April 06, (THEWILL) – President Muhammadu Buhari has approved over N320 billion as the 2023 intervention funds for public tertiary education institutions in the country,
Executive Secretary, TETFund, Sonny Echono, disclosed this at the Annual Strategic Planning Workshop organised for Heads of Beneficiary Institutions in Abuja, on Wednesday.
He said the money was realised from the statutory 2.5 per cent education tax and, perhaps, other windows of financial interventions.
A breakdown of the figure, however, indicated that each university will receive N1,154,732,133; polytechnic will receive N699,344,867; while each college of education will get N800,862,602.
“Between 2015 to date, N1.702 trillion has been disbursed as education tax collection to public universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education compared to N1.249 trillion disbursed from the inception of the Fund in 1993 to 2014.
“I am pleased to inform you that Mr. President has approved the 2023 disbursement guidelines in the total sum of N320,345,040, 835.
“On the basis of this, each university shall get, for the year 2023 intervention cycle, the total sum of N1,154,732,133.00. This comprises N954,732,123.00 as annual direct disbursement and N200 million as zonal intervention.
“Similarly, each Polytechnic shall get N699,344,867.00 comprising of N569,344,807.00 as annual direct disbursement and N130 million as zonal intervention.
“Each College of Education shall get N800,862,602 comprising of N670,862,602.00 as annual direct disbursement and N130 million as zonal intervention,” he said.
Echono said the figure represented the highest disbursement to each beneficiary institution since the inception of the Fund.
He expressed satisfaction over the remarkable success, attributing it to sustained efforts at increasing the efficiency of the collection of the education tax.
Echono commended the President for approving an increase in education tax from two per cent to 2.5 per cent in 2021 and appealed that it should be increased to three per cent.
“Distinguished heads of institutions, the year 2023, just like the previous year, remains a promising year that has seen tremendous improvement in the collection of education taxes.
“As we distribute the year 2023 allocation letters today, I am pleased to inform you that we have kept our promise to constantly improve our operations and reduce processing.
“As I have stated in several fora, my commitment to and prioritisation of the knowledge component of our interventions has not waned.
“This, you will see in our deliberate provisions for entrepreneurship and innovation hubs, research laboratories, modern demonstration farms, and capacity building,” he added.
On all designated intervention lines, Echono said the fund was reviewing and evaluating all its centres of excellence with a view to repositioning them to function effectively as envisioned at their establishment.
Responding, Prof. Idris Bugaje, the Executive Secretary of the National Board for Technical Education, said that the intervention represented 0.2 percent or less of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Bugaje advocated for an increase in the interventions, while also calling for a drive for equal sharing formula among all tertiary institutions.
Also, the Executive Secretary for the National Universities Commission, Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, expressed satisfaction with the improvement in tertiary institutions’ interventions as the highest so far in the history of the fund.
On his part, Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education, David Adejo, urged heads of tertiary institutions to show much integrity and credibility for the advancement of tertiary education in the country.
