TETFund BOT set to tackle delays in intervention project delivery

By Mariam Abeeb

The Board of Trustees, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), has taken a final stand on the issue of delay in completion of approved projects in all its beneficiary institutions, warning that affected institutions will not get approval to commence new projects in the 2027 allocation cycle.

For the affected institutions, the BOT Chairman, Aminu Bello Masari, noted the reasons given for the unacceptable development which ranges from volatility in market prices of key building materials like cement, reinforcement bars, sanitary/electrical fittings amongst other, which is why a new intervention line dedicated to completing the affected projects was introduced in 2023.

As a result of the above initiative of the Board of Trustee, in a recent review confirmed that it yielded the desired result as many of the affected projects have been completed following this initiative.

However, Masari frowned at the continued occurrence of non-adherence to stipulated timeline in completing TETFund sponsored projects as noticed recently, stating that, lack of continuity in project implementations by heads of beneficiary institutions who prefer to start new projects, delays in processing of payments to contractors handling the projects are largely, responsible for the avoidable development.

The Board also warned that TETFund sponsored projects will not be allowed to be negatively impacted by internal bureaucracy and politics within beneficiary institutions.

“Therefore, as a lasting solution to the re-occurring problems of distressed projects, the BoT has approved the following measures for immediate implementation: all Beneficiary Institutions (BI) are to compile a comprehensive list of all projects that have exceeded their planned completion period by more than 6 months, indicating causes of delay and proffering remedies.

“The projects are to be ranked in order of relevance and priority, with detailed costing for their completion

“BI’s should put in place a robust and effective supervision team with the active participation of the respective physical planning and maintenance departments to ensure effective project delivery i.e. on time, at prescribed cost, and to specified quality standard.

“Institutions with delayed projects will be required to prioritize the completion of these projects under their Annual, Zonal and High Impact Intervention lines,” the Board stated.

Accordingly, it noted that no new projects will be admitted from the identified beneficiary institutions for the 2027 Intervention cycle.

The BoT added that monitoring teams comprising members of the BoT and technical staff of the Fund shall carry out on-the-spot assessment of the affected projects and examine proposals from affected Beneficiary Institutions on programs for their completion. These shall be conducted within the months of August and September 2026 ahead of the October 2026 statutory meeting of the BoT for the consideration of projects to be admitted into the 2027 disbursement guidelines.