Highest Education Tax Ever Collected in 2023, Says TETFund

The Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFund, announced on Tuesday that it collected more education tax in 2023 than any other year since it was established.

The Executive Secretary of the TETFund, Arc Sunny Echono, revealed this during a meeting with leaders of beneficiary institutions on the guidelines for distributing funds for 2024 projects, in Abuja.

He explained that the high revenue was due to the increase in the tax rate from 2 per cent to 3 per cent of assessable profit by the previous and current governments, and other measures taken by the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, in partnership with the agency.

He said TETFund has planned to allocate more funds for direct disbursement in 2024, in line with the improvement in tax collection.

According to him, 90.54 per cent of the taxes collected was earmarked for direct disbursement, while 6.5 per cent was set aside for some projects and 2.94 for stabilisation.

“For the Special Direct Disbursement, we have raised the amount and number of institutions that will benefit from the Special High Impact Programme (SHIP).

“There will be improvement of Laboratories, Workshops and Equipment for Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education (Technical) for the 2024 Intervention Year. There will also be the second phase of Early grade resource centers for Colleges of Education (NCCE),” he said.

He also urged other stakeholders, such as the National Assembly, to reduce interference as TETFund mobilizes, harnesses and effectively deploys all resources to restore the tertiary institutions to the high standards envisioned by President Bola Tinubu.

The Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Colleges of Education, NCCE, Prof Paulinus Okwelle, praised the Fund for its activities in colleges of education across the country.