The Academic Staff Union of Universities has issued warning to Federal Government not to scrap the Tertiary Education Trust Fund.
ASUU noted that suffocating the funding source of TETFund to run the Nigerian Education Loan Fund would destroy public education in the country.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily breakfast programme on Thursday, the union President, Emmanuel Sodeke alleged that some members of the ruling class want to destroy public universities and ensure that the children of the poor remain slaves.
He said: “The only source of funding is from TETFund, so when you destroy it, you have destroyed public universities.
“TETFund is a product of ASUU. You can’t make the tax laws without meeting with ASUU for inputs before proposing it before the National Assembly.
“The Vice Chancellors were not consulted, Pro Chancellors were not consulted. The people sat down somewhere and said over the next five years let’s scrap it without consulting those who initiated this bill that has transformed Nigerian public universities.
“That’s not how to work in a system. That’s not how to run a country that is democratic.
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“Let that Act that was initiated in 1993 that has transformed all Nigerian universities, allow it to stay.
“If you want to drive NELFUND, go and look for ways to fund it. Don’t take from the one that is in existence to fund it.
“Take 1% or 2% of VAT to fund NELFUND. Don’t take from Peter to pay Peter. Go and look for ways to fund NELFUND,” he said.
“When you go around all Nigerian universities, polytechnics and colleges of education today, 90% of the physical structures you have there are products of this struggle for TETFUND.
“But this tax bill is saying that by the year 2030, it should be scrapped and merged with NASENI and NITDA and then reduced to 2%.”
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