The Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, says previous administrations struggled to resolve disputes with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and other tertiary institution unions due to the multiplicity of committees handling negotiations.
Alausa made this known during a meeting with journalists in Lagos, where he explained that having several committees interfacing with academic and non-academic unions in the past created conflicting recommendations and delayed resolutions.
“In the past, there were too many committees liaising with the various groups. The various committees were making different recommendations and offering conflicting suggestions,” he said.
According to the minister, the current administration has streamlined negotiations by consolidating discussions under the Yayale Ahmed Committee, which now interfaces with all tertiary education unions.
“It is that committee that meets with all unions, whether academic or non-academic. As we do that, everybody is carried along,” he said.
He added that the Federal Government was also engaging the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) and the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU), assuring that agreements with the unions would soon be reached.
“We are assuring all that there won’t be discrimination between the unions; we are for fairness,” he said.
On infrastructure development, Alausa disclosed that the Federal Government had earmarked N200 billion for the construction of engineering workshops in selected universities and polytechnics nationwide.
He said each beneficiary university would receive N4 billion, while each polytechnic would get N1 billion under the scheme, which he described as a follow-up to the establishment of simulation medical laboratories in some federal universities.
The minister also addressed the abandoned Centres of Excellence initiated years ago by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), saying more than N5 trillion would be required to complete the projects nationwide.
He recalled that during the tenure of Charles Soludo as CBN governor, a Centre of Excellence was initiated at the University of Ibadan to boost the production of economists.
However, he said subsequent administrations expanded the initiative across several institutions, many of which were left uncompleted.
According to him, the Centre of Excellence at the University of Lagos alone would require about N19 billion to complete, based on contractors’ estimates.
“I am meeting the contractors, and we are going to find a mid-course. We are also engaging TETFund to see what can be done,” he said.
On the suspended school feeding programme, the minister assured that it would soon resume, noting that the initiative might be moved from the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs to the Ministry of Education to ensure better oversight.
