Deducting Universities Internally Generated Revenue Will Impoverish Universities – ASUU Warns

The Federal Government’s proposal to automatically take 40% of universities’ internally generated revenue will depress the state of higher education, according to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU)

The Ministry of Finance informed educational institutions around the nation in October of its intention to automatically deduct 40% of their IGR.

However, in a statement released on Tuesday following its National Executive Council meeting at Kaduna State University, Kaduna, and signed by its National President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, ASUU clarified that universities were not organizations that generated income and stated that the mandatory fees paid by students were meant to provide the resources they needed to receive a proper education.

“NEC reviewed the implications of the recent directive to Federal Universities to remit 40 per cent of their Internally Generated Funds to the coffers of government. NEC condemns the directive in its entirety because it would further impoverish and emasculate the Nigerian university system.

“For the avoidance of doubt, universities are not revenue-generating agencies because the obligatory fees paid by students are to provide the necessary tools for them to be properly educated. NEC calls on the relevant state institutions to remove universities from this category of government ministries, departments, and agencies regarded as revenue-generating centres because of its implications for affordability and accessibility of education in the country,” the ASUU President said.

Naija News reports that during the meeting, ASUU bemoaned the purposeful attempt by the Office of the Accountant General to further impoverish its members by refusing to pay their promotion arrears since 2018.