How TETFund Is Becoming A Model For Higher Education Funding In Africa

As countries across Africa search for sustainable ways to finance higher education, Nigeria’s Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) is increasingly attracting attention beyond the country’s borders.

The latest interest has come from The Gambia, where the government is looking to draw lessons from Nigeria’s experience as it develops a new funding institution for its tertiary education sector.

The Gambian Government has announced plans to undertake a study tour of TETFund, with officials of the country’s newly established Tertiary and Higher Education Trust (THET) Fund expected to visit Nigeria to study the agency’s structure, operations and interventions.

The development emerged on Monday, 10 August 2026, when Gambia’s Minister of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology (MoHERST), Prof Pierre Gomez, led a high-powered delegation to the TETFund headquarters in Abuja for discussions with the Executive Secretary, Arc Sonny Echono.

The visit showed the growing recognition of the challenges associated with financing tertiary education in Africa and the need for institutions capable of providing sustained support for infrastructure, research, academic development and other areas critical to the quality of higher education.

Speaking during the visit, Prof. Gomez said the Gambian delegation was in Nigeria to formally inform the TETFund leadership about the establishment of the THET Fund and to seek cooperation as the country prepares to learn from Nigeria’s experience.

“The purpose of this visit is to inform the Executive Secretary about the establishment of Gambia’s Tertiary and Higher Education Trust Fund, a replica of Nigeria’s TETFund, and to seek the Fund’s assistance and cooperation during a study tour that would be embarked upon by officials of the THET Fund soon,” he said.

The decision by The Gambia to establish an institution modelled after TETFund is significant because funding remains one of the major constraints facing higher education systems across the continent.

Universities and other tertiary institutions require continuous investment to maintain infrastructure, provide modern teaching equipment, support research and ensure that academic staff are adequately trained.

For The Gambia, the proposed study tour provides an opportunity to examine how Nigeria has developed a dedicated intervention mechanism capable of supporting public tertiary institutions through targeted funding.

Prof Gomez disclosed that Gambian authorities had followed TETFund’s activities and achievements over the years through its official website, social media platforms and other media channels.

According to him, the experience convinced the Gambian Government that a similar institution could play an important role in strengthening its own higher education system.

“We have over the years followed the activities and achievements of TETFund carefully through the Fund’s website, its social media handles and other media platforms,” he said.

He added that the experience had contributed to the decision to establish the THET Fund as an instrument for supporting higher education institutions in The Gambia.

The proposed collaboration also extends beyond funding, as the Gambian minister identified research and capacity development as areas where both institutions could work together, suggesting that the relationship could evolve into a broader partnership involving knowledge exchange, institutional development and professional capacity building.

Prof Gomez stressed the importance of effective collaboration between the two institutions, particularly in research and capacity development, saying such cooperation could also contribute to strengthening diplomatic relations between Nigeria and The Gambia.

For Nigeria, the interest from The Gambia represents another indication of the regional relevance of TETFund’s intervention model.

Over the years, the agency has evolved from its original identity as the Education Trust Fund (ETF) into a major intervention institution within Nigeria’s tertiary education sector.

Welcoming the Gambian delegation, Echono provided an account of the history and evolution of the Fund, explaining that its establishment was largely driven by the funding crisis that confronted Nigeria’s tertiary education system more than three decades ago.

According to him, the challenges facing the sector at the time made it necessary for the Federal Government and other stakeholders to develop an alternative and sustainable source of funding for tertiary institutions.

“The establishment of TETFund arose from the critical crisis that faced the tertiary education sector over three decades ago, which necessitated the Federal Government and other critical stakeholders to come up with an alternative source of funding for the institutions,” Echono explained.

The history is important to understanding why TETFund has become a reference point for other countries.

Rather than relying solely on conventional government budgetary allocations, the Fund was designed to provide dedicated intervention funding to address identified gaps in public tertiary institutions.

Echono explained that until the introduction of the new Development Levy by the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration in 2026, TETFund’s source of funding was principally a three per cent Education Tax on the assessable profits of companies registered in Nigeria.

He also noted that public tertiary institutions are the beneficiaries of TETFund interventions, with the agency directing resources towards areas considered critical to improving the quality and standard of higher education.

Over the years, these interventions have covered a wide range of needs.

According to Echono, the Fund’s mandate focuses on addressing critical requirements within institutions rather than simply providing funding without specific development objectives.

He listed essential physical infrastructure for teaching and learning, instructional materials and equipment, research and publication, academic staff training and development, as well as other areas considered critical to the improvement and maintenance of standards in higher education institutions.

“These interventions are targeted at solving critical needs of institutions,” Echono said, stressing the importance of infrastructure, research, equipment and human capacity to the sustainability of the tertiary education system.

The emphasis on research and academic capacity development is particularly relevant to The Gambia as it establishes its own intervention mechanism. Beyond constructing buildings, sustainable higher education development requires investment in the people and knowledge systems that drive universities and other institutions.

This is one area where the planned study tour could prove particularly valuable. Officials of the THET Fund will have the opportunity to examine how TETFund identifies institutional needs, structures interventions and supports research and academic development.

The engagement could also provide lessons on the institutional framework required to manage a specialised higher education fund. For a newly established agency, understanding the successes and challenges of an existing model could help reduce the time required to develop effective systems.

At the same time, The Gambia’s decision to create its own institution demonstrates that the Nigerian model is being viewed as adaptable rather than simply being copied.

The proposed THET Fund will operate within the Gambian higher education environment and will inevitably have to respond to the country’s own institutional, economic and educational realities.

The planned collaboration therefore has the potential to become more than a one-off study tour. It could develop into a sustained relationship between two West African institutions, particularly in research, academic capacity building, institutional planning and knowledge exchange.

Members of the Gambian delegation included Ms Isatou Auber, Permanent Secretary, MoHERST; Dr Samba Sowe, Deputy Permanent Secretary (Technical), MoHERST; and Ms Ndey Anta Taal, Project Coordinator, CPCU, Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs.

The proposed study tour consequently places TETFund in a broader African context, where the challenge is no longer simply how to expand access to tertiary education but how to finance institutions sufficiently to deliver quality teaching, meaningful research and relevant skills.

For The Gambia, the establishment of the THET Fund marks an attempt to create a dedicated mechanism for addressing some of these challenges.

For Nigeria, the decision to study TETFund’s experience offers a reminder of how an institution established in response to a domestic education crisis has gradually developed into a model attracting interest from other countries.