FG Distributes N100 Billion to 59 Universities

The federal government Thursday distributed N100 billion to 59 public universities as its first intervention fund for the provision of critical infrastructure in the institutions. It also appealed to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to call off its strike and allow resumption of activities in the ivory towers.

But its plea may have not swayed the union, which Thursday announced that it was withdrawing from further negotiations with the federal government, which it accused of insincerity.

In a bid to ensure equity and national spread in the distribution of the money, each of the 36 states of the federation would have one university covered in the first phase of the intervention programme.

The funds would be deployed to building new hostels, renovation of old ones, provision of libraries, laboratories, lecture rooms and theatres and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) facilities, among others.


Chairman of the Presidential Implementation and Monitoring Committee on the Needs Assessment in Nigerian Universities and Benue State Governor, Mr. Gabriel Suswam, announced the distribution of the funds at a news conference yesterday in Abuja, called to brief the public on the outcome of the committee's meeting.

The meeting was attended by the Minister of Education, Prof. Ruquayatu Rufa'i and her counterpart in the Ministry of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu, representatives of both the Senate and House of Representatives Committees on Education, representatives of federal agencies involved in funding university education and the various workers' unions in the university system.

A statement from Suswam's Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, Dr Cletus Akwaya, said the meeting unanimously adopted a report of its technical sub-committee, which had earlier carried out the distribution of the funds to each of the beneficiary universities based on a criterion adopted from the Needs Assessment report.

Suswam explained that the benefitting universities have been charged to use their share of the N100 billion to address the gross deficit in critical infrastructure on their respective campuses.

He also said the distribution of the funds was done in a fair and equitable manner based on a properly defined criteria, adding that a representative of ASUU participated in the technical sub- committee that made recommendations to the main committee. "Our committee will present the spreadsheet of the projects to Mr President for his approval after which the funds would be released to the governing councils of the benefitting universities after meeting with the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Minister of Education," he said.