The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), on Friday in Lagos, warned the Federal Government to refrain from moves to abolish the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).

The union warned that aside from the plan being “sacrilegious and deeply unpatriotic”, it could severely harm Nigerian public universities and turn them into “objects of shame.”

Addressing a world press conference in Lagos, Professor Adelaja Odukoya, the Zonal Coordinator, ASUU Lagos Zone in his address themed: “Abrogating TETFund: A Death Knell for Public University Education in Nigeria’, said the proposal to replace TETFund with the National Education Loan Fund (NELFund) as proposed under the Tax Bill 2024 would translate to a death knell of public university education.

He explained that TETFund that was established in 2011 was an intervention agency designed to give supplement funding to public tertiary institutions in Nigeria, saying its principal purpose is to rehabilitate, restore and consolidate tertiary education through funding and effective project management.

Odukoya said, “It cannot be overemphasised that without TETFund, Nigerian public universities would have gone the way of the public primary and secondary schools that have become objects of national shame.

“It is no gainsaying that several public universities, especially those owned by states have literally become TETFund universities as majorities of their structures, laboratories and funds for the training of academics are from TETFund yearly interventions.

“To now contemplate abrogating TETFund and replace it with National Education Loan Fund under the Tax Bill 2024, is to say the least, highly sacrilegious and most unpatriotic.”

He emphasised that TETFund has, for over a decade, played a crucial role in addressing the infrastructure crisis in public tertiary institutions, which resulted from chronic underfunding.

Recalling that TETFund was established following ASUU’s struggle to mitigate the funding challenges of public universities under a previous military regime, he argued that replacing TETFund with a student loan scheme would promote a culture of debt, discourage access to higher education for low-income families, and deepen socioeconomic inequalities.

Odukoya said, “By raising educational quality and opportunities, the TETFund, on the other hand, helps institutions and indirectly improves communities. One public asset that helps society is education.

“The common societal benefits of education, including lower crime rates, improved public health, and greater civic involvement, are undermined when the publicly supported model (TETFund) is replaced with an individualised one (NELFund). Academic staff would not be able to receive research grants, conference funding, or training without TETFund, which would lower their morale and professional growth.

“The attempt to disband the TETFund to fund NELFund is rife with difficulties and self-serving from an educational, political, legal, and socio-cultural standpoint. It could jeopardise Nigeria’s long-term educational and developmental objectives, exacerbate socioeconomic disparities, and weaken the state tertiary institutions.”

He cautioned against the move, saying it could jeopardize Nigeria’s long-term educational and developmental objectives, exacerbate socioeconomic disparities and weaken the state tertiary institutions.