By Hayatulla Tahir and Jumoke Olaitan

The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has urged beneficiary institutions to embrace Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) to address funding challenges and improve infrastructure.

The Executive Secretary of TETFund, Mr Sonny Echono, made the call at a two-day strategic engagement with heads of beneficiary institutions, governing councils and bursars on Wednesday in Abuja.

He said the engagement was organised to review ongoing projects and programmes, assess implementation challenges and discuss priorities for the 2027 disbursement guidelines.

Echono said changing funding conditions and emerging challenges required institutions to explore alternative funding sources to sustain infrastructure development and improve academic delivery.

According to him, dwindling resources, rising construction costs and competing government priorities have made private sector investment increasingly necessary.

“Government has competing needs, and unfortunately, resources are dwindling while the operating environment is becoming more adverse.

“We must embrace and find ways and means of mobilising resources from all sectors, particularly the private sector,” he said.

Echono urged institutions to identify viable projects capable of attracting private investors, including student hostels, commercial farms, shopping centres and research activities.

He expressed concern over the low response to TETFund’s hostel partnership initiative, which requires institutions to provide land while private partners undertake construction and management.

He said the initiative would help address accommodation challenges, noting that fewer than 15 per cent of students currently lived on campuses.

The TETFund executive secretary also urged institutions to increase their adoption of the Fund’s digital learning platform to improve access to educational resources.

He said the slow adoption of the platform was limiting students’ and lecturers’ access to digital educational materials and other learning opportunities.

“By now, we expect that over 60 per cent of your teaching staff should be conversant with this mode of curriculum delivery.

“We should embrace technology and not fear it,” he said.

Echono explained that the platform provided access to digital educational resources, online lectures, research materials, libraries and other learning facilities.

He said institutions would incur no additional costs after onboarding their students and staff onto the platform.

He also urged institutions to strengthen campus security through perimeter fencing, surveillance systems, solar-powered lights, communication equipment and patrol vehicles.

According to him, institutions should partner with security agencies and other stakeholders to develop security solutions suited to their respective environments.

Earlier, the Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), Mrs Angela Ajala, commended TETFund’s support for colleges of education.

She said the support had strengthened infrastructure, research, staff development and other academic activities, particularly following the introduction of the dual mandate.

The mandate allows colleges of education to award degrees alongside their traditional qualifications.

Ajala urged TETFund to consider the changing needs of colleges under the dual mandate when designing future interventions.

She identified skills development, information and communication technology, student accommodation, solar energy and campus security as priority areas.

“Teacher education is the route by which digital skills will reach every classroom in Nigeria,” she said.

Ajala also called for stronger collaboration between NCCE and TETFund, particularly through the use of institutional data to guide funding decisions.

She urged college administrators to ensure proper utilisation of allocations, completion of ongoing projects and accountability in the management of public funds.

“Spend what you have been given. Finish what you have started.

“Account for every naira as though the next allocation depends on it, because it does,” she said.

Also speaking, the Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof. Christopher Piwuna, called for adequate consultation and planning before introducing new education policies.

Piwuna said ASUU was not opposed to reforms but insisted that proposed policies must be carefully examined to avoid decisions that could negatively affect institutions.

“We are not opposed to government education policies or reforms. What we demand is proper thinking, consultation and planning before such policies are introduced,” he said.

He also cautioned against the indiscriminate allocation of university land to private individuals and business interests.

Piwuna insisted that university properties must be protected from personal and political interests.

“We will not allow anybody to take an inch of our university land for personal gratification, whether the individual is a governor, a minister or a political office holder,” he said.

He further advised colleges of education against introducing programmes solely to attract more students without ensuring adequate planning, funding and accreditation requirements.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the engagement brought together stakeholders to discuss funding priorities, project implementation, accountability and strategies for improving tertiary education.(NAN)

Edited by Rotimi Ijikanmi