Tertiary institutions in Nigeria with abandoned or delayed TETFund financed projects will lose access to new intervention projects under the 2027 allocation cycle unless they complete their outstanding works, the Board of Trustees of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund has announced.
The directive, issued on Wednesday by Board Chairman Aminu Masari, is intended to stop institutions from starting new projects while old ones remain unfinished.
The decision is significant because it changes the conditions for accessing future intervention funds and places project completion ahead of new construction.
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The action follows repeated cases of unfinished projects in public universities, polytechnics and colleges of education, even after TETFund created a special intervention line in 2023 to help institutions complete delayed works. While that support helped finish many projects, new delays continued to emerge, prompting the board to introduce stricter conditions before the next funding cycle.
New funding now depends on project delivery
The Head of Public Relations, Abdulmumin Oniyangi, conveyed the directive from the chairman of the Board of Trustees, Aminu Masari.
Masari said the board had reached what he termed a final position after noticing that several beneficiary institutions still failed to complete approved projects within the agreed period.
He said, “The Board of Trustees has taken a final stand on the issue of delay in completion of approved projects in all its beneficiary institutions, warning that affected institutions will not get approval to commence new projects in the 2027 allocation cycle.”
He explained that institutions with delayed works must first complete them using their Annual, Zonal and High Impact Intervention allocations.
“No new projects will be admitted from the identified beneficiary institutions for the 2027 intervention cycle,” he said.
Masari recalled that price increases for construction materials such as cement, reinforcement bars, sanitary fittings and electrical materials had earlier slowed project execution in several institutions. That situation led the board to create a dedicated intervention line in 2023 to support the completion of affected works.
He said a review later showed that the initiative achieved its purpose because many delayed projects were eventually completed after receiving that support.
Even with that progress, Masari noted that new cases of delayed execution continued to surface. He said the latest problem was no longer mainly about funding but was largely connected to decisions taken within beneficiary institutions.
“The continued occurrence of non adherence to stipulated timelines in completing TETFund sponsored projects is unacceptable,” he said.
He also stated, “Lack of continuity in project implementation by heads of beneficiary institutions who prefer to start new projects, as well as delays in processing payments to contractors handling the projects, are largely responsible for the avoidable development.”
Masari stressed that internal bureaucracy and institutional politics would no longer be allowed to affect projects financed through TETFund.
Institutions face inspection before 2027 allocation
To enforce the directive, the board approved immediate steps that every beneficiary institution must follow.
Each institution must prepare a comprehensive list of projects that have exceeded their completion period by more than six months. They must explain why each project was delayed and present practical solutions.
They must also rank the projects in order of priority, submit detailed cost estimates needed to complete them and strengthen supervision through their Physical Planning and Maintenance Departments.
Masari said TETFund monitoring teams, made up of board members and technical staff, would carry out physical inspections of affected projects in August and September 2026.
“The inspection reports and proposals submitted by institutions would be reviewed during the board’s statutory meeting scheduled for October 2026, where projects eligible for inclusion in the 2027 disbursement guidelines would be considered,” he said.
TETFund was established under the Tertiary Education Trust Fund Act as Nigeria’s intervention agency for financing infrastructure, research, academic staff training and development, library enhancement and other capital projects in public universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.
The Fund receives money through an education tax paid by registered companies operating in Nigeria. Over the years, it has financed lecture theatres, laboratories, hostels, libraries, medical facilities, research centres and other academic infrastructure worth hundreds of billions of naira.
Unfinished projects and changes in institutional leadership have continued to slow project delivery. The latest directive places completion of existing projects at the centre of the 2027 intervention process, with compliance set to determine which institutions qualify for new TETFund allocations.
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