ABSTRACT
The study was carried out to investigate the Utilization
of TETFUND in Federal college of education, Ehamufu Enugu state, Nigeria and
GETFUND in Accra College Education Accra Ghana. Four research questions and two
hypotheses guided the study. Relevant literature related to the study was
reviewed under conceptual framework, theoretical framework and related
empirical studies. From the review of empirical studies, the researcher found
that no known study has been carried out on the Utilization of
TETFUND in Federal college of education, Ehamufu Enugu state, Nigeria and
GETFUND in Accra College Education Accra Ghana .Descriptive survey research
design was adopted for the study. The sample consisted of 1073 Staff of Ghana
College of education and Ehamufu college of Education respectively. A 42-item-
structured questionnaire was the major instrument for data collection. The
research questions were answered using mean scores and percentages while the
null hypotheses were tested using t-test and Chi-square statistics. The
findings of the study include; there is a significance difference in the
ratings of Staff of FCE, Ehamufu, Nigeria and Accra College of education,
Accra, Ghana in terms of procurement of educational facilities as a result of
fund made available by the Tax Fund in favour of Ghana. There is also a
significant difference in the mean ratings of staff of FCE, Ehamufu, Nigeria
and Accra College of education, Accra, Ghana Staff in terms of how fund made
available by the Tax Fund are utilized towards effective personnel management
in favour of Ghana.There is significance difference in the ratings of Staff of
FCE, Ehamufu, Nigeria and Accra College of education, Accra, Ghana in terms of
development of programmes as a result of Tax fund generated revenue in favour
of Ghana .There is significance difference in the ratings of Staff of FCE,
Ehamufu, Nigeria and Accra College of education, Accra, Ghana terms procurement
of physical facilities as a result of fund made available by the tax fund in
favour of Ghana. Based on the findings, the researcher recommended among others
that government should sometimes have interaction with other countries that
have similar agency and seek for in-house knowledge exchange. Such countries as
Ghana, that has “GETFUND” to see how they operate their own intervention funds.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
Education is regarded as the best tool needed to reform man and
the society in general. In so doing, colleges of education are the factory or
the breeding ground for future teachers of a nation. The Federal Republic of
Nigeria (FRN, 2004) defines colleges of education as institutions specially
designed to provide the needed human resources for the overall turnaround of a
nation. Colleges of education are expected to equip students with skills and
competencies that they require to work at the end of their study. The goals of
colleges of education according to the FRN shall be to:
·
Contribute to national development through high level manpower
training;
·
Develop and inculcate proper values for the survival of the
individual and society;
·
Develop the intellectual capacity of individuals to understand
and appreciate their local external environment;
·
Acquire both physical and intellectual skills which will
enable individuals to be self-reliant and useful member of the
society;
·
Promote and encourage scholarship and community service
·
Forge and cement national unity and; Promote national and
international understanding and interaction (FRE, p6, 2004).
One of the ways by which colleges of education shall pursue
their goals is by having access to intervention funds such as those provided by
the Tax fund. It is against this backdrop that the researcher embarked on a
comparative assessment of assess the level of intervention funds given to
tertiary education trust fund (defund) for the development of colleges of
education in Nigeria and that of Ghana.
Tax Fund is an alternative source for funds, Ozochi (2009)
defined Tax fund as alternative source of fund explored by the government to
ensure that companies and institutions undertake their respective
infrastructural development programmes. It is explored by the government to
ensure the procurement of facilities and other necessary resources needed for
the management of companies and institutions.
The development of educational discipline, its activities and
management depends on the availability of fund for its operation and survival.
Funds are money that are collected and kept for a particular purpose. It is
money provided for an activity or organization event for the purpose of
executing the organizational task (Odukunle, 2001). Funding colleges of
education is a prerequisite for the procurement of facilities and other
essential resources needed for the attainment of their stated goals and
objectives. Funding and management of colleges of education in Nigeria has
become an issue of public concern as a result of recent economic meltdown and
worldwide inflation. Ajayi and Ekundayo (2006) must have reflected on the
importance of colleges of education before they brought to conclusion that
funds allocated to colleges of education should not merely be considered as an
expense but a long term investment, of benefit to society as a whole. These
benefits are reflected on a societal level in terms of lower unemployment
rates, better health, lower crime rates, more involvement in societal activities,
higher tax returns and other trickle down effects.
