The President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, has criticized state governors for establishing universities they are unable to adequately fund. He also accused many governors of creating universities merely to access funds from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).
Speaking during an interview on Channels Television’s “The Morning Brief” program on Thursday, Osodeke stated, “Any governor today establishing a university is eyeing TETFund as a source of funding.”
Osodeke emphasized that TETFund was originally established as an intervention fund for public universities. However, he claimed that politicians and civil servants now view it as a cash cow, exploiting it through dubious procurement processes and contract fraud.
“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, and states are supposed to fund their own,” he said. “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 called for a structure that includes stakeholders in the process of fund allocation and spending, advocating for greater transparency and accountability.
“There should be a stakeholders’ meeting to assess what you want to do with the funds,” Prof. Osodeke suggested. He added that the stakeholders should include the university community, lecturers, and student groups to end the current practice where “somebody comes from TETFund and says, ‘I have a project for you and I am going to be the contractor.’ We want open projects.”
Osodeke also emphasized that university councils should be allowed to manage their projects with the involvement of stakeholders, ensuring that funds are used effectively and transparently.
