The Federal Government, through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund has queried seven tertiary institutions over unauthorised deductions from contractors’ payments amounting to N28.8 billion.
The affected institutions include Taraba State University, Lagos State University, Edo State University, Plateau State University, Federal College of Education Pankshin, College of Education Gindri, and Aminu Saleh College of Education.
According to TETFund, the institutions deducted extra charges such as development levies and state taxes from payments made to contractors executing TETFund projects, which is a violation of its guidelines.
The irregularities were uncovered in the audit of the 2023 financial year, released on Thursday.
“A few institutions have been queried for making extra deductions on payments made to contractors on TETFund projects. These deductions may be for Development Levy or State Tax.
“While scrutinising financial returns submitted to the Fund, a total sum of N28,893,685.92 was determined to have been deducted by the above beneficiaries from payments to contractors on various projects.
“These deductions are in contravention of TETFund guidelines and can possibly reduce the funds available to the contractors, thereby causing a reduction in the quality of work done,” the audit report stated.
Breakdowns of the deductions showed that Taraba State University allegedly deducted N2.1 billion from the 2021 zonal intervention and N4.3 billion from the 2021 annual intervention.
Lagos State University was reported to have deducted N3.3 billion from its 2019/2020 annual intervention, while Plateau State University deducted N2.6 billion. Edo State University was also flagged for deducting N1.9 billion.
