IMPLEMENTATION OF TERTIARY EDUCATION TRUST FUND INTERVENTION PROJECTS IN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IN THE SOUTHWEST, NIGERIA (2011-2015)

Abstract

The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) was established in 2011 to provide intervention projects towards meeting the physical and human development needs of public higher education institutions in Nigeria and to ameliorate financial crises in the system. However, the timeliness of disbursements, amounts disbursed by TETFund from the allocated funds to universities and the ways projects were implemented have been of great concern to stakeholders. Previous studies concentrated more on quality and relevance of Tertiary Education Trust Fund intervention than on the implementation of intervention projects in the South-west, Nigeria. This study, therefore, was designed to investigate the implementation of TETFund intervention projects from 2011 to 2015, being five years, after the transition from Education Trust Fund. This is with a view to ascertaining compliance with allocation guidelines on the implementation. Public Expenditure, Public and Social Accountability theories provided the framework, while the survey design of the ex-post facto type was adopted. Six federal and seven state public universities in the South-west, Nigeria as well as TETFund projects for the periods were enumerated. Primary and secondary data were sourced and interrogated for information. Other TETFund data inventory containing Allocated Fund-AF (exclusive of research grants). Fund Accessed-FA, Disbursed Fund-DF and Timeliness for Fund Disbursed-TFD were used. Semi- structured interviews were held with 13 TETFund officers, while key informant interviews were held with 26 Principal Officers, two in each university. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and content analysis. The AF to each university from 2011-2015 was N2,888,000,000.00. The highest FA by universities was N2,476,000,000.00 and lowest amount was N686,043,740.00.The highest DF was N2,436,000,000.00,and the lowest amount was N708,097,646.00. Only 46.3% of AF (an equivalent of 84.4% of FA) was disbursed to universities within the period. Physical infrastructure received highest allocation ranging from N175m to N 552m annually while research fund was allocated only N160m for the five years. Academic staff training and development, and Conference attendance top the list of project executed by TETFund in the public universities. Book development and programme upgrade were least executed across the universities. Disbursement of funds was slow due to bureaucracies which led to un-accessed fund. Timeliness of fund disbursement (3.36±1.72) years was poor, against a threshold of one year. TETFund complied with the guideline on horizontal allocation, but was inconsistent on vertical allocation. Protracted delay before DF was released to universities caused rollover and abandonment of TETFund projects. Inability of universities to access fund was the major factor that hindered the successful implementation of TETFund projects. The inconsistency of TETFund on compliance with guidelines, delays in fund disbursement and failure of universities to submit financial returns limited the effective implementation of TETFund intervention projects in public universities in the South- west Nigeria within the period of 2011 to 2015.