ASUU president: Governors creating new varsities to get TETFund grants

Emmanuel Osodeke, president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), says governors are establishing state universities they cannot fund.

Speaking during ‘The Morning Brief’, a Channels Television programme on Thursday, Osodeke said most governors duplicate universities in their states to get a “piece of the pie” from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).

“Any governor today establishing a university is eyeing TETFund as a source of funding,” the ASUU president said.

“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.”

“It is an intervention fund, but there are people who want to have access to that money from the political circle, from the bureaucratic circle, at all costs. We are struggling with that.”

The ASUU president said a structure should be created to carry stakeholders along on how the fund is allocated and spent to enhance transparency.

“There should be a stakeholders’ meeting to assess what you want to do with the funds,” he added.

“You see today where somebody comes from the TETFund and says, ‘I have a project for you, and I am going to be the contractor. We want an open project.

“Every university council should be allowed to run their projects with the stakeholders involved.”