By CHIKA NWACHUKWU

The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has announced its commitment to transforming Nigeria's tertiary institutions into globally competitive entities, driven by innovation, knowledge, and human capital.

Chairman of the TETFund Board of Trustees, Rt. Hon. Aminu Bello Masari, revealed this during the Lagos edition of the 2025 National Town Hall Meeting held at the Radisson Blu Hotel on Monday.

Masari emphasised that TETFund's work extends beyond infrastructure development to a holistic transformation of academic standards, research capacity, and institutional resilience.

Masari expressed TETFund’s commitment to modernising administrative processes, enhancing learning, and supporting innovation across universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education.

According to him, the future of education is digital, noting that TETFund is equipping institutions with tools to streamline administration, improve accountability, monitor projects effectively, and facilitate e-learning through its TETFund Education Resource and Administration System, TERAS.

“These investments promote transparency, enhance operational efficiency, and expand digital literacy across campuses, critical for preparing students for the modern knowledge economy,” he said.

While speaking on TETFund’s mandate, he stressed that the Fund’s work extends beyond landmark infrastructure projects to a holistic transformation of academic standards, research capacity, and institutional resilience.

“TETFund is not just about erecting physical structures. It is about building globally competitive institutions driven by innovation, knowledge, and human capital," he said.

Masari noted significant progress in academic staff development, with thousands of lecturers benefitting from TETFund-sponsored Master’s and PhD programmes locally and abroad, including support for conferences, manuscript development, teaching practice, and professional certification.

On research and innovation, he listed major initiatives strengthened by the Fund: including the TETFund Alliance for Innovative Research, TETFAIR, which has produced over 200 prototypes now moving towards commercialisation.

Another innovation was the Research for Impact, R4i, which has trained 939 researchers to convert ideas into market-ready products.

He added that Multidisciplinary Research Laboratories and Centres of Excellence have been established across the geopolitical zones, while the Nigerian Education Data Initiative, NEDI, has been established for real-time, evidence-based policy planning.

Masari said TETFund is also expanding its innovation footprint through state-of-the-art Entrepreneurship and Technology Hubs, featuring robotics, 3D printing, renewable energy labs, biotechnology centres, and creative industry workshops.

He noted that eighteen institutions benefited in 2024, with 15 more added in the 2025 cycle.

On digital transformation, he announced the rollout of the TETFund Education Resource and Administration System, TERAS, designed to digitise administrative processes, enhance transparency, and support digital learning across campuses.

To strengthen medical education, TETFund has upgraded 18 Colleges of Medicine and is establishing eight medical simulation centres nationwide.

He noted that in a bold move to address chronic energy deficits in tertiary institutions, N70 billion has been earmarked in the 2025 budget for the deployment of sustainable mini-grid solutions on selected campuses.

While reiterating the Fund’s accountability framework, he explained that 91 per cent of TETFund revenue goes directly to interventions, including annual direct disbursements, special projects, zonal interventions, and disaster recovery.

Masari also clarified the strict eligibility criteria for institutions seeking TETFund support, stressing that only public universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education with valid regulatory recognition may benefit.

He called for shared responsibility in sustaining TETFund projects, urging institutions, communities, alumni, and industry players to prioritise maintenance and optimal utilisation.

Also speaking, the Executive Secretary of the Fund, Arc Sonny Echono, stressed that knowledge and skills now determine competitiveness, surpassing natural resources.

Echono called for greater investment in education to unlock this potential.

On his part, a Jean Monnet Professor of Strategy and Development at the Commonwealth Institute for Advanced and Professional Studies, Anthony Kila, called for TETFund's transformation from an infrastructure-driven intervention body into a strategic engine for knowledge, innovation, and national competitiveness.

Speaking on “Tertiary Education in Nigeria and the Relevance of TETFund,” Kila said Nigeria’s higher education system, though not collapsed, has suffered “heat, cracks and shocks” that now present an opportunity for reconstruction and reform.

He identified four deep-rooted challenges: chronic underfunding, extremely low research productivity, weak infrastructure, and the disconnect between learning and national development, as factors undermining the sector.

Kila acknowledged TETFund’s critical interventions in building lecture theatres, equipping laboratories, supporting research, and training lecturers, noting that many campuses owe their most modern facilities to the Fund. However, he stressed that historical achievements alone cannot guarantee future relevance.

According to him, the tertiary education system of the future must produce problem-solvers, innovators, globally competent professionals, rigorous researchers, and critical citizens capable of informed engagement.

To achieve this, he argued, TETFund must widen its mandate to aggressively drive research commercialisation, champion national research missions, enforce accountability for funded projects, deepen private-sector collaboration, and reconsider its exclusion of private universities.

While speaking on public value and visibility, Dr. Reuben Abati of Arise TV, urged TETFund to adopt a more transparent, strategic, and responsive approach to maximize the impact of its interventions.