Chat212 - Mail Summary...
- FG disbursed N200 billion to Vice Chancellors of public universities.
- It would be recalled that the union had last week accused the FG of delaying the disbursement of funds both parties earlier agreed on.
- Bello University would host the North West zone while the South West zones would be conducted at the University of Ibadan.
Chat212 - Mail News... Report
The Federal Government yesterday disbursed N200 billion to Vice Chancellors of public universities.
This is in line with the agreement between government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to begin the implementation of National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) identified within the sector.
It would be recalled that the union had last week accused the FG of delaying the disbursement of funds both parties earlier agreed on.
Supervising Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike, at a meeting with the Committee of Vice Chancellors at the National Universities Commission (NUC), Abuja tasked the universities on judicious use of the funds.
He said, “All the tertiary institutions would give account of funds allocated to them, to let the public know what the government is doing to improve the education sector”.
“It is imperative that the public know how much government is investing in the country’s tertiary education and correct the impression that it is neglecting the sector,” the minister said.
The accountability system, which is expected to be conducted in the six geo-political zones of the country, would begin as from March 4. It would kick off with the North Central zone at the Federal College of Agriculture, Makurdi.
The South East zone would converge at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, on March 11, while the University of Port Harcourt would be host to the South South zone on March 10.
Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, would host the North West zone while the South West zones would be conducted at the University of Ibadan (UI) on dates to be announced subsequently.
Meanwhile, the Federal Ministry of Education released its consolidated report for 2013, where all the Federal Universities were allocated N225.070 billion, Federal Polytechnics got N67.411 billion, Colleges of Education, N44.288 billion, while the Unity Colleges were allocated N39 billion out of the N437 billion budget for 2013.
The report unveiled by the Supervisory Minister of Education also indicated that capital project allocations to educational institutions under the FME, such as Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), National Teachers Institute (NTI) collectively spent N51.148 billion.
Recurrent expenditure for the year under review stood at N385.88 billion.
On basic education delivery for 2013, only five states were able to access their matching grants from the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC).
Federal Government budgeted a total of N38.5 billion to states as matching grants in 2013, with a total of N170 million granted to each state for teacher professional development.
