Need to cut wastages in educational institutions
Each time lecturers of Federal educational institutions are on strike, part of the reasons they give for being on strike is poor funding, poor equipments of laboratories amongst others. These reasons may be genuine, but if a student of a foreign university visits a federal university like ABU Zaria for example, he or she may […]
Each time lecturers of Federal educational institutions are on strike, part of the reasons they give for being on strike is poor funding, poor equipments of laboratories amongst others. These reasons may be genuine, but if a student of a foreign university visits a federal university like ABU Zaria for example, he or she may want to believe the striking unions are making flimsy demands, because the impression the foreign student may get while seeing the fleet of official cars of ABU allocated to its numerous appointment holders, might make him feel the university has all its basic facilities and funding isn’t a problem.
A visit to most Nigerian universities for the first time would make you feel the university has too much money to spend. In ABU Zaria for example, you will find out that aside the principal officers, deans, their deputies in some cases, heads of departments, heads of divisions and their deputies in some cases, heads of institutes, secretaries of institutes amongst others are given official vehicles for their use. And most of these people who are entitled to drivers misuse these vehicles to convey their kids to school, wives to market and other personal use at the expense of the institutions finance. The sad part is that the striking unions don’t notice this but they blame the government for poor funding. How can you complain of poor funding when wastage exists in your institution? I have heard real stories from several Nigerians who schooled abroad, I was made to understand that in most foreign universities, you hardly find the heads with official cars allocated to them.
Even the vice chancellor uses their personal cars as reported by people who schooled in some foreign universities. What they do is to have a pool of twenty to fifty cars parked at a particular spot. These cars are only used for official assignments and while lecturers or postgraduate students embark on research. They are not for personal use neither are they allocated to particular appointees. Our Nigeria universities should borrow a leaf from foreign universities.
I agree with the fact that our universities are poorly funded by the government, but you don’t just complain of poor funding and allow wastage to continue to take place. A university like ABU that has ten faculties and over fifty departments means all the ten Deans are automatically allocated ten official vehicles while the fifty HOD’s also have fifty vehicles provided for them at the expense of the university. Not to talk of Directors, Deputy Directors, Heads of programmes and Institute secretaries amongst others who also have official vehicles allocated to them. The institutions should sell off most of these vehicles that consume its finances to cut cost. Key appointees should use their personal vehicle.
Their responsibility allowance could be increased to cater for their fuel and personal vehicle maintenance costs. The institutions could also think of keeping spool of cars too which could be used during official assignments. ASUU should also add this to its list of demands. Wastage should be cut in our universities.
Halilu Hassan, Zaria, Kaduna State, [email protected]