ASUU says Nigerian govt funding of education far below AU, UN stipulations

ASUU

ASUU says Nigerian govt funding of education far below AU, UN stipulations

Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has expressed displeasure over the Federal Government’s funding of the nation’s universities and the education sector in general,

ASUU said the funding fell far below the African Union (AU) and United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) benchmarks on education for underdeveloped countries like Nigeria.

President of ASUU, Emmanuel Osodeke, who stated this in Umuahia, while briefing the newsmen on the outcome of the union’s NEC meeting, regretted that while the two bodies put benchmarks of 15 to 20 per cent of a country’s annual budget on education, Nigeria give paltry five to six per cent of its 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.
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“The little support from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund is also being frittered away by some university administrators for lack of accountability,” Osodeke said.

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 2009 agreement, the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System, proliferation of universities, management crisis and victimisation in universities and the issue of arrears of earned academic allowances and non-release of owed salaries.

Osodeke, while condemning the refusal of the 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.