The Academic Staff Union of Universities, Federal University of Technology, Minna chapter, has blamed poor accountability by university administrators as one of the factors impeding the development of public universities.
It also said if the Tertiary Education Trust Fund monitored how its intervention funds to universities were spent, the institutions would be in a better place than they are currently.
The FUT Minna ASUU Chairman, Prof Gbolahan Bolarin, told our correspondent in an interview that the failure of the Federal Government to release the White Paper on the visitation panels to federal universities and inter-university centres in the country was also an enabler of the rot in the system.
The government had set up visitation panels to audit federal universities and inter-university centres. One of the reasons ASUU embarked on strike in 2022 was the failure of the government to release the White Paper on the visitation.
Bolarin stated, “If the university handlers are applying funds properly and TETFund is monitoring them as expected, our universities will be better than what we have now. To me, it is not enough to increase education tax; monitoring how the monies released to universities are being spent is the most important thing.
“Recall that part of why ASUU embarked on strike in 2020 was the sending of visitation panels to federal universities. Up till now, the Federal Government is yet to release the White Paper as required by law. So, if the education tax is increased, how are we sure accountability will be guaranteed? This is not to say that there is no need for the Federal Government to increase interventions in our public universities because it is critical to the survival of our public universities.”
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