THE NEED FOR EDUCATION TAX IN BAUCHI STATE

People like me are thinking about such things as an educational progression in our State, looking at the State of decadence the sector found itself. Education is a capital intensive investment that needs a holistic approach to attain its height, a political will is equally needed to make a reality on this, to achieve that, the government as an investor need to put more effort to make it a reality and affordable to all, which is the Herculean challenge the sector is facing in our State, if not the whole country. Bauchi State is not exceptional in these problems, it is bedevilling the State for time immemorial and it is susceptible which need a rescue.

To smooth the sponsorship and funding of the sector, FGN was able to create a trust fund to cover all the unforeseen expenses education might need which is not directly captured in the National budgets, hence the creation of the Tertiary Education Trust fund.

Tertiary Education Trust Fund, abbreviated as TETFUND, is a scheme established by the Federal Government of Nigeria in 2011 to disburse, manage, and monitor education tax to government-owned tertiary institutions in Nigeria. The TETFUND scheme was formed as a product of the Education Tax Act of 1993.

But unfortunately, the TETFUND was exclusively for tertiary institutions only, before some amendments in 2011.

Luckily, the Primary and Junior Secondary Schools has UBEC to back their financial needs which is running quite smoothly across the country.

In this very short submission of my opinion on this medium, I will like to opine advice to the Bauchi State Government, to create and establish a State Education Tax Fund, a commission to collect and manage funds charges for education development in the State, a trust fund that can cover more to develop our education system in the State. Similar to the Federal Government's TETFUND all businesses in the State are to be compelled to commit just 1% of their income to this trust fund, charging directly on the income tax, whereas the funds will be channel directly to the State Ministry of Education for that purpose. 

People can now be part and parcel of the State educational development and possibly save the sector the disgrace it is stewing today. The fund will be used to make more of revolutionising our Schools, build and refurbish classrooms, libraries, laboratories and supply more instructional materials to all our Schools. The fund can also be used in construction and equipping a brand new Education Resources Centre for the State, which the State is in dire need of. The issues of Scholarships, Students education loans can also be addressed through this trust fund. Our students will no longer doubt being forgotten in scholarship disbursement, the government can sponsor them through the trust fund.

I pray His Excellency Sen Bala Mohammed will permutate on this and consider sending an Executive Bill to BAHA for debate and passing into State tax law. The Bauchi State House of Assembly under RT. Hon. Abubakar Y Suleiman should consider doing this giant stride to save education in the State. I believe they can do that. 

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