– The ASUU president, Prof Biodun Ogunyemi has said that the federal government and state governors have turned universities into their constituency projects
– He said that the federal government has not paid intervention fund to the universities after its initial payment in 2013
– He also noted that government’s proposed moving of education from the concurrent list to the exclusive legislative list is political
The National President, Academic Staff Union of Universities, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi has alleged that the federal government and state governors have turned universities into their constituency projects.
President Muhammadu Buhari signing a document
The Punch reports that Ogunyemi said that after the former Military ruler, General Yakubu Gowon, no Nigerian government has come out to say there was enough money they could spend, adding that the registered language of Nigerian politicians has been lack of fund.
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He said: “After General Yakubu Gowon, which government in Nigeria has ever told you that ‘we have more money than we can spend, and so, come and take?’ The registered language of Nigerian politicians is that there is no money. It is about asking and getting.
“If you don’t ask, you will not get. If you don’t hold them accountable, everything will remain a promise. The principle is that nobody will give you your right unless you ask for it. Nobody will give your dues to you unless you show them that you are aware and you are conscious. Education is a right in Nigeria, but they are treating it as if it’s a privilege.”
Prof Ogunyemi also said that the 2013 Memorandum of Understanding states that: “government should intervene in public universities within a time frame of six years and that government should release N200bn in the first year; 2013. Then, from 2014 to 2018, government should be releasing N220bn annually. We had requested that the intervention should not stop in 2013, but they have not paid after the first one.”
“What we are trying to guide government to achieve is to put our universities at a vantage point where they can compete with others in the world. If government had been faithful, things would have been better.
“But, we held a meeting at the level of the implementation monitoring committee for the NEEDS assessment fund, and the Ministry of Education, under the Minister (Adamu Adamu) has promised to demand for the payment of that of 2014. I would see that as part of the dividends of our warning strike action.
“We believe that if we had not gone on that warning strike, maybe members of the public would have even forgotten about the MoU. I believe when we go back to the negotiation table, all
He, however, frowned at government’s proposed moving of education from the concurrent list to the exclusive legislative list, saying that it is political.
He stated: “It’s highly political. If you analyse it critically, you would find that many state governors are compounding the situation of education in this country. On one hand, state governments would hold tenaciously to the constitutional provision of concurrent provision on education.
“On the other hand, they would go to the Federal Government for assistance when they run into problem. Up to the primary school now, Federal Government is intervening; the UBEC law which covers primary and junior secondary school, not to talk of university. Education Trust Fund is what most of them draw from. I suspect why Federal Government is toying with that idea is because it is virtually present in education financing across all levels.
“So they are thinking they should just take it as their responsibility. But I can assure you that it’s not going to come easy, especially when people are already saying Federal Government should release some of the things it is holding on to. But at the same time, we also have to send words to our state governors; they should stop politicising education.
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“There are many states proliferating universities now. A state governor that cannot fund one university is establishing three. What happens is that the state government would find it difficult to fund the university. I’ll give you the example of Ondo State.
“It used to have one but now it has three. In the three universities, they are owing their staff salary arrears. Governors have turned university education into constituency project. It’s like a project you bring back to your constituency when you have gone to serve. Same thing with the establishment of federal universities now; because somebody wanted a federal university in his town, he established several others. So, it is political.”
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