President Bola Tinubu has announced the cancellation of the automatic deduction of 40% from the Internally Generated Revenues (IGR) of federal universities. The announcement was made on Friday during the 75th Founder’s Day ceremony of the University of Ibadan (UI) in Ibadan.
Represented by the Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, President Tinubu described the policy implementation as ill-timed, emphasizing the challenges that universities are currently facing.
In his capacity as the Visitor to the university, Tinubu assured his commitment to the reform of the nation’s education sector, highlighting its crucial role in national development.
“The 40% IGR automatic deduction policy stands cancelled. This is not the best time for such a policy since our universities are struggling,” he stated.
The cancellation comes in response to a leaked memo addressed to the heads of universities by the Nigerian government, notifying them of the automatic deduction. The memo, dated October 17, stated that from November, universities would have 40% of revenues generated internally deducted automatically by the government via the Treasury Single Accounts (TSA).
The decision, affecting all partially funded government agencies and parastatals, including universities, is in line with the provisions of Section 62 of the Finance Act 2020.
