*Academicians Still Presiding Over Elections Doing So As Individuals, Not As ASUU Members
THE Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has expressed worry over huge administrative cost incurred by many public universities.
ASUU President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, said this while speaking with journalists at a two-day programme organised by the union on the state of nation conference on Thursday, October 3, in Abuja, with the theme, ‘Nigeria in a State of general crisis: the search for a new path to development.’
Osodeke said that most of the internally generated funds from universities were nothing to write home about when compared to the daily or monthly running costs for electricity and security, among others, adding: “We are so challenged, but let me give you a quick example.
“University of Lagos, University of Ibadan, Ahmadu Bello University and University Nigeria, Nsukka, 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 N200million 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 N300million.
“What government gives you to run the system is N15million and you get a bill for electricity alone of N300million.”
According to him, the IGR is not enough to buy books in the library or to run the library, stressing: “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 cannot afford the so- called Band A and Band B.”
Osodeke also described the economic situation of some academics in the country had become worrisome, even as he said that farming had become even more lucrative for academicians, especially as some professors earned lower than N300,000 per month and still publish journals.
He also criticised the proliferation of universities in the country, saying they are merely running on skeletal manpower, as most of the academic staff were out of the country searching for greener pastures.
He said the situation within the university system was very disturbing, noting how rigging was perpetrated by the political class, which warranted ASUU members to stay away from electoral processes after the 2015 general elections.
Osodeke added that academicians still presiding over elections were doing so in their individual capacities, not as ASUU members.
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, called on ASUU to shelve its planned strike, saying there must be other alternative means of resolving industrial disputes in the university system other than the regular resort to strike.
“We must equally strive to maintain industrial harmony and stability through alternative dispute resolution,” he added.
