ASUU Demands Evidence Of FG’s ‘Approved’ Revitalisation Fund For Varsities

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Striking university lecturers have challenged the Federal Government to publicly declare the funds it had approved for the revitalisation of the nation’s universities.

The lecturers, who have been on strike for almost seven months, also asked the government to show proof of its acceptance of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) as a platform for payment of their salaries.

They also wondered why a government that is about to receive unexpected money, an allusion to the $23million looted fund to be returned by the United States (U.S) to Nigeria, would be trumpeting that it had no money.

“Let the government tell the public where the fund alleged to have been approved for revitalisation is lodged, how much it is and when will it be released,” said the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) President Emmanuel Osodeke.

“Two, has UTTAS, which came top after testing, been accepted as the means of paying salaries? Three, has the government accepted the agreement we reached with their panels? Let the government come clean on these rather than going to the press or the public,” Osodeke said while featuring on Politics Today, a Channels Television programme.

Inferring to the agreement between the Nigeria and U.S. on the return of $23 million looted by a former Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha before his death in 1998, Osodeke said: “Let’s say you have a house and your child is seriously sick and you are paid money that you are not expecting, will you think of where to put the money?

“ That child should be the first thing you will treat, is it not? Before you start thinking about how to buy clothes.

“Your universities are shut for over six months, and the funds you were not expecting came. Where should you put the money if not education?

“But you have seen the attitude of our government. You have seen it yourself. And you’re saying we don’t have money. What are you saying? We need to love this country.”

The ASUU boss, who took a swipe at the government’s posture toward education, however, restated the union’s willingness to call off the strike once the government comes clean on its members’ demands.

The union on Monday declared an indefinite strike, accusing the government of insincerity in tackling the challenges facing the nation’s public universities. (IReporter)
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