Stephanie Clems, Umuahia

Following the revelation by the house of representatives committee on TETFUND that Abia state was one of the states in the country with unclaimed TETFUND, Abia State Governor Alex Otti has vowed to reclaim all accumulated funds.

He says his administration will do everything possible to claim the unclaimed funds earmarked for the state owned institutions by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND).

Governor Otti who recently had a delegation of house of Representatives on a working visit in his country home in Nvosi, said with the enormous work needed to be done in the education sector in the state, it is perfect timing to access such intervention funds now.

He decried the level of dilapidation in public schools in the State and the level of ruins its structures were subjected to, noting however that he would take immediate action to salvage the situation as bemoaning a problem alone does not solve it.

“There is no way we can make progress without these funds. So, whatever it takes, I’m going to do it. I will outsource my Commissioner for Tertiary Education to you so that we can get the unclaimed funds and use it. If you get to our schools and see the level of dilapidation, you will understand the level of ruins and how much we need this funds; In fact, sometime you will be wondering how people actually manage to graduate from these schools

“One thing that we know is that the problem doesn’t get solved by bemoaning the problem. We don’t believe in that. We take actions, we believe that actions solved problems,” he said.

The governor thanked the committee for bringing the state’s attention to the development saying,

“Thank you for calling our attention to this. For us, it is a wake up call for a state that has declared a state of emergency on Education, a state that dedicated 20% of her budget allocation to education, and has recently declared free and compulsory education from primary to junior secondary school.”

Earlier, the leader of the delegation and Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on TETFUND and other services, Hon. Miriam Odinakachukwu Onuoha said that the committee was in the state as part of its oversight functions having discovered that Abia is among the states with an accumulation of unclaimed TETFUND to find out the cause and impediment as well proffer solutions.

Hon. Onuoha disclosed that the House had created a separate Standing Committee on TETFUND to ensure better accountability and show for judicious utilization of the funds released for TETFUND.

She said that the House has relaxed some of the stringent conditions causing the delay, providing an opportunity for the committee to speak with beneficiaries, stakeholders on areas of challenges as well assist them in ensuring that the backlogs are cleared.

“Hitherto, years back, before now, the House had ran a committee on territory institutions and TETFUND but upon realizing that there is a need for better oversight to ensure better accountability and show for judicious utilization of the amounts released for TETFUND, the leadership thought it wise to create this house committee on TETFUND particularly and specially dedicated and saddled with the issues on TETFUND and education tax collection, remittances and utilization.

“The committee paid a courtesy call and oversight visit to TETFUND on the 30/5/2024 and discovered that the funds yet to be utilized was over 500 billion that had been allocated to beneficiary Tertiary institutions and we probed further and found out that there were divergent reasons for this stalemate and accumulation of funds. The committee rose from a meeting with a resolution of the house to set up this technical committee comprising members of the committee, members of TETFUND itself, consultants to come to the affected states and institutions and find out the reason for the accumulation, the impediments and look for a way to proffer solutions and cure it on the spot,” she said.

She noted that her committee will work with Abia State government and the Tertiary institutions in the State to ensure that the state got their right share of the TETFUND intervention.

“Your Excellency, we want to pledge our commitment and our resolve as a committee of the house, a standing committee to work with your government and tertiary institutions in Abia State to ensure that they get their right slice of the TETFUND intervention. So, being your sister and one of your very close supporters and admirers and seeing how you have set Abia on the part of growth and development in such a short time, this committee will work with you and your heads of institutions to ensure that the essence and internment of the tertiary intervention will be attained with you as Governor of this state.”

The visitors later entered into a technical session with the Commissioner for Tertiary Education, Prof. Uche Eme Uche, SA on Education, Kenechukwu Nwosu and
the Heads of Tertiary institutions in the State including ABSU VC, Rector, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu Polytechnic Aba and Provost, College of Education Technical Arochukwu, among others.

Some other members of the delegation are Hon. Okwara Osonwa, member representing Arochukwu Ohafia federal Constituency, Chief Alex Ikwechegh, member for Aba North and South Federal Constituency and others.