Infrastructural Development and TET Fund Participation in some Selected Higher Institutions in Anambra State – Nigeria

Purpose: This study examined TETFund interventions in the development of infrastructure in selected tertiary institutions in Anambra state using Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Federal Polytechnic Oko, and Nwafor Orizu College of Education Nsugbe as areas of study. Materials and Methods: It adopted adopts descriptive survey design wherein structured questionnaire was used to collect information from a sample of 125 participants. With the aid of SPSS version 20.0 tools of analysis, and public good theory, the data generated was extensively analysed and discussed. Findings: Results of the analysis reveal that infrastructural decay persists in the tertiary institutions in spite of the intervention. It reveals also that TETFund does not engage in the rehabilitation of existing infrastructures and focuses on the provision of up-to-date textbooks and construction of new buildings to the neglect of other infrastructures. Implications to Theory, Practice and Policy: Among others, the paper recommends the expansion of TETFund intervention to include rehabilitation of old infrastructures and the diversification of its interventions in new projects to include all forms of infrastructures.


INTRODUCTION
In pursuit of skills and knowledge acquisition, and national development, administrations at all level of governance in Nigeria established, managed, funded, and controlled different types and levels of educational institutions i.e. primary, secondary, and tertiary institutions.These institutions exist to promote acquisition of knowledge, teaching, research and community service.Specifically, the essence of establishing tertiary institutions is to develop the innate human traits and enhance the quality and diversity of human resources/skills for the management and growth of Nigerian economy.From 1958 when the University College Ibadan, and 1960 when the University of Nigeria were established as first indigenous tertiary institutions till date, millions of graduates have been produced while hundreds of tertiary institutionsboth public and private have been established to accomplish this task.These institutions include universities, colleges of education, polytechnics, and colleges of education technical, institute of technologies, defence academies, and academies among others.
Nevertheless, as the number of registered students and graduates of these institutions rises continually, the quality or standard of knowledge they acquire continues to degenerate due to challenges and problems.These institutions began to experience total decay from early 1980s as facilities began to collapse without repair, inadequate funding, shortage of work force, poor staff quality, policy inconsistency, unionism and incessant strikes, managerial incompetence, and corruption overwhelmed the institutions (Ezeali & Esiagu, 2009;Agabi & Ogah, 2010).Tayo, Okotoni, Adebakin & Azeez (2012) and Okebukola (2005) observed that the population of students significantly exceeded infrastructural capacity in these institutions, lecture halls/rooms are either not available or too small to accommodate students during lectures, while teaching materials and aid are either mal-functional or non-existing.Further, most of the lecturers do not have offices while existing ones are poorly equipped, laboratories are illequipped or not existing, absence of standard library, insufficient number of hostels to accommodate student, and dilapidated and mal-functioning water system and energy supply (Subair, 2011;Adedipe, 2007).
Consequently, President Ibrahim Babangida Constituted the Gray Longe Commission in December 1990 to review of tertiary education.The report of the Commission led to the promulgation of Education Tax Act of No7 of January 1993 and other education related decrees.The Act imposed a 2% Education Tax Fund on all annual profits of Companies in Nigeria to fund the rehabilitation of decaying infrastructure in higher institutions; build capacity of teachers and lecturers; and restore the lost glory of education sector etc. (Okekeezeanyanwu & Okpala, 2021;Nagbi & Micah, 2019).The Fund, which operates as an Intervention Agency to all levels of public education i.e. federal, state, and local, lasted from 1999 to May 2011 when the Act was repealed and replaced by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TetFund) Act due to lapses and challenges (Ezeali, 2017).International Journal of Finance and Management in Practice, 5(2), 68-80.).The challenges include: The panel equally observed the deplorable condition of infrastructures in the university system, and that "equipment for research, teaching and learning are either lacking or very inadequate and in a bad shape to permit the universities the freedom of embarking on the basic functions of academics" (Tayo, Okotoni, Adebakin & Azeez, 2012, p. 114).This dearth of equipment and facilities, which led to rampant crises such as strikes by academic and non-academic staff (Agha, 2014;World Bank, 2009), equally led to the establishment of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) as an intervention agency in 2011 through the enactment of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (Establishment), Act No. 16 of 2011.Officially, the Act became effective on June 3, 2011.
TETFund as an intervention agency was empowered by section 7 (1) (a) to (e) of the TETFund Act, 2011 to impose, manage, and disburse proceeds from the education tax to public Tertiary Institutions in the country.The TETFund Act, 2011 imposed a 2% Education Tax on the Assessable Profit of all registered companies in Nigeria and empowered the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to assess and collect the Tax from companies.In addition, the Fund monitors all projects executed by tertiary institutions with the funds allocated to the beneficiaries.Specifically, the funds are provided for the provision and maintenance of: In its first and second phases, the funds disbursed and monitored the use of the following funds: A 14 items self-designed questionnaire titled "Infrastructural Development and Quality Assurance Questionnaire" was used for data gathering.The relevance of the contents of the questionnaire was assessed to ensure its validity using Pearson Product Moment Correlation statistic while its test-re-test method carried out within an interval of two weeks in two tertiary institutions in Enugu State showed an acceptable reliability of more than 0.81.In distributing the questionnaires, the Secretary-General of SUG of the various institutions were approached to assist in the distribution of the questionnaire with the instruction to send soft copy of the questionnaire to any of the participants that could not be reached physically.A 14-day period was set to distribute and collect back the questionnaires.In all 125 questionnaires, representing 94.7%, were retrieved for analysis.In addition, secondary data was also generated from relevant published and accessible materials found in public and private libraries and the internet to complement the primary data.
The data collected from fieldwork was analysed with the aid of descriptive and measures of central tendency/variance tools in the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0.However, the demographic data of the respondents and other data generated were analysed using frequency tables and percentages for purposes of inference.

