President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke has said most Nigerian universities are on the verge of shutting down over the unbearable cost of electricity.
Prof. Osodeke said this during the opening of a two-day national conference convened by ASUU in Abuja with the theme: “Nigeria in a State of General Crisis: The Search for a New Path to Development,” on Thursday.
The ASUU president said while public universities receive N15m monthly from the federal government as running costs, the electricity bills of some universities run between N200m to N300m monthly.
Osodeke said the classification of electricity consumers into bands has increased the cost of most universities, adding that the rise in electricity cost was hampering the administration of most public universities in the country.
The university lecturer said this has forced some universities to channel their internally generated revenue to the running of their operation.
He said: “We are so challenged. But let me give you a quick example, the University of Lagos; University of Ibadan; Ahmadu Bello University, and the University of Nigeria, Nsuka. What they get from the government account for the overhead running of the university in a month is N15million. Meanwhile, the University of Lagos needs about N200 million naira to pay the 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 an electricity bill of N300 million. What the government gives you to run the system is N15 million, and you get a bill for electricity alone of N300 million. Where is that money coming from? You have to run the laboratories. You have to run the diesel. You have to run the fuel for vehicles.
“That is where the IGR is going today. Not being able to run the system, to buy books in the library, to run your library, to earn those things. They are all part of their so-called IGR, and that is what they talk about. But you know what? A government that will give just N15 million for UNILAG to run, will in turn, give one Senator N21 million a month. The government gives a system N15million, but an individual gets N21million. That’s where our priority is.
“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.”
Lamenting the dire situation of some academics in the country, the ASUU President said farming has become even more lucrative for lecturers, especially when a professor is left at the mercy of earning less than N300,000 per month and still has to cater for his family and publish journals.
Osodeke also criticised the proliferation of universities in the country, warning that they were merely running on skeletal manpower as most of the lecturing staff were out of the country searching for greener pastures.
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