Kayode ShopekanACADEMIC Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has made an appeal to National Assembly to amend National Universities Commission (NUC) Act in order to address under-funding of several state universities and high tuition fees of state universities.
ASUU Coordinator, Kano Zone, Prof. Abdulkadir Muhammad made the disclosure at a press conference held at Bayero University Kano.
He said “our state owned universities may soon collapse due to bad governance and under-funding.
Apart from poor funding for state universities, most state governors have also failed in their primary responsibility of regular payment of staff salaries in their universities.
Muhammad hinted that it has rejected the charging of exorbitant tuition fees in the state universities because it places university education beyond the reach of common Nigerians and called on the National Assembly to as a matter of urgency, deliberate and pass the Bill.
The Union urged the Federal Government to sign and implement the draft ASUU/FGN renegotiated agreement of May 2021, in addition to the release of the first tranche of the N30 billion fund for the revitalization of public universities.
“The government should also release N25 billion Earned Academic Allowance.
“We also urge the federal government to immediately remit withheld check-off dues to the branches of the withheld and amputated salaries/ allowances and third party deductions,” he stated.
Recall that in a move to avert another round of industrial action, the Federal Government and the leadership of ASUU held an emergency meeting to resolve issues relating to the allegations raised by lecturers regarding non-implementation of their agreement with the government last December.
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