Theoretical Framework
The paper considered the public goods theory proposed by Samuelson (1994;2004) appropriate for this study.The theory holds that large public expenditure in education is essential and such can only be provided by government effectively sue to externalities associated with it.The theory has two basic assumptions as follows: ISSN 2520-3991 (Online) Vol.8, Issue 1, pp 1 -15, 2024 www.ajpojournals.org7 a.When a product is produced for some consumers, additional consumer can also consume such product without extra cost.
b.People cannot be excluded from consuming the product, once it has been produced.
In most cases, such products are produced mainly by government and are generally made available for the benefit of its citizens.The theory emphasises the importance and inevitability of public purpose, public ownership, and public control of such products.In all its ramifications, tertiary education is therefore a public good in Nigeria.
The theory, therefore, enables this paper to examine the level of TETFund interventions in the provision of infrastructures in Anambra state tertiary education as a public good.As a public good, it demands large budgetary allocations and significant level of TETFund involvement in the management of such infrastructures.

DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS
The socio-demographic data of the respondents are presented in table iii as follows:

Source: Fieldwork, 2022
An analysis of table iii above reveals that 55 respondents representing 44% are male while 70 respondents i.e. 56% are female.Further, the table reveals that 52 respondents i.e. 41.6% fall within 18 -34 years of age, 50 i.e. 40% of the respondents fall within the age bracket of 35 -50 years, 20 i.e. 16% fall within 51 -64 years, while 1 respondents representing 0.8% is 65 years and above.A review of these statistics shows that the research is gender sensitive and all the respondents are matured to respond objectively to the questions.and students reveals a ground mean of 2.58 with a standard deviation of 1.390 with a standard error of .304.A Tests of Between-Subjects Effects shows a significant mean difference of .001,whereas the mean difference should be significant at .05 levels.The Pairwise Comparism carried out to determine the level of adjustment due to .001levels of difference reveals no adjustment.Thus, the grand means of 2.58, which represents 'Disagree' in our likert scale measure is accepted and implies that institutions in Anambra state do not have adequate accommodation with reliable power and water supply for staff and students.

Research Question 1: Have tertiary institutions in Anambra state achieved significant level of infrastructural development?
Research Question 2: Has TETFund significantly intervened in the renovation and maintenance of infrastructures in Anambra state tertiary institutions?

