ASUU Warns FG Against Scrapping TETFund, Says It Will Wreck Public Universities
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The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has raised a strong alarm over the Federal Government’s plan to phase out the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), warning that such a move will lead to the destruction of public universities in Nigeria.
ASUU President, Emmanuel Osodeke, urged the government to reconsider its decision, emphasizing that TETFund has played a pivotal role in transforming the nation’s tertiary institutions over the last 30 years.
In a live television interview on Thursday, Osodeke described the move to phase out TETFund as an attack on public education, stressing that its funding was crucial for the survival of Nigerian universities.
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“The only source of funding is from TETFund, so when you destroy it, you have destroyed public universities,” Osodeke stated.
The ASUU leader further accused some members of the ruling class of wanting to undermine public education and keep the children of the poor in a state of subjugation.
He criticized the government’s handling of the tax bills, particularly the plans to scrap TETFund by 2030 and merge it with the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).
According to Osodeke, the introduction of the new tax laws, which aim to unify the country’s multiple tax systems, was done without consultation with key stakeholders in the educational sector.
“TETFund is a product of ASUU. You can’t make tax laws without meeting with ASUU for inputs before proposing it to the National Assembly,” he remarked.
He also pointed out that the Vice Chancellors and Pro Chancellors of universities were not consulted before the introduction of these bills.
ASUU insists that instead of dismantling TETFund, which is funded through the consolidation of revenue from company income tax, the government should explore other ways to fund the newly introduced Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND).
Osodeke proposed that a small percentage of Value Added Tax (VAT) be allocated to NELFUND rather than taking funds from the existing TETFund.
