Why Schools with Fewer Than 2,000 Students May Lose TETFund Support

The federal government has introduced a new policy that bars tertiary institutions with fewer than 2,000 students from accessing TETFund support, aiming to promote accountability and ensure more efficient use of public funds.

Minister of Education Tunji Alausa revealed this on  Friday during a one-day engagement in Lagos with heads of tertiary institutions, bursars, and procurement directors from the Southern zone. The forum focused on reviewing the 2024/2025 TETFund intervention guidelines. “We are re-evaluating how institutions benefit from TETFund. We can no longer incentivise poor performance or underutilisation,” Alausa declared.

Alausa argued that it is no longer justifiable to allocate equal resources to institutions with vastly different student populations. He pointed out that some polytechnics established since 2019 still have as few as 350 to 550 students, yet continue to receive the same level of funding as institutions with over 18,000 students.

“This is inefficient and unsustainable,” the minister stressed. “Any institution that, after five years of operation, still has fewer than 2,000 students may be deemed ineligible for TETFund support until they scale up their capacity.”

Alausa further criticised the unchecked proliferation of satellite campuses, calling it “unsustainable and counterproductive.” He also revealed a policy shift on foreign scholarships, highlighting that 85% of beneficiaries never return to Nigeria.

He said that many of the programmes they studied could have been handled effectively within local institutions.

To tackle the issue, Alausa announced the establishment of 28 Centres of Excellence across public and private universities, aimed at strengthening local postgraduate education and research capacity.

In line with the new direction, TETFund Executive Secretary Sonny Echono confirmed the transition to a performance-driven and sustainable funding model. “Institutions that consistently fail to access, utilise, or retire funds appropriately, or that fall short of enrollment and academic performance thresholds, risk being delisted,” Echono warned.

He also called on institutions to explore public-private partnerships (PPPs) to reduce overdependence on government funding, especially in the development of hostels, innovation parks, and support infrastructure.

Both Alausa and Echono emphasised that the goal of the reforms was not punitive but aimed at strengthening institutional credibility and maximising the impact of public investments in education.

Echono said that the policy was not intended to punish but to safeguard the credibility and impact of TETFund interventions.

“This engagement is a call to action. It is a platform to learn, reflect, and commit to best practices in governance, project management, and compliance,” Alausa concluded.