The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the
February 25 presidential election, Mr Peter Obi, has commended the federal
government for rescinding its decision on the remittance of 40 per cent of the
Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of universities.
The Federal Government had finally bowed
to pressure by suspending the automatic deduction of 40 per cent from the IGR
of tertiary institutions.
President Bola Tinubu gave the reversal order on Friday
while speaking at the 75th Founder’s Day ceremony at the University of Ibadan
(UI).
“The 40 per cent IGR automatic deduction policy stands
cancelled. This is not the best time for such policy since our universities are
struggling,” he declared.
The former Anambra State governor, in a post on his X
handle, urged the government to promptly reorganise and revamp TETFund.
Obi wrote: “It is gratifying that the FGN has reversed its
demand on the 40% IGR from universities. It is ab initio totally inconceivable
that grossly underfunded universities would be expected to dole out 40% of
their IGR to the FGN.
“Moreover, that demand underlines a lack of attention to the
persistent abuse of the TetFund, which is presently not being properly utilised
to fund tertiary education as initially envisaged.
“In fact, FGN should promptly reorganise and revamp TETFund
to fulfil its statutory role of funding Nigerian public universities, both
federal and state-owned, and also in assisting those owned by voluntary
agencies.
“The time has come for the government to pay more attention
to the financial autonomy of our public universities while fulfilling its
statutory financial responsibility to our public tertiary education.”
