The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has raised the alarm that the Nigeria Tax Reform Bills 2024 is a threat to the Tertiary Education Trust (TETFUND).
The President of ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, disclosed this on Friday in Abuja.
Osodeke said the proposed bill was worrisome and also posed potential danger to TETFUND.
“ASUU has observed with keen interest the ongoing debate on the review of the tax system in the country under a proposed bill tagged, Nigeria Tax Bill, 2024.
“This is currently before the National Assembly. Arising from the tax bill is the proposed abrogation of the education tax.
“ASUU is alarmed by this dangerous and unpatriotic aspect of the proposed new tax regime,” he said.
According to Osodeke, the bill proposed that education tax, called development levy, used to bankroll TETFund’s programmes should be ceded to the newly established Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND).
“TETFund will also receive 66.7 per cent in 2027, 2028 and 2029 years of assessment but zero per cent in 2030 year of assessment and thereafter,” he said.
He said the far-reaching consequence of the new tax system is that from 2030, all funds generated from the development levy would be passed to NELFUND.
Osodeke said ASUU found the development not only worrisome but also inimical to the national development objective due to the potential danger to the survival of TETFund.
He said TETFund has been viewed as the backbone for infrastructural development, postgraduate training and research capacity building in Nigeria’s public tertiary institutions in the last 15 years.
According to him, ASUU had resolved not to stand by and watch the denigration or obliteration of TETfund which represents a positive testament to its constructive engagements with Nigerian governments since 1992.
“It is our considered view that abrogating the TETFund Act 2011, by design or default, will be a great disservice not just to education but to Nigeria as a nation.
“As a result, ASUU is urging members of the National Assembly to do all within their capacity to protect TETFund from being abrogated under the Nigeria Tax Bill 2024, ”he said.(NAN)
