UNN set to receive ₦1.9B from the Federal Government

There are a few setbacks in the Nigerian Education sector. These setbacks include sub-standard infrastructure, inadequate funding, and frequent staff strikes, among other things.

Being aware of these setbacks, one of the promises made repeatedly by the President during his campaigns before he was elected, was to ensure the improvement of the Education sector. He promised that not only will education be made affordable for every Nigerian citizen, but to also see to it that the system yields nothing short of qualities that match that of other countries doing well.

Before then, Prof.Emmanuel Osodeke, the president of the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUU) had insisted that the federal government under President Buhari was not sincere with education funding. He stated it was not on the administration's priority list because of the ways the administration handled funding Tertiary Institutions.

In retaliation, the union went on strike almost every year under Buhari's administration. Unions such as the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) were also involved in those strikes. 

It is said that 'When two elephants fight, the grasses will be the one to suffer '. These numerous strike actions had several effects on the students, as academic calendars were altered. It left students with –among other things– very short and unusual durations to cover up before their semester exams. Students of tertiary institutions were the most affected in the last 8 years which happened to be the consequence of the incessant log-ahead between the then Federal Government Administration and Academic Unions (especially ASUU). 

In a bid to fine-tune and reposition the country's education system on the map of countries with standard educational systems, as promised, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on Friday, January 12, approved the sum of ₦683 Billion as intervention funds for public tertiary education institutions. This intervention fund will spread across all public universities, polytechnics, and education colleges.

The newly approved fund will allow all public universities to access ₦1.9 Billion each, while polytechnics get ₦1.1 billion and colleges ₦1.3 billion each.

This funding will no doubt improve a lot in the country's Tertiary Institutions. As UNN Students, we expect to see some of these improvements in our learning experience. Congratulations to us Nigerian students, as these early signs from the present administration show that the government has the growth and improvements of the country's education sector at heart. It is indeed worth applauding.