Reps to probe ‘abuse’ of N2.3trn tertiary education tax by TETFund

The house of representatives says it will investigate the alleged abuse of N2.3 trillion tertiary education tax by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) from 2011 to 2013.

The lower legislative chamber passed the resolution during the plenary session on Tuesday after the adoption of a motion co-sponsored by Olusola Fatoba, David Fouh and Zakari Nyanpa.

The tertiary education tax was introduced as a special corporate levy to provide specialised funding for higher education in Nigeria, including capital projects, research and development, among others.

The tertiary education trust fund act, 2011 which established TETfund charged the fund with the responsibility of imposing, managing and disbursing the tax to public tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

Public companies operating in the country are mandated to pay 2.5 percent of their profit as education tax to TETfund.

While moving the motion, Fatoba, the lead sponsor, said since the establishment of the TETfund in 2011, the fund has earned “trillions of naira” as generated revenue.

He alleged that the “fund is reputed for numerous financial abuses in its operations, award of contracts and execution of projects”.

“The standard operating procedure within the fund is porous and does not create a platform for proper supervision of projects domiciled with tertiary institutions, with disbursements of funds happening without tracking and payments being made despite the failure of contractors to achieve milestones required for such payments,” he said.

“These abuses, actions, inactions and infractions have resulted in the misappropriation of funds and unjust enrichment of funds worth about N2.3 trillion.”

The lawmaker said if urgent steps were not taken to investigate the allegations, the “decay of the tertiary education system” will continue to increase”.

This, he said would continue to lead to “strikes by academic workers, substandard institutions, lack of faith in the system, migration of talented youths and total collapse of the education system arising from gross abuse of laudable special intervention programmes and aspiration of the president to provide opportunities to young people through quality tertiary education”.

The motion was adopted when it was put to a voice vote by Tajudeen Abbas, the speaker.

The house set up an ad hoc committee to investigate the allegations and report back within four weeks for further legislative action.