The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) have rejected the plan by the federal government for a new funding plan for public universities.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that the President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, said that the Federal Government cannot stop funding public universities.
Osodeke made the statement on Thursday during an interview on Channels Television’s breakfast show, Sunrise Daily.
He was responding to a report that the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, had said that the government would initiate new ways of funding tertiary education by granting full autonomy to universities to explore new sources of financing their activities.
Osodeke said that the Constitution of Nigeria clearly states that the Federal Government must fund public universities.
While Osodeke acknowledged that the government may be looking for new ways to fund universities, he said that it cannot completely withdraw funding. He argued that if the government allows universities to operate autonomously, following the provisions of the law, they will be able to generate enough funds to run their activities.
Osodeke also said that Nigeria should commit more resources to education, like countries in Europe are doing. He said that if Nigeria does this, universities will have enough funds to provide quality education to students.
“The only problem is that it is not judicable, that’s the only problem so I said I don’t think this government from what we have seen is going to say we are going to hands off from university. But the autonomy is here, ignited in year 2003 if we follow that law and allow it to run without interference from the bureaucrats, the university system would be fine,” he said.
