THE
Federal Government, on Monday, disbursed the N200 billion intervention
funds to all the country’s public universities in line with the
agreement recently reached with the Academic Staff Union of Universities
(ASUU). Supervising Minister of Education, Mr Nyesom Wike, presented the letters of allocation of the N200 billion to the vice chancellors at a meeting in Abuja.
This is even as the Federal Government accused some state governors of playing politics with education and jeopardising the future of the Nigerian child, expressing worry that some state governments abandoned N51 billion that could have been used for the development of basic education through the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC).
Wike, while presenting letters of allocation to vice chancellors, expressed the government’s commitment to improving university education and urged the beneficiaries to take advantage of the opportunity to take the institutions to the desired level.
It will be recalled that the Federal Government, in a bid to end the protracted strike by ASUU in 2013, approved the release of N200 billion and total injection of N1.3 trillion in the next six years.
The minister urged the universities to ensure that the funds were used mainly for improving infrastructure in the institutions, expressing the hope that the money would be fully utilised within the year.
He also disclosed the government’s plans to give a public account of what tertiary institutions were doing from next month.
He explained that all the tertiary institutions would give an account of funds allocated to them to let the public know what the government was doing to improve the education sector.
Wike said it was imperative that the public know how much the government was investing in the country’s tertiary education and correct the impression that it was neglecting the sector.
He said the exercise would be conducted in the six geopolitical zones of the country, beginning from March 4, 2014 and that the exercise would start from the North Central zone at the Federal College of Agriculture, Makurdi.
The minister said the South East zone would converge on the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, on March 11, 2014, while University of Port-Harcourt would host the South South stakeholders on March 10, 2014.
He further stated that Ahmadu Bello University would be the host for the North West zone and South West zone would converge on University of Ibadan on days yet to be announced.
The minister, however, urged the institutions not to see the exercise as an audit of their financial expenditures, but a public sensitisation of what they were doing in revitalising the tertiary education sector.
He said the events would be transmitted live on the media for the public to have an opportunity to know what investments the government is making in the sector and what the schools have put on ground.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government has accused some state governments of playing politics with education in their states.
Wike, who stated this in Abuja at the public presentation of 2013 Federal Ministry of Education scorecard, wondered why governors who made education their number one priority could abandon intervention fund to the tune of N51 billion with UBEC.
He said: “It is unfortunate that education has become a political tool in the hands of most state governments. How can a state government claim to have prioritised education whereby his state has millions of un-accessed funds with UBEC? This is unacceptable as the future of Nigerian children cannot be sacrificed at the altar of politics.”
Wike disclosed that apart from N51 billion matching grant yet to be accessed by some states, a total of N31 billion is also lying fallow with the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).
The minister, who stressed that funding had never been the problem of education in Nigeria, said the capacity to access and utilise the funds appropriately had been the problem.
He noted that the un-accessed fund from both UBEC and TETFund was over N80 billion, adding this should have made a difference in the sector.
He said his ministry had directed UBEC to equip all the laboratories in every Unity School in the next three months, while phased rehabilitation was being carried out in the 104 colleges.
The minister said 89 completed Almajiri schools had been handed over to the state governments and had equally increased the number of Nomadic schools from 500 to 3,060.
The minister said: “Although there are still a lot of challenges, access to basic education is improving progressively throughout the country. The policy direction and financial support from the Federal Government is making a real difference in the sector.
“It is hoped that if the pace is sustained, there is no doubt about the fact that every Nigerian child will, sooner than later, have the realistic opportunity to be educated in modern, functional and successful basic education schools.”
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