The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Sunday raised the alarm of alleged inadequate funding of public universities in the country by the federal government.
ASUU raised the alarm Sunday in a statement made available to journalists in Ibadan by the coordinator of Ibadan zone of the union, Prof Oyebamiji Oyegoke.
The union stated that there is need for the federal government to adhere strictly to TET Fund establishment acts and ensure proper funding of public universities in Nigeria.
ASUU pointed out in the statement that the union has several times called out the federal government for non-performance, lackadaisical attitude, and an insensitive posture on matters pertaining to adequate funding of education.
“Instead of improving, the federal government recently decided to reduce the resources available for educational sector by diverting the funds to programmes with no direct benefits to Nigerian public universities.
“ASUU Ibadan Zone hereby enjoins the federal government to adhere strictly to TET Fund establishment acts and ensure proper funding of public universities Non-Release of Arrears of Earned Academic Allowance (EAA).
“The direct evidence of this non-performance is the inability of the Nigerian government to meet the benchmark of 26% educational budget for underdeveloped countries like Nigeria, specified by UNESCO which has been advocated by our Union.
“In the last 10 years, average budgetary allocation by successive Nigerian governments to education has hovered between 5 and 8%. For the avoidance of doubt, nowhere in the FGN/ASUU Agreement of 2009 is it stated that Earned Academic Allowances (EAA) will be paid through Internally Generated Revenues (IGRs) of individual universities. On the contrary, the agreement explicitly provides that government shall fund EAA.
ASUU said: “This explains why the FGN mandated the Implementation Monitoring Committee (IMC) of the 2009 Agreement to determine the cost implication of the allowances and to supervise the implementation of all the agreements entered into with all the university-based staff unions.”
It noted that, “The IMC came up with a total cost of N92bn, which was meant to pay the arrears of earned allowances for all the staff unions – ASUU, SSANU, NASU and NAAT – in all federal universities, for three and a half years.”
