Kuni Tyessi in Abuja
The Federal Government, through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), has approved the disbursement of intervention funds to a total of 271 tertiary institutions, cutting across universities, polytechnics and colleges of education nationwide.
Reeling out the figures at the annual disbursement meeting in Abuja on Tuesday, the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Sunny Echono, said each university will receive a total of N2,525,932,228.02, while each polytechnic will receive N1,871,059,920.53 and college of education will get N2,056,527,973.04 respectively.
He gave the breakdown of the disbursement cycle as follows; total direct disbursement 90.75% consisting of annual direct disbursement of 50.00%, and special direct disbursement of 40.75%, while designated projects amount to 9.07% and stabilization funds of 0.18%.
Echono however lamented undue delay by beneficiary institutions in processing projects for approval in principle and obtaining of due process for implementation.
He advised such institutional heads to execute their procurement planning processes early enough to avoid these delays.
“Also worrisome is the slow and reluctant utilization of the TERAS platform with all its associated services by some beneficiary institutions. The Fund will be paying closer attention to this in 2026.
“The Fund also expects better documentation and knowledge of its guidelines for its training and content intervention lines. This should mitigate the challenges and problems experienced by scholars across beneficiary institution,” he cautioned.
According to the TETFund boss, the Fund has taken steps to strengthen the quality and impact of research in beneficiary institutions, prompting the introduction of a new intervention line in 2026 annual direct intervention, which is the Nigerian Research and Education Network (Ng REN).
He explained that the new intervention line aims to improve access to global academic resources and to integrate the Tertiary Education, Research, Applications and Services (TERAS) platform into NgREN with effect from 2026 intervention.
“With these investments, the year 2026 promises to be a year of growth, innovation, and measurable impact.
“We are also expanding the special intervention projects to cover the establishment of the Centers for Robotics, Coding & AI Machine Learning, and Centre for Cybersecurity Studies in selected beneficiary institutions.
“Additional 12 beneficiary institutions shall benefit from the commercial farm project. These will be two universities, eight polytechnics and two colleges of education.
“The Fund has sustained its equipping and upgrade of R&D offices in beneficiary institutions and shall continue the development of student hostel project through Public–Private Partnerships,” Echono stated.
He also noted that the Fund will sustain intervention in addressing security infrastructure and training, completing long-abandoned projects, and strengthening disaster recovery measures.
According to him, research and innovation remain a priority, with support for the National Research Fund, institutional R&D partnerships, the Research-meets-Industry initiative, and commercialization of research outcomes, amongst others.
He said that laboratory and agricultural development will receive a major boost in 2026.
His words: “We are enhancing the ongoing multipurpose laboratory projects, setting up two new ones, and creating new agricultural laboratories and demonstration farms.
“Our ICT roadmap will be further strengthened with expanded digital services, ICT Experience Centers, subscription-based internet access, and the continued advancement of the Tertiary Education Research Application Services (TERAS).
“With these strategic interventions, 2026 promises to be a year of strengthened capacity, innovation, and measurable impact across Nigeria’s tertiary education sector.
“Let me extend our sincere gratitude to the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), and its leadership, for the collection of Education Tax in 2025. As we look forward to the implementation of the development levy in the new tax regime, the diligent efforts of FIRS, in collaboration with all the beneficiary and other agencies, will enable us continue to deliver on our mandate and achieve our set goals in the coming years.
“As we prepare to commence the Year 2026 intervention cycle, I urge all heads of beneficiary Institutions to ensure the full utilization of their 2025 allocations and look forward to an engaging interaction that will further shape our interventions.”
