The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has raised the alarm over the proposed Nigeria Tax Bill, 2024, warning that it poses a grave danger to the survival of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), which has been pivotal in transforming Nigeria’s tertiary education sector.
In a press release issued from its Festus Iyayi National Secretariat Complex at the University of Abuja, ASUU called on the National Assembly to decisively reject provisions in the bill that threaten the future of TETFund. According to ASUU, Section 59(3) of the Nigeria Tax Bill proposes a phased reduction of the Development Levy allocated to TETFund, with zero allocation from 2030 onward. The levy, instead, will be fully ceded to the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND).
ASUU President, Emmanuel Osodeke, described the proposal as “dangerous and unpatriotic,” stating that it undermines decades of progress in public tertiary education. "TETFund has been the backbone of infrastructural development, postgraduate training, and research capacity building in Nigeria’s public tertiary institutions. Replacing it with NELFUND is comparable to killing a parent to keep a newborn child alive," he said.
ASUU further highlighted the illegality of reallocating TETFund’s statutory funds to an agency not covered by the TETFund Act of 2011, emphasizing that such a move would lead to the collapse of an institution crucial to Nigeria’s educational advancement.
"The annual supports provided by TETFund have reduced industrial crises in many tertiary institutions, renovated old facilities, and enhanced opportunities for staff development. The abolition of TETFund would take public tertiary education several years backward and undermine our global competitiveness," the statement read.
The Union also pointed to TETFund’s significant impact beyond tertiary education, as it indirectly supports quality education at all levels. Citing the adoption of Nigeria’s TETFund model by Ghana and other African nations, ASUU stated that emasculating the agency would be a betrayal of Nigeria’s leadership in educational development on the continent.
ASUU's president made an impassioned appeal to lawmakers to safeguard TETFund's legacy: “Abrogating the TETFund Act 2011 will not just harm education but also Nigeria as a nation. The National Assembly must rise to the occasion and ensure TETFund is protected from any detrimental provisions in the proposed tax bill.”
The Union reiterated its resolve to oppose any attempt to diminish the role of TETFund in Nigeria's education system and pledged to engage stakeholders to prevent the enactment of harmful legislation.
For ASUU, the Nigeria Tax Bill, as currently drafted, represents a step backward, and the Union expects decisive action from the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives to preserve TETFund for the benefit of future generations.
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Full Press Release
ACADEMIC STAFF UNION OF UNIVERSITIES (ASUU)
FESTUS IYAYI NATIONAL SECRETARIAT COMPLEX, UNIVERSITY OF ABUJA, GIRI, ABUJA
12th December, 2024
PRESS RELEASE
THE NIGERIA TAX BILL, 2024 AND ITS POTENTIAL DANGER TO TERTIARY EDUCATION TRUST FUND (TETFUND): A CALL FOR DECISIVE ACTION BY THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has observed with keen interest the ongoing debate on the review of the tax system in the country under a proposed bill tagged, Nigeria Tax Bill, 2024, which is currently before the National Assembly. Arising from the tax bill is the proposed abrogation of the Education Tax.
ASUU is alarmed by this dangerous and unpatriotic aspect of the proposed new tax regime to wit: that the Education Tax, called Development Levy, used to bankroll TETFund’s programmes should be ceded to the newly established Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND).
ASUU notes with serious concern Section 59(3) of the Nigeria Tax Bill (NTB) 2024 which specifically states that only 50% of the Development Levy would be made available to TETFund in 2025 and 2026, while NITDA, NASENI, and NELFUND would share the remaining percentages. TETFund will also receive “66.7% in 2027, 2028, and 2029 years of assessment” but “0% in 2030 year of assessment and thereafter.”
The far-reaching consequence of the new tax system is that from 2030, all funds generated from the Development Levy will be passed to NELFUND. ASUU finds this development not only worrisome but also inimical to our national development objective because of the potential danger to the survival of TETFund.
While viewing TETFund as the backbone for infrastructural development, postgraduate training, and research capacity building in Nigeria’s public tertiary institutions in the last one-and-half decades, ASUU is compelled by the circumstance to seriously observe that:
(i) Taking any percentage out of the Education Tax (Development Levy) to service another agency not known to the TETFund Act 2011 is illegal and should not be allowed to stand.
(ii) Giving zero allocation of Development Levy to TETFund from 2030 is a technical way of abrogating the agency; the purported admonishment that TETFund should seek innovative ways of generating its funds is spurious and ill-advised because, as a creation of an Act, the institution dies without the fund.
(iii) Replacing TETFund with NELFUND is comparable to killing a parent to keep a newborn child alive; it is unethical and against the principle of natural justice.
(iv) The impact of TETFund on the campus of every tertiary institution in Nigeria is beyond description; abrogating it will take public tertiary education many years back and undermine the modest gains in repositioning Nigerian universities for global reckoning and transformative development.
(v) Annual supports given to tertiary institutions by TETFund have substantially reduced industrial crises in many tertiary institutions; renovation of old facilities and provision of new ones, and opportunities for staff development leading to career advancement have doused labour-related agitations on our campuses.
(vi) TETFund impacts not only tertiary-level education, but also the secondary down to kindergarten; it directly and/or indirectly supports the production of quality teachers and different categories of support staff in the entire educational system.
(vii) The Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) borrowed from the Nigerian experience, while some other African countries have recently visited to understudy TETFund; Nigeria should be improving on the operations and sustainability of the agency, not planning to emasculate or abrogate it.
ASUU has resolved not to stand by and watch the denigration or obliteration of TETFund, which represents a positive testament to our Union’s constructive engagements with Nigerian governments since 1992. It is our considered view that abrogating the TETFund Act 2011, by design or default, will be a great disservice not just to education but to Nigeria as a nation.
As a result, ASUU is urging the National Assembly, especially the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to do all within their capacity to protect TETFund from being abrogated under the Nigeria Tax Bill 2024.
Emmanuel Osodeke
President, ASUU
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