The Board of Trustees, BoT, of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFund, has introduced tougher measures to curb persistent delays in the execution of intervention projects across beneficiary institutions, warning that institutions with uncompleted projects will be denied approval for new projects under the 2027 intervention cycle.
The Board said the decision was aimed at ensuring timely delivery of projects, improving accountability and guaranteeing value for public investment in tertiary education infrastructure across the country.
According to a statement by Director of Public Affairs, Abdulmumin Oniyangi, the BoT Chairman, Rt. Hon. Aminu Bello Masari, acknowledged that while rising costs of construction materials such as cement, reinforcement bars, sanitary and electrical fittings had contributed to project delays, many institutions had also failed to meet completion timelines due to poor project management and administrative bottlenecks.
Masari recalled that the Board introduced a special intervention line in 2023 to support the completion of distressed projects affected by inflation and escalating construction costs.
He noted that the initiative had delivered positive results, with several abandoned projects now completed following additional funding support.
Despite this progress, the BoT Chairman expressed concern over the continued delay in completing TETFund-sponsored projects.
He attributed the trend largely to the frequent change in leadership of beneficiary institutions, with some heads preferring to initiate fresh projects instead of completing inherited ones, as well as delays in processing payments to contractors.
He stressed that TETFund-funded projects must not be undermined by internal bureaucracy or institutional politics, insisting that the Fund would no longer tolerate avoidable delays in project delivery.
To address the recurring challenge, the Board approved a number of immediate measures.
Beneficiary institutions are required to compile comprehensive lists of all projects that have exceeded their completion timelines by more than six months, clearly stating the causes of delay and proposed remedial actions.
The institutions are also expected to prioritise the affected projects based on their relevance, provide detailed cost estimates for their completion, and establish robust project supervision teams involving their Physical Planning and Maintenance Departments to ensure timely execution, cost efficiency and adherence to quality standards.
In addition, institutions with outstanding delayed projects must channel their Annual, Zonal and High Impact intervention allocations towards completing such projects before proposing new ones.
Consequently, no fresh projects from defaulting institutions will be considered for inclusion in the 2027 intervention cycle.
The Board further directed that monitoring teams comprising BoT members and TETFund technical staff would undertake on-the-spot assessments of affected projects and evaluate institutional completion plans during visits scheduled for August and September 2026.
The findings will form part of deliberations at the Board’s statutory meeting in October 2026, where projects eligible for the 2027 disbursement guidelines will be considered.
