FULafia vice-chancellor, colleagues visit new TETFund boss
|By Abubakar Ibrahim
The Vice-Chancelor, Federal University of Lafia (FULafia), Professor Shehu Abdul Rahman, along with his counterparts from the nation’s universities, Wednesday, paid a courtesy visit to the newly appointed Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).
It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari has, recently, approved the appointment of the immediate past permanent secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Sunday Echono, as the Executive Secretary of the TETFund.
Mr Echono assumed office on March 21, 2022.
He took over from Suleiman Bogoro, a professor of animal science, whose five-year tenure ended on March 18.
Described as an accomplished technocrat, Arc. Echono brought to his new job diverse wealth of experience spanning infrastructure, business administration, procurement management, ICT and education administration.
He was the past president of the Nigeria Institute of Architects, a body of professional architects founded with the aim of regulating the conduct of its members and ensuring decency in the construction business in the country.
During their visit, the vice-chancellors congratulated Echono for what they described as his deserved appointment, saying that his sojourn in the architectural and education sectors have prepared him for his new assignment.
They prayed that the tenure of Echono as the head of TETFund would witness huge successes and result into bigger interventions in the nation’s tertiary institutions.
Responding, Echono thanked the vice-chancellors for their visit, promising to engage them in his effort of administering the organisation.
He, however, called on them to ensure judicious use of TETFund resources expended in their institution, adding that everything must be put in place to develop the country’s institutions of learning.
The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) is an offshoot of the Education Trust Fund (ETF), which was established in 1998 as an intervention agency for education institutions in the country.
TETFund came with the repeal of the ETF law in 2011 with the TETFund Act (2011) as “an intervention agency set up to provide supplementary support to all level of public tertiary institutions with the main objective of using funding alongside project management for the rehabilitation, restoration and consolidation of Tertiary Education in Nigeria.”
TETFUnd derives its income from the two per cent education tax paid from the assessable profit of companies that are registered in Nigeria.
The taxes that are collected by the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) are remitted to the agency for the fulfilment of its mandate.
“The funds are disbursed for the general improvement of education in federal and state tertiary education specifically for the provision or maintenance of essential physical infrastructure for teaching and learning; institutional material and equipment; research and publications, academic staff training and development,” among other roles as may be deemed necessary by the board of trustees.
