Follow Us on Google
From Okey Sampson, Umuahia
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has expressed displeasure over Federal Government funding of the nation’s universities and the education sector in general, saying it fell far below the African Union (AU) and United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) benchmarks on education funding for underdeveloped countries like Nigeria.
The President of ASUU, Emmanuel Osodeke who stated this in Umuahia while briefing the press on the outcome of the Union’s NEC meeting, regretted that while the two bodies put benchmarks of 15 – 20 percent of a country’s annual budget on education, Nigeria give paltry 5 – 6 percent of her budget allocation to education.
“The consequences are there for all to see, our universities can no longer provide basic services such as uninterrupted power supply and piped water.
Other News
“The little support from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) is also being frittered away by some university administrators for lack of accountability.”
Osodeke said the poor funding of universities and some other unresolved issues would form the bedrock of industrial action to be embark upon by ASUU if after 21 days Government fail to resolve the issues.
The other unresolved issues the federal government have with ASUU include, renegotiation of the FGN/ASUU 2009Agreement, the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), proliferation of universities, management crisis and victimization in universities and the issue of Arrears of earned academic allowances and non-release of owed salaries.
Osodeke, while condemning the refusal of Federal and State Governments to decisively address all outstanding issues with ASUU, said after a 21-day ultimatum, if nothing was done, ASUU would forced to take a decisive action.
