TETFUND : N12bn spent on training Nigerian researchers in 2021
Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) announced that it had spent N12 billion on training researchers across twelve universities in Nigeria by 2021. This falls within the agency’s mandate to support the country’s educational sector.
Kashim Imam, Chairman, TETFUND Board of Trustees, disclosed this at the maiduguri forum on Monday centered on: “improving education tax collection in the post-pandemic era” organised to improve education tax remittance through the Federal inland Revenue Service.
Out of the 245 universities and colleges in the country, Kashim Imam stated that TETFUND is working with 226 of them.
In addition to laboratories, engineering workshops, lecture halls, lecture theaters, and other infrastructural projects, he listed some of the one hundred thousand projects being undertaken by the 2021 intervention fund.
“There are 226 higher institutions where we are undertaking one hundred thousand projects from the 2021 intervention fund of TETFUND. These projects are funded from the revenue we generate in the year 2021.
We had a revenue target of five hundred billion naira but we could only generate two hundred billion naira, which we are using to fund these projects in Nigerian universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education.
“Borno State alone has seven tertiary institutions and we have projects ongoing in these seven institutions including the newly established federal polytechnic Monguno to whom we gave a takeoff grant of two billion naira.”
He added, “Apart from infrastructures and physical projects, we also sponsor academics and fund research works. As at the year 2021, we invested twelve billion naira to fund research in twelve Universities, one billion naira per University.
“We have also given scholarships to lecturers to further their studies for masters and PhD programs but we have resolved as an agency and duly informed the vice-chancellors of the universities that it does not make sense to spend money training lecturers abroad when we can use that money to better our education institutions.
“So we only send lecturers abroad for studies when the specialty is not available in Nigerian Universities or on unique specialties. Kashim added.
Also speaking, the FIRS Coordinating Director, Tax Operating Group, Kabir Abba, said the agency has devised effective strategies to improve tax collection and that the service will ensure all taxable companies and contractors remit their taxes before being considered for award of contracts in any of the tertiary institutions across the country.
