ASUU warns Tinubu not to sacrifice Nigeria’s education system for IMF 

…asks NASS, FG to strengthen TETFund

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), on Sunday, called on President Bola Tinubu, not to sacrifice the country”s educational system in blind obedience to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) directed policies.

The Ibadan Zonal Coordinator of the union, Prof. Oyegoke Oyebamiji, made the call at a press conference to draw the attention of the Federal Government and National Assembly to what it termed 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 Ibadan Zone of ASUU comprises the University of Ibadan; University of Ilorin; Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso; Osun State University, Osogbo; Kwara State University, Malete;  and Emmanuel Alayande University of Education, Oyo.

Oyebamiji 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 organizing seminars, workshops and learned conferences both locally and internationally, adding that it helped in equipping scanty scientific and engineering laboratories, purchasing books to stock obsolete libraries and useful in providing state-of-art e-libraries in tertiary institutions.

The ASUU boss warned that replacing TETFund with NELFUND is tantamount to cutting one’s nose to spite one’s face, stating that it is retrogressive and inimical to the desirable future of the Nigerian public education system.

He insisted 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.

“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”, he said.

Oyebamiji maintained that a government that allocates seven per cent of budget to education, as against the 15 per cent in its manifesto during campaign and over 20 per cent recommended by UNESCO should be resisted from commercializing public education its top officials had benefited so much from to be who and where they are in Nigeria and the rest of the world.

According to him, “TETFund will also receive “66⅔% in 2027, 2028 and 2029 years of assessment” but “0% 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 say of a one-time Vice-Chancellor of the premier university of Nigeria, who observed, ‘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?”

He disclosed that the Ibadan zone of the union is seriously concerned that while Ghana has just established Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) borrowed from the Nigerian experience as well as other African countries recently visited, the government in Nigeria is unfortunately planning to kill an agency that has kept all the public universities alive for more than three decades.

Oyebamiji 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.

While opposing any plans to destroy TETFund and its replacement with NELFUND, he urged 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 the country.

Orher leaders of ASUU at the press briefing include Prof. Ayoola Akinwole (ASUU-UI); Dr. Alex Akanmu (ASUU-UNILORIN); Dr. Dada Olujinmi (ASUU-LAUTECH); Dr. Wende Olaosebikan (ASUU-UNIOSUN); Dr. Shehu Salau (ASUU-KWASU) and Dr. Bamidele Ojo (ASUU-EAUED)