The Federal Government has approved the sum of N320,345,040,835 as intervention to public tertiary institutions across the the country.
Executive Secretary of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Sonny Echono, disclosed this at a workshop organised for the beneficiary institutions,
He said on the basis of this, each university shall get, for the Year 2023 intervention cycle, the total sum of N1,154,732,133.00.
This comprises N954,732,123.00 as annual direct disbursement and N200 million as zonal intervention.
Echono said each polytechnic shall get N699,344,867.00 comprising N569,344,807.00 as annual direct disbursement and N130 million as zonal intervention, while each college of education shall get N800,862,602 comprising N670,862,602.00 as annual direct disbursement and N130 million as zonal intervention
According to him, funding of tertiary education improved under the Buhari government adding that the latest sum represents the highest disbursement to each beneficiary institution since inception of TETFund.
“I should also place on record that the fortunes of the Nigerian tertiary education sector improved significantly under the Buhari administration. Between 2015 to date (8 years), the total sum of N1,702 trillion has been disbursed as EDT collection to public universities, polytechnics and colleges of education compared to a total sum of N1.249 trillion disbursed from the inception of the Fund in 1993 up to 2014 (21 years),” he said.
While attributing the remarkable success recorded to sustained efforts towards fine-tuning the process of collection of the Education Tax,he lauded Buhari for the increase in education tax from 2.0% to 2.5%.and also commended other government officials who helped in the success of the Fund.
“We are grateful to all the key actors, notably Malam Adamu Adamu, Minister of Education; Mrs. Zainab Ahmed Shamsuna, Minister of Finance; the Chairmen and members of the Senate and House Committees on Finance and my brother Mohammed Nami, Chairman. Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS),”
“May I also seize this opportunity to appeal to Mr. President, as a parting gift to the education sector and a fitting finale to his manifest desire to improve education funding in the country, for his ascent to the Finance Act 2023, which provides for a further increase in education tax from 2.5% to 3%”
“You will recall that at the Year 2022 workshop, several crucial issues were discussed. It provided me with the opportunity to listen to several complaints and problems facing several beneficiary institutions and we were able to respond appropriately to many of the issues raised and committed to looking into those that required our careful examination and review,” He said
Some of the issues on the front burner were challenges posed by iabandoned projects in institutions.
