Still on private varsities’ agitation for TETFund scheme

Still on private varsities’ agitation for TETFund scheme

The agitation for the inclusion of private universities in the TETFund scheme has sparked a heated debate among various stakeholders; TOPE SUNDAY writes.

The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) is a government agency established in Nigeria to provide financial support for the development of higher education institutions. Over the years, the inclusion of private universities in the TETFund scheme has continued to be a subject of intense debate.

While supporters argue that it promotes equity and access and can enhance the quality of education, critics express concerns about maintaining high standards and ensuring accountability.

The demand

Like her counterparts, the vice-chancellor of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, ABUAD, Professor Smaranda Elisabeta Olarinde, recently re-echoed the need for private universities to be included in the TETFund scheme. Olarinde, who Spoke at the maiden edition of the Annual Bursary Lecture at Elizade University, Ilara-Mokin, Ondo state, recently, called for an immediate amendment of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) Act 2011 to align its functioning with the current realities of the Nigerian tertiary education landscape.

She said the avoidable, discriminatory, and inequitable exclusion of Nigeria’s 149 private universities from accessing TETFund largesse will be permanently laid to rest.

Olarinde, who described funding and financing as the most pivotal aspects of the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) governance framework, advocated adequate funding of universities, whether private or public, bearing in mind that education is power and constitutes a significant influence on the wealth of any nation.

The professor of law urged Nigeria to take a cue from countries such as Ghana, Kenya, and the United States where governments have extended government funding to private institutions based on merit, performance indicators and the pursuit of national educational goals.

Need for caution

In his piece titled: “PBAT please, SIR, don’t agree,” a public commentaor, Mr. Ayoade Davidson Ojeniyi, called for caution and asked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu not to hearken to the call by the Proprietors of the private universities to be included in the TETFund scheme.

Ojenyi said, “Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) is a brainchild of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). It came into being through a proposal written by Professor Attahiru Jega, the then National President of ASUU in 1992 during the Babangida regime. General Babangida said that there’s no money to support public education. ASUU then wrote the proposal that required companies and industries to pay a certain percentage of their yearly profits as education tax. It was called the Education Tax Fund. The FGN implemented the proposal and it garnered a huge amount of money.

“It then created the Fund. The UBEC takes care of the primary and secondary schools interventions whilst TETFund takes care of the Tertiary Institutions. It’s now an open secret that it’s the TETFund that makes things happen in all federal and state tertiary institutions. All the tertiary institutions would have folded up without TETFund. Most of the state governments that establish tertiary institutions anyhow do so because they know that there’s TETFund. Some have even established more than four tertiary institutions.

“The reason for this piece is not to talk about the state or the FGN because tertiary institutions owned by them are public institutions. However, the piece is about the owners of private universities who have been putting pressure on the government to include them on the list of Beneficiaries Institutions! Can you imagine people who are doing their businesses to make money trying to begin to compete with the public institutions over the inadequate funds for education?

“Who does that? Is it heard that a private business owner will expect the government to give him public money to run his own business? The funny move has been on for long and they’re not relenting at all. It will be a terrible disservice to the nation if any president allows such a dubious plan to materialise. I believe very strongly that PBAT can never allow such to happen.

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“I plead with him to please resist any attempt to give room for a total collapse of our tertiary education in the country. May the Almighty God continue to grant PBAT strength and wisdom to navigate through our challenges in Nigeria.”

On his part, a Nigerian, Mr. Maritala Oderinto, kicked against the inclusion of private universities in the TETFund scheme, saying that they wanted to reap where they had now sowed.

He said: “Presently, several private universities have been approved in Nigeria and the establishment of more has become a daily routine! The existing private universities have surpassed the federal-controlled Universities in Nigeria. The owners of these universities want to reap where they do not sow.

“The area that requires FG’s attention via NUC is the quality of the graduates from these mushroom private universities (PU). It is a known fact that these PU are producing large chunks of First Class graduates. In some instances, some PU owners have more than one!”

‘Violation of law’

Kicking against the call, a Lecturer at the Federal University of Oye-Ekiti, Mr. Femi Fayomi, said the inclusion of the private universities as beneficiaries of the TETFUND scheme would amount to the violation of the laws establishing TETFund, arguing that they are operating as a business enterprise.

He said, “The call by the Proprietors of Private Universities on TETfund intervention in the development of their Universities is not out of place as the goal is to advance educational development. Although the funding of any other tertiary institutions outside government-owned is not within the purview of TETFund, it would amount to a violation or deviation from the laws setting the body should such a request be entertained and granted by TETFund.

“It is also instructive to note that private Universities are operating as a business enterprise with huge and exorbitant school fees levied on the students, so, it will be unfair to request the government to fund private universities.

“TETFund should rather continue to focus on her primary objective of providing funding for public universities and making funds available for training and research purposes in public Universities. Researchers in private universities can seek collaboration with their counterparts in public universities.”

‘Inclusion’ll give students various options’

Making the case for the private universities, Associate Professor of Mass Communication at the University of Ilorin, Rasaq Adisa, said their inclusion in the TETFund scheme is imperative considering the roles they play in the country’s educational system.

He noted that the move will expand the options available to students, particularly in areas where public universities may be insufficient to meet the demand.

“Including private universities among the beneficiaries of TETFund government support in Nigeria has become imperative. Going by the statistics of university enrollment, public institutions admit 80% of all applicants while private universities struggle to share the remaining.

” By this, the public institutions are overpopulated. To draw the interest of applicants to private universities, the government needs to support them through TETFund. One of the benefits of this is that the school fees of these schools will drop and all and sundry will be opportune to go to university.

“Therefore, including private universities in TETFund support will expand the options available to students, particularly in areas where public universities may be insufficient to meet the demand. This increased access to higher education will align with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government’s goal of improving educational opportunities for all citizens.

“Also, supporting private universities ensures that students have access to quality education across both public and private institutions. This helps maintain high educational standards and fosters healthy competition within the education sector.

“TETFund support to universities often includes funding for research and development. Including private universities in this support can foster innovation and knowledge creation across a broader spectrum of institutions, benefiting the country as a whole. In the US and UK, private universities contribute significantly to scientific research outputs helping the countries to develop. This can be encouraged in Nigeria too.

“Similarly, Private universities contribute to the economy through job creation, infrastructure development, and other avenues. Supporting these institutions through TETFund can help stimulate economic growth and development.

“Given these, including private universities among the beneficiaries of TETFund government support will be parts of the steps towards promoting quality education, increasing access to higher education, fostering research and development, encouraging collaboration, ensuring equity, and stimulating economic growth,” Adisa said. (BLUEPRINT)