Source: SPSS Analysis of Responses to Questions
According to table 'v' above, analysis of responses to questions 5 that interrogated whether request for maintaining and/or replacing obsolete and mal-functioning teaching equipment sent to TETFund received positive attention reveals a total grand mean of 1.02 with standard deviation of .239with a standard error of .241.According to the Tests of Between-Subjects Effects, the mean differences of the responses show a significant difference of .003,whereas the mean difference should be significant at .05levels.Pairwise Comparism carried out to determine the level of adjustment due to .006levels of significances reveals no adjustment.Thus, the ground means of 1.02 which represents 'Strongly Disagree' in our likert scale measure is accepted, and implies that TETFund did not respond positively to request for maintaining and/or replacing obsolete and mal-functioning teaching equipment sent by tertiary institutions in Anambra state.
Further, analysis of the responses to the question 6 that sought to find out if TETFund monitors the state of transport, energy, and water facilities and assists tertiary institution in Anambra state to maintain them reveals a grand mean of 1.02 with a standard deviation of .239and standard error of .241.A Tests of Between-Subjects Effects to find out the level of difference in their responses reveals a significant difference of .003,whereas the mean difference should be significant at .05 levels.The Pairwise Comparism carried out to determine the level of adjustment due to .003levels of significances reveals no adjustment.Thus, the grand means of ISSN 2520-3991 (Online) Vol.8, Issue 1, pp 1 -15, 2024 www.ajpojournals.org 10 1.02, which represents 'Strongly Disagree' in our likert scale measure is accepted, and implies that TETFund does not monitors the state of transport, energy, and water facilities, nor assists tertiary institutions in Anambra state to maintain them.
Similar analysis of the responses to question 7 that sought to find out if TETFund assists tertiary institutions in Anambra state to renovate lab infrastructures and replace damaged and/or used laboratory equipment reveals a grand mean of 2.09 with a standard deviation of .345and standard error of .058.A Tests of Between-Subjects Effects to find out the level of difference in their responses reveals a significant difference of .000,whereas the mean difference should be significant at .05 levels.The Pairwise Comparism carried out to determine the level of adjustment due to .000levels of significances reveals no adjustment.Thus, the grand means of 2.09, which represents 'Disagree' in our likert scale measure is accepted, and implies that TETFund does not assists tertiary institutions in Anambra state to renovate lab infrastructures and replace damaged and/or used laboratory equipment.
In addition, analysis of responses to question 8, which sought to find if TETFund assists tertiary institutions in Anambra state to refurnish or renovate dilapidated buildings reveals a ground mean of 2.58 with a standard deviation of 1.390 whose level of significance differences is .001& .012with no adjustments required.Thus, the grand means of 2.58, which represents 'Disagree' in our likert scale measures is accepted, and implies TETFund does not assist tertiary institutions in Anambra state to refurnish or renovate dilapidated buildings.Similar analysis of the responses to question 11 that sought to find out if TETFund assists in the provision of modern information and communication technology facilities and transport equipment reveals a grand mean of 2.09 with a standard deviation of .345and standard error of .058.A Tests of Between-Subjects Effects to find out the level of difference in their responses reveals a significant difference of .000,whereas the mean difference should be significant at .05 levels.The Pairwise Comparism carried out to determine the level of adjustment due to .000levels of significances reveals no adjustment.Thus, the grand means of 2.09, which represents 'Disagree' in our likert scale measure is accepted, and implies that TETFund does not assist in the provision of modern information and communication technology facilities and transport equipment.

Research
In addition, analysis of responses to question 12, which sought to find if TETFund assists tertiary institutions in the state to provide up-to-date quality textbooks and library materials reveals a ground mean of 4.14 with a standard deviation of .918whose level of significance differences is .000with no adjustments required.Thus, the grand means of 4.14, which represents 'Agree' in our likert scale measures is accepted, and implies TETFund provides assistance up-to-dating quality textbooks and library materials.
In addition, analysis of responses to question 13, which sought to find if TETFund assists institution to provide seats, tables and other office equipment for effective teaching and learning reveals a grand mean of 2.09 with a standard deviation of .345and standard error of .058.A Tests of Between-Subjects Effects to find out the level of difference in their responses reveals a significant difference of .000,whereas the mean difference should be significant at .05 levels.The Pairwise Comparism carried out to determine the level of adjustment due to .000levels of significances reveals no adjustment.Thus, the grand means of 2.09, which represents 'Disagree' in our likert scale measure is accepted, and implies that TETFund does not assist institutions to provide seats, tables and other office equipment for effective teaching and learning.
Finally, analysis of responses to question 14, which sought to find if TETFund assists tertiary institutions in the construction of relevant infrastructures like library, office complex, hostels and provision of alternative source of energy reveals a ground mean of 4.43 with a standard deviation of 0.239 whose level of significance differences is .000with no adjustments required.Thus, the grand means of 4.43, which represents 'Agree' in our likert scale measures is accepted, and implies TETFund provides assistance TETFund provides assistance to tertiary institutions in the construction of relevant infrastructures like library, office complex, hostels and provision of alternative source of energy.

