The president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities ,ASUU, Mr. Emmanuel Osodeke has stated that governors are establishing state universities they cannot fund, adding that most Governors establishing universities were only doing so in other to access TETFund grants.
He however did not clarify if the universities were diverting the funds afterward.
Speaking during a Channels Television Programme ‘The Morning Brief’, on Thursday, Osodeke said most governors duplicate universities in their states to get a “piece of the pie” from TETFund, an expression that is interchangeable with grants.
“Any governor today establishing a university is eyeing TETFund as a source of funding,” the ASUU president said.
“TETFund was created as an intervention fund, not the major funding. The universities belong to the federal government, and the government is supposed to fund them, while states are supposed to fund their own.”
“It is an intervention fund, but there are people who want to have access to that money from the political circle, from the bureaucratic circle, at all costs. We are struggling with that.”
The ASUU president canvassed for stakeholders inclusiveness in other to enhance transparency in the utilisation of the fund
“There should be a stakeholders’ meeting to assess what you want to do with the funds,” he added.
“You see today where somebody comes from the TETFund and says, ‘I have a project for you, and I am going to be the contractor. We want an open project.
“Every university council should be allowed to run their projects with the stakeholders involved.”
