The Nigerian government says Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFUND, will now set aside 30% of its initial allocation from the Federation account to support the disbursement of loans by the Nigerian Education Loan Fund NELFUND, to students.
The Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Mr Bayo Onanuga made this known on Wednesday while briefing State House Correspondents on the components of the submitted Economic Stabilisation Bill by the Executive to the National Assembly for further amendments.
Mr Onanuga stated that the amendment to the TETFUND 2011 Act as contained in the economic stabilisation fund is an important element that affects the Nigerian students.
He said; “The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) Amendment Bill 2024 is significant because it introduces a provision that impacts the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND). Many have been wondering how NELFUND will be financed, and the government has provided a solution. Most of the funding will come from TETFUND. The amendment to the 2011 TETFUND Act now mandates that one-third (30%) of the funds TETFUND receives from the Federation Account must be set aside for NELFUND before any disbursements are made. This ensures a ready source of funding for NELFUND.”
Responding to the impact of the proposed amendment to the Tertiary Education Trust Fund 2011 Act as regards existing intervention in public tertiary institutions, Mr Onanuga said that “the government believes the fund accruing to Tertiary Education Trust Fund from the federation account can adequately boast fund disbursement by NELFUND.”
He stated that TETFUND having funded infrastructure of public higher institutions visibly well since its inception, it would have the efficiency to sustain students enrolment in public higher institutions through its support towards the disbursement of loan to students.
“As for the TETFUND issue, I understand that TETFUND has been doing a lot of good work supporting universities, colleges of education, polytechnics, and more. The government likely reviewed its funds and decided that allocating 30% of TETFUND’s resources to NELFUND would benefit students in these institutions. The idea behind NELFUND is to ensure that every child, regardless of their parents’ financial status, can access education. TETFUND shouldn’t only focus on building facilities like assembly halls and laboratories without ensuring that students have access to loans to fully benefit from these resources.”
Mr Onanuga also explained that the One third TETFUND funding support for NELFUND is a supplementary support for the operations of NELFUND while the Nigerian government also make provision of budgetary allocation to fully fund loan disbursement by NELFUND to Nigerian students.
In addition, the Senior Special Assistant Digital/New Media, O’tega Ogra recalled that President Tinubu’s speech to Nigerians during the #EndBadGovernance Protest, revealed that financial realisations from illegal activities would be used to fund the student loan scheme.
Acknowledging that public higher institutions need more funds to support the administration of the institutions, O’tega said that the waiver granted to public higher institutions on internally generated revenue by the Nigerian government is to further help them support the system.
“The government has also implemented another important measure. Previously, universities were required to remit a portion of their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to the Nigerian government. However, this policy has been discontinued. Now, universities can retain all their IGR, which can be fully utilized to support and fund their institutions.
“We know they need a lot more funding. We know the budgetary allocations to education can be improved, but a lot is being done, at least in the interim, to bridge funding gaps that they have,” Ogra added
