De-funding of universities is unconstitutional – Union

The Academic Staff Union of Universities in Nigeria has said it is unconstitutional for the federal government to completely halt funding of public universities, writes Omotayo Bamgbose for the Nigerian Tribune.

The comments by union president, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, were made during a chat with Channels TV on Thursday 14 September, in response to a report in which Nigeria’s Minister of Education Professor Tahir Mamman was quoted as having said that the federal government would initiate new ways of funding tertiary education by granting full autonomy to universities to explore new sources of financing their activities.

“There is no way the Federal Government of Nigeria would say they would not fund public universities because it is there in the law. It is there in the Constitution; look at section 18 of the Constitution, it says ‘university, primary and secondary are free’,” Osodeke said.
Full report on the Nigerian Tribune site