The Executive Chairman for Radford University College, Nana Dwomoh Sarpong, has said the decision by government to grant tax reliefs to private universities is commendable but long overdue.

In an interview with Kwame Tutu on Rainbow Radio 87.5Fm he said, he was one of those who stood against the hefty taxes imposed on private universities. According to him, they stood against the taxing of private universities however, no one paid attention to them but if someone believes it was about time to grant us tax reliefs, we thank them for that.

He lamented that although government universities benefit from a number of incentives, private universities suffered due to the hefty taxes imposed on them.

The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta on Wednesday announced that, privately-owned universities will be granted the reliefs, enabling them to thrive and admit more students. He made the announcement during the budget presentation.

Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta, revealed that the private institutions will no longer be required to pay corporate income tax. This Mr. Sarpong described as laudable but stressed that, they lost their competitiveness due to the expensive fees paid by students.

Students’ intake by private universities he also indicated reduced annually due to the fees involved and has therefore commended government for the tax reliefs. He called on government to engage stakeholders when drafting policies.

He emphasized the need for politicians to desist from politicizing our educational sector and rather concentrate on policies that will help the nation develop holistically through the delivery of quality education.