The management of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) says it conducted a fresh promotion examination for its senior staff after a review and directive by the Federal Ministry of Education.
Abdulmumin Oniyangi, Acting Director, Public Affairs at TETFund said in a statement on Sunday explained that the examination which was organised by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) followed a widespread complaints and petitions regarding the outcome of an initial examination conducted by the the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON).
“For the 2021 senior staff promotion examination conducted by the Fund, ASCON was originally engaged to offer refresher courses and conduct examinations for participants,” Oniyangi said in response to a publication by Saharareporters alleging corruption in the conduct of the examination.
“However, there were widespread complaints and petitions regarding the outcome of the examination addressed not only to the Fund but the Federal Ministry of Education, which is the Fund’s supervisory ministry.”
“We, therefore, wish to state categorically that the decision to conduct a fresh examination organized by JAMB was taken after the review and directive issued by the Federal Ministry of Education and not for reasons perceived by the sponsors of the publication.”
“Additionally, the setting of higher minimum criteria for the examination does not in any way contravene the provisions of the Public Service Rules which only recommend minimum standards.”
Reacting to another publication by the newspaper which alleged cover-up of disbursements by the Fund, Oniyangi said the report was false.
He stated that the details of details of reconciled projects and funds allocated for staff development programmes such as TETFund Scholarship for Academic Staff, Teaching Practice and Conference Attendance for all beneficiary institutions across the six geo-political zones as of June 30, 2020 are available on the Fund’s website under Publications – PI Reconciled Projects/AST&D Projects.
The newspaper had also alleged that TETFund’s that intervention allocations to colleges of education, polytechnics and universities were last released in 2013.
“It would be absurd to imagine that the allegation of cover-up was true and there were no agitations by heads of the various public tertiary institutions in the country, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) which agitated for the creation of the Fund, other unions in our beneficiary institutions and indeed our various stakeholders,” he said.
He disclosed that Professor Suleiman Bogoro, the Executive Secretary of TETFund had in 2019 set up an independent Technical Assessment Committee on Impact Assessment (TACIA) to “objectively examine the activities of the Fund from 1999 to 2019, including funds received by the Fund, disbursements and impact of the Fund’s intervention among others”.
He added that the Fund has always made it a duty to regularly keep the public abreast of its activities in various platforms and only recently organized a Taxpayers’ Forum in Lagos to give account of funds received and allocated.
“It shall continue to strive to utilize even more diverse platforms for dissemination of information.”
“While Management respects the viewpoints and genuine interests of its stakeholders including the press, it is important that we endeavour to encourage and not denigrate a brand that is widely acclaimed by various stakeholders as a model.”
