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FG begins disbursement of tertiary staff support fund to boost welfare and innovation
The Federal Government has begun distributing resources through the Tertiary Institution Staff Support Fund, an initiative aimed at bolstering employee welfare, enhancing institutional performance, and fostering innovation throughout Nigeria’s higher education landscape.
According to an official communication released Thursday in Abuja by Mrs Folasade Boriowo, Director of Press and Public Relations at the Federal Ministry of Education, this development marks a significant step forward.
In her statement, Boriowo referenced Education Minister Dr Tunji Alausa’s remarks on this achievement, noting that the welfare program forms part of President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
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Dr Alausa indicated that the scheme has moved beyond the planning stages into active execution, with over 9,000 tertiary institution employees having received funds during its inaugural year.
This figure, he noted, accounts for 28 per cent of the 33,000 validated applicants representing 219 federal and state higher education institutions nationwide.
According to Alausa, the initial distribution phase encompassed both teaching and non-teaching staff in a 30:70 allocation ratio, demonstrating the administration’s comprehensive strategy toward supporting diverse employee categories within the nation’s higher learning establishments.
“The President is delivering for our tertiary institutions- for welfare, for productivity, and for the future.
“Within just four months, payments have started going out. This is a President that delivers, and the Ministry of Education is profoundly grateful for his continuous support and commitment to staff welfare,” Alausa said.
Dr Alausa stressed that this program extends beyond mere financial aid, characterizing it as a strategic investment in Nigeria’s knowledge-based economy.
“This Fund is not merely about disbursement; it is about restoring dignity, rewarding dedication, and rebuilding the foundation of our knowledge economy,” he said.
He reinforced the ministry’s commitment to openness, promising quarterly fiscal reports, institutional collaboration, and comprehensive oversight systems to guarantee proper fund utilization and repayment, thereby enabling broader access for additional beneficiaries moving forward.
The News Agency of Nigeria notes that this program, initiated in August 2025 following high-level stakeholder consultations in July, represents a central element of the federal government’s Nigerian Education Sector Renewal Initiative.
Its purpose is to boost employee morale, enhance performance standards, and promote institutional distinction within the tertiary education arena.
Through this arrangement, qualified personnel may obtain up to N10 million through concessionary zero-interest financing to address critical livelihood and productivity requirements, encompassing accommodation, medical care, educational expenses, mobility, and entrepreneurial activities.
It bears noting that in August, the Federal Government introduced the TISSF as a groundbreaking welfare and empowerment measure for teaching and non-teaching personnel across Nigeria’s tertiary institutions. Education Minister Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa characterized the fund as a targeted solution addressing welfare concerns and professional development requirements of the country’s tertiary institution workforce.
The echoes of the drums rolled out to celebrate the rescue of the 44 teachers and students, kidnapped from some schools in Oyo State, after 56 days in the bush, would surely be disrupted abruptly, with the divergent echoes of a fresh abduction, this time coming from Kogi State.
Reports indicate that the gunmen, struck on Tuesday at the Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, in Dekina Local Government Area of the state, abducting four students, the school principal and a National Examinations Council (NECO) ad hoc staff member.
Authorities of the Kogi State Police Command, who immediately unleashed their operatives in hot pursuit of the abductors, said the attack occurred at about 5:25 p.m. while the students were writing their NECO examination.
Saliu Oyiza Afusat, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and spokesman of the command, said a combined team of police personnel and other security agencies has launched a search-and-rescue operation following the incident.
Informing that one of the students was actually rescued immediately, she said efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims and apprehend the attackers, adding that Naziru Bello Kankarofi, the state Commissioner of Police, alongside the Brigade Commander and the State Security Adviser to the Governor, Commodore Jerry Omodara (Rtd), were already on the way to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.
Oil prices are expected to go down now with the announcement of Donald Trump, US President that he will no longer impose a 20 percent “safe passage” fee on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The POTUS, hinged his reversal of the decision on the intervention from some Gulf countries, who pleaded with him not to toe the line due to the massive economic impact the decision would make on the region.
Indeed, oil prices had shot up immediately Trump announced the new levy on Monday while declaring the US ‘the guardians of the Hormuz strait,’ a measure which he said was to pay for the cost of guarding the volatile area in order keep supply of oil flowing.
Reports said that Gulf allies of the US worked frantically to get Trump on the phone in time to talk him out of the idea altogether, while a flurry of appeals came from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
In response, the POTUS, posting on his Truth Social platform, wrote: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.”
Trump, who said the investments would be “MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” added that the deals would see factories, plants, and equipment pour into the US at “Historic levels.”
The Gulf nations have committed to invest trillions of dollars in the US, though it remains unclear how much of that they will actually spend over the next several years.
Meanwhile, the US continues to bomb Iran in what appears to be a resumption of active conflict between both countries, despite an ongoing roadmap to end the conflict.
Reports say operatives of the Osun State Police Command, and those of the Department of State Services (DSS) had tracking the trail of Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), for weeks, before he was eventually pulled out of his hole on Tuesday.
However, the duo, were said to have pulled back after failing to track him through his mobile phones, which he had reportedly switched off for about two days, making it difficult to locate him, leaving the stage for the members of the Police Intelligence Response Team (PI-RT) led by Moses Lohor, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).
Lohor, said to have previously served as the Commander of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Osun State, and reported to have been involved in high-profile security operations and controversies, after taken over fielded his men to pick up signals from their well-oiled signal networks.
Regarded by many Osun residents as one of the key security officers who contributed significantly to the peace and stability enjoyed in Ilesa and other parts of the state during his tenure, he was said to have relied on his contacts before his transfer out of the state, said to have raised concerns from the public about the security situation he would be leaving behind.
His exit from the state was said to be hinged on an incident in 2024, in which he allegedly shot one Iyanda Alowonle, then Chairman of Osun State Motor Transport System, in the stomach at the police station in the state prompting an order for his arrest by then Inspector General of Police (IGP).
His effort was said to have paid off when he successfully tracked down the controversial PFIPC, boss, who was seen on Tuesday evening, in a shot video on social media undergoing interrogation, and eventually handed him over to Ibrahim Gotan, Commissioner of Police in the state.
The PUNCH quoted one of the sources as saying: “The arrest (of Adeyemi) took place on Tuesday morning by the IRT squad, who immediately moved him to Abuja. After he was arrested, he was taken to Ibadan and from there to Abuja.”
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