BREAKING: Tinubu cancels 40% IGR deduction from universities

A leaked memo addressed to the heads of the universities recently by the Nigerian government noted that commencing from November, universities will have 40 per cent of revenues generated internally and deposited in their accounts will be deducted automatically by the government via the Treasury Single Accounts (TSA).…CONTINUE READING

A copy of the memo addressed to the office of the vice-chancellor of the University of Abuja by the Revenue and Investment Department of the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation in the Federal Ministry of Finance, notified the institution of automatic deduction of 40 per cent of its IGR by the government.

Dated 17 October with reference R&I/2045/T/252, and signed by the Director of Revenue and Investment Department, Felix Ogundairo, the letter noted that the decision which affects all partially funded government agencies and parastatals including universities is in line with the provisions of Section 62 of Finance Act 2020.

The memo reads in part: “It is important to emphasise that this policy of 40 per cent auto deduction of gross IGR is in line with the Finance Circular Reference Number FMFBNP/OTHERS/IGR/CRF/12/2021/ dated 20th December, 2021, limiting the budgetary agencies or parastatals to not more than 50 per cent of their gross IGR and the remittance of 100 per cent of the remaining 50 per cent to the sub-recurrent account.

“While all statutory revenue lines like Tender fees, contractors’ registration fees, disposal of fixed assets, rent on quarters, etc, shall be remitted 100 per cent to sub-recurrent accounts.”

The memo instructed the universities and other affected agencies of the government to align their budgets to the new realities.
ASUU kicks

Shocked by the policy, the National President of ASUU, Emmanuel Osodeke, told PREMIUM TIMES that his union could not understand what the government meant by IGR in universities. He said universities globally are not revenue-generating institutions, but that what they generate are only costs of services rendered and items provided for students.

Mr Osodeke, a professor, who described the new policy as the government’s attempt to “strangle the poor,” said there is no revenue generated by any university.

He said: “What is IGR? As far as I’m concerned, we don’t have IGR. So, it’s zero. What the students are paying is the cost of items like ID cards, medical health insurance, books, lab coats, among others. So there’s no IGR in universities. So, it’s zero. You see, this is what we have been talking about. Is the university an agency established to generate funds for the government? So, as far as I’m concerned, we will look at it. Let them define what is the idea of IGR. As far as ASUU is concerned, the funds are meant for items and that’s why we call them charges.”

The union president said the universities have been struggling to provide basic amenities like water, electricity, and necessary infrastructure for teaching and learning.

He said many universities receive less than N120 million annually from the federal government as funding support but that they spend more than N1 billion annually on electricity.

“If you talk to the management of the University of Ibadan, or OAU, or any other one, they will tell you they only get roughly N15 million a month from the government to run. Will that be able to pay for electricity bills? So, it’s so sad what we’re hearing today. This is an attack on the university system and I then pray that something will happen and change this narrative. How can you say you’re going to collect these charges that the universities collect to take care of their students? Things like this never even happened during the military. If their children are in these public universities, would they ask for such a thing?”