THE ASSESSMENT OF THE CONTRIBUTION OF EDUCATION TAX FUND (ETF) TO THE DEPARTMENT OF TERTIARY INSTITUTION IN SOUTH-SOUTH GEOPOLITICAL ZONE.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background to the Study

There is an increasing faith in the efficacy of education in the development of people and the society at large all over the world, thus people and governments at various levels are committed to the establishment of educational institutions and expansion of school enrolment.  Recent experience in Nigeria economy has shown that the resources available for developmental activities are dwindling. The Nigerian educational system has found itself squeezed between resources, scarcity and astronomical rising unit cost. There is a dire need for proper planning for the use of the resources to achieve educational goals, because the success of education hinges on it. Longe (1985) has been on the view of education as an investment yielding dividends by way of manpower supply and natural benefits accruing to an educated public. The importance of education as a powerful instrument [weapon] for enhancing individual as well as national development cannot be overemphasized especially in modern societies. Education in Nigeria is no more a private enterprise but a huge government ventures that has witnessed a progressive evolution of government’s complete and dynamic intervention and action participation. Concerted efforts have been made by government to ensure that the educational sector continues to receive the desired attention, hence the establishment of the educational tax fund (ETF) Decree No. 7 of 1^st January, 1993 was promulgated, now Tertiary Education Tax Fund (TETFUND).

The pursuance to the Act establishing the Education Trust Fund (ETF), the Board of trustees of the fund decided to established a research fund armed at resuscitating research activities in the nation’s tertiary in situations.

The research fund is one of the special intervention areas introduced in order to help in the realization of the objective of addressing the critical need for high quality attaining the nation’s 20:2020 vision. Three Billion Naira (N 3b) was approved for the research fund for the 2009 year by Mr. President Umaru Musa Yar’ Adua.

In order to actualize the intent of the Tertiary Education Tax Fund has six (6) focal area:

The 2 strategic goal of Nigeria Education: are Access and (2) quality. And other four (4) issues to be addressed to achieve the goals: (3) straightening the institutional management of education (4) Teacher Education and department (5) Technical and vocational education and training and (6) Funding, partnership, Resource Mobilization and Utilization.

Role of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) in actualizing the 4 years strategic plan focal area on funding, partnership, resources mobilization and utilization. Its roles include receives funds through the Federal Inland Revenue Service as provided in the ET Act 2011, Manages the funds, Disburses the fund to beneficiary installation monitors the utilization of funds, Access utilization to ensure value for money.

Tertiary Education Fund

Our Vision

To be a world-class interventionist agency in Nigeria’s tertiary education.

Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) Goals

• To continuously improve Education Tax Revenue by ensuring that the Tax is collected and made available for Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) intervention programmes.
• To deliver appropriate and adequate intervention programmes with due regard to the sensitivities of beneficiaries and stakeholders. Education, and ensure that projects are forward-looking as well as responding to present needs.
• To ensure successful completion of intervention projects.
• To form a variable and enduring partnership between the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) and its stakeholders.
• To manage Education Tax in a way that is most beneficial to the Nigeria people.
• To recruit, retain and retrain a high motivated workforce
• To plan, undertake research and create reliable databank for improvement of education in Nigeria.
• To ensure accountability and transparency in all its undertakings.

Our Mission

To provide focused and transformation intervention in public tertiary institutions in Nigeria through funding and effective project management corporate objective.            

Corporate Objective

Provide funding for education facilities and infrastructural development promote creative and innovation approach to education learning and service, stimulate, support and enhance improvement in the education foundation areas, like teacher education, teaching practices, library development and special education programmes. Champion new literacy enhancing programme as scientific, information and technological literacy.

Benefits of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND)

ETF denotes Exchange Traded Fund and it fundamentally holds various assets like stocks or bonds with its net value being equal to the negotiable instruments it holds. ETFs are also regarded as investment portfolios that hold stocks and other key negotiable instruments traded on the stock exchange. A key distinction between ETFs and stocks is that ETFs can track and also index. This explains why ETFs are also known as index funds. You can effectively track many indexes through ETFs. Discussed here below are the advantages of using ETFs.

