Princess Miriam Onuoha, the chairperson of the House of Representatives Committee on Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) and Related Services, has led her team on a working visit to Abia State.
The delegation, on Tuesday, met with Governor Alex Otti and tertiary education stakeholders at the Government House in Umuahia to explore collaborative opportunities in the state’s education sector.
TETFund was established by the Federal Government to disburse, manage, and monitor education tax to government-owned tertiary institutions in the country.
While details of Onuoha’s discussions with the Abia State Government were not immediately disclosed, it may not be unconnected to the over N500bn earmarked for the nation’s tertiary institutions but which have remained unaccessed.
In August, Onuoha had pledged to deepen engagement with tertiary institutions to address challenges in accessing crucial intervention funds.
Onuoha had said that one of the key mandates of the committee was to ensure proper oversight of the tertiary intervention.
The lawmaker, during the committee’s courtesy visit to the Kaduna State Government House, also said the committee would ensure proper account of all the monies that had been disbursed to bridge infrastructure gaps, improve teaching and learning across all tertiary institutions.
Onuoha raised concern on the issue of over N500bn in unaccessed funds currently held by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), earmarked for the nation’s tertiary institutions.
She had said Kaduna State University for instance has N547m in unaccessed fund while Nuhu Bamali Polytechnic has unaccessed intervention funds standing at N724m. The College of Education, Gidan Waya, has N30m unaccessed funds.
Onuoha said that the three institutions in Kaduna State have a combined N1.3bn in unaccessed funds.
She noted that stringent conditions have prevented many institutions from accessing these funds.
Onuoha had revealed that the committee would conduct a nationwide tour to understand and address the specific barriers the educational institutions are facing.
The chairman assured that the committee was committed to ensuring that the funds were disbursed and utilised effectively.
Abia Gov Receives Onuoha-Led Reps Committee On TETFund is first published on The Whistler Newspaper