The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has signalled that in the coming year, universities across the nation might confront the risk of strikes owing to the insufficient budget assigned to the education sector and the lack of adequate compensation.
Professor Emmanuel Oshodeke, in an interview with The PUNCH on Monday, clarified that President Bola Tinubu had pledged, during the recent campaign and election, to raise the education sector budget to a minimum of 15 percent or more.
Similarly, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation recommended that member states allocate at least 26 percent of their budget to the education sector.
Expressing dissatisfaction, Oshodeke highlighted Nigeria’s global standing with the lowest remuneration for professors.
However, despite these concerns, Oshodeke conveyed ASUU’s disappointment with the announced 2024 education budget of N2.18 trillion, representing 7.9 percent of the overall budget.
He pointed out that this figure mirrored that of the Buhari government, underscoring that insufficient progress would be achieved in the sector without a budget increase.
Oshodeke urged the government to engage with cabinet members, emphasising the necessity of raising the budget to at least 15 per cent or higher.
“With this seven per cent education budget, nothing will change in the sector, it is just as we had during Buhari’s time. Tinubu, during his campaign, promised to increase the education budget, but nothing.
“However, there is still a chance for him to change. But if there is no improvement on this and our other demands, by next year, we will mobilise our people, and we can’t stay like this because Oyo State has 15 per cent and Enugu State budgeted 32 per cent for education, but FG is giving less than eight per cent.
“He can still increase it; they should liaise with the executives and come out with a budget that is not less than 15 percent, as he promised during the election.”
National president of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, Dr Anderson Ezeibe, also told The PUNCH, “It is demoralising to see the allocation follow the same trend as in the past.
“The sectoral allocation for education is less than eight per cent and can barely provide solutions to the multifaceted problems in the sector. The allocation is inadequate and falls short of the expectations.“
