The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has disclosed that most of the public tertiary institutions in the country are being run illegally because they have no governing council.
Osodeke stated this in Abuja on Tuesday, while giving a goodwill message during a sensitisation workshop for Heads of Beneficiary Institutions on Career Service Centres, Teaching Practice, Beneficiary Identity Management Service (BIMS) and Hostel Development, organised by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).
Recall that shortly after assuming office in June 2023, President Bola Tinubu dissolved the governing councils of all Federal Universities, leaving the running of the institutions to vice chancellors.
Osodeke therefore wondered how Vice Chancellors will be allowed to run the universities freely without governing councils for almost a year, adding that it was a major setback toward the growth and development of university education in Nigeria.
The ASUU president accused heads of universities of not involving other stakeholders in the utilisation of the allocation by TETFund.
He lamented that some universities are yet to utilise their allocation, urging TETFund to consider sanctions for such institutions.
He also emphasised the need for a proper assessment on how the funds are being utilised in order to avoid it being misused.
“When you are allocating money to these universities, we agreed that there will be stakeholders meeting on how the money will be utilised. We had our NEC meeting a few days ago, less than 10 percent of the universities called the stakeholders’ meeting. I am sure they have sent their request to you.
“Any university that does not take the stakeholders along, should not be allowed to access the fund. The fund belongs to Nigerian people. Check the history, there are some universities that have not utilised their allocation from 2017-2021.
“We need to put a disciplinary process in motion. Any university that misused that money should be sanctioned.”
He further stated that ASUU is against the Public Private arrangement because the allocation might end up inside a private individual’s pocket.
