The President of the Academic Staff Union of the University, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, has accused the Federal Government of not prioritizing tertiary education.
According to him, the government had attended to the issue of fuel subsidy with a budget of N4 trillion and dismissed issues concerning university education.
Osodeke spoke during a program on Channels Television on Wednesday.
The union leader asked the government to take N200bn from the N4trillion budget for subsidies to address the challenges of its members, thereby putting an end to the industrial action embarked upon by the union.
Osodeke said, “It is always funny that the government cannot raise N200bn to revamp all Nigeria’s universities annually, to world standards. The same government can raise N4trillion for fuel subsidy.
“You can raise a budget to make N4trillion for subsidy in a year, but you cannot raise N200bn to fund your education where you don’t have the infrastructure.
“You can spend N228bn 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 N200bn from N4trillion to fund your universities, you still have N3.8trillion for fuel subsidy.”
