•AGF Oluwatoyin Madein
The federal government has commenced the implementation of an automatic 40 per cent deduction of Internally Generated Revenues of Federal Universities and other partially funded institutions across the country.
The auto-deduction policy of gross IGR is in line with the Finance Circular with reference number FMFBNP/OTHERS/IGR/CRF/12/2021 dated December 20, 2021, reports The PUNCH.
The circular limits the annual budgetary expenditure from IGR of the partially funded federal government.
This was contained in a letter dated October 17, 2023, and titled ‘Implementation of 40% automatic deduction from internally generated revenue of partially funded federal government institutions’ by the Accountant-General of the Federation, Mrs Oluwatoyin Madein, to the universities and signed by director of Revenue and Investment, Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, Felix Ore-ofe Ogundairo.
The letter referred to varsities vice-chancellors was assented to by the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun.
“I am directed to inform you that the Honourable Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy has approved the implementation of a 40% auto deduction from the Gross Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of all Partially Funded Federal Government Institutions in line with the Provision of Section 62 of Finance Act, 2020 with effect from November 2023.
“Agencies/parastatals to not more than 50 per cent of their gross IGR and the remittance of 100 per cent of the remaining 50 per cent to the Sub-recurrent Account. All statutory revenue lines like Tender Fees, Contractor’s Registration Fees, Disposal of Fixed Assets, Rent on Quarters, etc shall be remitted 100 per cent to the Sub-recurrent Account.
“Consequently, all partially funded Agencies/Parastatals must align their budget requirements and ensure total compliance with the provision of Section 62 of Finance Act, 2020 and Finance Circular, 2021,” Ogundairo expressed.
Earlier, the federal government through the Minster of Education, Tahir Mamman, said it was giving varsities full autonomy to explore sources of financing their activities.