“This Act repeals the Education Tax Act Cap. E4, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 and Education Tax Fund Act No. 17, 2003 and establishes the Tertiary Education Trust Fund charged with the responsibility for imposing, managing and disbursing the tax to public tertiary institutions in Nigeria.” TERTIARY EDUCATION TRUST FUND (ESTABLISHMENT, ETC) ACT, 2011
Education plays a significant role as a key towards success in life. It provides us with a thorough knowledge of the world around us, consequently expanding our reasoning and igniting our curiosity in the quest for a brighter outlook on life. It helps us to build our minds to accommodate a wider variety of perspectives regarding the world around us. For this reason, it can be deduced that educated people are more likely to possess talent, wisdom and rationality. There are certain tasks in the society that can only be handled by skilled and educated people who acquired their knowledge through rigorous stages of studying and training.
In light of the above, steering the affairs of a scheme such as TETFund, would require a prolific researcher, a multi-talented academic who is acquainted with the principles and rules of the academic environment. It is highly strategic to place TETFund in the hands of Professor Suleiman Elias Bogoro, for he is a leader on the pioneer Council of the Think Tank for Translating Research to Innovations, Strategies, Evidence for Policy and National Development created by the University of Ibadan Research Foundation.
On the 21st of January, 2019 Professor Suleiman Elias Bogoro staged a comeback as the Executive Secretary of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund). The Prof. was reinstated back to his seat after the approval of President Muhammadu Buhari as confirmed by the Ministry of Education. The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, according to the statement, announced that the re-instatement of Prof. Bogoro is with immediate effect, with the same terms and conditions applied to his previous appointment and as stipulated in the TETFUND staff conditions of service.
Professor Bogoro was the Executive Secretary of TETFUND between April 2014 and February 2016. In the initial part of his first tenure as the Executive Secretary of TETFUND, his interest in research and development (R&D) led to the creation of the Department of Research and Development (R and D) at the TETFUND.
Professor Suleiman Elias Bogoro obtained a Bachelor Degree in Agriculture in 1981 from the University of Maiduguri, Master Degree in Animal Science from ABU, Zaria in 1988 and a Ph.D in Animal Science at the Federal University of Technology, now Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU) Bauchi in 1997. He was elevated to the rank of Professor of Animal Science (specializing in Biochemistry and Ruminant Nutrition) in 2003. He is a prolific researcher, with numerous publications in international and local journals, whose versatility has also been projected through his consultancy on and management of international, national and regional projects supported by the World Bank, UNDP, USAID, DFID, IPCR, OSIWA, NDI, FHI, NACA, and IFES.
It is pertinent to revisit the reasons why TETFund was established. The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) was originally established as Education Trust Fund (ETF) by the Act No 7 of 1993 as amended by Act No 40 of 1998 (now repealed and replaced with Tertiary Education Trust Fund Act 2011). It is an intervention agency set up to provide supplementary support to all level of public tertiary institutions with the main objective of using funding alongside project management for the rehabilitation, restoration and consolidation of Tertiary Education in Nigeria.
In his effort towards creating a better TETFund, on the 11th of September, 2019 Professor Bogoro set up a committee to review the impacts of the Fund in the last 20 years of its existence. While inaugurating the Technical Advisory Committee on Impact Assessment (TACIA) in Abuja, he argued that TETFund was undertaking the exercise of self- evaluation to be able to reveal strengths, weaknesses, progress, challenges and windows of opportunities to improve.
The Versatile Professor while addressing staff of TETFund in his first meeting with them explained that his reinstatement was unprecedented in the history of Nigeria, and pledged to manage the Fund to the point of becoming a reference point for other institutions to follow. Our Foreign tertiary educational status has been boosted to 85% under his watch.
He said; “I give God the glory for my unprecedented reinstatement in a way that has never happened before. I don’t know how to thank the President for giving me a medal that no Nigerian has attained before and I pledge to do everything to manage the Fund’s affairs very well.”
Professor Suleiman Elias Bogoro was part of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) struggle that not only led to the establishment of the Fund, but ensured that its mandate of focusing on public tertiary institutions for maximum impact was pursued. The Prof. never imagined that he will sit on the leadership of the institution he fought for through ASUU. He insisted that TETFund be streamlined to intervene only in public tertiary institutions because government only intervenes where it will benefit the greater majority; as according to the National Universities Commission (NUC), private universities cater for only 6% of students intake.
TETFund as a scheme under the leadership of Professor Bogoro has contributed to restore the glory of tertiary institutions in Nigeria through interventions in infrastructural development, academic staff training and development, journal and book development, among others, he pointed out that his predecessors were instrumental to these innovative policies presently operating in the Fund. On ensuring that TETFund projects are of the highest quality, Bogoro stood firm in making sure that there is no excuse for substandard projects, by insisting that only the best quality projects are sponsored by the Fund.
On staff welfare, the executive secretary publicly stated that it is part of his six-point agenda to uplift the welfare of staff intellectually, through capacity building as well as improved condition of service to give every member of staff a sense of belonging.
History will remember Professor Bogoro for the remarkable changes he brought and yet bringing in his quest for an effective and efficient TETFund. Bogoro has a unique personality, a true Nigerian that the country is in dire need of his service not only in the educational sector. His quality of not been tribalistic make him popular among all.
Gidado is the Director Communication and Security Strategic Planning, Presidential Support Committee in Abuja.
