In a drive to fulfill some of its promises to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the Federal Government of Nigeria has approved the sum of N470 billion as special funds in the 2023 budget for university revitalisation and upward review of lecturers’ salaries.
The Honourable Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, disclosed this last week Thursday, 20 October, 2022, explaining that N300 billion is for university revitalisation while N170 billion is for an upward review of university lecturers’ salaries.
Earlier, during a budget presentation to a joint session of the National Assembly, President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) had disclosed that the Government included N470 billion for revitalization and salary enhancements in the tertiary institutions in the 2023 budget.
President Buhari said his government noted “with dismay the crisis that has paralysed activities in the public universities in the country.”
He stated that he “expected the staff of these institutions to show a better appreciation of the current state of affairs in the country. In the determined effort to resolve the issue, we have provided a total of N470.0 billion in the 2023 budget from our constrained resources, for revitalization and salary enhancements in the tertiary institutions.”
President Buhari also said it is instructive to note that the government alone cannot provide the resources required for funding tertiary education.
“In most countries, the cost of education is jointly shared between the government and the people, especially at the tertiary level. It is imperative therefore, that we introduce a more sustainable model of funding tertiary education.”
He added that “the government remains committed to the implementation of agreements reached with staff unions within available resources. This is why we have remained resolute that we will not sign any agreement that we would be unable to implement.
Individual institutions would be encouraged to keep faith with any agreement reached in due course to ensure stability in the educational sector.”