…kicks against inclusion of private varsities as beneficiaries
From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has threatened to continue industrial actions, though periodically, and won’t relent until the right things are done in the public tertiary institutions.
ASUU President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, stated this in Abuja, on Wednesday, during a two-day interactive session between the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) and all unions of beneficiary institutions.
He asked TETFund to strengthen its system to ensure more interventions are provided to the benefitting institutions, and also apply sanctions on non-performing institutions and abolish what he referred to as “stakeholders fund”.
He warned TETFund against succumbing to the growing pressure by some people pushing for inclusion of private universities as beneficiaries of its interventions, stressing that succumbing to such pressure could result in uncontrollable proliferation of private universities in Nigeria that will be devoid of quality and standard.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Sonny Echono, disclosed that the interactive session was conceived as a proactive engagement against the backdrop of the prevailing challenges in the subsector.
Echono noted that the engagement was also for the purpose of sustaining steady growth and development of tertiary education, while stressing the need to consistently engage and challenge one another on how best to improve the situation.
“It is our fervent hope that this interactive session will provide an enabling environment for us to understand some of our challenges and difficulties in the delivery of quality education in our institutions and thereby make meaningful contribution to the successful execution of the objective of the Fund.
“As you all know our primary mandate is to rehabilitate, restore and consolidate tertiary education in Nigeria, using funding alongside project management. The session is also expected to serve as a platform to discuss and mitigate incidences of industrial disputes in the tertiary education sector and look at ways to prevent and avoid their occurrences,” he said.
He further stated that the interactive session will afford the opportunity to build and solidify cooperation and collaboration between the Fund, its beneficiary institutions and the Unions on matters that affect the growth and development of tertiary education in Nigeria.
“As stakeholders and partners, we intend to share with you all that we have done and continue to do,” he added.
On his part, the former President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Ayuba Wabba, who spoke on ‘The Role of Trade Unions in TETFund Intervention Activities’, commended the fund for its strident commitment to the elevation of university education and experience for both lecturers, non academic workers and the student population in various campuses all over the country.
Wabba noted that the NLC has benefitted a great deal from the ideological clarity and consistency of the unions in the tertiary institutions.
“The patriotic and historical resistance of the Congress against the debilitating influence and impact of neo liberal policies of successive government in Nigeria drew a lot of inspiration and verve from the intellectually sound position was advanced by unions in our tertiary institutions,” he said.
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