The move to incorporate private universities as beneficiaries in the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has received stiff resistance from the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
President of ASUU, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke on Wednesday at a two-day interactive session between TETFund and all unions of beneficiary institutions, said such a move would lead to the proliferation of private universities devoid of quality.
Prof Osodeke, urged the agency to work more on the monitoring method of its projects across the country and commended TETFund for its interventions in tertiary institutions in the country,
“TETFund should apply sanctions on non-performing institutions, while advocating for the abolition of what he referred to as “stakeholders’ fund.”
“ASUU will continue to embark on strike until the right thing is done in our tertiary institutions. Stakeholders’ funds should be abolished,” Osodeke said.
Sonny Echono, Executive Secretary of TETFund said the interactive session was conceived due to prevailing challenges in the sub-sector.
“The engagement was also for the purpose of sustaining steady growth and development of tertiary education while stressing the need to consistently engage and challenge one another on how best to improve the situation.”
“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 a 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,” Echono said.
In a remark, former president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Ayuba Wabba who spoke on ‘The Role of Trade Unions in TETFund Intervention Activities’, commended TETFund for its commitment to the elevation of both lecturers, non-academic workers and the student population in various campuses all over the country.
“The patriotic and historical resistance of the Congress against the debilitating influence and impact of neo-liberal policies of the successive government in Nigeria drew a lot of inspiration and verve from the intellectually sound positions advanced by unions in our tertiary institutions,” Wabba added.
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