The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has said Nigeria’s aim to become one of the top 20 economies in the world by 2020 will remain an illusion if the nation’s tertiary education is not overhauled.
In a statement on Monday signed by its National President, Dr. Nasir Isa, ASUU noted that,“unless something drastic and fundamental is done about the universities where those who drive the other levels of education are produced” the Vision 202020 is far-fetched .
Reacting to the recent release of funds by TETFUND to some universities, the academic body of lectures noted “the intervention of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) were beginning to make a difference on university campuses” but added that “TETFUND, as an intervention agency, was not conceived of, and should not be a replacement for government shelving its responsibility on adequate funding of its universities.”
The statement further allege that, “for five months, following the resolution of the dispute between ASUU and the Government on the need to address the rot in Nigerian universities as a matter of urgency, reliable scientific data have been obtained from the universities.”
“Accordingly, ASUU expects the Federal Government to release urgently the agreed N100billion special intervention for sole purpose of addressing some of the prioritized needs immediately the Needs Assessment Report is released.”
ASUU also called on the federal government not to renege on the release of additional N400billion subsequently for the next two years as agreed with the body.
Meanwhile, the union has alleged that state governors posed the biggest problem to state universities in Nigeria today.
ASUU claimed that most governors have turned universities into “appendages of their offices and extension of personal estates.”
It claimed the governors manipulate the system, disregard university laws and show outright discontent for what universities stand for.
