… Holds Govt Responsible for Corrupt Practices in University System
By Michael Nnebife
The idea behind an intending abolition of TETFund through an aspect of the Federal Government’s proposed Tax Bill, 2024, is to give opportunities to private universities in Nigeria to thrive, a situation that will make high education highly commercialized.
The Coordinator, Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Owerri Zone, Prof Dennis Aribodor, made the submission while speaking in a media conference organized by the zone at the ASUU Secretariat, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, recently.
In his address during the conference, the Coordinator explained that ‘Section 59(3) of the Nigeria Tax Bill (NTB) 2024, specifically states that only 50% of the Development Levy would be made available to TETFund in 2025 and 2026, while NITDA, NASENI, and NELFUND would share the remaining percentages.
‘TETFund will also receive 66â…”% in 2027, 2028 and 2029 years of assessment, but 0% in 2030 year of assessment and thereafter.’
Prof Aribodor gave reasons this aspect of the bill he described as an attack on the TETFund should not be allowed to stand by education stakeholders.
‘Most researches done by lecturers outside this country and in postgraduate studies are through TETFund.
‘Even the labs, and buildings in the universities and other tertiary institutions in the country are constructed through the TETFund.
‘That’s why we say it should not be killed because it is helping the university system,’ Aribodor said.
‘What you may not understand is that the idea behind the abolition of TETFund is to give opportunities to private universities to thrive.
‘That will make education highly commercialized, and that is the goal of the political class,’ he stated.
According to him, over 95% of private universities in Nigeria today were owned by the political class.
‘Over 90% of Nigeria’s students are in public universities and less than 10% are in the private universities, which are more in number in Nigeria now.
‘So, they now want to kill public universities so as to give room to private universities to thrive,’ the ASUU leader stressed.
He advised the Federal Government to leave the Student Loan Scheme, for bursary or scholarship, which, he argued, the students needed.
‘If you study the History of student loan scheme all over the world, people are committing suicide paying the loan they collected from the government, even in America.
‘President Joe Biden, last year, had to forgive some loans so that people would not commit suicide 60 years after.
‘We have told the government that this thing would not work. What students require is bursary or grant or scholarship, not loan.
‘As it is today, if Nigeria can set its priority right, it can fund every Nigerian that wants to obtain university education.
‘Nigeria has the resources to do this; it is a matter of priority,’ he said, appealing to the ruling elite to endeavour to involve academics in formulating and developing a policy that worked for the people.
‘In system that works well, the government work with academics to develop policies that are good for the country because the academic group is very patriotic; its members are not greedy and that corrupt,’ he said, and held the government responsible for all corrupt practices in the University System.
‘The idea of corruption in the university, whose failure is that? Who appoints Governing Councils? Who appoints the Governing Council Chairman? Whose duty is it to checkmate university administration? Are the governing councils appointed by the government doing their job, or are they there for their personal aggrandizement?
‘Universities have a lot of checks and balances to solve their problems, but most times it is the ASUU that is urging the government to send visitation panels to universities, even after 10 years, to do what they should be doing every five years to know what is happening in the system.
‘So, the government is the one to blame as regards the corruption in the University System,’ he said.
‘Why should TETFund contract be awarded in Abuja, but not in the university?’ he queried.
‘We appeal that a reform should come up whereby no project can be executed by the TEFund, unless it is negotiated by the university and a process involving internal members of the university.
‘That’s what we are working towards so that all these corruption and substandard projects in the universities can stop.
‘TETFund should be given to universities because universities know their needs and their priority areas where the fund should be channeled,’ Aribodor further appealed.
