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We’ve disbursed over N400bn to tertiary institutions in 2023 — TETFund boss

The Executive Secretary of Tertiary Education Fund (TETFund), Sonny Echono, on Monday in Makurdi disclosed that over N400 billion have been disbursed to tertiary institutions across the country in the outgoing year.

Echono, who spoke to newsmen during the TETFund Management Retreat, said that the amount represented the backlog of previous years that were not accessed and the ongoing year.

According to him, “As we speak, it is in two parts, the first part was 2023, the approved disbursement is in the neighborhood of about N320 billion.

“I am also pleased to report that today, they have accessed more than that. The reason is because we have a backlog of allocation in previous years that some institutions have not accessed but because we streamline the process and we also created an avenue to assist the institutions to access their backlog that number has grown.

“So, now we are in the neighborhood of about N400 billion that we have disbursed to our institutions this year far in excess of the budget because most of the outstanding allocations are now being accessed.

“We are also removing little bottlenecks that are hampering the completion of these projects.”

Echono added that while TETFund can not be extended to private institutions for now was due to the extant law of the country.

He said, “The only way we collaborate with private institutions currently is in the area of research because we know that research is universal and we know that knowledge is collaboration.

“So, we are encouraging them to participate and we actually sponsor people or private individuals who have ideas. Going forward, we are under authority if the law is amended and extended, we will have no exceptions.”

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