By Lubem Gena
On Tuesday 13 November ,2012 stakeholders in the education sector debated the proposed amendment of the TETfund Act at the National Assembly. The Bill among other things sought to return TETFund to the ETF regime which operated for over seventeen years and brought to the fore the several flaws associated with that regime which the Prof Mahmood Yakubu led Management with strong support from the Legislative and Executive arms of Government corrected in the TETFund Act which was passed into law in June 2011.
The proposed amendments among other intendments also sought to impose greater financial burden and exposure to the TETFund much worse than during the ETF regime. Naturally, this line of action was going to put proponents of the amendments on a collision course with critical stakeholders in the education sector especially the critical stakeholders in the education sector especially the Unions such as ASUU,NANS, SSANU,NASU,COEASU and Civil Society Organizations and for no other reason but for the fact that just as accolades were pouring in from international and local observers for the outstanding strides being achieved in Tertiary Institutions by the Management since the refocusing of its mandate following the 2011 amendment, an attempt is being made to draw back the hands of the clock as it were.
At the hearing were the Civil Society represented by the Coalition To Save Education In Nigeria which had Ezenwa Nwagwu, Lanre Arogundade, Mahmood Abdul, Chima Amadi, Prof Emeka Ezeonu , Jaye Gaskia and many others. As soon as the opening formalities were done with by the Whip of the House who represented the Speaker and the Committee Chairperson, Hon okoh, what was expected to be a riveting session of ideological exchanges from both sides ended in a disappointing anti-climax. While the opponents of the proposed bills reeled out convincing and facts based reasons why the amendments must not be allowed to take place not one single voice of support for the bill was canvassed by the proponents.
From the Unions to the CSOs, the cacophony of opposition to the amendments were deafening such that a clearly frustrated Committee Chairperson had to call for a voice vote which got an overwhelming rejection from the energized audience. What may have led to the withdrawal of the proponents of the amendments? A school of thought suggests that the superior intellectual firepower from the opponents of the amendments and massive mobilization from same could have led to the annihilation of the other side. However, another more likely school of thought posits that the astounding achievements of TETFund may have unwittingly been responsible for this show of solidarity from stakeholders.
Checks at the public hearing revealed that recently ASUU not only warned against the amendments but also canvassed that continuity should be upheld in the leadership of the Fund. This action was said to have gotten to the leadership of the committee. broke with tradition and se The President of the Coalition to Save Education in Nigeria ,Ezenwa Nwagwu ,speaking on behalf of the Coalition also threw their support behind ASUU’s proposition citing what he called “obvious signs of positive and incisive intervention approach in the last four years” of his stewardship.
A Program Manager from the Society for Youth Research in Nigeria, Mrs Wetleng Jenniver told the committee members that aside retaining the subsisting act,the education system will be better if the Yaqub leadership is retained.
“We have followed the activities of the fund since the passage of the bill into law in 2011. TETFUND has ensured that its implementation is robust with glaring successes recorded,ensuring that enhanced funding is available for designated intervention projects in all beneficiary institutions . Just this year,six Nigerian Universities for the first time broke into the top 100 ranked Universities in Africa.
“Also, effective monitoring of the intervention projects in the beneficiary institutions has been greatly improved. Furthermore, a lot of energy including funding is saved on evaluation and monitoring of projects unlike what obtained under the ETF regime. This saving has led to a net increase in disbursement to beneficiaries. Commensurately, more Funds are available for research, library development, academic staff training and development, publications of journals, book development, infrastructural development including rehabilitation and renovation, entrepreneurship development, etc in public tertiary institutions within the mandate of TETFUND.
Mrs Wetleng told the committee that a visit to Yabatech, UNILORIN,UI ,UNIPORT,UNIBEN,UNIMAID,BUK to mention just a few and many Polytechnics and Colleges of Education nationwide will convince sceptics,adding that “Dr Yaqubu as chair of the report of the Presidential infrastructural development including rehabilitation and renovation, entrepreneurship development, etc in public tertiary institutions within the mandate of TETFUND.
Mrs Wetleng told the committee that a visit to Yabatech, UNILORIN,UI ,UNIPORT,UNIBEN,UNIMAID,BUK to mention just a few and many Polytechnics and Colleges of Education nationwide will convince sceptics,adding that “Dr Yaqubu as chair of the report of the Presidential Committee on Needs Assessment of Universities in Nigeria is in a vantage position to continue the task of rescuing our tertiary institutions from decay“
Dr Chima Amadi of the Independent Service Delivery Monitoring Group puts it succinctly when he said “the decision is a no brainier for any serious minded government concerned about the quality of service delivery it renders to the people”.