TETFund moves to set up autism centres in Nigeria's six zones

The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has taken a first step towards building specialist autism centres in each of Nigeria's six geopolitical zones, with the plan pointing to university medical schools as possible hosts.

Its executive secretary, Sonny Echono, set up a committee in Abuja on Thursday to work out how the centres would be set up and run. The idea, he said, grows out of TETFund's existing support for medical schools, which has been upgrading buildings and equipment for training doctors, pharmacists, nurses and dentists.

For families, the promise is practical: earlier diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation closer to home, instead of long journeys in search of care. The centres would also carry out research and train the professionals who work with autistic children and adults, while offering support to parents and caregivers.

What the committee will decide

Nothing is funded yet. Echono said the centres are being considered under the proposed 2027 TETFund special intervention, and that will depend on what the committee recommends, what money is available and the necessary approvals.

He asked members to pick host institutions using clear criteria: spread across the country, existing facilities, enough skilled staff and the ability to keep the centres running. He also wants realistic cost estimates and firm timelines, and urged the committee to move quickly so the 2027 budget can carry the provisions.

The committee is chaired by Prof. Ebunoluwa Adejuyigbe, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Medical Sciences, Ondo, and a paediatrician. She said many Nigerian families still get a late diagnosis because of denial, cost, few specialists and thin professional support.

She listed five areas of focus: clinical services and early intervention; research and innovation; training; community inclusion; and long-term sustainability. The centres, she said, should produce research relevant to Nigeria and Africa, and should draw on a mix of paediatricians, psychiatrists, psychologists, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and special educators.

Adejuyigbe also wants the centres to work with primary healthcare facilities, schools, community health workers, religious and traditional leaders and parents' groups, so that children are identified early and stigma is reduced.

She warned against building facilities without a plan to keep them going, saying funding, equipment maintenance and monitoring must be settled from the start.

Our success must not be measured merely by the number of centres established, but by the number of individuals and families whose lives are positively transformed.

The committee is expected to name host institutions, set minimum standards for how the centres are designed and run, cost the work, and propose a schedule and a way to monitor progress.

What happens next

The committee's recommendations will feed into preparations for the 2027 intervention. Until then, no centre has been approved, no site chosen and no budget fixed.