Emmanuel Osodeke, president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), has raised concerns about governors establishing state universities without sufficient funding.
During an appearance on Channels Television’s ‘The Morning Brief’ on Thursday, Osodeke accused many governors of duplicating universities in their states to access funds from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).
“Any governor today establishing a university is eyeing TETFund as a source of funding,” said the ASUU president. “TETFund was created as an intervention fund, not the major funding. The universities belong to the federal government, and the government is supposed to fund them, while states are supposed to fund their own.”
Osodeke criticized the misuse of TETFund, stating, “It is an intervention fund, but there are people who want to have access to that money from the political circle, from the bureaucratic circle, at all costs. We are struggling with that.”
He called for the establishment of a structure to ensure stakeholders are involved in the allocation and expenditure of the fund to enhance transparency.
“There should be a stakeholders’ meeting to assess what you want to do with the funds,” he added.
Osodeke also highlighted issues with project management, saying, “You see today where somebody comes from the TETFund and says, ‘I have a project for you, and I am going to be the contractor.’ We want an open project. Every university council should be allowed to run their projects with the stakeholders involved.”
