Union says TSA is ruining Nigeria’s educational institutions

olamide oni

March 31, 2016 2:17 PM

ASUU warned that the accounting system has crippled the nation’s educational institutions.

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The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), has, once again urged the Federal Government to reconsider the inclusion of universities in the Treasury Single Account (TSA).

ASUU warned that the accounting system has crippled the nation’s educational institutions, adding that it made the request for the second time because it would not wish to be pushed to the wall before reacting.

ASUU Lagos Zone coordinator, Dr. Adesola Nasir, besides hampering the effective functioning of universities, TSA was capable of eroding their autonomy.

He said: “We, however, observed that the procedure would introduce heavy encumbrance into the functioning of the universities and may indeed become a burden on the system due to its peculiarities. We are categorical that the policy would rob the university of the opportunity of short, medium and long-term planning in effort to deliver on the objective.”

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TheNation reports that the union leader also said TSA has led to a scenario where Federal Government, through the Ministry of Finance, releases less of what is required for the payment of teachers and workers as well as for infrastructural development and other needs.

He added that local funds were trapped and those from international donor agencies were also made unavailable by bottleneck created by TSA.

For instance, he said at the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, fund administered by the institution through an international donor for certain programmes for five African countries, “is also trapped owing to TSA”.

The ASUU Zonal Coordinator added: “There are similar developments at the University of Lagos. At this rate, Nigerian universities and researchers may be blacklisted. This development would also frustrate access to international grants."

The union leader urged the public to prevail on the Federal Government to rescind the decision on universities joining the TSA.

olamide oni