… as schools resume on Monday
As schools resume on Monday, private school owners are grappling with mounting financial pressures caused by multiple taxation and shrinking household incomes, challenges that are increasingly threatening the sustainability of their operations.
School business owners who spoke with BusinessDay have expressed concerns over multiple taxation, and income strain in the face of resumption for the second term.
Elizabeth Ohaka, a school owner in Lagos explained that the most worrisome aspect of their tax predicament is that there is no clear blueprint on what a school owner is to pay.
“It’s not even clear what we are supposed to pay, and how we are going to pay.
“There are different news going up and down, because the government taxes are several. The one the school pays as a business entity, and the ones we’re paying on behalf of our staff,” she said.
Ohaka reiterated that different agents such as the quality assurance, and health ministry, among others keep coming for different levies and taxes.
“They will come and ask us to pay for fire extinguishers, the health people will come, different agencies will come for different things.
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“I don’t know, it’s like double taxation. If they want us to pay a single taxation, we’ll know you’re paying for one. There’re taxes all over the place,” she noted.
Similarly, Christopher Nmeribe decried the multiple taxation and levies drive ongoing in many states as discouraging.
Besides, he said multiple levies, and inconsistent enforcement of regulations have continued to strain school finances and create uncertainty.
He emphasised that WAEC’s insistence on schools providing at least 250 functional laptops with 10 percent backups, a robust server capable of supporting 250 systems simultaneously, LAN connectivity, CCTV cameras, adequate lighting and air conditioning, uninterrupted power supply with UPS, and a backup generator of at least 40kVA; without considering the financial strength of some of the private schools is unhealthy.
“As schools resume in January 2026, Nigerian school owners face a convergence of rising operational costs, policy uncertainty, and worst of all, closure,” he said.
Read also: Beyond the tax brackets: Where Nigeria’s real fiscal burden actually lies
New tax policy
The new tax policy increases the fixed and recurring costs for schools. BusinessDay finding shows that licensing, inspection, registration fees and personal income taxes have increased.
The recent tax reforms, which became effective from January 1, introduced significant changes affecting education by replacing the previous Tertiary Education Tax (TET) with a new Development Levy and providing Value Added Tax (VAT) exemptions on educational essentials.
Rising operational cost
Mercy Nnokam, a school owner in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, said the business is becoming more challenging amid the surging economic hardship.
Nnokam emphasised that poor response to school fees demand from parents, high government bills, outrageous rent increment, overhead expenses coupled with withdrawal of students to either public schools or other private schools they consider more affordable.
“Inflow of income is a big challenge and this has also affected teachers’ salaries,” she said.
Insistent landlords’ rents increase
Many Nigerian businesses and workers faced house rent earthquakes ravaging citizens already grappling with inflation, and stagnant wages.
School owners in rented property face continuous rent increase by landlords, which they say clogs the business. A school proprietor in Lagos said he paid N2.6 million per year for two wings of three-bedroom flats.
Teachers’ ordeals with school owners
In the face of the unpredictable economic crisis, many proprietors run their school business without consideration for teachers, paying them meagre salaries.
Kayode Afolayan, a teacher believes the school owners should pay teachers based on the population they have.
“Some school owners are doing great in terms of their teachers’ payment but they’re still short of paying them.
“While some capitalise on the fact that the government is not monitoring them, to belittle teachers, by saying, ‘soldiers go, soldiers come, barracks remains’, and they hire another teacher for the same subject,” he said.
Wale Olatunji laments poor remuneration which he said from school owners worsens the situation.
“A lot of teachers, especially in private schools, are underpaid and experience financial constraints. My basic salary when I was employed was N35,000 without allowance.
“I was spending N1,500 per week on transport, N5,000 on meals, and N96,000 on rent per year, leaving me with nothing at the end of the day,” he said.
