Give Us N200 Billion From N4trillion Fuel Subsidy To End Ongoing Strike – ASUU President Speaks

Prof Emmanuel Osodeke

Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, the President, Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU), has advised the Nigerian government to deduct N200billion from the N4trillion set aside for fuel subsidy.

Osodeke, in an interview on Channels TV on Tuesday morning, said the government had addressed the issue of fuel subsidy with a budget of N4trillion while it ignored the addressing issues of its university education.

The ASUU President advised that if the government took only N200billion from the N4trillion budget to address the challenges of its members; it would still have a whopping N3.8trillion.

He further called on the Nigerian government to prioritise education to fuel subsidy, adding that the Nigerian academic could provide all the solutions needed to boost the country.

He argued that it took Nigerian universities only three months to locally produce University Transparent and Accountability Solution (UTAS) which performed at 97.3 percent to replace the foreign Integrated Payroll Personnel Information System (IPPIS).

He said while huge resources were paid for IPPIS, such funds would have served the Nigerian universities and challenged the government to always task the Nigerian universities for solutions to identified challenges.

Osodeke said, “It is always very funny, that the government who cannot raise N200billion to revamp all Nigeria universities annually, to world standards. The same government can raise N4trillion for fuel subsidies. Fuel subsidy and Nigerian education; which is more important to any country that wants to move forward?

“You can raise a budget to make N4trillion for subsidies a year, but you cannot raise N200billion to fund your education where you don’t have the infrastructure. You can spend N228billion to feed children in primary or secondary schools. But you cannot raise this fund for your university; it is an issue of priority. That is the problem.

“If you remove N200billion from N4trillion, to fund your universities, you still have N3.8trillion for fuel subsidy.”