On Wednesday, the Academic Staff Union of Universities declared that it would keep taking industrial actions until the government complied with its demands.
The union is therefore opposed to any plan by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund to designate private universities as beneficiary institutions of its projects.
During a two-day interactive session between TETFund and all unions of beneficiary institutions, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, President of ASUU, explained the union’s position.
Osodeke argued that such a move would result in the growth of low-quality private universities.
Though he praised TETFund for its execution, he urged the organization to improve the way it tracks the progress of its national projects, pointing out that even though some beneficiary institutions received the same funding, their performance levels did not always match.
The “stakeholders fund,” as he referred to it, should be abolished, and he also urged TETFund to impose sanctions on institutions that are not performing well.
He stated, “Until the right thing is done in our tertiary institutions, ASUU will continue to go on strike. Stakeholders fund needs to be eliminated.
Sonny Echono, executive secretary of TETFund, mentioned earlier in his welcome speech said that the interactive session was intended as a proactive engagement against the background of the ongoing challenges in the sub-sector.
Echono emphasized the need for ongoing engagement and peer challenge on how to best improve the situation while noting that the engagement was also for the purpose of sustaining steady growth and development of tertiary education.
“It is our fervent hope that this interactive session will provide an enabling environment for us to understand some of our challenges and difficulties in the delivery of quality education in our institutions and thereby make meaningful contribution to the successful execution of the objective of the Fund.
“As you all know our primary mandate is to rehabilitate, restore and consolidate Tertiary Education in Nigeria, using funding alongside project management.
“The session is also expected to serve as a platform to discuss and mitigate incidences of industrial disputes in the tertiary education sector and look at ways to prevent and avoid their occurrences,” he said.
He added that the discussions would give the fund, its beneficiary institutions, and the unions the chance to strengthen their cooperation and coordination on issues pertaining to the expansion and development of tertiary education in Nigeria.
“As stakeholders and partners, we intend to share with you all that we have done and continue to do,” he added.
On his part, the former President of Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, who spoke on ‘The Role of Trade Unions in TETFund Intervention Activities’, commended the fund for its strident commitment to the elevation of university education and experience for both lecturers, non-academic workers and the student population in various campuses all over the country.
Wabba noted that the NLC has benefitted a great deal from the ideological clarity and consistency of the unions in the tertiary institutions.
“The patriotic and historical resistance of the Congress against the debilitating influence and impact of neo-liberal policies of successive government in Nigeria drew a lot of inspiration and verve from the intellectually sound positions advanced by unions in our tertiary institutions,” he said.
