President Muhammadu Buhari has said his administration cannot sign any agreement it would be unable to implement with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) but is committed to funding education within affordable resources.
Newsonline reports that President Buhari stated this on Friday while presenting the 2023 budget to the joint chambers of the National Assembly.
The president, Buhari, stated that the government has mapped out N407 billion for education in the 2023 fiscal year while noting that tertiary education can no longer be solely funded by the government.
Buhari said that his administration notes “with dismay the crisis that has paralyzed activities in the public universities in the country”, stating that he expected “the staff of these institutions to show a better appreciation of the current state of affairs in the country.”
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The president added that in his “determined effort to resolve the issue, we have provided a total of 470.0 billion in the 2023 budget from our constrained resources, for revitalization and salary enhancements in the tertiary institutions.”
Buhari further added, “it is instructive to note that today Government alone cannot provide the resources required for funding tertiary education.”
He said, “In most countries, the cost of education is jointly shared between the government and the people, especially at the tertiary level. It is imperative therefore that we introduce a more sustainable model of funding tertiary education.”
He assured that “the Government remains committed to the implementation of agreements reached with staff unions within available resources. This is why we have remained resolute that we will not sign any agreement that we would be unable to implement. Individual institutions would be encouraged to keep faith with any agreement reached in due course to ensure stability in the educational sector.”
“Government is equally committed to improving the quality of education at other levels. Recently, we implemented various incentives aimed at motivating and enhancing teachers’ development in our schools.”
