President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the sum of N320,345,040, 835 as the 2023 intervention funds for public tertiary education institutions in the country.

Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund, Sonny Echono, disclosed this in Abuja yesterday during TETFund’s annual strategic planning workshop with all heads of benefitting institutions.

He said the meeting was to receive feedback and evaluate the performance of the agency’s intervention lines to enhance a more robust delivery of its mandate.

According to him, for the year 2023 intervention cycle, each university will get N1,154,732,133.00 comprising N954,732,123.00 as annual direct disbursement and N200m as zonal intervention.

He said each polytechnic would get N699,344,867.00 comprising N569,344,807.00 as annual direct disbursement and N130m as zonal intervention; and each college of education, N800,862,602, comprising N670,862,602.00 as annual direct disbursement and N130m as zonal intervention.

Echono noted that this represents the highest disbursement to each beneficiary institution since the inception of TETFund.

He said the fortune of the Nigerian tertiary education sector had improved significantly under President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

He said from 2015 to date, N1.702 trillion had been disbursed as education tax collection to public universities, polytechnics and colleges of education compared to the total sum of N 1.249 trillion disbursed from the inception of the Fund in 1993 up to 2014 (21 years).

“This remarkable success is due to sustained efforts at expanding and increasing efficiency of collection of the Education Tax and added impetus is the gracious approval of Mr. President for an increase in education tax from 2.0% to 2.5% in the year 2021,” he added.