The House of Representatives on Tuesday set up an ad hoc committee to probe the alleged abuse of N2.3 trillion by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) from 2011 to 2013.
This followed the adoption of a motion jointly sponsored by Reps. Olusola Fatoba, David Fouh, and Zakari Nyanpa.
The lawmakers in the motion said the Tertiary Education Tax was introduced as a special corporate tax to provide specialized funding for tertiary education in Nigeria, including capital projects, research, and development, amongst others.
They recalled that the tax was introduced based on the repealed Education Tax Act, which established the Education Trust Fund to impose Education Tax on Nigerian companies at the rate of 2.5% of the assessable profit for annual assessment.
The lawmakers, however, said that since the establishment of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund in 2011, the Fund has earned trillions of naira as generated revenue, adding, however, that the Fund is “reputed for numerous financial abuses in its operations, award of contracts, and execution of projects.”
They also averred that the standard operating procedure within the Fund is “porous and does not create a platform for proper supervision of projects domiciled with tertiary institutions with disbursements of funds happening without tracking and payments being made despite the alleged failure of contractors to achieve milestones required for such payments.”
According to the House, the abuses, actions, inactions, and alleged infractions have resulted in the alleged misappropriation of funds and “unjust enrichment of funds worth about 2.3 trillion naira”, hence the need for the probe.
The lawmakers expressed worries that if urgent steps were not taken to investigate the allegations, the decay of the tertiary education system would continue to increase, resulting in strike actions, substandard institutions, a lack of faith in the system, the migration of talented youths, and the total collapse of the education system.
The committee has four weeks to turn in its report.
Daily Trust