Given the public value of colleges of education in view of the
acknowledged contribution of knowledge to economic growth and societal
development in the age we live in, a strong case must be made for government
responsibility in ensuring that colleges of education have adequate resources
to fulfill their basic obligations. Ezeocha (1990) lamented that in some of the
colleges of education in Nigeria, procurement of education facilities, staffing
and other related aspects of education input variables are adversely affected
as a result of poor funding and this affect the quality of its products. This
is because when the facilities needed for teaching and learning are not
adequately provided; teachers and learners are forced to manage the little
available facilities which have adverse effect on quality of products. Mgbekem
(2004) submitted that existing situation with funding of federal colleges of
education in Nigeria is such that they are solely dependent on the federal
government.
One of the major problems facing Federal Colleges of Education
in Nigeria is under funding. This greatly hampers them to pursue their expected
goals. Ibukun (1997) lamented that government which statutorily bears the costs
of higher education in these countries now faces tight budget constraints due
to the present economic bleak and the need to meet heavy and rising debt
service obligations. This is not surprising considering the fact that in
the recent times, government revenues have reduced sharply. Funding is a
precondition for the procurement of facilities and other necessary resources
needed for the management of colleges of education. Poor funding has been the
bane confronting Federal Colleges of Education in Nigeria.
Ogbonnaya (2000) maintained that funds provided to federal
colleges of education through the Tax Fund are not enough to procure facilities
and instructional materials and equipments. Similarly, Akindutire (2004) had it
that budgetary allocation for education has never reached 10% of the national
budget as was reduced steadily since 1999 and are much lower than average in
the last five years when compared with the increasing enrolment rate. The
author further stated that as the nation’s economy is in shambles, she had to
drastically reduce the amount allocated to her education institutions and this
as a result, calls for urgent intervention.
Intervention is a deliberate action taken in order to influence
or prevent any undesirable consequences. Okebukola (2003) defined intervention
as a deliberate entrance into a situation in order to influence events or
prevent undesirable consequences. Ukeje (1998) submitted that government
priority to education is now very low while funding of federal colleges of
education is fast declining and this calls for urgent intervention. As
strategies for economic recovery, Nigerian government started exploring
alternative sources of fund as a way of intervention. The structural adjustment
programme (SAP), which is part of the conditionality of the international
monetary fund (IMF), came into operation in 1986 and Tertiary Education Trust
Fund (TETfund) in 1993, mainly as strategies for economic recovery and
intervention.
TETfund was established as an intervention agency under the Education
Tax Act No 7 of1993, and amended by Education tax Act No 40 of 1998, with
project management to improve the quality of education in Nigeria. It is one of
the alternative sources of fund explored by the government. TETfund allocates
12.5% of the fund generated to federal colleges of education; it ensures that
companies with more than 100 employees contribute 2% of their pre-tax earnings
to the fund. Primary education receives 40% of this fund; secondary education
receives 10% and higher education receives 50%. This is an attempt to meet the
basic needs of education that has been the cause of unending crisis in Nigerian
education system.
TETfund is an intervention agency explored by the government to
ensure that tertiary institutions meet their desired goals. According to the
(African Independent Television (AIT, 2012), the Federal Inland Revenue Service
(FIRS) disbursed twelve billion naira to TETfund in the year 2012. Similarly,
Emejo (2013) reported in the Thisday newspaper that the Federal Government of
Nigeria had so far disbursed about 109 .4 billion naira to TETfund to boost
human resource development and enhance quality of education. Furthermore, Emejo
disclosed that the sum of 15 billion naira had been spent on Federal and state
colleges of education for the construction of micro teaching laboratories.
