Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND): Roles and Challenges

Abstract

Purpose: This paper examines the roles of the tertiary education trust fund (TETFUND) in the development of tertiary institutions in Nigeria and the various challenges militating against the effectiveness of the fund.

Method: The paper is a review study. The paper depends on secondary data that were collected from government documents, print resources and online publications. Content analysis was used to narrow the literature to the theme of the study.

Findings: The study revealed that the major roles of tertiary education trust fund (TETFUND) in the Nigerian tertiary institutions include; infrastructure facilities development, research development and staff training programme. The study also identified; inadequate funding, shortage of personnel, inadequate transportation facilities, insecurity, abscondment of sponsored academic staff, poor retirement from institutions and Naira depreciation as some of the challenges militating against the effectiveness of the Fund.

Recommendations:The government should increase the funding of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) by increasing the percentage of the education tax to 5%. This will enable the funds to execute more infrastructure facilities projects and staff training. The fund should increase allocation to research programmes in the various tertiary institutions across the country.