Discussion
From results of analyses to questions 1 -4, this paper observes that tertiary institutions in Anambra state are still facing the challenges of poor infrastructure in spite of the establishment and interventions of TETFund.This finding collaborates earlier report by Okeke-ezeanyanwu & Okpala (2021), Tayo et al. (2012) among others to the effect that infrastructural decay still persist in Nigeria tertiary institutions.Some publications such as Nwangwu (2005), Muogbo (2013), NUC (2004), Mgbekem (2004) and Nwede (2009) blame inadequate human resources, mismanagement of fund, corruption, and inadequate funds for this scenario.However, this paper observes that TETFund does not intervene in the maintenance of existing infrastructures.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This research offers the following recommendations: i. TETFund should extend its interventions in Anambra state tertiary institutions to include the renovation of existing infrastructures.
ii. TETFund should create counter-part funding programme to assist tertiary institutions in Anambra state engage in self-help projects.
iii.TETFund should diversify its interventions to include other infrastructures like provision of equipment for laboratories, staff offices, and the libraries.
iv. TETFUND intervention activities, progress report, and benefiting tertiary institutions should be made public either through monthly, or biannual, or annual report.This will build public trust and accountability.
a) ETF project was overburdened and overstretched, and could render palliative support to all levels of public education institutions in Nigeria.b) Duplications of functions and mandate of other Agencies set up after the Fund such as the UBE and MDG.c) Infrastructural decay and dilapidation of facilities continued because of the Fund's narrow presence in tertiary institutions.ISSN 2520-3991 (Online) Vol.8, Issue 1, pp 1 -15, 2024 www.ajpojournals.org 3 The negative consequences of the observed lapses led to the establishment of the National Universities Commission (NUC) to regulate the activities of all universities; the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) to regulate all polytechnics; and the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) to regulate all Colleges of Education (Balkie, 2002).The NUC then constituted a Presidential Visitation Panel in 2004 that investigated and evaluated the activities of federal universities between 1999 and 2003.
other research have failed to observe can explain why the Fund's interventions have failed to change the scenario.In addition, the paper equally observes that TETFund interventions concentrated only in the area of providing new up-to-date quality textbooks and library materials, and construction of mew infrastructures like library, office complex, hostels, and provision of alternative source of energy needs of the institutions to the neglect of others.Although this finding was supported by scholars such as(2011, 2008), Nwagwu (2004), and Osagie (2003), we contend that annual allocations to tertiary institutions in Anambra state are highly inadequate for the replacement of decaying infrastructures and the construct of new ones.The finding that TETFund intervenes in constructing new infrastructures aligns with observations made by many scholars such asFejoh & Adesanwo (2021),Idowu (2020) andNagbi & Micah (2019), but essentially this paper observes that these interventions are narrowly and minutely focused on building construction alone.This equally contributed to the low significant impact being recorded by the interventions.

Table 1 : TETFund Special Intervention Funds s/n Zone 1 st Phase 2nd Phase 3 rd Phase Institution Amount Institution Amount Institution Amount
Source: Review of Literature, 2022 ISSN 2520-3991 (Online) Vol.8, Issue 1, pp 1 -15, 2024 www.ajpojournals.org 5 However, a more comprehensive data generated from literature review from 2011 to 2016 reveals the following disbursement to tertiary institutions in Nigeria:

Table 2
This paper adopts descriptive survey design as method of data gathering, wherein researcher's designed questionnaire was used to generate information from respondents in three randomly selected tertiary institutions in Anambra state i.e.Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Federal Polytechnic Oko, and Nwafor Orizu College of Education Nsugbe.The basic idea behind the survey methodology is to measure subsisting variables i.
Fejoh & Adesanwo (2021)verage of 50% of the total yearly allocations by TETFund goes to the university system while 50% is shared between Colleges of Education and Polytechnics.Further breakdown shows that with this budget, each 40 Federal Universities, and 34 state Universities will receive the sum of N1.9bn.Each of the 54 public Polytechnics get the sum of N67957000 only.In addition to this statistics, anecdotal evidence shows that TETFund rehabilitated and upgraded laboratories in 51 federal and state polytechnics, constructed microteaching laboratories in 58 federal and state Colleges of Education, trained and developed close to 10,000 academic staff, and supported 29 institutions to develop and publish research journals both locally and internationally between 2011 and 2016 (seeIbrahim, 2017).The 2017 interventions budget of the Fund shows that tertiary institutions got almost three times the allocation in previous years i.e. 2016.However,Idowu (2020)observed that in 2019 TETFUND disbursed N826, 684, 392.00 to each university, polytechnic got N566, 701, 842.00 while college of education received N542, 226, 346.00 as annual allocation.One university, polytechnic, and college of education from each of the six geo-political zones received special intervention of about N30bn.In spite of these interventions, many higher institutions of learning in Nigeria particularly Anambra state are still experiencing poor development of infrastructures and educational facilities (Okeke-ezeanyanwu & Okpala, 2021).Infinitesimal investigations have been carried out to assess the impact of these intervention's disbursements to tertiary institutions in Nigeria, and why many of the institutions are still experiencing infrastructural challenges.Ugwuanyi (2014);Fejoh & Adesanwo (2021)assessed the impact of Education Trust Fund'Consequently, this paper examines the level of intervention by the Fund, and its impact on the sustainable development of infrastructure in selected tertiary institutions in Anambra state.ISSN 2520-3991 (Online) Vol.8, Issue 1, pp 1 -15, 2024 www.ajpojournals.org6ResearchQuestionsIn pursuit of the objectives of this paper, this investigation is poised to provide answers to the following questions:1.Have tertiary institutions in Anambra state achieved significant level of e. TETFund intervention and Infrastructural development by asking questions and then examining the relationships among the variables based on the participants' responses.The entire population of the three institutions constitutes the population of study, however, the executives of primary organs of the institutions i.e. the Academic Staff Union (ASU), Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU), Students' Union Government (SUG), and the Works Department, forms the study sample.Eleven (11) core executive positions were identified in each case thereby making 44 x 3 = 132 the study sample.

