By Alade Adisa
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Lagos Zone, has said there is a world of difference between the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) and the Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NELFund), therefore, the administration of President Bola Tinubu should not kill the former for the latter.
The Zonal Coordinator, Prof. Adelaja Odukoya, stated this while briefing the press in Lagos on the Tax Reform Bills before the National Assembly and how they affect the education sector.
He added that lecturers would do everything possible to ensure that TETFund is not sacrificed on the altar of making NELFund survive.
“The substitution of TETFund for NELFund encourages a culture of student debt, similar to troublesome models observed in nations such as the United States. This could deepen socioeconomic gaps by discouraging low income families from going to higher institutions of learning out of concern about accruing debt. It may be difficult for students from underserved or rural areas to get or repay loans, which would exacerbate already existing socioeconomic injustices.
“By raising educational quality and opportunities, the TETFund on the other hand, helps institutions and indirectly improves communities. One public asset that helps society is education. The common societal benefits of education, including lower crime rates, improved public health and greater civic involvement, are undermined when the public supported model, TETFund is replaced with individualised one, NELFund,” he said
Adelaja noted that inadequate facilities and learning materials, as well as lack of motivation for lecturers would have detrimental effects on education.
Adelaja opined that when TETFund is denied its percentage of Development Levy, which is the Education Tax being collected now, the government is saying it should cease to exist.
“With all the Development Levy going to Student Loan Scheme or NELFUND, public tertiary institutions will be forced to increase tuition fees. That will surely be exorbitant. Also, phasing out TETFund is going to be a threat to tertiary education in Nigeria and all the gains of the struggle put up to set up Education Tax Fund which later became TETFund would just be a waste.
“If you go to our public tertiary institutions, you would know that if not for the Fund, many would have collapsed as a result of lack of basic facilities. In fact, on some campuses, anything you see that looks decent and new has been provided by TETFund, so we appeal to the federal government not to kill tertiary institutions in the country and reconsider this plan,” he said.
