Huge Electricity Bills Worry Universities – ASUU

BY EDMOND ODOK – The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has raised an alarm that most Nigerian public universities are on the verge of forced closure over “high and unbearable cost of electricity”.

According to the Union, given that public universities receive about N15 million as monthly running costs from the Federal Government, coping with electricity bills running into between N200m to N300m monthly by some universities has now become nightmarish.

President of ASUU, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, who sounded this warning during the opening session of a two-day national conference convened by ASUU in Abuja, said, the classification of electricity consumers into bands has increased the cost of most universities.

Addressing participants at the conference with the theme; “Nigeria in a State of General Crisis: The Search for a New Path to Development”, Osodeke said the rise in electricity cost was adversely affecting the administration and effective service delivery by most public universities in the country.

He said this development has forced some universities to channel their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to the running of their operations and the situation has left them in dire straits meeting obligations in most other areas.

“We are so challenged. But let me give you a quick example, the University of Lagos; University of Ibadan; Ahmadu Bello University, and the University of Nigeria, Nsuka. What they get from the government account for the overhead running of the university in a month is N15 million.

“Meanwhile, the University of Lagos needs about N200 million to pay the electricity bill. It is this IGR that you talk about that is used to pay for the electricity. One of the universities today is closing down because they have been given an electricity bill of N300 million.

“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.

“That is where the IGR is going today. Not being able to run the system, to buy books in the library, to run your library, to earn those things. They are all part of their so-called IGR, and that is what they talk about.

“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.

“For whatever reason, they have refused to fund the university systems as it was in the earlier part of our history.”

The University don, who described the situation within the University system as very disturbing, further lamented that; “From the way we are going, if nothing is done, many universities will close shop because they can not afford the so-called Band A and Band B”.

Emphasizing how serious the situation is with many academics nationwide, the ASUU President said farming has become even more lucrative for lecturers, especially when a professor is left at the mercy of earning less than N300,000 per month and still has to cater for his family and publish journals.

He also frowned at the continuous proliferation of universities in the country, warning that the system is merely running on skeletal manpower with most lecturing staff leaving the country in droves to search for greener pastures while other ASSU members are unfortunately dropping dead daily.

Also speaking at the forum, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Joe Ajaero accused the Federal Government of failing to fulfill all the agreements it entered with organized labour.

He said the government has stopped the payment of the N35,000 wage award since February and has also failed to fulfill its promise to make the refineries work.

The NLC Leader stressed the need for unity and synergy among all the university-based unions, urging them to form a formidable front and declare a day of national action towards making the government take repositioning the education sector a priority.