The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has again drawn Federal Government’s attention to the inclusion of universities in the Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy, warning that the move was already grounding public ivory towers.
The union said it was bringing the issue to the fore for a second time to avoid blames when it eventually reacts.
Briefing reporters yesterday at the Lagos State University (LASU), Coordinator of ASUU, Lagos Zone, Dr. Adesola Nasir, said besides slowing down operational pace, TSA was capable of eroding institutional autonomy.
He noted that owing to the peculiarity of the university system, the policy was injurious to the effective functioning of the universities.
ASUU added: “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 very categorical that the policy would rob the university of the opportunity of short, medium and long-term planning in an effort to deliver on the set objective.”
Nasir alleged that the policy had resulted in a scenario where the Federal Government, through the Ministry of Finance, had been releasing lesser funds for payment of staff salaries, infrastructural development and other needs.
