The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Sokoto Zone has called on the National Assembly to reject the proposed Nigeria Tax Bill 2024, which poses a threat to the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND).
The union highlighted that the bill proposes to allocate only 50% of the Development Levy to TETFUND in 2025 and 2026, with the remaining percentage distributed among NITDA, NASENI, and NELFUND. Additionally, TETFUND is set to receive zero funding from the Development Levy starting in 2030.
During a press conference in Sokoto on Wednesday, the union’s Zonal Coordinator, Comrade Abubakar Sabo, expressed concerns that this development would be detrimental to the national development aspirations tied to TETFUND’s existence. He emphasized that the tax reform’s implementation would negatively impact infrastructural development, postgraduate training, and research capacity enhancement in public tertiary institutions, which have been supported by TETFUND for the past 15 years.
The union stressed that TETFUND’s contributions to higher education institutions are invaluable, and abolishing it would significantly setback public tertiary education. TETFUND currently supports 244 public tertiary institutions, including 96 universities, 72 polytechnics, and 76 colleges of education.
Sabo reaffirmed the union’s firm stance against the degradation or eradication of TETFUND and urged the National Assembly to protect the fund from being abolished under the Nigeria Tax Bill 2024.
The union also called on Nigerians to hold the government accountable for any consequences resulting from the neglect of university education and the poor treatment of academic staff.
