AN ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECT OF TERTIARY EDUCATION TRUST FUND INTERVENTIONS ON STAFF DEVELOPMENT IN SELECTED UNIVERSITIES OF NORTHWESTERN NIGERIA

Abstract

Tertiary Education Trust Fund was established as a home grown solution to the problem of inadequate funding for infrastructural and staff development in Nigerian public tertiary institutions. This study assessed the effect of TETFund interventions on staff development in selected Universities of North-western Nigeria (2012-2022). The specific objectives were to examine the extent to which TETFund scholarship has improved staff development and find out the extent to which TETFund conference attendance sponsorship has enhanced staff development. The study used mixed method approach with explanatory sequential design in which both quantitative and qualitative data were collected using questionnaires and an interview respectively. The quantitative data collected from the academic staff members of the selected Universities was analysed using mean score and multiple regression analysis with the help of Statistical Package for Social Science (version 23). While thematic analysis was used in the analysis of qualitative data. The study was guided by human capital theory developed by Theodore Schultz (1961) and Gary Becker (1964). The Findings of the study revealed that TETFund scholarship and conference attendance sponsorship have positive significant effect on staff development, but staffs find it difficult to access TETFund interventions for staff development and there were inadequate funds for sponsoring staff development programmes. Therefore, the study recommended among others that there is need for TETFund to sustain its interventional programmes for staff development, there is need for Federal Government to increase education tax from 2% to 4%, and the University management should re-enforce and provide adequate funds to local staff development & training fund to complement the effort of TETFund agency towards improving staff development. It was also recommended that the bureaucratic delays being experienced in accessing funds allocated for staff development should be minimized to provide easy access for staff.