By Omoyeni Ojeifo
Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) is cracking down on abandoned projects, warning beneficiary institutions that unfinished work will cost them their 2027 funding.
Schools with projects overdue by more than six months must now explain the delay and prioritize completing the site work before applying for fresh grants.
This policy covers all TETFund-backed academic infrastructure—from lecture halls and labs to libraries, hostels, and administrative facilities.
According to TETFund, the move is aimed at ending years of delayed and abandoned projects that have slowed infrastructure development and denied students and lecturers the full benefits of the Fund’s interventions.
Chairman of the Board of Trustees, ex-Kastina Aminu Bello Masari, said the Fund had taken a firm position against the growing backlog of unfinished projects.
According to a statement issued by TETFund’s Director of Public Affairs, Abdulmumin Oniyangi, the Board approved the measures after reviewing the implementation of intervention projects across beneficiary institutions.
“The Board has taken a final stand on delays in project execution. Institutions with outstanding projects will not be allowed to commence new ones under the 2027 allocation cycle,” Masari said.
He said beneficiary institutions must compile comprehensive lists of projects delayed by more than six months, identify the causes of the delays, propose practical remedies, rank the projects according to priority and prepare detailed cost estimates for their completion.
Masari also directed institutions to establish effective project supervision teams, with the active participation of their Physical Planning and Maintenance Departments.
“The teams must ensure projects are completed on schedule, within approved costs and in line with required quality standards,” he said.
Masari said the Board’s assessment showed many institutions blamed delayed projects on rising costs of construction materials, including cement, reinforcement bars, sanitary fittings and electrical materials.
He said the challenge informed the introduction of a dedicated intervention line in 2023 to support the completion of distressed projects.
“The 2023 intervention was introduced to cushion the impact of rising construction costs, and it has enabled many institutions to complete projects that had previously stalled,” he said.
Masari noted that a recent review showed the intervention had produced encouraging results, with many delayed projects now completed.
Despite the progress, he said fresh cases of delayed projects were still being recorded across beneficiary institutions.
“While many institutions have completed previously delayed projects, fresh cases continue to emerge. This trend is unacceptable and must be addressed,” he said.
He blamed the latest delays on poor continuity in project implementation by successive institutional heads, delays in processing payments to contractors and avoidable administrative bottlenecks.
“TETFund-sponsored projects must not suffer because of internal bureaucracy or institutional politics within beneficiary institutions,” Masari said.
To ensure compliance, TETFund said monitoring teams comprising Board members and technical staff would conduct physical inspections of affected projects across beneficiary institutions in August and September 2026.
The inspection reports and proposals submitted by institutions would be reviewed at the Board’s statutory meeting in October 2026 to determine projects eligible for inclusion in the 2027 disbursement guidelines.
Institutions with delayed projects will also be required to prioritise their completion through the Annual, Zonal and High Impact Intervention allocations before new projects can be considered under the 2027 intervention cycle.
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