The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has called on the Federal Government to address the issue of funding and autonomy in universities.
ASUU’s Owerri Zonal Coordinator, Prof Ike Odimegwu, lamented that the government had withdrawn from the agreement signed with the union in 2009, which included the funding of universities, universities’ autonomy, conditions of service, among others.
In response, the President of ASUU, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, has stated that the Federal Government cannot stop funding universities in Nigeria as it was constitutional.
Osodeke retaited that it was constitutional for the FG to fund universities in reaction to a statement credited to Minister of Education Prof Tahir Mamman, that the FG will grant full autonomy to universities to explore new ways of funding its activities.
ASUU boss said via Channels Television’s breakfast show, Sunrise Daily on Thursday:
“There is no way the Federal Government of Nigeria would say they would not fund public universities because it is there in the law. It is there in the Constitution, look at section 18 of the Constitution, it says ‘university, primary and secondary are free.
“The only problem is that it is not judicable, that’s the only problem so I said I don’t think this government from what we have seen is going to say we are going to hands off from university. But the autonomy is here, ignited in year 2003 if we follow that law and allow it to run without interference from the bureaucrats, the university system would be fine.”
