The President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, has criticized state governors for creating universities they cannot adequately fund.
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He also accused these governors of duplicating universities to exploit the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).
In an interview on Channels Television’s “The Morning Brief” program, Osodeke stated, “Any governor today establishing a university is eyeing TETFund as a source of funding.”
Osodeke emphasized that TETFund was intended as an intervention fund for public universities, not a primary source of funding.
He alleged that politicians and civil servants view TETFund as a cash cow, engaging in shady procurement processes and contract fraud to exploit the funds.
“TETFund was created as an intervention fund, not the major funding. The universities belong to the federal government, and the government is supposed to fund them, while states are supposed to fund their own,” he explained.
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“There are people who want to access that money from the political and bureaucratic circles at all costs. We are struggling with that.”
The ASUU president called for the establishment of a structure to involve stakeholders in the allocation and spending of TETFund money, ensuring transparency and accountability.
“There should be a stakeholders’ meeting to assess what you want to do with the funds,”
Osodeke said, suggesting that stakeholders should include the university community, lecturers, and student groups to prevent cases where TETFund representatives impose projects and contractors on universities.
“Every university council should be allowed to run its projects with the stakeholders’ involvement,” he concluded.
