News – Page 109 – Kwararafa Reporters

Fubara’s Kinsmen Apologise To Wike

The Elders Forum of the Peoples Democratic Party has apologised to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, for the ongoing rift between him...

AANEC Backs Kano Govt On Profiling NGOs, Donors

News6 months ago

Kano Gov Reveals 2024 Polio Eradication Campaign

The Kano State Governor, Abba Yusuf, has launched the 2024 Polio eradication campaign in Dawakin Kudu Local Government Area of the state, reaffirming his administration’s commitment...

Abuja—The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has prayed the National Assembly to do all within its capacity to protect the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFund, from being abrogated under the Nigeria Tax Bill 2024. The union said it was deeply concerned about TETFund because the agency remained a positive testament to its constructive engagements with Nigerian governments since 1992. It insisted that it was its considered view that abrogating the TETFund Act 2011, by design or default, would be a great disservice not just to education but also to Nigeria as a nation. The association’s position was contained in a presentation by its president, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, on the second day of the public hearing organised by the National Assembly on Tax Reform Bills in Abuja, yesterday. In the presentation, titled “Debates on the Nigeria Tax Bill, 2024: Our Case for Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFund,“ ASUU said it was worried over the proposed abrogation of education tax which, it claimed posed serious threats to the survival of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund. The presentation read: “The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has monitored with keen interest the debates about review of the tax system in the country, as proposed by the Nigeria Tax Bill, 2024, which is currently before the National Assembly. “Of particular interest to our union is the proposed abrogation of education tax which poses serious threats to the survival of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund,TETFund. “From any objective assessment, TETFund has been the backbone for infrastructural development, postgraduate training and research capacity building in Nigeria’s public tertiary institutions in the last one-and-half decades. “Over 90 per cent of capital projects in state and federal colleges of education, polytechnics and universities during this period were TETFund-sponsored. “The intervention agency has also remained the primary source of higher degree training for young academics and support staff since 2011 when the Act establishing the Education Tax Fund, ETF, was re-oriented to its original intendment of an intervention agency for the development of tertiary institutions in Nigeria. “ASUU is seriously worried that the education tax, called development levy, used to bankroll TETFund’s programmes, is about to be ceded to the newly established Nigerian Education Loan Fund, NELFUND. “Section 59(3) of the Nigeria Tax Bill (NTB) 2024 states that only 50% of the development levy would be made available to TETFund in 2025 and 2026, while NITDA, NISENI, and NELFUND would share the remaining percentages. ‘’TETFund will also receive 66.7% in 2027, 2028 and 2029 years of assessment but zero per cent in 2030 year of assessment and, thereafter, from 2030, all funds generated from the development levy will be passed to NELFUND! “With all sense of responsibility, ASUU finds this development not only worrisome but also inimical to our national development objective.” ASUU said its position was predicated on a number of reasons, which include the following: “Taking any percentage out of education tax (development levy) to service another agency not known to the TETFund Act 2011 is illegal and should not be allowed to stand. “Giving zero allocation of development levy to TETFund as from 2030 is a technical way of abrogating the agency; the purported admonishment that TETFund should seek innovative ways of generating its funds is spurious and ill-advised because as a creation of an Act, the institution dies without the fund. “Replacing TETFund with NELFUND is comparable to killing a parent to keep a newborn child alive; it is unethical and against the principle of natural justice. “The impact of TETFund on the campus of every tertiary institution in Nigeria is beyond description; abrogating it will take public tertiary education many years back and undermine the modest gains in repositioning Nigerian universities for global reckoning and transformative development. “Annual supports given to tertiary institutions by TETFund have substantially reduced industrial crises in many tertiary institutions; renovation of old facilities and provision of new ones and opportunities for staff development, leading to career advancement, have doused labour-related agitations on our campuses. “TETFund impacts not only tertiary-level education, but also the secondary, down to kindergarten; it directly and/or indirectly supports the production of quality teachers and different categories of support staff in the entire educational system. “The Ghana Education Trust Fund, GETFund, borrowed from the Nigerian experience, while some other African countries have recently visited to understudy TETFund. Nigeria should be improving on the operations and sustainability of the agency, not planning to emasculate or abrogate it.”

News6 months ago

Stop Exploiting Our Members, ASUU Urges FG

The Academic Staff Union of Universities has called on the Federal Government to stop the alleged victimisation of its members across public universities in the country....

We Are Not Ashamed To Copy What Works In Other Climes — Tinubu

News6 months ago

Engage Our Adversaries With Gallantry, Sophistication, Tinubu Charges Armed Forces

President Bola Tinubu has charged the Armed Forces to engage the nation’s adversaries with more military gallantry and sophistication. Tinubu gave the charge on Saturday in...

Fubara: I’ll Comply Fully With Supreme Court Judgement

News6 months ago

Rivers Would Never Have Survived Without CP Disu – Fubara

Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, has showered praises on the state Commissioner of Police, Olatunji Disu, for fighting crime to a standstill in the state, describing...

We Will Build 5 Five Energy Hubs For Improved Power Supply — Sanwo-Olu

News6 months ago

Be Hopeful, Sustainable Plan Is Available, Sanwo-Olu Informs Nigerians

As Nigeria celebrates its 64th Independence Anniversary, the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu has urged Nigerians to be hopeful in the country, assuring there is...

Woman Docked For Allegedly Using 13 Children

News6 months ago

Anambra Residents Shun LGA Polls, As Commercial Drivers Defy Movement Restriction

Residents of Onitsha, the commercial city of Anambra have refused to turn out for the 2024 Local Government Elections organised by the Anambra State Independent...

Tinubu: Nigeria To Turn the climate Crisis Into An Opportunity For Growth

News6 months ago

#ThingsGoBetterSoon: Nigerians Urged to Remain Calm, Better Days Ahead

Amidst current economic and social challenges, a coalition of civil society organisations has reassured Nigerians that the country will overcome its difficulties and emerge stronger. The...

FG Deports 828 Illegal Immigrants, Increases Border Security

News6 months ago

FG Announce Tuesday October 1st Public Holiday To Mark 64th Independence Anniversary

The Federal Government has declared Tuesday, October 1 a public holiday to commemorate the Nation’s 64th Independence Anniversary. Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Interior, Dr...

Ondo Election: INEC Restores Olorunfemi As LP Candidate

News6 months ago

Court Orders INEC To Acknowledge Awude And Ebiseni As LP Candidates

A Federal High Court in Abuja, has ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise Chief Olusola Ebiseni and Dayo Awude as the governorship and...