The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has expressed concerns over the establishment of more universities without adequate funding for the existing ones.
Chairperson of the ASUU chapter at the Federal University Gashua branch in Yobe State, Dr Melemi Abatcha, stated this at a press conference in Damatiru, the state capital on Thursday.
He said that politicians have treaded universities, especially at the state level, as personal initiatives and constituency projects.
Abatcha also emphasized on ASUU’s ongoing concerns regarding insufficient funding for universities and the challenges faced by academic staff.
He noted that the federal government has not fulfilled its promises from 2023, including the allocation of N50 billion for the payment of the backlog of Earned Academic Allowances and the integration of EAA into salaries from January 2022.
Abatcha maintained that despite lecturers covering their workloads during forced strikes, salaries remain withheld, he added.
Similarly, about seven public universities in the South West and south-south zones, under ASUU’s Benin Zone, have threatened to embark on a strike due to unresolved issues with the government.
Professor Monday Igbafen, the Zonal Coordinator, outlined these issues, including stalled renegotiation of agreements, funding for university revitalisation, illegal dissolution of governing councils, withheld salaries, and non-implementation of agreements.
He said the failure of governments to resolve the union’s demands as well as a lack of sincerity on its part have worsened the living and working conditions of academic staff in the public universities across the country.
He said though the federal government hastily reconstituted controversial governing councils of federal universities after 11 months of illegal dissolution, some state governments have remained adamant to the contrary.
He said the absence of governing councils in the universities has led to unthinkable aberrations with the introduction of obnoxious policies that are antithetical to university culture.