Table 4 : Results of SPSS Analysis of Responses to Questions Sn Research questions Grand Mean Standard Deviation Standard Error Tests of Between- Subjects Effects
Source: SPSS Analysis of Responses to QuestionsIn table iv above, analysis of responses to questions 1, which sought to find out if tertiary institutions in Anambra state have adequate classrooms and well-equipped laboratories reveals a total grand mean of 2.09 with standard deviation of .345andstandarderror of .058.The Tests of Between-Subjects Effects reveals a significant mean difference of .000,whereas the mean difference should be significant at .05levels.The Pairwise Comparism carried out to determine the level of adjustment due to level of significances reveals no adjustment.Thus, the ground mean of 2.09, which represents 'Disagree' in our likert scale measure is accepted and implies that tertiary institutions in Anambra state do not have adequate classrooms and well equipped laboratories.Equally, analysis of the responses to question 2 that sought to find out if tertiary institutions in Anambra state have well equipped e-libraries with current books and journals reveals a grand mean of 2.58 with a standard deviation of 1.390 with a standard error of .304.A Tests of Between-Subjects Effects shows a significant mean difference of .001,whereas the mean difference should be significant at .05 levels.The Pairwise Comparism carried out to determine the level of adjustment due to .001levels of difference reveals no adjustment.Thus, the grand means of 2.58, which represents 'Disagree' in our likert scale measure is accepted and implies that institutions in Anambra state do not have well equipped e-libraries with current books and journals.Disagree' in our likert scale measure is accepted and implies that tertiary institutions in Anambra state do not have adequate ICT facilities, administrative and lecturer's offices.Further analysis of responses to question 4, which sought to find out if tertiary institutions in Anambra state have adequate accommodation with reliable power and water supply for staff ISSN 2520-3991 (Online) Vol.8, Issue 1, pp 1 -15, 2024 www.ajpojournals.org 9

Table 6 : Results of SPSS Analysis of Responses to Questions S/n Research questions Grand Mean Standard Deviation Standard Error Tests of Between- Subjects Effects
Analysis of responses to questions 9 in table 'vi' that interrogated if TETFund engage in the construction and equipment of lecture halls and lecturer's offices in your institution reveals a total grand mean of 4.47 with standard deviation of .505with a standard error of .123.According to the Tests of Between-Subjects Effects, the mean differences of the responses show a significant difference of .006,whereas the mean difference should be significant at .05levels.Pairwise Comparism carried out to determine the level of adjustment due to .006levels of significances reveals no adjustment.Thus, the ground means of 4.47, which represents 'Agree' in our likert scale measure is accepted, and implies that TETFund engages in the construction and equipment of lecture halls and lecturer's offices in tertiary institutions in Anambra state.Further, analysis of the responses to the question 10 that sought to find out if TETFund engages in the provision of work tools and equipment for practical lessons in institution's laboratories reveals a grand mean of 1.02 with a standard deviation of .239and standard error of .241.A Tests of Between-Subjects Effects to find out the level of difference in their responses reveals a significant difference of .003,whereas the mean difference should be significant at .05 levels.The Pairwise Comparism carried out to determine the level of adjustment due to .003levels of significances reveals no adjustment.Thus, the grand means of 1.02, which represents 'Strongly ISSN 2520-3991 (Online) Vol.8, Issue 1, pp 1 -15, 2024 www.ajpojournals.org 12 Disagree' in our likert scale measure is accepted, and implies that TETFund does not engage in the provision of work tools and equipment for practical lessons in tertiary institution's laboratories in Anmbra state.