History

From the 1980’s and beyond, the decay of all tiers of education was monumental. Facilities had almost collapsed, teachers and lecturers morale was at its lowest. Enabling environment for conducive teaching and learning was absent. The administration of President Ibrahim Babangida, mindful of the reality of the situation took measures to arrest the rot. In December 1990 the Federal Government constituted the Commission on the Review of Higher Education in Nigeria (the Gray Longe Commission) to review the post-independence Nigerian Higher Education after Lord Ashby’s Commission of 1959.

The Longe Commission recommended among others the funding of higher education through earmarked tax to be borne by companies operating in Nigeria. An implementation committee under the chairmanship of Professor Olu O. Akinkugbe was constituted to implement the recommendations of the Grey Longe report. An agreement was also signed between the Federal Government and ASUU on the 3rd of September, 1992 on funding of universities.

In January 1993, the Education Tax Act No. 7 of 1993 was promulgated alongside other education related Decrees. The Decree imposed a 2 percent tax on the assessable profits of all companies operating in Nigeria. This was a home grown solution to address issues of funding to rehabilitate decaying infrastructure, restore the lost glory of education and confidence in the system as well as consolidate the gains thereto; build capacity of teachers and lecturers; teacher development; development of prototype designs; etc.

The Education Tax Act No. 7 of 1993 mandated the Fund to operate as an Intervention Fund to all levels of Public Education (Federal, State and Local). This mandate was faithfully discharged between 1999 to May 2011 when the Education Tax Fund (Amendment) Act No. 17 of 2003 was repealed and replaced by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (Establishment, Etc.) Act No. 16 of 2011 due to lapses and challenges in operating the Education Trust Fund.

These lapses and challenges include:

The ETF was overburdened and overstretched and could only render palliative support to all levels of public educational institutions in Nigeria;

Duplication of functions and mandate of other Agencies set up after the ETF, such as Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s)

The decay, rot and dilapidation of facilities in the tertiary educational institutions continued to be of concern as funds were only thinly spread across the three tiers of education.

The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) was originally established as Education Tax Fund (ETF) by the Act No. 7 of 1993 as amended by Act No. 40 of 1998 (now repealed and replaced with Tertiary Education Trust Fund (Establishment, Etc.) Act No. 16 of 2011. It is an intervention agency set up to provide supplementary support to all levels of public tertiary institutions with the main objective of using funding alongside project management for the rehabilitation, restoration and consolidation of Tertiary Education in Nigeria.

The main source of income available to the Fund is the 2 percent Education Tax paid from the assessable profit of companies registered in Nigeria. However, the Tax was reviewed upwards to 2.5 percent by the Finance Act 2021 and further increased to 3 percent by the Finance Act 2023 effective September 2023.

The funds are disbursed for the general improvement of education in federal and state tertiary education institutions specifically for the provision or maintenance of:

• Essential physical infrastructure for teaching and learning
• Instructional material and equipment
• Research and publications
• Academic Staff Training and Development and
• Any other need which, in the opinion of the Board of Trustees, is critical and essential for the improvement and maintenance of standards in the higher educational institutions.

The Fund is managed by a thirteen (13) member Board of Trustees with members drawn from the six geo-political zones of the country as well as representatives of the Federal Ministry of Education and Federal Ministry of Finance.

The Board of Trustees has the following responsibilities as stated in the Act:

1. Monitor and ensure collection of Education Tax by the Federal Inland Revenue Service and ensure transfer of same to the Fund;
2. Manage and disburse the Tax imposed by the Act;
3. Liaise with the appropriate ministries or bodies responsible for collection or safe keeping of the Tax;
4. Receive requests and approve admittable projects after due consideration;
5. Ensure disbursement of funds to various public tertiary educational institutions in Nigeria;
6. Monitor and evaluate execution of the projects;
7. Invest funds in appropriate and safe securities;
8. Update the Federal Government on its activities and progress through annual and audited reports;
9. Review progress and suggest improvement within the provisions of the Act;
10. Do such other things that are necessary or incidental to the objectives of the Fund under the Act or as may be assigned by the Federal Government;
11. Make and issue guidelines, from time to time, to all beneficiaries on disbursement from the Fund on the use of monies received from the Fund; and
12. Generally to regulate the administration, application and disbursement of monies from the Fund under the Act.

The Board of Trustees shall administer, manage and disburse the tax imposed by the Act on the basis of:

1. Funding of all public tertiary educational institutions;
2. Equality among the six-geo political zones of the Federation in the case of special intervention; and
3. Equality among the States of the Federation in the case of regular intervention.

The distribution of funds shall be in the ratio of 2:1:1 as between Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges    of Education.

The Board of Trustees shall have power to give due consideration to the peculiarities of each geo-political zone in the disbursement and management of the Tax imposed by the Act between the various levels of tertiary education.