Withhold assent to TETFund Amendment Bill, group urges Buhari

The Director-General, Independent Service Delivery Monitoring Group (ISDMG), Dr Chima Amadi, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari not to assent to the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (Amendment) Bill.

Amadi made the call at a news briefing organised by the group in Abuja yesterday.

He said that the amendment of the act was counter-productive and would drag the government into an unwanted industrial crisis.

“I appeal to President Muhammadu Buhari not to assent to this bill for the simple reason that it is not only counter-productive but will drag this government into unwanted industrial crises.

“The fact that the bill was rejected in 2012 by all stakeholders and unions is a pointer to its unacceptability by the unions and civil society organisations,”he said.

Amadi said that the amendment would take the country back to the old Education Trust Fund (ETF) era.

He said the old ETF had to be restructured owing to the limitation brought on its activities as a result of interventions in too many institutions.

“This law will bring about the proliferation of institutions which will negate the change from ETF to TETFund.

“In the face of several other institutes that regulate and licence professionals such as COREN, ICAN, TRCN, and so on, these bodies will soon begin to ask for funds too.

“This will deeply affect the impact which TETFund is making in our universities, polytechnics and Colleges of Education in this country,” Amadi said.

Also, a member of the association, Mr Olajuwon Babatunde, urged the president to shun the bill.

Babatunde said the amendment was aimed at weakening TETFund which had revamped the tertiary institutions in the country.

“I appeal to the president to shun the amendment of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund Act which was passed by the 7th Assembly.

“TETFund is one of the most effective institutions we have in this country which has totally transformed tertiary education and taken it to another level.

“We have all benefited from TETFund and we need to celebrate it not weaken it. This bill is bent on reducing the impact that it has. We will no longer feel the benefits of this institution.

“We should focus on critical issues that will boost our educational system in Nigeria and not seek to weaken TETFund,” Babatunde said.

In the twilight of the 7th Assembly, the Senate passed a series of bills already passed by the House of Representatives.

One of such bills was the one seeking amendment of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund Act, 2010.

The bill seeks to change the board’s structure to include a representative of the Nigerian Law School, to redefine tertiary education to include universities, polytechnics and the Nigerian Law School.

The bill also seeks to define universities to include the Nigerian Law School and any tertiary institution established by law which runs a full time programme which leads to formal qualification.