Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has chided governments for paying lip service to the education sector, thereby leaving it in a state of decay over the years.
The Nsukka Zone of the union said this after its meeting at the Benue State University, Makurdi.
In a statement by the Zonal Coordinator, Dr. Igbana Ajir, a copy of which was made available to reporters in Makurdi, the union lamented that stagnation of staff and non-payment of salary arrears have dampened members’ morale to the extent that it hampers them from performing optimally.
The body further accused governors of proliferating tertiary institutions without corresponding funding for existing ones to run properly and efficiently, adding that most of the infrastructure in universities are courtesy of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TEDFund).
ASUU said it was ridiculous that the owners of universities establish them without plotting strategies for their survival.
The union stated that some of the institutions established as recently as 10 years ago without funding agenda are now in a total state of neglect and crying for survival. While a handful of the states fully pay salaries of staff, others merely pay percentages.
“The union noted with grave concern that since 1999, the budgetary allocations to the education sector has generally been very poor with the highest in 2015, a paltry 11.9 per cent which is far below the 26 per cent minimum prescribed by the United Nations Educational Scientific Commission.
“In the 2000, a miserable 8.36 per cent which had 1.69 per cent; in 2018, the allocation is still as low as 7.04 per cent which shows that little commitment is given to improving the decay in the education sector. It is clear that the highly publicised declaration of a “state of emergency in education sector” made in April 2018 has since been jettisoned. There is no mention of this at any point in time which makes pronouncements of the government worrisome”.
The statement also alluded to the joint ownership of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomosho owned by bothOyo and Osun states, adding that the institution is currently under the yoke of underfunding and other matters due to failure to release subventions to it. The union therefore called on parents, workers and civil society organisations to impress it on the two states to do the needful.
“The promotion of staff in LAUTECH has stagnated from 2023/2014,2014/2015,2015/2016,2016/2017 and pained by the development, all staff unions in the university had embarked on strike actions which brought academic and administrative activities to a halt for almost a year. All entreaties to make the two states yield ownership fell on deaf ears,” it said.