Funding colleges of education all over the world is a crucial challenge for the
governments, policy makers, and university administrators. In Nigeria and other
developing countries such as Ghana, the management and control of universities
and other tertiary institutions remains the core of government except for
private investors.
In Ghana, the financing of higher education has been the
responsibility of the government since colonial times. Akintayo (2004)
submitted that colleges of education in Ghana have witnessed a multitude of
challenges such as accessibility, affordability, financial austerity, faculty
recruitment and retention, and the lack of improvement of physical facilities.
Poor funding has introduced numerous challenges in the cost of managing
colleges of education in Ghana. UNESCO (1998) submitted that effectiveness and
efficiency of colleges of education in Ghana have suffered over the years
especially during the 1990s, as they become inhibited by numerous challenges
perhaps among the most serious challenges colleges of education faced is
inadequate funding arising from students populations with the commensurate
increase in infrastructure. Psacharopoulos (1998) recorded that colleges of education
in Ghana are bedeviled by some challenges which have great impact on the
outcome of its products. Cognizant of these and realizing the importance of
higher education to national development, Ghanaian parliament passed a bill
that established the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund).
GETFund was established by the Ghana Act of Parliament in 2000
(Act 581) with the object of providing finance to supplement the provision of
Education at all levels by Government. It levies a 2.5% Value Added Tax (VAT) on
goods and services to supplement government budgetary, allocations to
education, The purpose of GETFund is to provide financial resources, to support
all educational institutions and offer financial assistance to genuinely needy
and academically talented students. Ghana higher institutions and colleges of
education are attraction worldwide attention because their educational trust
fund is catering efficiently and effectively for educational needs of her
students, lecturers, and non-lecturers in the college of education in Accra.
Accra College of education is located in the heart of Accra the capital of
Ghana. It is a college of education that is owned by the federal government of
Ghana
It is an incontrovertible fact that no educational institution
can achieve its objectives without a good core of competent and dedicated
school administrators as well as efficient non academic staff. Ogbonnaya (2004)
defined school administrator as a personnel who performs important roles in the
enhancement of the teaching and learning process.
In colleges of education, the provost is regarded as the
executive school administrator. As the executive school administrator; the
provost works in relation with other school administrators such as the deputy
provost, the director of academic programmes, the director of works, the chief
Liberian, the dean of student affairs and chief medical officer of the college.
According to Ogbonnaya (2004), it is the school administrators who procure and
manage funds, provide and maintain equipments and physical facilities as well
as staff including academic and non- academic staff.
Non-academic staff are personnel who perform numerous
administrative roles in the college. Collins (2012) defined non academic staff
as employees within an academic or vocational environment whose jobs do not
involve teaching. They keep different types of records for the college such as
staff records, school finances, school supplies, school books, register of
admission among others.
In Ghana, GETFund was established to provide financial resources
to support all educational institutions and offer financial assistance to
talented students similar to that of TETfund of Nigeria. The above
justification showed that Nigeria and Ghana shared almost the same ideology and
experience in terms of funding. This therefore, calls for comparative
assessment of TETFUND in federal college of Education, Ehamufu Enugu State
Nigeria and GETFUND in Accra College of Education Accra Ghana.
Comparative assessment is the systematic comparison of two or
more comparable alternatives. Akintayo (2004) defined comparative assessment as
item-by-item evaluation of two or more comparable alternatives, processes,
products, qualifications, and sets of data, systems, or the like. It is the
systematic, ongoing process of gathering and interpreting evidence of events to
determine if a program is meeting up with its stated goals. The purpose of
comparative assessment is to ascertain whether a program is meeting up with its
specified goals or objectives for the purpose of using the information to
improve the program. Comparative assessment in this work is aimed at gathering
and interpreting evidence of events of tax fund intervention in colleges of
education in Nigeria and Ghana for the purpose of determining whether the
programs are meeting up with its stated goals and objectives.
