Buhari appoints retired permanent secretary, Echono, as TETfund boss
President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the appointment of the immediate past permanent secretary, federal ministry of education, Sunday Echono, as the executive secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).
Mr Echono’s appointment is contained in a statement issued by the ministry on Friday and signed by its director of press, Ben Goong.
He will take over from the incumbent executive secretary, Suleiman Bogoro, a professor of Animal Science, whose five-year tenure ends on March 18.
The statement by the ministry reads in part; “President Muhamadu Buhari has approved the appointment of Arc Sunday S.T. Echono as the new Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND).
“He takes over from Prof. Sulaiman Elias Bogoro whose 5 year tenure will end on 18th March 2022. Described as an accomplished technocrat, Arc Echono brings to the job, diverse wealth of experience spanning Infrastructure, business administration, procurement management, ICT and the education sectors.”
The TETFund boss designate is the president of the Nigeria Institute of Architects, a body of professional architects founded with the aim of regulating the conduct of its members and ensuring decency in the construction business in the country.
The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) is an offshoot of the Education Trust Fund (ETF), which was established in 1998 as an intervention agency for educational institutions in the country.
TETFund came with the repeal of the ETF law in 2011 with the TETFund Act (2011) as “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.”
TETFUnd derives its income from the two per cent education tax paid from the assessable profit of companies that are registered in Nigeria.
The taxes that are collected by the Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) are remitted to the agency for the fulfilment of its mandate.
“The funds are disbursed for the general improvement of education in federal and state tertiary education specifically for the provision or maintenance of essential physical infrastructure for teaching and learning; institutional material and equipment; research and publications, academic staff training and development,” among other roles as may be deemed necessary by the board of trustees.