Advantages of ETFs

1. Low Operation Costs

One apparent ETF benefit is that it has a low operating cost. This following example should illustrate this benefit clearly. The VIPER, a popular ETF, tracks the entire index for the American stock market and carries a yearly operating expense on only 0.06% of the whole assets. Simply put, a large investment of $10,000 in an ETF would have a yearly operating expense of only seven dollars.

2. Tax Efficiency

ETFs are well structured to provide tax efficiency since the ETFs themselves do not have to sell or buy securities. This means there are no taxable gains that will be then passed on. Furthermore, ETFs can produce taxable gains; however exchange trade funds are usually sold like stocks. Hence, for investors to realize profits, they would require trading the ETFs or selling the shares so as to reflect adjustments in underlying index.

3. Flexible

ETFs are quite flexible when contrasted against other kinds of investment like mutual funds. Mutual funds are charged once only and this occurs at the close of trading. However, ETFs are flexible in that they can be sold or bought just the way you would normally deal in stocks. This means you can purchase on margin or you can sell short if the market situation is suitable.

Scope of Intervention

Received N 574.47 billion since inception intervention currently limited, in line with enabling Act, as amended, to support 201 public owned tertiary educational institutions: 78 Federal and state universities, 60 federal and state polytechnics and 63 federal and state colleges of education.

Sharing Formula

The enabling Act provides a ratio of allocation to beneficiaries, the ratio on the basis of 2:1:1 covers University, Polytechnics and College of Education.

• 50% – Universities
• 25% -Polytechnics
• 25% – College of Education.

Condition for Intervention

• Funds are allocated to beneficiaries in line with the enabling Act.
• Allocation on the basis of equality of institutions.

 Types of Interventions

Normal, high impact intervention, special intervention, library development, Academic Staff Training and development, conference attendance, institution Academic Journal publication, Book development, Research Grant, Institution-Based Research, National Research Fund.

Special Interventions

They carried out in response to intervention include:

• E-library Development in Federal Unity Colleges
• Teaching Practice, for Teachers in colleges of Education
• provision of multimedia Micro-Teaching Laboratories for 58 Federal and state Colleges of Education.

Special Interventions Funding

• Funding of the take-off of the 12 new Federal Universities
• Support for the establishment of Almajiri Model School under the Tsangaya system of Education
• Funding of the committee on Needs Assessment of Nigeria Universities (CNANU)
• Development and Rehabilitation of Laboratories in all 51 Federal and State polytechnics.

Intervention Allocation Trend from 2010-2012 for Universities, Polytechnics and College of Education in millions.

The already approved allocations for 2013 which has also increased will soon be announced by the Honorable Minister of Education.

Tertiary Education Tax Fund (TET fund) renders account to education taxpayers, lists achievements.

Published by Guardian on wed, 12 sep 2012 like a grateful son, appreciative of his parent’s love, the tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) hosted corporate organizations, which have been paying the Education Tax (EF) into its coffers in the last 18years, at an interactive forum held in Lagos at the weekend. Led by education minister, Prof.

The Tertiary Education trust  Fund (TET fund) management team seized the occasion, witnessed by an impressive turn out of the major contributors, to also render account of what the text proceeds have been and are being expended on the agency’s Executive Secretary, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu reveable that while N10.8 billion was collected as Education Tax by the Federal Inland Revenue service (FIRS) between 1994 and 1998 a total of N491 billion has been collected from 1998 till date. In fact, acting chairman alone, companies paid N 131 billion as Educational Tax. He is optimistic that the figurers for this year will be better, according to the Yakabu, the oil and gas companies contributed 60percent of the funds generated between 1994 and 2012, while the manufacturing and servicing sectors have also improved on the remittance of their taxes in the last two years. However, Yakubu observed that it was instructive that over 70 percent of the N 491 billion collected since 1994 was realized in the last four years. This is a big volume, he said. This proves that the government of President Jonathan has been working, in terms of opening up the economy, reforming and expanding the process of transformative possibilities. The companies cannot do well if there was no enabling environment created for them by the federal government. So this is a direct reflection of the effort of the current government and Mr. President to comprehensively transform our economy and the politics of this country. So if we collect so much, it is a politics of this country. So if we collect so much, it is a clear indication that the companies are doing so well. Explaining background, Yakubu told the audience that TETFund was established as an intervention agency under the Education Tax Act No. 7 of 1993 and amended by Act No. 40 of 1998. To enable the agency achieve its objectives, he stated, the Act empowers it to collect two percent of

