Tertiary Education Tax, Information Technology Development Levy and Funding of Educational System in Nigeria

Abstract

Due to poor funding of education in Nigeria, there has been a lot of instability in the educational system which ranges from frequent industrial revolt to a complete shutdown of schools in the country. The situation has become unbearable for families that now have their wards sitting at home due to no academic activities going on in the institutions of learning. This is not just because of poor governance but has been majorly attributed to limited sources of income available for school funding. The study assesses the effectiveness of tertiary education tax and information technology development levy in providing the needed funds for schools. The secondary data employed for this study cover a period from 2010 to 2021 and the multiple regression model is applied for the analysis. The result reveals that education in Nigeria requires more funds as the tertiary education tax lacks the capacity to adequately fund academic activities in the country. However, information technology development levy exerts a considerable impact on education financing. Therefore, the study proposes that the government should exploit other funding opportunities from other national income sources to augment the tertiary education tax. Also, the government should improve the fiscal planning for education expenditure by reducing the funds for other less essential expenditure responsibilities in the annual budget. The study also suggests that the government should endeavor to address the issues affecting the educators so that they can continue their classroom activities without grievances.