The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has said that it recorded over N60 billion decline in revenue available for its operations.
The Executive Secretary of the Fund, Mr Sonny Echono, said this on Thursday in Abuja.
This was when members of the House of Representatives Committee on Tertiary Education and Services, led by Rep. Aminu Suleiman, paid an oversight visit to the fund’s office.
Echono, while speaking on the operations of the Fund and the state of finances, especially from 2017 to date, said 2021 collection was what the fund used to operate in 2022.
“We witnessed a steady rise in collections under the education tax but unfortunately for the 2021 there was a sharp drop and that left us in a very dire position.
“For example, from N154 billion in 2017, the tax collection rose steadily to N257 billion over the years.
“So by 2020, we’ve got N257 billion; but unfortunately, the 2021 collection, which is what we use to operate this year, dropped sharply to N189 billion.
“So over N60 billion drop revenue or resources available to TETfund, and the way we operate, 2021 collections are used for 2022 operations,” he said.
Echono said that given the president’s commitment on increased funding for education with the support of the National Assembly, the tax rate for 2021 was increased from two per cent to 2.5 per cent.
He expressed optimism that before the end of the administration it would increase to three percent, as a commitment the President gave the global community via the Global Partnership for Education.
Responding, Rep. Suleiman assured the fund of its continued support and cooperation to ensure that the system continued to work stronger.
Suleiman said the visit was a legislative requirement on any legislature through various committees that a minimum of an oversight must be conducted and the periodic report submitted to the house.
He directed TETFund to mandate state institutions benefiting from its interventions to submit reports of their operations within three weeks.
(NAN)
