Key highlights
- ASUU says 41% of the N320.3 billion released by the Federal Government to TEFund, is unaccounted for.
- The union has asked for the redistribution of the funds to ensure that it accounts for 90% of what has been approved for the universities, polytechnics and is not kept for bureaucracy.
- Aside from pointing out some issues that need to be sorted out, ASUU praised the government for the release of the funds which it said is a good development.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has asked the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) to explain to Nigerians where N132 billion out of the N320.3 billion just released by the Federal Government for tertiary institutions in the country is going.
ASUU said that the N132 billion, which is 41% of the total amount of money released to TETFund by the Federal Government is yet to be accounted for with the union questioning the distribution of these funds.
This was made known by the President of ASUU, Emmanuel Osodeke, during an interview on Channels Television, where he commended the government for the release of the fund as well as asked for its redistribution to ensure 90% goes to tertiary institutions.
41% of the released amount is unaccounted for
- Osodeke during the interview said, “It (N320bn fund) is a good development, this is part of what we struggle for in 1994, it is our struggle, but there are issues we need to sort out.
- “When you check the allocation of about N1.2 billion to universities and others, you find out that the total for all the universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education come to just about N186 billion allocated out of about N320, leaving a balance of N132 billion that has not been accounted for. What are we using that N132 billion which is 41% of the total amount of money? Is it for bureaucracy or for what?
- “This is what has been happening in TETFund and I think there is a need to examine what exactly is happening at TETFund. The idea of this TETFund when it was negotiated by ASUU was that this money will come and be distributed to the universities, not keeping 41% for whatever purpose.
- “I think we need a redistribution of this fund to ensure that it accounts for 90% of what has been approved to go to universities, polytechnic and not kept as bureaucracy or whatever. You need to tell the public what TETFund is doing with the balance of N132 billion.’’
The ASUU President also lamented that since the university lecturers union called off its strike that lasted for about 9 months, the government has never called them for any meeting, saying that most of the issues that caused the strike are still not sorted out.
In case you missed it
- Recall that on Wednesday, April 5, 2023, the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Sonny Echono, revealed that President Muhammadu Buhari has approved N320.3 billion as the 2023 Intervention Funds for public tertiary education institutions in the country.
- Echono, who disclosed this during the TETFund’s annual strategic planning workshop with all heads of beneficiary institutions, said the meeting was an avenue to receive feedback and evaluate the performance of its intervention lines to enhance a more robust delivery of the agency’s mandate.
- He said the 2023 intervention cycle will see each university receiving N1,154,732,133.00; Polytechnic – N699,344,867.00, while each College of Education would get N800,862,602.
