* Abbas, HoR Speaker Calls On Lecturers To Shelve Planned Strike
To most Nigerians, with wards in tertiary institutions, hardships have become multifaceted as students are reeling under exorbitant accommodation and electricity bills.
Under the present arrangement of private participation in building of hostels for students on the campuses, the prices, ranging between N198,000 to N270,000 per bed space, is considered too much for the students and indirectly the burdened parents.
More worrisome is the fact that, electricity is rationed to students between 4-6 hours daily and in most cases, they operate in darkness.
This is even as the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has expressed worry over huge administrative cost incurred by many public universities.
Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, ASUU President, said this while speaking with newsmen at a two-day programme organised by the union on the state of nation conference on Thursday in Abuja.
The theme of the conference is, “Nigeria in a State of general crisis: the search for a new path to development”.
Specifically, it was gathered that some university authorities have introduced other charges for those with refrigerators, while banning usage of other electrical appliances.
Confirming the development, a source at the university of Ilorin, (Unilorin) told metrobusinessnews.com (MBN) that life has become unbearable for the returning students with increased bills.
Under the new arrangement, the least accommodation at the university is “room of 3= #264,000
room of 4=#198,000. Ours, is considered one of the lowest if not the lowest. Other hostels charge N210,000 and above for room of 4. Other hostels are also charging for, between N30,000 to N50,000 for those with refrigerators, even if it’s tabletop. This is despite the fact that there may not be light for days sometimes. Even though the university authorities directed hostel administrators to put on generators for between 8 pm and 8am, daily, most times, what they give is between 8pm to 10 or 11 pm, and in some cases, no light, only to be told that there’s no engine oil or it has been exhausted,” a source who pleaded for anonymity said.
“University accommodation, which is usually cheaper is usually fraught with regularities as some bidders were usually put in disadvantaged position with alleged network issue that makes access to the portal for the bidding usually difficult and most times impossible for some students,” a source told MBN
But ASUU is insisting that most of the internally generated funds from universities were nothing to write home about when compared to the daily or monthly running costs for electricity, security among others.
“We are so challenged, but let me give you a quick example, University of Lagos, University of Ibadan, Ahmadu Bello University, and University Nigeria, Nsuka; what they get from the government account for overhead running of the university in a month is N15million.
“Meanwhile, the University of Lagos needs about N200 million naira to pay electricity bill. It is this IGR that you talk about that is used to pay for the electricity.
“One of the universities today is closing down because they have been given electricity bill of N300 million naira.
“What government gives you to run the system is N15 million, and you get a bill for electricity alone of 300 million naira,”he said.
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According to the ASUU president, the IGR is not enough to buy books in the library, or to run the library.
“For whatever reason, they have refused to fund the university systems as it was in the earlier part of our history.
“From the way we are going, if nothing is done, many universities will close up because they can not afford the so called band A and Band B,”he said.
Osodeke also said that the economic situation of some academics in the country had become worrisome.
He said that farming had become even more lucrative for academicians, especially as some professors earned lower than N300,000 per month, and still publish journals.
He also criticised the proliferation of Universities in the country, adding that they are merely running on skeletal manpower as most of the academic staff were out of the country searching for greener pastures.
He said that the situation within the university system was very disturbing.
He also noted how rigging was perpetrated by the political class, which warranted ASUU members to stay away from electoral processes after the 2015 general elections.
Osodeke added that, academicians still presiding over elections were doing so in their individual capacities, not as ASUU members.
Abbas Calls On ASUU To Shelve Planned Strike
The Speaker, House of Representatives, Mr Tajudeen Abbas, called on ASUU to shelve its planned strike.
Abbas said that there must be other alternative means of resolving industrial disputes in the university system other than the regular resort to strike.
“We must equally strive to maintain industrial harmony and stability through alternative dispute resolution,”he said.
