C’River Private Varsity Inaugurates Trado Medical Research Institute, Flays Discrimination By TETFUND
Newly appointed vice chancellor of the Arthur Jarvis University, Akpabuyo, Cross River State, Dr Joe Edet has decried the discriminatory posture of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, against privately owned higher institutions of learning in the country.
Edet who is to be crowned a professor in July, said in an online interview with TNN on Wednesday however said that his university was taking giant steps in doing the impossible, including the recent inauguration of what he called a world class institute of trado medical research centre.
AJU is the first private university in the former South Eastern Nigeria and particularly Cross River. Edet said the university was set up to provide alternative tertiary education and to complement the efforts of the existing ones.
“We are in no competition with anyone but ourselves. The goal is to be the very best in our set targets and become a reference point in qualitative tertiary education. We are currently the most affordable private university in Nigeria and intend to surpass all expectations by making private tertiary education not just affordable but of the highest quality.
“We also intend to be very unique and not lost in the crowd of existing tertiary educations. So far, we’ve just inaugurated world class Institute of Trado Medical Research and just earned accreditation from the NUC. We see no reason why alternative medical research should not exist alongside orthodox, scientific, and other research methodologies.”
The vice chancellor said it was ironical that whereas the federal tax authorities were collecting taxes from the university and other privately owned universities, being registered business institutions, two per cent of which goes to the TETFUND, they were not allowed to benefit from TETFUND.
Hear him: “Education in Nigeria is bisected by myriads of academic challenges including poor funding and thus poor educational infrastructures, inadequate classrooms, teaching aids (projectors, computers, Laboratories, and libraries), paucity of quality teachers, and poor/polluted learning environments.
“Why should private universities be discriminated against in assessing TETFUND’s interventions and assistance? The funds from TETFUND is actually public funds and both private and public tertiary institutions should have access to them. The main source of income available to the Fund is the two per cent education tax paid from the assessable profit of companies registered in Nigeria.
“The Federal Inland Revenue Services (FIRS) assesses and collects the tax on behalf of the Fund. So why the disparity?” He said there was the need for the federal government to pay greater attention to education issues and also enforce literacy programmes. “Nigeria has no business being classified as educationally disadvantaged and undeveloped or developing country,” he noted.
