The Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFUND, Professor Suleiman Bogoro, has indicted the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan in the withdrawal of N359 billion from its coffers without specific reasons in 2013.
The TETFUND Executive Secretary, while explaining the issue in a bid to clear the air over the missing money to members of the House of Representatives Committee on Tertiary Education led by Aminu Suleiman, who were on oversight visit to the agency, made references to the funds in its audited financial reports.
Bogoro explained further that since the deductions were made, it has had a negative impact on the intervention agency, and as such, the TETFUND has had to file various petitions to the Federal Ministry of Finance and the National Assembly, all in a bid to recover the money from the government.
He said it was regrettable that various narratives have trailed the missing funds, such that some persons have mischievously ascribed the funds to him when they had no facts to back their allegations.
The TETFund Executive Secretary also explained that N10 billion meant for high impact projects in selected tertiary institutions has been mopped up from the system.
He noted that the TETFUND discovered that some of the benefiting tertiary institutions were stockpiling the allocated funds for several years without utilising them for the purposes they were meant for.
Bogoro debunked insinuations that the TETFUND has not been equitable in the disbursement of intervention projects nationwide, saying all universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education get an equal amount of allocations at any given time.
While responding to questions from the legislators on discrepancies in the administrative cost of the TETFUND , Bogoro allayed fears of financial impropriety in the agency, insisting that the Board of Trustees, BOT, of the TETFUND gave approvals before funds were disbursed.
TETFUND is empowered by the Education Tax Fund (Amendment) Act No. 17, 2003 to judiciously manage and disburse the 2 per cent assessable profits accruing from all registered companies in Nigeria, specifically for public tertiary institutions.