…Warns Tinubu not to sacrifice Nigeria’s education system ‘in blind obedience’ to IMF
The Ibadan Zone of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has drawn the attention of the Federal Government to the inherent dangers in the proposed abolition of TETFund and its replacement with NELFund in the proposed Public Benefit and Taxation Bill (PBTB) of 2024.
The union, which also drew the attention of the National Assembly to the issue, noted that “TETFund which is the brainchild of the Union has greatly helped in improving infrastructural development in Nigerian tertiary institutions, aided capacity building of members of academic staff, contributed immensely to promotion of cutting-edge researches, assisted in organising seminars, workshops and learned conferences both locally and internationally, helped in equipping scanty scientific and engineering laboratories, helped in purchasing books to stock obsolete libraries and useful in providing state-of-art e-libraries in Nigerian tertiary institutions, to mention but a few.”
Speaking at a press conference, Oyegoke Oyebamiji, a professor and Zonal Coordinator of the Ibadan Zone of ASUU, stated that replacing TETFund with NELFund is tantamount to cutting one’s nose to spite one’s face adding that “it is retrogressive and inimical to the desirable future of the Nigerian public education system.”
The Ibadan zone of ASUU comprises of the University of Ibadan, Ibadan; University of Ilorin, Ilorin; Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso; Osun State University, Osogbo; Kwara State University, Malete; and Emmanuel Alayande University of Education, Oyo).
The Union leaders listed the danger of abolishing TETFund to include Loss of Critical Funding, Disruption of Ongoing Projects and Programmes, Negative Impact on Research and Development, Increased Burden on Students and Parents, Undermining of University Autonomy, Problem of Loan Recovery from Defaulters, Looming and Ominous Loss of Jobs for Employees in TETFund Office.
ASUU, which also urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu not to sacrifice Nigeria’s educational system in blind obedience to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) directed policies, noted that taking any percentage out of the Education Tax (Development Levy) to service other agencies not known to the TETFund Act 2011 is not only illegal but should not be allowed to stand especially when no visible priority has been given to funding public education through budgetary allocation by successive Federal and State governments.
The chairpersons of ASUU in the Zone while opposing any plans to destroy TETFund and its replacement with NELFUND, ASUU urges the National Assembly and the Federal Government to reconsider this proposal and instead, work to strengthen TETFund and ensure its continued relevance in supporting tertiary education in Nigeria.
“ASUU notes with serious concern, Section 59(3) of the Nigeria Tax Bill (NTB) 2024 which specifically states that only 50percent of the Development Levy would be made available to TETFund in 2025 and 2026, while NITDA, NASENI, and NELFUND would share the remaining percentages.”
Oyebamiji stated that a “government that allocates 7percent of budget to education, as against the 15percent in its manifesto during campaign and over 20percent recommended by UNESCO should be resisted from commercialising public education, they had benefited so much from to be who and where they are in Nigeria and the rest of the world.”
“TETFund will also receive ‘66⅔percent in 2027, 2028 and 2029 years of assessment’ but ‘0percent in 2030 year of assessment and thereafter.’ Giving zero allocation of Development Levy to TETFund as from 2030 is a technical way of abrogating the agency and public tertiary education in the country. The purported admonishment that TETFund should seek innovative ways of generating its funds is a confirmation of the saying of a one-time Vice-Chancellor of the premier university of Nigeria, that ‘all things bright and beautiful, Nigerians destroy them all’. If Tetfund as a creation of an Act is technically killed through the proposed Tax Reform, then how can a dead agency devise an innovative means of generating its funds?”
ASUU Ibadan Zone expressed serious concern that while Ghana has just established Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) borrowed from the Nigerian experience and other African countries recently visited the country to understudy TETFund, the Nigerian government is unfortunately planning to kill an agency that has kept all her public universities alive for more than three decades.
The briefing was attended by Ayoola Akinwole (ASUU-UI), a professor; Alex Akanmu (ASUU-UNILORIN), Dada Olujinmi (ASUU-LAUTECH); Wende Olaosebikan (ASUU-UNIOSUN); Shehu Salau (ASUU-KWASU), and Bamidele Ojo (ASUU-EAUED).
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