A tour of the institution by Channels Television emphasised the need for the Nigerian government to expedite action on the revitalisation of Federal Government Universities.
A place meant for teaching and learning has become extremely unconducive. The school environment, the theatre halls, classrooms and hostels are no longer habitable for the students and lecturers.
Based on a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), 200 billion Naira has been provided for the first phase of the revitalisation process demanded by the union.
After signing the MoU, the union told Nigerians to hold the Federal Government responsible if, eventually, it failed to effectively fund public universities in the country as agreed in the MoU.
Obsolete Infrastructure
A spokesman of ASUU, Ahmadu Bello University branch, Professor Saleh Ado, highlighted the lecturers' readiness to go back to back to classrooms.
Professor Ado told Channels Television on Friday in Kaduna that, although the national leadership of the union would call of the strike by next week after consulting with the local branches, it would not hesitate to take similar action if the Federal Government reneges on the MOU.
One of the major reasons for embarking on the five months old strike was to draw the attention of the government to the decay in infrastructure in public universities across the country.
He noted that obsolete infrastructure was hampering smooth academic activities in ABU, one of the oldest universities in Nigeria.
"You can see the state of the lecture halls, where the students will be having their lectures as soon as they resume for classes when ASUU calls off the strike," he said in a deplorable manner.
Over the years, Nigerian university lecturers have drew the attention of the government to the decay of facilities and the need to upgrade them.
Sadly, despite the intervention from some government agencies such as Education Trust Fund and Tertiary Education Trust Fund, most universities cannot boast of standard laboratories and classrooms. This is why the lecturers embarked on an industrial action on July 1 to pressurise government to address the situation.
With the Federal Government's release of the revitalisation fund for universities and the promise to adequately fund them subsequently, critics have stressed the need for proper deployment of such funds to achieve the desired result.
Source: ChannelsTV
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