By Prisca Osaje

The Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) and the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enhance data and information sharing.

The duo said the partnership is aimed at improving remittances to the Fund and promoting greater transparency in the extractive sector.

Speaking during the signing in Abuja, TETFund Executive Secretary, Sonny Echono, said the partnership would deepen accountability, particularly within the oil, gas, and other extractive industries.

“This will ensure accountability, particularly in the oil and gas and other extractive industry sector, it will ensure that taxes that are due to be remitted to the education tax fund are made.

“Even those that fail to pay are recovered, to boost revenue, to ensure that we are able to fulfil the purpose of Mr President of restoring our institutions in the shortest possible time.

“Being able to have a framework that will enable us to get accurate up-to-date data on what these should be, is something we have been working very hard on.

“It will culminate into a very firm agreement between the two agencies today,” Echono said.

The Executive Secretary explained that TETFund was not only focused on prudent expenditure but also on expanding and improving its revenue collection framework.

“We are also ensuring how do we generate, how do we expand the incidents, how do we improve the efficiency of collection of revenue,” he said.

He said that the establishment of a dedicated Department of Revenue and Investment, approved by TETFund’s Board of Trustees, had significantly enhanced revenue performance.

“That has also been one of the reasons why you are seeing very significant improvements in revenue, all across our zonal offices, we have officers located there now who are working with the Federal Inland Revenue Service.

“Their staff deployed in their zonal offices to basically go to every entity that is supposed to be paying tax for the companies registered and eligible to pay tax.

“Confirming if they are paying, verifying whether they are paying the right amount and so on. But there are some that are more difficult, more complicated, like these organisations that are offshore,” he said.

Also speaking, NEITI Executive Secretary, Dr Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, described the agreement as both “timely and significant”, emphasising its role in ensuring that revenues from natural resources are transparently managed and effectively utilised.

“NEITI and TETFund are united by a common goal, to ensure that revenues earned from Nigeria’s natural resources are not only transparently managed but also efficiently deployed to promote development, and advance our national aspirations,” he said.

Orji explained that substantial revenue accrued to TETFund over the past five years, amounting to approximately ₦1.024 trillion between 2019 and 2023, most of it was from the extractive sector.

He, however, clarified that money under accruals was not same as remittances.

“In 2022, the total revenue accruals to TETFund stood at ₦322.99 billion. In 2023, that figure rose significantly to ₦571.01 billion, the highest annual inflow to date.

“From 2019 to 2021, NEITI audit data shows that total accruals to TETFund amounted to ₦644.19 billion, of which ₦624.32 billion was disbursed.

“This means that within the last five years alone (2019–2023), total revenue accruals to TETFund from Education Tax reached approximately ₦1.024 trillion, highlighting the centrality of the extractive sector in financing Nigeria’s tertiary education,” he said.

According to him, these funds are drawn from the profits of companies in oil, gas, mining, manufacturing, telecommunications, banking, and other sectors, many of which fall within NEITI’s audit purview.

He said under the MoU, NEITI would work with TETFund to ensure timely and prompt remittances through early deployment of evidence-based data.

“NEITI will also provide real-time information on revenue accruals due to TETFund to guarantee transparency and support the Fund in tracking remittances and utilisation.

“Our joint effort will uplift educational institutions, enhance access to scholarships, and strengthen the research ecosystem across our public tertiary institutions,” he said. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Joseph Edeh