ASUU: N95 Billion is not Enough to Fund Education
The N95 billion disbursed by the Federal Government for educational purposes, has been seen as insufficient to solve all the problems currently facing tertiary institutions.
Speaking to Vanguard Learning, the secretary of ASUU at the Lagos State University (LASU), Dr. Jimoh Abayomi stated that the N95 billion will be inadequate to solve the problems currently facing the tertiary institutions.
When asked if the money disbursed by the Federal Government will be enough to solve the problems facing tertiary institutions, Dr. Jimoh Abayomi stated; “That is an obvious no, unless there will be provision of regular funding by the Federal Government.” He believes that there will be a boost in the education sector but only if the government provides regular funding.
He also stated that the money should not be given to the vice-chancellors. His words; “The money should be given to the Budget Monitoring Fund(BMF) as they can easily help to plan and execute projects of given institutions.” Funds have been highly mismanaged, not only in the education sector, but other sectors of the nation. The education sector should be regarded as highly important if any country desires to move forward.
Much has been said about the state of education in our country, but not until recently, when the Federal Government earmarked an estimated N95 billion for intervention in Nigerian universities, polytechnics and colleges of education through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund. Each beneficiary university is expected to receive about N598 million, each polytechnic N339.5 million and college of education N321 million.
According to the Minister of Education, Professor Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufa’i; “over the last couple of decades, the right priorities in education were not addressed, our institutions continue to grapple with enormous expenditure outside their core mandates.” She further said that “to restore the vibrancy of our institutions and achieve the the desired outcomes, we must get our priorities right and manage our institutions transparently.”
