The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), has kicked against any plan to include private universities in the country as beneficiaries to Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) interventions.
The President of ASUU, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke who stated this during a two-day interactive session between TETFund and all unions of beneficiary institutions on Wednesday, said that such a move will lead to proliferation of private universities devoid of quality.
While speaking on TETFund projects in many public tertiary institutions, Osodeke urged the Fund to work more on the monitoring method of its projects across the country to ensure that quality projects are established.
He also called on TETFund to apply sanctions on non-performing institutions and advocate for the abolition of what he referred to as “stakeholders fund.”
“ASUU will continue to embark on strike untill the right thing is done in our tertiary institutions. Stakeholders fund should be abolished,” he said.
Speaking on ‘The Role of Trade Unions in TETFund Intervention Activities’, former President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Ayuba Wabba, commended the Fund for its strident commitment to the elevation of tertiary education in the country.
Wabba noted that the NLC has benefitted a great deal from the ideological clarity and consistency of the unions in the tertiary institutions.
“The patriotic and historical resistance of the Congress against the debilitating influence and impact of neo liberal policies of successive government in Nigeria drew a lot of inspiration and verve from the intellectually sound position s advanced by unions in our tertiary institutions,” he said.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Sonny Echono, disclosed that the interactive session was conceived as a proactive engagement against the backdrop of the prevailing challenges in the subsector.