In any tertiary institution such as college of education, the
ability to effectively and efficiently achieve its goals, utilize both the
human and non-human resources such as teaching and non-teaching staff,
instructional materials, educational facilities and equipment relies on the
availability and access to fund. Resource utilization is the effective and
efficient use of input of human and non- human resources to achieve goals and
objectives of an organization or industry. Ezeani and Nwankwo (2002) viewed
resource utilization as decisions and actions taken to effectively use human
and non-human resources of an organization to achieve its goals and objectives.
Similarly, Adebayo (2008) defined resource utilization as the fitting of
individuals and materials which they are most suited for use.
Proper resource utilization is a yardstick towards achieving the
goals and objectives of colleges of education. As such, if Federal colleges of
education must achieve its laudable goals and objectives such as contributing
to national development through high level relevant man power training and
acquiring both physical and intellectual skills which will enable individuals
to be self-reliance and useful member of the society, government, private
sector priorities and participation such as funding and resource utilization
must have to be addressed.
Colleges of education ate expected to create needed human
capital with enhanced skills that can lead to technological innovation,
productivity and growth within the economy (Olaniyonu, 2001). Yet, the amount
of fund, quality of human capital and resource utilization has direct impact on
the development or otherwise of a system, nation building inclusive (Ibukun,
1997).
In Nigeria and Ghana, one of the major problems seriously
fronting federal colleges of education is under funding (UNESCO, 1998). This
extremely impedes them to pursue their anticipated goals whereas; Tax Fund was
established as an intervention agency to meet the basic needs of education that
has been the cause of unending crisis. This therefore, aroused the interest of
the researcher to compare the assessment of TETfund intervention in Federal College
of Education, Eha-Mufu Enugu state, Nigeria and Accra College of education,
Ghana.
Statement of the Problem
Funding colleges of education in Nigeria and Ghana has become a
crucial challenge for the government. In Nigeria and Ghana, the management and
control of colleges of education remains the responsibility of the Government.
Funding and management of colleges of education in both countries appears to be
an issue of public concern as a result of recent economic meltdown and
worldwide inflation. In the colleges of education in Nigeria and Ghana,
procurement of education facilities, staffing and other related aspects of
education input variables are adversely affected as a result of poor funding
and this affect the quality of its products. This is because when the
facilities needed for teaching and learning are not adequately provided;
teachers and learners are forced to manage the little available ones which have
adverse effect on quality of products.
One of the major problems facing Federal Colleges of
Education in Nigeria and Ghana is under funding. This greatly hampers them to
pursue their expected goals. It appears that government alone cannot fund
colleges of education because of quantum of fund involved. As a result, it
encourages private sector participation through the Tax Fund. In Nigeria,
TETfund was established as an intervention agency with project management to
improve the quality of education in Nigeria. In Ghana, GETFund was established
with the objective of providing finance to supplement the provision of
education at all levels. The above description showed that Nigerian and Ghana
shared almost the same ideology and experience in terms of funding. This
therefore justifies the need for comparing the two countries in terms of fund
provision. The problem of this study therefore is to compare the assessment of
TETfund intervention in federal college of education, Ehamufu Enugu state,
Nigeria and GETfund in Accra College of education, Accra, Ghana.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is to compare the Utilization of
TETfund in Federal college of education (FCE), Ehamufu Enugu state, Nigeria and
GET fund in Accra College of education, Accra, Ghana. Specifically, the study
seeks to:
1. ascertain
how FCE, Ehamufu, Nigeria and Accra College of education, Ghana procure
educational facilities as a result of fund made available by the Tax fund.
2. Examine
how fund made available by Tax fund to FCE, Ehamufu, Nigeria and Accra College
of education, Ghana is utilized towards effective personnel management.
3. Investigate
how FCE, Ehamufu, Nigeria and Accra College of education, Ghana develop
programmes as a result of fund made available by the Tax fund.
