More pressure for families as Abuja imposes new education tax

The Abuja authorities have introduced a new education tax on private schools within the federal capital, a move that is certain to have a cascading impact on schools and parents grappling with the unprecedented rise in the cost of living in the country.

The government in Abuja is aiming to generate billions of naira from private schools where a large percentage of families enrol their wards, rather than find ways to support a vital sector that employs thousands.

The FCT government, led by former Rivers state governor Nyesom Wike, is asking private schools to pay 5 percent of the fees they receive from every student. This means each school will be billed according to tuition paid by students and the number of enrollments.

A memo by the head of account, department of quality assurance of the education secretariat, Mudi Muhammed, referenced by Punch, said, “Under the new rate, each school is billed according to the tuition charged and the number of enrollments. As a consequence, each school has its peculiar bill.”

“Retrospective application”

The National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools in the FCT said under the newly introduced tax regime, a private school with say 100 students charging N100,000 per term would be expected to pay N500,000 and N1,500,000 per term and yearly respectively.

A school having 300 students is thus expected to pay N1,500,000 and N4,500,000 per term and yearly respectively, it said.

Schools are bound to transfer the cost to parents, which will add a new burden to families already struggling with an extreme cost of living crisis.

The chairperson of the group, Rukayat Agboola, is asking Mr Wike to intervene. In a statement signed by the Abuja Joint Private Schools Associations, the group said the new tax imposes a substantial burden on private schools, many of which were struggling to weather the current economic storm irrespective of their location within the FCT.

“The retrospective application of the tax starting from the day of registration and accreditation of each school will further exacerbate the financial challenges faced by longstanding educational institutions,” she said.

The group had earlier engaged with the Mandate Secretary for Education and Director, about the taxes and the inconsistency of the charges on payable school fees, but go no result.

“Burden of taxes”

“The burden of taxes and levies on FCT private schools has become overwhelming, leading to frustration and closure of many private institutions,” she wrote.

“There are many taxes and levies that FCT private schools contend with annually.

“These are tenement rate, premises inspection, continuous habitation, Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) Signage, ARCON Registration, DOA levy, Environmental /Sanitary inspection.”

“Also Mobile Advert for school buses, FIRS and FCT-IRS, NSITF, CAC Annual return, CAC company Income Tax, PAYE on Staff, DOA Yearly dues, DOA Accreditation and DOA Re-Accreditation,” she said.

She appealed to the minister to use his good office to halt the imposed taxes on school fees and harmonize the taxes and levies, as well as waiver all outstanding charges payable by private schools.

Alex Onyia, founder and chief executive of Educare, an education tech startup, said the minister must be stopped immediately from going ahead with the tax.

“Nyesom Wike is mandating all schools in Abuja to pay 5% of every child’s school fees annually to the government. This is bad and he has to be stopped immediately. We are working hard to fix education in the country, and he wants to destroy it further,” he said.

“The schools are barely surviving and many have closed down already. We need to fix the countries education and not to destroy it further with this unfair enforcement.”