The House of Representatives has taken the decision to conduct an investigation into the alleged misuse of N2.3 trillion in tertiary education tax by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) during the period from 2011 to 2013. This resolution was passed during the plenary session on Tuesday, following the endorsement of a motion co-sponsored by Olusola Fatoba, David Fouh, and Zakari Nyanpa.
During the motion presentation, Olusola Fatoba, the main sponsor, highlighted that the TETFund has accumulated substantial revenue in the form of “trillions of naira” since its establishment in 2011.
He alleged that the “fund is reputed for numerous financial abuse in its operations, award of contracts and execution of projects.”
“The standard operating procedure within the fund is porous and does not create a platform for proper supervision of projects domiciled with tertiary institutions, with disbursements of funds happening without tracking and payments being made despite the failure of contractors to achieve milestones required for such payments,” he said.
“These abuses, actions, inactions and infractions have resulted in the misappropriation of funds and unjust enrichment of funds worth about N2.3 trillion.”
The lawmaker said if urgent steps were not taken to investigate the allegations, the “decay of the tertiary education system” will continue to increase”.
This, he said would continue to lead to “strikes by academic workers, substandard institutions, lack of faith in the system, migration of talented youths and total collapse of the education system arising from gross abuse of laudable special intervention programmes and aspiration of the president to provide opportunities to young people through quality tertiary education”.
The motion was approved through a voice vote conducted by Tajudeen Abbas, the speaker.
The House of Representatives established an ad hoc committee to thoroughly examine the allegations and provide a report within a period of four weeks. The findings from this investigation will be used to guide subsequent legislative actions.
