The Tutorial Employees Union of Universities (ASUU) has cautioned in opposition to the scrapping of the Tertiary Schooling Belief Fund (TETFUND), saying such a transfer can be inimical to the expansion of tertiary schooling within the nation.
ASUU, in a press release on Tuesday by its nationwide chairman, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, stated the federal authorities plans to interchange TETFUND with the Nigerian Schooling Mortgage Fund (NELFUND) by means of the Tax Reform Payments proposed by President Bola Tinubu, that are presently earlier than the Nationwide Meeting.
The ASUU president stated the federal government plans to progressively divert TETFUND’s sources to NELFUND, which is the same as killing a father or mother with a view to hold a new child little one alive.
The educational union, due to this fact appealed to the the Nationwide Meeting, particularly the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio and the Speaker of the Home of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, to make use of their constitutional powers to guard TETFund from imminent loss of life by means of the Tax Invoice 2024.
Based on ASUU, it’s a incorrect transfer to remove TETFUND sources and use the identical to bankroll NELFUND.
ASUU argued that “Part 59(3) of the Nigeria Tax Invoice (NTB) 2024 particularly states that solely 50% of the Growth Levy can be made obtainable to TETFund in 2025 and 2026 whereas NITDA, NASENI, and NELFUND would share the remaining percentages.
“TETFund may also obtain ‘66.7% in 2027, 2028 and 2029 years of evaluation’ however ‘0% in 2030 yr of evaluation and thereafter.”
“The far-reaching consequence of the brand new tax system is that from 2030, all funds generated from the Growth Levy can be handed to NELFUND.
“We discover this growth as a union not solely worrisome but additionally inimical to our nationwide growth goal due to the potential hazard to the survival of TETFund.
“The union additional noticed that viewing TETFund because the spine for infrastructural growth, postgraduate coaching and analysis capability constructing in Nigeria’s public tertiary establishments within the final 25 years, taking any proportion out of the Schooling Tax (Growth Levy) to service one other company not identified to the Act establishing TETFund in 2011 is illegitimate and shouldn’t be allowed to face.
“Giving zero allocation of Growth Levy to TETFund as from 2030 is a technical means of killing the company because the purported admonishment that TETFund ought to search progressive methods of producing its funds is spurious and ill-advised.
“So, changing TETFund with NELFUND is tantamount to killing a father or mother to maintain a new child little one alive which is unethical and in opposition to the precept of pure justice.”
ASUU stated scrapping TEFUND is tantamount to rolling again the progress and growth achieved over a number of years within the nation’s public tertiary establishments.
“So, Nigeria needs to be enhancing on the operations and sustainability of TETFUND and never killing the company,” ASUU concluded.