The Board of Trustees (BoT) of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has resolved to crack down on delays in the execution of intervention projects across beneficiary institutions, warning that institutions with outstanding abandoned or delayed projects will not be permitted to initiate new projects under the 2027 intervention cycle.
Chairman of the Board, Rt. Hon. Aminu Bello Masari, announced the decision after the Board reviewed the persistent delays in project delivery despite previous measures introduced to address the challenge.
Masari explained that delays had largely been attributed to fluctuations in the prices of critical building materials, including cement, reinforcement bars, and electrical and sanitary fittings. He recalled that the Board introduced a special intervention line in 2023 to support the completion of stalled projects.
According to him, the initiative recorded significant success, with many previously delayed projects completed following the additional funding support.
However, the BoT Chairman expressed concern that delays have continued due to poor project continuity by successive heads of beneficiary institutions, who often abandon ongoing projects in favour of new ones, as well as delays in processing payments to contractors.
He stressed that TETFund-sponsored projects must not be undermined by bureaucracy or internal politics within beneficiary institutions.
To address the recurring challenge, the Board approved a series of measures for immediate implementation.
Under the new directives, all beneficiary institutions are required to compile a comprehensive list of projects that have exceeded their completion timelines by more than six months, indicating the reasons for the delays and proposed solutions.
The institutions are also expected to rank the affected projects according to priority and relevance, provide detailed completion costs, and establish effective supervision teams involving their Physical Planning and Maintenance Departments to ensure timely delivery, cost efficiency, and quality standards.
The Board further directed that institutions with delayed projects must prioritise their completion using Annual, Zonal, and High Impact intervention allocations. Such institutions will not be allowed to commence new projects under the 2027 intervention cycle until the delayed projects are completed.
To ensure compliance, monitoring teams comprising members of the Board and technical staff of TETFund will undertake on-the-spot assessments of affected projects and evaluate completion plans submitted by beneficiary institutions.
The inspections are scheduled to take place between August and September 2026 ahead of the Board’s statutory meeting in October, where projects to be admitted into the 2027 disbursement guidelines will be considered.
The decisions were conveyed in a statement signed by TETFund’s Director of Public Affairs, Abdulmumin Oniyangi.
