The
Federal Government distributed N200 billion to all the public
universities in the country yesterday, to fulfil their agreement with
the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) following their
seven-month strike which ended last December.
Nyesom
Wike, the Supervising Minister of Education, distributed letters of
fund allocations in a meeting with university Vice Chancellors in Abuja,
and urged the VCs to use the money for infrastructural development,
with all the funds to be used within this year.
The
Government had agreed to pay N200 billion for university renovations in
2014, with the same amount allocated for the next four years until the
universities were brought to world standard.
"It
is imperative for the public to know how much government was investing
in the country's tertiary education and correct the impression that it
was neglecting the sector,” said Wike.
He
revealed that the exercise will begin next month with the North Central
Zone at the Federal College of Agriculture, Makurdi, followed by the
South East zone at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, while University
of Port Harcourt will host the South-South, Ahmadu Bello University will
host the North West and those in the South West would converge at the
University of Ibadan.
The
minister also disclosed that the Federal Government spent N225 billion
on universities in the 2013 budget, of which N67 billion was spent on
federal polytechnics; N44 billion on federal colleges of education and
N39 billion on federal colleges.
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