The Academic Staff Union of Universities has secured the backing of the Federal Government of Nigeria to investigate vice chancellors of public universities accused of mismanaging allocations from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund.
ASUU raised concerns about weak supervision in the implementation of TETFund projects, noting that some university leaders have allegedly misused funds meant for institutional development.
The union’s president, Chris Piwuna, made the disclosure in Abuja on Wednesday during the public presentation of 72 academic textbooks sponsored by TETFund.
According to him, although universities have received significant financial support through the intervention agency in recent years, many institutions have not utilised the funds effectively.
“Yes, there is plenty of money being given to the universities in recent years. Sadly, many of them have not utilised it effectively. While some of them have mismanaged it, others have used them for different purposes than what they were meant for,” Piwuna said.
He added that some institutions often rely on the expectation of fresh yearly disbursements instead of properly accounting for previous allocations.
Piwuna also expressed concern about the performance of several Centres of Excellence funded through TETFund, noting that many were operating below expectations.
“TETFund has just added about six more Centres of Excellence to the existing 30 that are obviously not well. Most of them are performing below expectations. Hence, they must be made to account for those monies,” he said.
He warned that ASUU would soon intensify scrutiny of university administrations to ensure accountability.
“We are going to turn our searchlights on the vice chancellors and our universities soon. Honestly, we will. Because funds are not being properly managed at the university levels, we are going to take them up to make sure that they account for all of them,” he added.
Responding to the concerns, the Minister of Education, Maruf Tunji Alausa, expressed support for ASUU’s position and called for stronger oversight of university management.
According to him, some vice chancellors, rectors, and provosts run their institutions like personal empires, making it necessary to strengthen accountability mechanisms.
“Several of our Vice Chancellors, Rectors, and Provosts are running the institutions like an empire. We need your help in ensuring that fiduciary responsibilities are met and that they are held accountable,” Alausa said.
He added that the government would collaborate with ASUU to ensure that funds allocated to tertiary institutions are used strictly for their intended purposes.
TETFund was established by the TETFund Act of 2011 to support public tertiary education in Nigeria by providing financial interventions for infrastructure, research, instructional materials, equipment, and academic staff development.
The agency is funded through a two per cent education tax paid by registered companies, and its interventions are designed to improve the quality of learning environments in government-owned universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education.
Over the years, stakeholders in the education sector have acknowledged the role of TETFund in funding major projects across institutions, while also calling for stronger monitoring and transparency in how the funds are utilised.
These concerns include the pace of project execution, compliance with guidelines, and reporting mechanisms, prompting renewed debates on how to ensure that TETFund resources deliver their intended impact on Nigeria’s tertiary education system.
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