ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- The President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, has declared that the union would persist in its industrial actions until the government addresses its demands.
ASUU has also voiced its strong opposition to any plans by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) to involve private universities in the country as beneficiaries of its projects.
Prof Osodeke expressed the union’s stance during a two-day interactive session between TETFund and all beneficiary institution unions.
He emphasized that such an initiative would contribute to the proliferation of private universities that lack quality standards.
While acknowledging TETFund’s commendable efforts in project delivery, he urged the fund to enhance its project monitoring methods across the nation.
He emphasized that the performance levels of beneficiary institutions do not align despite receiving the same funding amounts.
Furthermore, Prof Osodeke urged TETFund to impose sanctions on underperforming institutions and advocated for the elimination of what he referred to as the “stakeholders fund.”
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According to him, “ASUU will continue to embark on strike until the right thing is done in our tertiary institutions. Stakeholders fund should be abolished”.
Speaking earlier, the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Sonny Echono, in his welcome address, disclosed that the interactive session was conceived as a proactive engagement against the backdrop of the prevailing challenges in the sub-sector.
Echono noted that 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 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,” he said.
He further stated that the interactive session will afford the opportunity to build and solidify cooperation and collaboration between the fund, its beneficiary institutions and the unions on matters that affect the growth and development of tertiary education in Nigeria.
“As stakeholders and partners, we intend to share with you all that we have done and continue to do,” he added.