The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has lamented that universities are going through tough time over the poor amount allocated to them.
While predicting that most Nigerian universities are currently on the verge of collapsing following “unbearable cost of electricity”, ASUU President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, said the electricity bills of some universities run between N200m to N300m monthly.
He spoke on Thursday during the opening session of a two-day national conference convened by the union in Abuja.
He said despite the huge bills, universities only get N15m monthly from the federal government to pay for both electricity and other things.
He lamented that government has rather prioritized paying themselves as each Senator receives “N21 million a month”.
He said, “What the government gives you to run the system is N15 million, and you get a bill for electricity alone of N300 million. Where is that money coming from? You have to run the laboratories. You have to run the diesel. You have to run the fuel for vehicles.
“But you know what? A government that will give just N15 million for UNILAG to run, will in turn, give one Senator N21 million a month. The government gives a system N15 million, but an individual gets N21 million. That’s where our priority is”.