The 2023 Labour Party Presidential Candidate, Mr. Peter Obi has strongly criticized the Federal Government’s initial stance on universities contributing 40% of their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), citing the impracticality for already financially strained institutions.
“It is ab initio totally inconceivable that grossly underfunded universities would be expected to dole out 40% of their IGR to the FGN”, Obi said in a post on his verified X handle.
Obi underscored the urgent need to revamp the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TetFund), expressing concern over its alleged misuse and deviation from its intended role in supporting higher education. He urged the FGN to promptly reorganize TetFund, ensuring it fulfills its statutory obligation to fund both Federal and State-owned universities, along with those operated by voluntary agencies.
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Emphasizing financial autonomy for public universities, Obi called on the government to balance its responsibilities in supporting tertiary education.
“The time has come for the government to pay more attention to the financial autonomy of our public universities while fulfilling its statutory financial responsibility to our public tertiary education”, he concluded.