The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has slammed the brakes on fresh funding for universities, polytechnics and colleges of education with abandoned or uncompleted projects, declaring that they will miss out on 2027 intervention funds unless they complete existing projects.
The tough directive, announced by TETFund Board Chairman Aminu Masari, marks the agency’s strongest crackdown yet on institutions accused of delaying projects despite receiving billions of naira in intervention funds.
According to a statement by TETFund’s Head of Public Relations, Abdulmumin Oniyangi, the new policy is aimed at ending the persistent culture of abandoned projects and ensuring greater accountability in the use of public funds.
Masari said the Board of Trustees reached the decision after discovering that several beneficiary institutions repeatedly failed to complete approved projects within stipulated timelines.
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“Institutions with outstanding projects will not receive approval to commence new projects under the 2027 intervention cycle,” he declared.
He directed affected institutions to channel available funds under their Annual, Zonal and High Impact Intervention allocations towards completing ongoing projects before applying for fresh interventions.
The TETFund chairman explained that earlier delays were largely caused by soaring construction costs, including cement, reinforcement bars, electrical fittings and sanitary materials.
To tackle the challenge, the Fund introduced a special intervention window in 2023 to rescue stalled projects, a move he said enabled many institutions to complete abandoned infrastructure.
However, Masari expressed concern that fresh cases of project delays are still emerging, blaming many of them on poor institutional leadership, weak supervision and administrative bottlenecks, rather than funding shortages.
He urged vice-chancellors, rectors and provosts to strengthen project planning and execution to ensure intervention funds translate into improved teaching, research, innovation and infrastructure.
Masari reaffirmed TETFund’s commitment to accountability, efficiency and value for money, stressing that institutions must complete existing projects before expecting new government funding.
