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The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has criticized the tax reform bills proposed by President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
According to the ASUU President, Emmanuel Osodeke, key stakeholders in the education sector were not consulted before the bills were presented to the National Assembly.
Osodeke also called on the Federal Government to refrain from gradually eliminating the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFund, which he claimed has significantly improved Nigeria’s tertiary education sector over the past 30 years.
He cautioned that weakening TETFund’s funding to support the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, NELFUND, could lead to the collapse of public education in the country.
“TETFund is a product of ASUU. You can’t make the tax laws without meeting with ASUU for inputs before proposing it before the National Assembly.
“The Vice Chancellors were not consulted, Pro Chancellors were not consulted. The people sat down somewhere and said over the next five years let’s scrap it without consulting those who initiated this bill that has transformed Nigerian public universities. That’s not how to work in a system. That’s not how to run a country that is democratic,” Osodeke said on Thursday.
“The only source of funding is from TETFund, so when you destroy it, you have destroyed public universities,” he added.
The ASUU President claimed that certain members of the ruling class aim to dismantle public universities and keep the children of the less privileged in a state of oppression.
Osodeke suggested that instead of gradually eliminating TETFund, which is funded through consolidated revenue from company income tax, the government should finance the newly established NELFUND using Value Added Tax, VAT, funds.
“Let that Act that was initiated in 1993 that has transformed all Nigerian universities, allow it to stay. If you want to drive NELFUND, go and look for ways to fund it. Don’t take from the one that is in existence to fund it.
“Take 1 percent or 2 percent of VAT to fund NELFUND. Don’t take from Peter to pay Peter. Go and look for ways to fund NELFUND,” he said.
“When you go around all Nigerian universities, polytechnics and colleges of education today, 90 percent of the physical structures you have there are products of this struggle for TETFUND.
“But this tax bill is saying that by the year 2030, it should be scrapped and merged with NASENI and NITDA and then reduced to 2 percent,” Osodeke added.
The new tax bills introduced by the Tinubu administration have generated significant controversy, drawing harsh criticisms and strong opposition from various groups, including the 36 state governors under the National Economic Council, NEC.
The 19 governors from northern Nigeria have also firmly opposed certain sections of the bills.
Taiwo Oyedele, the Chair of the Presidential Committee on Tax Reforms, stated that the government does not plan to eliminate TETFund but instead aims to streamline the country’s tax system.
However, the ASUU president argued that the government official was merely being evasive.
“He (Oyedele) is playing with words. TETFund is not gotten from the budget. For TETFund, the money is consolidated in an account that is accessed by CBN; it is money coming from companies – investment by companies in education.
“When you go outside the country, companies fund universities, they give grants, which companies are not doing in Nigeria – the only one they are doing is this 2 percent. So, they should not look at it as tax but investment to produce graduates that would work for you.
“He is playing with words. Look at the sharing: by 2025-2026, TETFund will access 50 percent of this consolidated fund. 2026-2027, it will reduce to 33 percent. In 2030, TETFund will have zero.
“Other countries in Africa are emulating this TETFund. I will give you an example: Ghana. Because of this, in 2021, Ghana passed their GETFUND – Ghana Education Trust Fund. They got theirs from VAT.”
Osodeke stated that NELFUND, which was recently established to provide student loans, cannot serve as a substitute for TETFund.
“If you are starting your programme which is NELFUND, there is no problem. Challenge the academia, we will tell you how to fund it. We will give you a way to fund it without tampering with the one on the ground,” he said.
The academic urged the government to allow the poor some relief and avoid burdening them with policies that harm the people.
“Our issue with NELFUND is that in a country like Nigeria, it should be grants; and not a loan.
“All the universities are increasing their fees now; jerking up their fees so that the students will borrow more loans from this NELFUND, encumbering the children of the poor.
“In my university, in my department, I now have less than 10 students in the department, many have dropped out. Apart from some of these big courses like Medicine, Law and what have you, students are dropping out. The children of the poor are dropping out,” he said.
The ASUU president mentioned that many members of the union gave their lives in the fight for TETFund, and their sacrifices deserve to be honoured.
“Allow TETFund as approved by the military based on the efforts of Nigerian lecturers, for whom many died: Mahmood Tukur died for that struggle. Don’t destroy it because once you destroy it, you have destroyed Nigerian education.
“It is not about ASUU, it is about the future of Nigeria. Nigerian government gives less than 10 percent to education. In West Africa, the minimum budget allocation is 15 percent,” he said.
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