The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) and the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on boosting revenue remittances and enhancing transparency in the allocation and management of education funds.
The formal agreement, signed recently in Abuja, marks a critical milestone in aligning the goals of both agencies to promote good governance, strengthen fiscal accountability, and drive sustainable development in Nigeria’s education sector.
At the heart of the partnership is the objective to leverage NEITI’s expertise in financial auditing and its access to critical data from the oil, gas, and mining sectors to ensure timely and complete remittances of education tax revenue due to TETFund. These remittances form a vital source of funding for Nigeria’s public tertiary institutions, supporting infrastructure, research, faculty development, and student scholarships.
Speaking at the ceremony, TETFund’s Executive Secretary, Arc. Sonny Echono, described the collaboration as a game-changer in the ongoing efforts to expand revenue streams and ensure accountability in Nigeria’s extractive sector. He said that by improving the tracking and reconciliation of taxes due from companies in the oil and gas industries, TETFund will be better positioned to fulfill its mandate of revitalising Nigeria’s tertiary institutions under President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
“We are working closely with NEITI to guarantee that taxes due to TETFund are accurately captured, promptly remitted, and transparently managed. This will significantly enhance our ability to support critical projects in our institutions,” Echono said.
Echono also revealed that TETFund had recently established a Department of Revenue and Investment, which, in collaboration with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), has significantly improved compliance monitoring and revenue inflow from across the country’s six geo-political zones.
“Through our zonal offices, officers have been deployed to verify the tax obligations of companies and ensure that payments are made correctly and in a timely manner. However, some entities, such as offshore companies, remain difficult to track, hence the need for inter-agency cooperation,” he added.
NEITI’s Executive Secretary, Dr. Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, hailed the agreement as both timely and strategic. He noted that Nigeria’s extractive sector contributed over ₦1.024 trillion to TETFund between 2019 and 2023, but stressed that discrepancies still exist between accruals and actual remittances. According to him, the new collaboration would bridge these gaps through real-time data exchange and joint monitoring.
“In 2023 alone, NEITI audit data revealed that TETFund recorded its highest-ever revenue inflow of ₦571.01 billion, up from ₦322.99 billion in 2022. This proves the potential of the extractive sector as a powerful engine for educational development when managed transparently,” Orji stated.
He added that NEITI’s role would include providing accurate, evidence-based data to support TETFund’s internal revenue projections and external accountability to stakeholders. “We are committed to ensuring that every kobo due to education from natural resource revenue is not only accounted for but used effectively,” he said.
Also present at the ceremony was the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education, Abel Enitan, who expressed optimism about the partnership’s long-term benefits for Nigeria’s human capital development. He described the initiative as a “strategic alignment” of public resources and institutional accountability aimed at achieving sustainable educational growth.
“This partnership reinforces the need to maximise revenue from all available sources to support education. With better tracking and remittance, more resources will be available to train future generations,” Enitan said.
The MoU also comes at a time when the federal government is implementing broad-based tax reforms. Echono clarified that although some changes such as the transition from “education tax” to “development levy” are underway, TETFund will retain access to 50% of the new levy structure, ensuring continuity in funding mechanisms.
Experts believe this partnership sets a precedent for cross-sectoral collaboration that other agencies can emulate. It not only strengthens Nigeria’s education financing framework but also demonstrates the critical link between natural resource governance and human capital development.
With this new alliance, Nigeria takes a bold step toward converting its finite mineral wealth into long-term intellectual prosperity, ensuring that universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education can thrive in an increasingly knowledge-driven global economy.