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Education Tax System in Anambra State

A tax is an obligatory payment charged on individuals by government through the payment of a

specific fraction of their income or a specific amount of money for the purpose of raising

revenue for developmental purposes. Tax could also be viewed as the transfer of resources from

the private sector to the public sector so as to meet some of the economic and social goals of thenation. Some of these goals which a robust tax system is meant to address are: provision of

additional basic government services, particularly in education, public health and transport.

These are vital for the growth of other aspects of the economy.

The Education Tax Fund (ETF) was thus established as a Trust Fund under the Education Tax

Act no 7 of 1993 and amended by Act No 40 of 1998 with the objective of using funding with

project management to improve the quality of education in Nigeria [1]. The argument in favor of

the fund being private sector sourced is that the major beneficiary of the products of educational

institutions is the private sector. Hence government should not be constrained to bear its

financial burden alone. Here are the provisions of the Education Tax Degree of 1993 [2]:

(1) 2% of company profits are taxed for education.

(2) The fund is managed by a special board of trustees of the Federal Inland Revenue.

(3) The fund is meant to finance development of infrastructure, procurement of books

and library facilities, purchase and maintenance of equipment.

(4) 50% of the fund is meant for tertiary institutions while the remaining 50% of the

fund is shared among primary and post primary institutions.

The question that arises therefore is: has the education tax fund met the needs and aspirations of

the Nigeria education system in general or that of Anambra state in particular? Has there been apositive change in the Nigerian education sector since the inception of education tax fund?

In September 2000, world leaders agreed to the United Nations Millennium Declaration, with the

commitment of nations to a novel global partnership that would serve to diminish acute poverty.

Part of the agreement includes setting out a sequence of time-bound targets of 2015. These have

been christened - the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs also identifies the

role that developed countries can play via trade, development aid, debt relief, and technology

transfer [5-7]. The eight MDG goals include: to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, to achieve

universal primary education, to promote gender equality and empower women, and to reduce

child mortality. It also includes improving maternal health, to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and

other diseases, to ensure environmental sustainability, and to develop a global partnership for

development [8].

As can be observed the MDGs relating to education can be directly linked to goals 2 and 3,

whereas goals 4, 5 and 6 will obviously be very much aided in terms of their attainment through

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the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) when used as a driver in educating

the rural populace.

Anambra was traditionally known to have a very low enrollment level for primary school

enrollees and those who move on to the secondary level also diminish as they go up the ladder-

as they are lost to demand for farm hands and apprentices. This is due to factors such as poverty

and illiteracy of parents, which inadvertently prevents children from continuing their education.

The ETF in this regard has not positively impacted on the citizens of Anambra, as the building of

classroom blocks alone is not enough in motivating students to remain in school.

Through the Anambra Integration Development Strategy (ANIDS), particular attention has been

paid to enlightening and empowering the young minds. The past governor, Peter Obi had boasted

that he promised to meet the MDGs by year 2015 and ANIDS was designed from the MDGs

vision as a vehicle towards achieving the goals as it has enabled government to work on all

sectors simultaneously. [5]

Monies had been given for the benefit of the children of the state to all secondary schools for the

building of libraries. While the state secondary schools were connected to the internet, with new

buses supplied and laboratories rehabilitated. These are part of efforts geared at giving a future to

the children of the state. From inception, ANIDS has provided 160 schools statewide with ten

computers each so that no child growing up in the state would be ICT illiterate. Even software

giant Microsoft has recognized the effort of ANIDS and partnered with the Anambra State

government; adopting over 110 secondary schools in 2010 and christening them Microsoft

Academies. Fifty laptops were provided to each school with internet facilities and capacity for

training their students. In 2011 the state government recruited 200 ICT teachers and organized athree-week training programme for them in partnership with Microsoft and New Horizon

computer learning centre. Peter Obi in commissioning the programme declared that ICT

remained a potent tool in empowering people to fight poverty, as it remains the engine and

capital that will drive the future. According to the Managing Director of New Horizon, Anambra

is the first state to embark on such a programme; projecting that within ten years, the state could

generate professionals who will control the ICT world. [3-5]

These developmental strides are commendable as the present millennium has been distinguished

by an explosive increase in information, knowledge and understanding acquired via scientific

research.

All these brings us to the inevitable requirement of cheap and easily accessible electricity supply

which is the means by which most modern ICT equipment and gadgets operate. Electricity is

fundamental to development. It is the means to improved social and economic well-being just as

it is vital to industrialization and wealth creation. It is also the gateway to employment

opportunities to the teeming jobless Nigerian youths. The nations pursuit of becoming one of

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the 20 most developed countries in the world by 2020 would be challenging unless it finds the

key to significant improvement in power generation [9].

Therefore, the Anambra state government as a recommendation could look into the possibility of

harnessing its renewable energy (RE) potential through solar and wind energy projects situated

in respective schools with a special funding set apart for this purpose. It is essential that RE

technologies be employed for electrical purposes as it will provide a means of making socially

responsible businesses help in transforming and improving the life of rural dwellers. It will also

enhance the actualization of the education and technology advancement goals of the MDGs. As

universal primary education which is tied to goal 2 ensures that by 2015, all children within the

state, boys and girls equally, will be able to conclude a full course of schooling. Also in

successfully realizing the MDGs, ICTs could be integrated with more conventional technologies

such as books and radios, and be more extensively employed in the training of teachers. This is

feasible as a provision for e-learning via the internet will enable lectures from instructors across

the globe, thus bridging the knowledge gap; all as a result of adequate access to clean andaffordable energy made available via renewable energy.

References

[1] [Education Tax Fund [Available online http://martinslibrary.blogspot.com/2013/03/education-tax-fund-etf.html#sthash.mCoHL2cg.dpuf, accessed 20th March, 2014]

[2]Education Tax Decree [Available online http://www.nigeria-law.org/Education%20%20Tax%20Decree%20No%207%20of%201998.htm, accessed 20th March,

2014]

[3]Millennium Development Goals and 2015. A mirage?[Available online http://www.anamites.com/2012/01/millennium-development-goals-and-2015.html,

accessed 20th March, 2014][4] How Anambra and Akwa-Ibom are thinking outside the box

[Available online http://www.ynaija.com/from-the-magazine-how-anambra-and-akwa-ibom-are-thinking-outside-the-box/, accessed 20th March, 2014

[5] Emma Chukwuemeka, Chukwujindu E. Chukwujindu. The effect of Anambra integrated developmentstrategy (ANIDS) on Nigeria sustainable development: An appraisal (2006-2011), European Journal of

Business and Social Sciences, Vol. 2, No.9, pp 95-113, December 2013[6] UN Documents - Gathering a body of global agreements [Available online, http://www.un-

documents.net/mdg.htm, accessed 20th March, 2014]

[7] United Nations, the Millennium, Development Goals, Report 2010, UNDP (2009) [Available online,http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/MDG%20Report%202010%20En%20r15%20-low%20res%2020100615%20-.pdf, accessed 20th March, 2014]

[8] Lankes, H.P. Market Access for Developing Countries In Finance & Development, (2002), Vol. 39,No. 3 [Available online http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2002/09/lankes.htm, accessed 20th

March, 2014]

[9] Adenipekun, M.T. Sustainable rural infrastructural development in Nigeria within the context of

Vision 20:2020, International Journal of Development and Sustainability, (2013) Volume 2 Number 1,March 2013 (In Press)