ASUU to FG: Increase education tax on private firms to 10% of profits

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has asked the federal government to raise the education tax payable by companies registered in Nigeria to 10 percent.

NAN reports that Emmanuel Osodeke, the ASUU president, spoke on Tuesday during a workshop organised by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) in Abuja.

The theme of the workshop was ‘Emerging areas of students’ needs in beneficiary institutions’.

Osodeke said there is a need for an upward review of the education tax being managed by TETFund from three percent to 10 percent.

TETFund finances capital projects and capacity building in federal tertiary institutions with the education tax paid from the profits of companies registered in the country.

The ASUU said the upward review would increase TETFund disbursements to universities from N600 billion annually to N3 trillion.

He lamented that Nigeria ranks lowest in education budgets across the West African sub-region.

“The least budgetary allocation to education by any country in West Africa is 15 percent. The highest is 32 percent,” Osodeke said.

“We are in a country where we give 4.5 to 7 percent, out of which less than 70 percent is released. But the (Obafemi) Awolowo government was allocating over 30 percent to education.”

Osodeke commended such states as Enugu, Abia, and Oyo for allocating more than 20 percent of their budgets to education.

He berated the vice-chancellors of some universities for not carrying stakeholders along on the utilisation of TETFund allocations.

“Any university that does not take the stakeholders along should not be allowed to have access to the fund. The funds belong to the Nigerian people,” he added.