Abia to repatriate accumulated, unclaimed TETFUND

Alex Otti, governor of Abia State, has assured that his administration would do everything possible to repatriate all accumulated and unclaimed funds meant for state owned tertiary Institutions by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND).

Otti gave the assurance at Government House, Umuahia, when he received a delegation of the House of Representatives Committee on TETFUND and Other Services led by Miriam Odinakachi Onuoha, its chairman.

Otti, who revealed that there was enormous work required to bring the education sector to an acceptable standard in the state, said that there was no better time to look for the TETFUND interventions than now.

He decried the level of dilapidation and ruins in public schools in the state, while declaring that he would take immediate action to salvage the situation.

“There is no way we can make progress without these funds. So, whatever it takes, I am going to do it. I will outsource my Commissioner for Tertiary Education to you so that we can get the unclaimed funds and use it.

If you get to our schools and see the level of dilapidation, you will understand the level of ruins and how much we need these funds. Sometime, you will be wondering how people actually manage to graduate from these schools,” the governor said.

“Thank you for calling our attention to this. For us, it is a wakeup call for a state that has declared a state-of-emergency on education; a state that dedicated 20 percent of her budget allocation to education, and has recently declared free and compulsory education from primary to junior secondary school” .

Earlier in her speech, Onuoha said that they were in the state as part of the Committee’s oversight functions, having discovered that Abia is among the states with an accumulation of unclaimed TETFUND funds to find out the reason as well as proffer solutions.

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She disclosed that the House had created a separate Standing Committee on TETFUND to ensure better accountability and show for judicious utilization of the amounts released for TETFUND.

The Committee chairman hinted that the House had relaxed some of the stringent conditions causing delay, providing an opportunity to speak with beneficiaries, stakeholders on areas of challenges as well as assisting them in ensuring that the backlogs are cleared.

“Years back, the House had run a committee on territory institutions and TETFUND but upon realizing that there is a need for better oversighting to ensure better accountability and show for judicious utilization of the amounts released for TETFUND, the leadership thought it wise to create this house committee on TETFUND specially dedicated and saddled with the issues on TETFUND and education tax collection, remittances and utilization.

“The committee paid a courtesy call and oversight visit to TETFUND on the 30/5/2024 and discovered that the funds yet to be utilized was over N500 billion that had been allocated to beneficiary tertiary institutions and we probed further and found out that there were divergent reasons for the stalemate and accumulation of funds.

“The committee rose from a meeting with a resolution of the House to set up this technical committee comprising members of the committee, members of TETFUND itself and consultants to come to the affected states and institutions and find out the reasons for the accumulation, the impediments and look for a way to proffer solutions and cure it on the spot,” she revealed.

Onuoha stated that her committee would work with the Abia State government and the tertiary institutions in the state to ensure that the state gets the right slice of the TETFUND intervention.

The Committee later entered into a technical session with Uche Eme Uche, a professor and Commissioner for Tertiary Education, Kenechukwu Nwosu, Special Adviser on Education, and the heads of tertiary institutions in the state, including: the vice chancellor, Abia State University, Uturu; Ogbonnaya Onu, rector, Abia Polytechnic Aba, and provost, College of Education Technical Arochukwu, among others.

Other members of the delegation include; Okwara Osonwa, member representing Arochukwu /Ohafia Federal Constituency, Alex Ikwuechegh, member for Aba North and South Federal Constituency among others.