FG Approves N25bn Earned Academic Allowances For ASUU

The Federal Government has approved additional N25 billion payment as Earned Academic Allowances for the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, disclosed this at his valedictory press conference in Abuja, yesterday.

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He said that the money is part-payment contained in the Memorandum of Action (MoA) the union signed with the government. 

 The government said the cash was aside the N20 billion that was released in 2018 to public universities.

Adamu said all universities in the country had benefitted from the N20 billion released last year by the Buhari-led Federal Government.

He noted that Buhari administration inherited an un-implementable agreement of N1.3 trillion when it assumed office in 2015.

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 “Let me inform you that the Federal Government has just approved an additional N25 billion to be shared to beneficiary institutions directly. Last year, the Federal Government released N20 billion directly to universities. As I speak, all universities have got their share of the N20 billion.

“The sad news is that the N200 billion that was released to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) since 2013 for the universities has not been fully accessed. In specific terms, all the 73 public varsities have accessed the first tranche of 50 per cent of the N200 billion.

“For the second tranche of 40 per cent, only 56 institutions have been able to access their funds. The last 10 per cent, representing the third tranche of the N200 billion, has not been accessed at all.”

The minister said in his address, titled: Education for Change: Our Stewardship in the Last Four Years that the government invested N1.338 trillion on the sector in the last four years. 

He  said: “In spite of the economic downturn, we have done well in terms of investment in capital expenditure. The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) interventions in states have recorded a total of N350 billion, while Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETfund) and NEED Assessment interventions have recorded N857 billion with the main ministry and other agencies recording N86 billion, totalling N1.338 trillion in the last four years.

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“This is aside the N25 billion just approved for public universities. These figures have nothing to do with personnel and overhead cost in the Education sector, which are also well over N1 trillion.

“Private sector investment in the Education sector – from the basic, secondary and tertiary levels – far outweighs government investment. Our aggregate expenditure in the Education sector (public and private), therefore, exceeds the much touted 20 per cent of our national budget. We are poised to do more.”

Adamu said the Buhari administration had laid a good foundation for dealing with the challenges posed by the out-of-school children and the huge number of adult illiterates.

“If we continue on this path, in the next 10 years, Nigeria’s challenges in this twin direction will be confined to the dustbin of history.

“On basic, secondary and tertiary education, we shall continue on the path of infrastructural and manpower development, increasing capacity and creating unfettered access to all levels of our education for our young people,” he added.

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