Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, a veteran of the presidential administration, has approved a total of N320,345,040,835 as a 2023 intervention fund for the country's public higher education institutions.
The Executive Director of the Higher Education Trust Fund, Sonny Echono, made the announcement Wednesday at an annual strategic planning workshop with all heads of beneficiary institutions in Abuja.
By Crown Lydia
Echono said the meeting is a way to receive feedback and evaluate the performance of a series of interventions to better fulfill agency mandates.
According to the TETFund boss, each university will receive his N1,154,732,133.00 in the 2023 intervention cycle.
Also, each public polytechnic he receives N699,344,867.00 and in total he is expected to receive N800,862,602 by all teacher training colleges in the country. He said: “I am pleased to report that the President has approved a withdrawal policy for 2023 totaling N320,345,040,835. Based on this, in the 2023 intervention cycle, each university will You will receive a total of N1,154,732,133.00.
“This includes N954,732,123.00 as annual direct payments and N200 million as zonal interventions. Similarly, each polytechnic receives N699,344,867.00 consisting of N569,344,807.00, of which N569,344,807.00 , and each college of education receives N800,862,602 consisting of N670,862,602.00 as an annual direct payment and N130 million as an intervention in the zone.
"It's important to note that this represents the highest payout to a beneficiary since the fund's inception."
Echono further explained that the fortunes of Nigeria's higher education sector have improved significantly under the Buhari government, with a total of N1.702 trillion since 2015 for education in public universities, colleges and teaching colleges. said it was spent as a tax collection. From 1993 to 2014 he has paid a total of N1.249 trillion since the fund's inception. “This remarkable achievement is due to our continued efforts to expand and streamline the collection of the education tax, and the gracious approval of the President to raise the education tax from 2.0% to 2.5% annually in 2021 is a significant achievement. It is a further impetus,” he added.
Echono also asked Buhari to agree to his 2023 Finance Act, which further raises the education tax from 2.5% to 3%, as a parting gift to the education sector.
Federal Secretary of Education David Adejo also urged beneficiaries to use their funds wisely, stating, "The country no longer wants paper presentations, but what you can do with your brain and your hands." There are,' he added.
The public will have an audit of his 2022 intervention funds allocated to beneficiaries at a later date.