According to Okofor in Iwuchukw (1993) succinctly put education as a process of acculturation through which the individual is helped to attain the development of his potentials and his maximum activation when necessary according to right reason and to achieve hereby his perfect self-fulfillment. Uche (1984) stated that education is the process of training and developing the mental potentials, physical knowledge, skills and character of individuals by formal and informal schooling.

Tertiary institutions, according to National Policy on Education (1981) are those institutions that cover the post-secondary section of national education system which is given on universities, polytechnics and colleges of technology including colleges of education, the Advanced Teachers Training Colleges and institution as may be allied to them. The university is a subset of tertiary institutions, over the years it has been conjectured by education experts that one of the major problems militating the realization of the objectives of establishing tertiary institution is the problem of poor funding. Ozurumba (1998) said the best education plan could be easily aborted if not supported by adequate funds. Inadequate funding of the system has been a contributing problem in this country. Supporting this claim Amadi (1999) opined that during the oil boom the current period of great economic reversals in the petroleum oil sector, financing of education has suffered untold damages.

Tertiary institutions need finance to carry out research in education, medicine, engineering and so on. They need funds for training and retraining of lecturers, acquire state-of-the-art facilities and other amenities that can engender student’s potentials to the overall achievement of the aims and objective of higher education in south-south geo-political zone of Nigeria. The south-south geo-political zone includes Cross River, Akwa-Ibom, Rivers, Delta, Bayelsa and Edo states. Numbers of federal universities which include university of calabar, university of Uyo, university of Port Harcourt, the new Federal University in Bayelsa, University of Benin and so on. more so, as a result of the job opportunities available to graduates and our increasing population, there has been a demand for high education. The funding of these higher institutions rested squarely on the government which bore these neck-breaking burden. Okonkwo (1998) affirmed that the high and continually growing financial burden in south-south geo-political zone though shared by other contributors was principally shouldered by the federal government which was responsible for the recurrent expenditure on education. Supporting this Amadi (1998), affirmed that during the oil boom, the period of large profits in the petroleum oil sector was economically viable and there was boom in the financing of education. Many citizens received scholarships and bursary awards to enable them to be trained in various fields of endeavours. New programmers and specialized areas were introduced and facilities, equipment for teaching and learning were provided.

The period of oil boom, was characterized by rapid disbursement of funds to institutions of higher learning as at when due, provision of money for research, oversea scholarship, training and retraining of lecturers, infrastructure, apparatus for laboratories. From 1989, there was a dramatic oil blast. Uche, (2000) observed that by April 1982 there was nose-diving of price of Nigeria major source of foreign exchange earner (oil). The colossal burden of financing the tertiary institutions became apparently uneasy and extremely unbearable. To alleviate this gigantic burden, the education Tax Fund Decree No 7 of 1^st January, 1993 was promulgated. Odicha (1993) observed that this decree finally impose education tax of two percent on all the profit declared by, companies registered in south-south geo-political zone and established an education fund into which the tax collected shall be paid. It is against this backdrops that this study has been designed to assess the influence of education tax fund on tertiary institutions.

Statement of the Problem

The inability of some beneficiary institution to adopt sound project management principles, lack of connection between project and institutions, objectives, none or partial compliance with requirement for the process, frequent turnover of top management of some tertiary institution has bane to the realization of the goals and objectives of establishing them. Fourteen years after Education Tax Degree and its subsequent implementation, had the scenarios in tertiary institution that prompted it really changed.

