Ifeanyi Ibe
AdminThe House of Representatives has passed a resolution to investigate the alleged abuse of ₦2.3 trillion tertiary education tax by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) between 2011 and 2013.
The resolution followed the adoption of a motion cosponsored by Olusola Fatoba, David Fouh and Zakari Nyanpa in plenary on Tuesday.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelFatoba, who is the lead sponsor, explained that since the establishment of the TETfund in 2011, the fund has earned “trillions of naira” as generated revenue.
He went on to allege that the “fund is reputed for numerous financial abuse in its operations, award of contracts and execution of projects.”
“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 failure of contractors to achieve milestones required for such payments
“These abuses, actions, inactions and infractions have resulted in the misappropriation of funds and unjust enrichment of funds worth about ₦2.3 trillion,” Fatoba noted.
The lawmaker emphasised that if urgent steps are not taken to investigate the allegations, the “decay of the tertiary education system will continue to increase.”
He stated that this situation if unchecked will result in “strikes by academic workers, substandard institutions, lack of faith in the system, migration of talented youths and total collapse of the education system arising from gross abuse of laudable special intervention programmes and aspiration of the president to provide opportunities to young people through quality tertiary education”.
When the Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas, put the motion to vote, it was instantly adopted.
Consequently, the House set up an ad hoc committee to investigate the allegations and report back within four weeks for further legislative action.
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