,282.00.
Recall that the 2023 intervention cycle saw each university receiving N1,154,732,133.00; Polytechnic – N699,344,867.00, while each College of Education got N800,862,602.
Echono said, “I am pleased to inform you that Mr. President has approved the Year 2024 disbursement guidelines in the total sum of N683,429,268, 402.64. From this total, 90.75 % is budgeted for direct disbursement and 8.94 % for some designated special projects. A stabilization of 2.27 % is allowed to enable the Fund respond to emerging issues.
“This is inclusive of the difference between actual collections and the projections made for November and December 2023 collections as requested and approved by Mr. President.
“Based on this approval:
Each university shall get, for the Year 2024 intervention cycle, the total sum of N1,906,944,930.00.
This comprises N1,656,944,930.00 as annual direct disbursement and N250 million as zonal intervention.
Similarly, each Polytechnic shall get N1,165,355,235.00 comprising of N1,015,355,235.00 as annual direct disbursement and N150million as zonal intervention, while each College of Education shall get N1,398,426,282.00 comprising of N1,248,426,282.00 as annual direct disbursement and N150million as zonal intervention.
“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.
“This remarkable success is due to, sustained efforts at expanding and increasing the efficiency of collection of the Education Tax, and the gracious concurrence of Mr. President for an increase in the tax from 2.5% to 3.0% in the year 2023.
“We are grateful to all the key actors, notably the Minister of Education Prof. Tahir Mamman Minister of Finance and coordinating Minister for the Economy, the Chairmen and members of the Senate and House Committees on TETFund and the Chairman Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) for their unwavering support, towards the sustainably improvement of the collection,” he said.
He went on to say that the meeting served as a forum for getting input and assessing the effectiveness of the intervention lines. He also urged all heads of institutions to make sure that the year 2024 intervention allocation is implemented and used in a timely, prudent, and efficient manner in order to have the much-needed impact on their respective tertiary institutions.
