The Gambia is looking to Nigeria’s experience with the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) as it develops a new financing framework for its tertiary education sector.
The Gambian Minister of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology, Prof. Pierre Gomez, disclosed this on Monday in Abuja after leading a high-powered delegation to TETFund headquarters for a meeting with its Executive Secretary, Sonny Echono.
The Gambian government has established the Tertiary and Higher Education Trust (THET) Fund, modelled after Nigeria’s TETFund, to support higher education institutions and address funding challenges in the sector.
Officials of the new fund are expected to undertake a study tour of TETFund, examining its operations, funding structure and intervention programmes. Gomez said Gambian authorities had monitored TETFund’s work through its website, social media platforms and other media channels and believed the Nigerian model could provide useful lessons for The Gambia.
He also proposed closer cooperation between TETFund and THET Fund in research and capacity development, saying such collaboration could strengthen higher education in both countries and deepen diplomatic relations between Nigeria and The Gambia.
Echono explained that TETFund evolved from the Education Trust Fund (ETF), established more than three decades ago in response to a funding crisis in Nigeria’s tertiary education sector. The challenge prompted the Federal Government and other stakeholders to seek a dedicated source of funding for higher institutions.
Before the introduction of the new Development Levy in 2026, TETFund was financed through a three per cent education tax on the assessable profits of companies registered in Nigeria.
Its interventions are targeted at public tertiary institutions and cover essential physical infrastructure, instructional materials and equipment, research and publication, academic staff training and development, and other areas critical to improving and maintaining standards in teaching, learning, research and academic development.
The study tour will give Gambian officials an opportunity to examine the institutional framework behind TETFund and determine which aspects can be adapted to The Gambia’s higher education system.
The delegation included Ms. Isatou Auber, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology; Dr. Samba Sowe, Deputy Permanent Secretary (Technical); and Ms. Ndey Anta Taal, Project Coordinator, CPCU, Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs.
The move puts Nigeria’s TETFund experience before another West African government as The Gambia develops its own mechanism for funding tertiary education.
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