A non-governmental organisation under the auspices of Education Advancement Initiative (EAI) has expressed concerns over the decay in public universities, calling for increased funding of the educational sector to improve the literacy rate among citizens for a peaceful co-existence and socio-economic development of the nation.
The group also decried the non-release of the over N300 billion universities revitalisation fund captured in the 2023 and 2024 budgetary provisions by the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation and bemoaned the poor state of infrastructure in tertiary institutions, especially public universities across Nigeria.
The group’s executive director, Higher Education Monitoring, Dr. Faseluake Oladikpe, who spoke to journalists in Abuja, accused government functionaries, particularly officials of the Ministry of Finance and the accountant general’s office of a deliberate plot to sabotage public university education and promote private ones which they owned or have vested interest in.
Oladikpe, said lack of funding of public universities by successive governments portends grave danger to nation development.
He said, the refusal of the government to release the university revitalisation fund is gradually killing public universities, adding that infrastructure that could aid teaching and learning has become an eyesore in almost all the universities in Nigeria.
Oladikpe revealed that the organisation, in July assessed public universities and in all the schools visited, deteriorating infrastructure and absence of necessary equipment were common problems.
“If public university education is allowed to collapse by way of government lukewarm attitude to funding, the country will suffer dire consequences as there would be increased crime rate precipitated by joblessness and lack of skill to engage in productive ventures by the young population,” he said.
Oladikpe, a trained educational psychologist insisted on the release of the revitalisation fund and called on President Bola Tinubu to quickly save the university system by directing the AG’s office to release the N300 billion captured in the budget to universities.
“The Tinubu-led Administration’s Student Loan Scheme will amount to nothing, should the infrastructure decay in the nation’s citadel of learning remain unattended,” he said.
The EAI executive insisted on the implementation of the agreement the Federal Government entered with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Needs Assessment programme.
“ASUU is deeply angered by the failure of the federal government to honour the 2009 Needs Assessment agreement aimed at providing N220 billion annually as an intervention fund for the revitalisation of public universities in Nigeria,” he said.
He further warned against abandoning the needs assessment scheme designed to provide funds for the reinvigoration of public universities, particularly rehabilitation of decaying infrastructure as well as the provision of state-of-the-art teaching and learning equipment to the schools.
The executive director appealed to the president to cause the immediate release of funds for the continuation of critical projects in the institutions being executed under the needs assessment project.
According to him, the university community anxiously awaits the commencement of the projects.
Oladikpe advised the president whom he acknowledged has made significant statements towards revamping the education sector to release funds for the projects to ensure stable and quality academic environment.
It would be recalled that the Federal Government in 2009 reached an agreement with ASUU for the provision of N220 billion annually as intervention funds for the revitalisation of universities.
The agreement was reviewed in 2014. However, it has yet to be implemented, resulting in distortion of the academic calendar in the ivory tower.