The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has approved a sum of N320,345,040, 835 as the 2023 intervention funds for the nation’s public tertiary education institutions.
During the Fund’s annual strategic planning workshop with all heads of beneficiary institutions on Wednesday in Abuja, Sonny Echono, the Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, disclosed this, The Punch reports.
According to Echono, the meeting served as a forum for gathering feedback and assessing the effectiveness of the agency’s intervention lines in order to strengthen and more effectively carry out its mandate.
Each university will receive N1,154,732,133.00 for the 2023 intervention cycle, while polytechnic institutions will receive N699,344,867.00 and colleges of education will receive N800,862,602.
His words: “I am pleased to inform you that Mr. President has approved the 2023 disbursement guidelines in the total sum of N320,345,040, 835. Based on this, each university shall get, for the Year 2023 intervention cycle, the total sum of N1,154,732,133.00.
“This comprises N954,732,123.00 as annual direct disbursement and N200 million as zonal intervention. Similarly, each Polytechnic shall get N699,344,867.00 comprising of N569,344,807.00 as annual direct disbursement and N130million as zonal intervention, while each College of education shall get N800,862,602 comprising of N670,862,602.00 as annual direct disbursement and N130million as zonal intervention.
Echono further said the fortunes of the Nigerian tertiary education sector have improved significantly under Buhari’s administration, saying that between 2015 to date, the total sum of N1.702 trillion has been disbursed as education tax collection to public universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education compared to a total sum of N1.249trillion disbursed from the inception of the Fund in 1993 up to 2014 (21 years).
“This remarkable success is due to sustained efforts at expanding and increasing the efficiency of collection of the Education Tax and added impetus is the gracious approval of Mr. President for an increase in education tax from 2.0% to 2.5% in the year 2021,” he added.
Echono also urged Buhari, as a parting gift to the education sector, to give his assent to Finance Bill 2023, which provides for a further increase in education tax from 2.5% to 3%.
Also speaking, the Permanent Secretary, the Federal Ministry of Education, David Adejo, urged the beneficiary institutions to use the intervention judiciously, saying that the country is no longer looking for paper presentations but what one can do with his brain and hands.