Tuesday, the House of Representatives established an ad hoc committee to look into claims that the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) misappropriated N2.3 trillion from the Tertiary Education Tax between 2011 and 2013.
As a special corporate tax, the Tertiary Education Tax was established to provide specialist funding for tertiary education in Nigeria, including capital projects, research and development, and other activities.
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The committee must provide a report to the House within four weeks for additional legislative action. The House adopted this decision after adopting a motion to conduct the investigation, sponsored by Olusola Fatoba, David Fouh, and Zakari Nyampa.
According to the statement, the tax was instituted as a result of the repeal of the Education Tax Act, which established the Education Trust Fund to tax Nigerian businesses at a rate of 2.5% of the assessable profit for yearly assessment.
The Tertiary Education Trust Fund has generated trillions of naira in revenue since it was established in 2011, according to The Green Chamber.
It claimed that several financial misdeeds had occurred during the fund’s operations, contracting, and project implementation.
The House claimed to be aware of the Fund’s Standard Operating Procedure’s flaws and lack of a platform for effective monitoring of projects based at tertiary institutions.
“The House further notes that these abuses, actions, inactions and infractions have led to the misappropriation of funds and unjust enrichment of funds worth approximately N2.3 trillion,” the motion states.