•ASUU President, Prof Osodeke
President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, has raised an alarm, saying most Nigerian universities are on the verge of shutting down over unbearable cost of administration.
He criticised the federal government which repeatedly questioned the deployment of Internally Generated Revenue(IGR) from public universities, saying such funds is too meagre compelled to the huge cost expended on power supply, security, accommodation among other administrative costs.
Prof. Osodeke gave the disturbing remarks today, Thursday in Abuja, while fielding questions from reporters at the ASUU State of the Nation Conference with the theme: “Nigeria in a State of General Crisis: The Search for a New Path to Development”.
He said most public universities are entitled to a paltry N15 million monthly from the government as overhead, but have to contend with electricity bills to the tune of N300million and above.
Lamenting the dire situation of some academics in the country, the ASUU President said farming has become even more lucrative for academicians, especially when a professor is left at the mercy of earning less than N300,000 per month and still has to cater for his family and publish journals.
Osodeke also criticised the proliferation of Universities in the country, warning that they were merely running on skeletal manpower as most of the lecturing staff were out of the country searching for greener pastures.
He described the situation within the university system as very disturbing, stressing that most of their members are dropping dead.
His words, “We are so challenged. But let me give you a quick example, University of Lagos, University of Ibadan Amadu Bello University, and University Nigeria, Nsuka, what they get from the government account for overhead running of the university in a month is N15million. Meanwhile, the University of Lagos needs about N200 million naira to pay electricity bill. It is this IGR that you talk about that is used to pay for the electricity.
“One of the universities today is closing down because they have been given electricity bill of N300 million naira.
“What government gives you to run the system is N15 million, and you get a bill for electricity alone of 300 million naira. Where is that money coming from? You have to run the laboratories. You have to run the diesel. You have to run the fuel for vehicles.
“That is where the IGR is going into today. Not being able to run the system, to buy books in the library, to run your library, to earn those things. They are all part of their so-called IGR, and that is what they talk about it.
“But you know what? A government that will give just N15 million for UNILAG to run, will in turn, give one Senator N21 million a month. The government gives a system N15million, but an individual gets N21million. That’s where our priority is.
“For whatever reason, they have refused to fund the university systems as it was in the earlier part of our history.
“From the way we are going, if nothing is done, many universities will close up because they can not afford the so-called band A and Band B”.
ASUU also revealed how rigging is perpetrated by the polictical class, which warranted their members to stay away from electoral processes after the 2015 general elections.
According to Osodeke, academicians still presiding over elections are doing so on individual capacities, not as ASUU members.
He revealed that what the politicians do was bring figures from the polling units and give to the presiding officer to announce.
He said rigging will be eliminated if members of ASUU are involved in the entire electoral processes starting from the ward levels to local governments to national.
His words, “ASUU was asked to help conduct the election. That first election went well, though they were still issues. When the elections were over, we called for a meeting, put up a committee together to study what happened.
“By the time they finished, they came with a report that even though our colleagues are involved in the election, rigging are done at the polling booths and local government collation centres.
“What our colleagues do is just collating what they have been given. They gave you a report, and you just write it down. So we found out that rigging is done there, and given to our members to collate.
“We went to INEC and asked that we participate from the polling unit up to the final stage and they refused. We wrote to them that ASUU, as a body, will not participate in any election.
“If you recall, before any election in this country, we will come out with a statement that we are not part of the election, but our members are Nigerians. They have their freedom, and they can go and do anything”.