Prior to the enactment of this decree tertiary institutions were bedeviled with decayed facilities, lack of fund for conference attendance, lack of training and retraining of staffs, lack of school buses, lack of sponsorship of research and academic publications, lecturers office not properly equipped, poor staff welfare, congested classrooms and hostels, out dated books in school libraries. Do these problems still exist in tertiary institutions? If they still exist, then there is a question to be answered on how the Education Tax Fund (ETF) has impacted on tertiary institutions.

This unscientific approach in the disbursement of the fund, mismanagement and misappropriation of fund, corruption, nepotism, militate against education tax, it is on this notion that the researcher called to mind certain questions which need to be remedied.

Purpose of the study

The main purpose of the study is to find out the contribution of Education Tax Fund  (ETF) on tertiary institutions in south-south geo-political zone of Nigeria. Specially, the study seeks to find out:

1. The extent Education Tax Fund (ETF) has influenced the provision of facilities in tertiary institution in the south-south geo-political zone of Nigeria.
2. The problems associated with the disbursement of funds by Education Tax Fund (ETF) to tertiary institutions.
3. The distribution pattern of facilities among the universities by Education Tax Fund (ETF) in south-south geo-political zone.
4. If there is a significant difference in the provision of facilities in tertiary institutions before and after availability of Education Tax Fund (ETF).

Research Questions

The following research questions are raised to guide the study.

1. To what extent has Education Tax Fund (ETF) influenced the provision of facilities in tertiary institutions in south-south geo-political zone?
2. To what extent has the problem of disbursement of funds affected the provision of facilities of tertiary institutions in south-south geo-political zone?
3. To what extent has Education Tax Fund (ETF) distribution pattern of facilities, funds affected the provision of facilities amongst tertiary institutions in south-south geo-political zone?
4. Is there any significant difference in the provision of facilities before and after the emergence of Education Tax Fund (ETF)?

Hypotheses

1. There is no significance difference to the extent to which Education Tax Fund (ETF) has influenced the provision of facilities in tertiary institution in south-south geo-political zone?
2. There is no significance difference to the extent to which the problem of disbursement of fund affected the provision of facilities in tertiary institution?
3. There is no significance difference to the extent to which Education Tax Fund (ETF) distribution pattern affected the provision of facilities and fund among tertiary institutions in south-south geo-political zone?
4. There is no signification difference in the provision of facilities before and after the emergence of Education Tax Fund (ETF).

Significance of the Study

The finding of this study are very significant to the universities lecturers, non-lecturing staff, students, thus enable the government, and major stalkholders of tertiary institutions to be acquainted with the numerous benefits of the Education Tax Fund (ETF).

The study will also reveal to beneficiary some of the things which Education Tax Fund (ETF) as provided which majority of the populace in most tertiary institution from the south-south geo-political zone are to benefits; in terms of Construction of Academic Staff Office, Procurement of School Bus, Construction of Lecture Theatre, Construction of Administrative Block, Purchase of 56 Seater Bus, Procurement of Library Equipment, Construction of ICT Centre, Furnituring of Classroom, Furnituring of Lecture Theater, Construction of Senator Chamber, welfare package for lectures, office equipment for lecturers, staff quarters, means of transportation, bursary allocation to students, scholarship fund to study whose origin are from the south-south geo-political zone. The study will contribute to the body of literature already existing by way of expending the knowledge of lecturers and students as well as usefulness to future research work. The study will reveal also problems militating against the effective utilization and realization of the fund like inabilities of beneficiary institutions to adopt sound project management principles, lack of connection between project and institutions objectives, non or partial compliance with requirement for due process, frequent turnover of top management of some tertiary institutions, since the inception ETF. As well as proffering solution to the areas of weakness. The study will reveal largely extent how the fund ought to be utilized and how lecturers will benefit from the well fair package, staff quarters, building and renovations of offices and how students will benefit from scholarship fund to tertiary institution, bursary, conducive learning environment, adequate hostels accommodation and so on.

Scope of the Study

The study is limited to the assessment of the contributions of Education Tax Fund (ETF) on the development of   Nigeria tertiary institution with main focus on lecturers from Tertiary Institutions in the south-south geo-political zone.