The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has urged the National Assembly to take all necessary measures to protect the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) from being eliminated under the proposed Nigeria Tax Bill 2024.
The union emphasized that TETFund stands as a testament to its long-standing engagements with successive governments since 1992, playing a crucial role in the development of the country’s tertiary education sector.
ASUU expressed deep concern that abrogating the TETFund Act 2011, whether intentionally or inadvertently, would significantly harm both the education sector and the country. In a presentation titled “Debates on the Nigeria Tax Bill, 2024: Our Case for Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFund,” ASUU President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, addressed the National Assembly during the public hearing on the Tax Reform Bills in Abuja.
According to ASUU, the proposed removal of the education tax, which funds TETFund, poses a serious risk to its continued existence. The union noted that TETFund has been instrumental in financing infrastructure, postgraduate training, and research in public tertiary institutions. It stated that “over 90 per cent of capital projects in state and federal colleges of education, polytechnics and universities during this period were TETFund-sponsored.”
ASUU raised concerns that education tax funds would be redirected to the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) under the new tax bill. The proposal outlines that “only 50% of the development levy would be made available to TETFund in 2025 and 2026,” with allocations gradually reducing until “zero per cent in 2030 year of assessment.” The union described this as a deliberate attempt to dismantle TETFund, stressing that “replacing TETFund with NELFUND is comparable to killing a parent to keep a newborn child alive.”
The union also warned that without TETFund, Nigeria’s public tertiary education system would regress, undoing years of progress. It highlighted that TETFund’s interventions have helped mitigate industrial crises in educational institutions and enhanced staff development, reducing labor disputes.
ASUU further pointed out that other African nations, including Ghana, have adopted similar education trust funds based on Nigeria’s model, and rather than phasing out TETFund, the country should be working to strengthen and improve it.
ASUU called on lawmakers to reconsider the tax bill and ensure TETFund remains intact to support the country’s higher education sector.
