ASUU Raises Alarm Over N132bn Unremitted Funds By TETFund

The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has complained about the TETFund’s unremitted N132 billion, which accounts for 41% of the N320 billion allowed money for reviving tertiary institutions.

According to ASUU, just 58% of allowed funds have been allocated to public tertiary institutions in the country.

On Wednesday, the Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Sonny Echono, revealed that President Muhammadu Buhari approved releasing N320 billion to Nigerian public tertiary institutions to address some of ASUU’s issues from last year’s strike.

The money was intended to revitalize Nigerian public tertiary institutions as part of the union’s four cardinal requests and a reworking of the 2009 government-ASUU agreement.

ASUU’s national president, Emmanuel Osodeke, stated that when every public tertiary institution is tallied, the TETFund distribution ratio totals N186 billion, accounting for only 58% of the total approved for release by the president.

During a Channels Television interview on Thursday, the university dean stated that the TETFund must account for the undistributed cash.

“What are we using that N132 billion [for], which is 41% of the total money? Is it for bureaucracy or what?”

“We need a redistribution of this fund to ensure that it accounts for 90% of what has been approved to go to universities, polytechnic and not kept as bureaucracy or whatever,” he added.