The Federal Government has declared that TETFund will cut off schools with fewer than 2,000 students from accessing future funding. Minister of Education, Mr. Tunji Alausa, made this statement during a meeting in Lagos with heads of institutions, bursars, and procurement directors. The government says it is no longer sustainable or reasonable to keep funding schools that have failed to attract a sizeable student population, especially when larger institutions are being served the same financial cake.
Why TETFund Cuts Off Schools With Fewer Than 2,000 Students
According to Alausa, the new rule means any institution that has existed for five years but still has fewer than 2,000 students will lose TETFund access. “We can no longer incentivise poor performance or underutilisation,” he said. Some polytechnics established since 2019 still have as few as 350 students. Meanwhile, universities with 18,000 students are expected to share the same funding pool. That’s like expecting a keke to carry the same fuel as a trailer.
But critics say the policy feels more like punishment than reform. Isn’t the problem with low enrolment often tied to poor funding in the first place? Isn’t this a chicken-and-egg situation? TETFund cuts off schools with fewer than 2,000 students, but what if they needed that fund to attract more students?
Mr. Alausa insists this is part of a “repositioning” effort. “We are re-evaluating how institutions benefit from TETFund,” he said, adding that the goal is to ensure public funds go to schools that can show efficiency and commitment to growth. And yes, that means setting benchmarks and pushing underperformers to either rise or be erased.
The Executive Secretary of TETFund, Sonny Echono, echoed this controversial stance. According to him, institutions that fail to access, use, or properly retire funds or that underperform, will be delisted. “We want to ensure the Fund’s resources are directed toward institutions committed to high standards of governance, transparency and accountability,” he stated.
Echono went further, declaring that the new funding model will reduce over-dependence on government and promote private partnerships.
28 Centres of Excellence have been set up, Alausa noted, but we are all asking who gets to benefit. Is this just another elite-focused policy dressed in technocratic language?
TETFund Cuts Off Schools With Fewer Than 2,000 Students
TETFund cutting off schools with fewer than 2,000 students is not just a headline it’s a loaded message. The government says it’s about efficiency, critics say it’s elitism. As the policy kicks in, smaller institutions may either scramble for students or disappear completely. And once again, the students the real stakeholders are caught in this mess.
