The inability to access these funds by tertiary institutions, however is not the fault of TETFUND, but the inability of the tertiary institutions themselves, to access the funds. Instead, the monies are kept in an account at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), while some are invested to yield profits which are ploughed back into the fund.

Chairman of TETFUND, Dr. Musa Babayo, said at a programme held in collaboration with the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related Offences Commission (ICPC), Tuesday that most higher institutions do not meet the requirement for accessing these funds; hence the situation whereby the monies cannot be used though there are daunting needs.

"The funds are not accessed because we want to be sure they are used judiciously. If the requirements are not met,we can't release funds no matter the pressure", he said, adding that his agency was interested in monitoring every of the projects that the funds are used for in order to prevent qualitative corruption which might even be more dangerous than quantitative corruption. By application, quantitative corruption means frauds that involve figures while qualitative corruption may mean a classroom that wasn't well built which collapse may result in the loss of lives.

Babayo noted that in 2013, N18 billion interest was got on some of the investments for which the funds were used for. He noted that this money has been ploughed back into the funds. 

He however gave a cheering news about the agency's plan to disburse more than N250 billion for projects and research in some Nigerian higher institutions later in the year. "If they fail to access it, we'll keep the money in CBN"