The Federal Government has thrown its weight behind a planned probe by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) into allegations of corruption and financial mismanagement involving vice chancellors of public universities.
The union said it would soon begin scrutinising how funds from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) were being utilised across universities, amid concerns that some institution heads have been diverting or improperly managing allocations meant for development projects.
The President of ASUU, Prof. Chris Piwuna, raised the concerns on Wednesday during the public presentation of 72 TETFund-sponsored academic textbooks in Abuja.
Piwuna said the union had concluded plans to scrutinise vice chancellors across public universities and demand proper accounts of the utilisation of TETFund interventions.
Piwuna alleged that many vice chancellors treated TETFund disbursements as routine annual allocations that could be used at their discretion.
He said, “Yes, there is plenty of money being given to the universities in recent years. Sadly, many of them have not utilised it effectively. While some of them have mismanaged it, others have used them for different purposes than what they were meant for. They come back because they know that TETFUND will make another disbursement to the institutions the following year.
“I think there should be more scrutiny about what’s been going on with TETFUND interventions in the universities, especially in the Centres of Excellence. TETFund has just added about six more Centres of Excellence to the existing 30 that are obviously not well. Most of them are obviously not well. Most of them are performing below expectations. Hence, they must be made to account for those monies.
“We are going to turn our searchlights on the VCs and our universities soon. Honestly, we will. Because funds are not being properly managed at the university levels, we are going to take them up to make sure that they account for all of them.”
Responding, the Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, supported the union’s plan to scrutinise the activities of university heads, particularly regarding the management of TETFund interventions.
Alausa said many heads of tertiary institutions were running their schools like personal empires and called for greater accountability in the use of public funds.
He said, “Several of our Vice Chancellors, Rectors, and Provosts are running the institutions like an empire. We need your (ASUU) help in ensuring that fiduciary responsibilities are met and that they are held accountable.
“Every single dollar that we deploy to those institutions should be used the way they are meant to be used. We would work with you (ASUU) to ensure that that’s being done.”
Meanwhile, the minister presented 82 academic textbooks authored by Nigerian scholars to strengthen teaching and learning in tertiary institutions.
While noting that the books were produced under the Higher Education Book Development Intervention Project of TETFund, Alausa said the fund also secured an additional 10 academic textbooks for distribution to tertiary institutions across the country.
According to him, the initiative underscored the Federal Government’s commitment to quality education and academic excellence in Nigeria’s higher education system.
Alausa further added that the intervention aims to address the shortage of locally authored textbooks and reduce the country’s dependence on foreign publications.
He said Nigerian tertiary institutions had increasingly relied on foreign textbooks, putting pressure on foreign exchange and discouraging indigenous authorship.
The minister encouraged Nigerian scholars to produce quality academic textbooks that would ensure the availability of relevant learning materials across diverse disciplines, as he added that the initiative would particularly support fields such as science, technology, and engineering that were critical to national development.
Alausa explained that the TETFund Book Development Intervention focused on the publication of academic textbooks, support for professional association journals, and the establishment of academic publishing centres.
He said the Board of Trustees of TETFund established a Technical Advisory Group in 2009 to develop a framework for implementing the book development programme in tertiary institutions.
According to him, the Federal Government would continue to support academic research journals and publishing centres to ensure adequate indigenous learning materials in universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education.
He expressed hope that the textbooks would help bridge the gap in indigenous academic publishing and improve access to relevant learning materials in tertiary institutions.
Also speaking, the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Sonny Echono, said the book initiative was designed to address the persistent shortage of quality tertiary-level textbooks in Nigeria and strengthen teaching, learning, and research in higher institutions.
According to him, 72 of the titles were newly authored under the TETFund project, while 10 others were written by reputable scholars and secured for use by beneficiary institutions.
Echono disclosed that the fund had so far published 202 academic textbooks, with several others currently undergoing evaluation.
He also revealed that over 400,000 copies of the books would be distributed to institutions nationwide, while digital versions would be made available online to enhance accessibility.
Earlier at the event, he led participants to observe a minute’s silence in honour of one of the authors, Valerie Young Harry, who passed away shortly before the event.
In his remarks, the Chairman of the TETFund Board of Trustees, Aminu Bello Masari, described the late author’s work as a lasting legacy, noting that knowledge passed from generation to generation ensures a person’s impact outlives their lifetime.
Masari also stressed the importance of applying knowledge practically and called for strategies to commercialise the books so authors and their families could benefit from their intellectual contributions.