4. Find
out how FCE, Ehamufu, Nigeria and Accra College of Education, Ghana procure
physical facilities as a result of fund available by the tax fund
Significance of the Study
The benefits that shall accrue from this study would be of both
theoretical and practical significance. Theoretically, the study would add to
the existing management theories such as scientific management theory and human
relation theory. It may build a theoretical framework that can be depended upon
when designing measures on effective management and funding of institutions of
higher learning. Practically, this study when successfully completed may
benefit the following individuals and stakeholders such as students, school
management, staff and future researchers.
Students may benefit from this study immensely; since students
are the recipients of what goes on in schools, when colleges of education are
effectively managed, and funded, there is no doubt that students would
effectively learn, thereby enabling them to realize their goals without any
difficulty. Since this study aims at funding colleges of education, for the
purpose of enhancing their programmes, students remain the major beneficiary,
because they may be equipped with skills and competencies that they require to
work at the end of their study. School management may find this work
commendably; this is because the study aims at findings out measure to utilize
human and non human resources in colleges of education, through the funds
provided by tax. The study shall provide them with measures to effectively and
efficiently utilize both the human and non-human resources such as teaching and
non-teaching staff, instructional materials, and educational facilities
provided with the intervention tax fund.
Staff of tertiary institutions both academic and non academics
may find this work useful. Whatever that affects education also affects its
staff and the success of any educational system depends to a large extent on
the quality of its staff. Since emphasis is placed on school programmes and
procurement of educational facilities, the recommendations of this study may
inform staff on the appropriate methods and approaches that may improve their
effectiveness.
Lastly, future researchers would consider this study a veritable
material. They shall benefit from the findings and recommendations of this
study in that it will serve as a source of literature, on effective tax fund
utilization.
Scope of the Study
The geographical scope of this study covered Federal College of
Education Ehamufu Enugu state, Nigeria and Accra College of Education, Accra,
Ghana. The content scope focused on how FCE, Ehamufu, Nigeria and Accra College
of Education, Accra, Ghana procure educational facilities as a result of fund
made available by the Tax fund, how fund made available by Tax fund to FCE,
Ehamufu, Nigeria and Accra College of education, Ghana is utilized towards
effective personnel management, how FCE, Ehamufu, Nigeria and Accra College of
Education, Ghana develop programmes as a result of fund made available by the
Tax fund and how FCE, Ehamufu, Nigeria and Accra College of Education, Accra,
Ghana, procure physical facilities.
Research Questions
To guide this study, the following research questions are
stated.
1. How
does FCE, Ehamufu, Nigeria differ from Accra College of Education, Accra, Ghana
in terms of procurement of Educational facilities as a result of fund made
available by the Tax Fund?
2. How
does fund made available by the Tax Fund to FCE, Ehamufu, Nigeria and Accra
College of Education, Accra, Ghana utilized towards effective personnel
management?
3. How
does FCE, Ehamufu, Nigeria differ from Accra College Education, Accra Ghana in
terms of development of programmes as a result of Tax Fund generated revenue?
4. How
does FCE, Ehamufu, Nigeria differ from Accra College of Education, Accra, Ghana
in terms of procurement of physical facilities as a result of Tax Fund
generated revenue?
Hypotheses
To guide this
study; four null hypotheses were formulated and were tested at 0.05 level of
significance.
HO1: There is no significant
difference in the ratings of Staff of FCE, Ehamufu, Nigeria and Accra College
of Education, Accra, Ghana in terms of procurement of educational facilities as
a result of fund made available by the Tax Fund.
Ho2: There is no
significant difference in the mean ratings of staff of FCE, Ehamufu, Nigeria
and Accra College of Education, Accra, Ghana in terms of how fund made
available by the Tax Fund are utilized towards effective personnel management.
HO3: There is no
significant difference in the ratings of staff of FCE, Ehamufu, Nigeria and
Accra College of Education, Accra, Ghana in terms of development of programmes
as a result of Tax fund generated revenue.
HO4: There is no
significant difference in the ratings of staff of FCE, Ehamufu, Nigeria and
Accra College of Education, Accra, Ghana in terms procurement of physical
facilities as a result of fund made available by the tax fund.