Falana advocates SUG participation in curbing corruption

Activist and lawyer, Femi Falana, has identified the participation of Student Union Government (SUG) and other student union bodies in the monitoring of projects as antidote to corrupt practices in universities.

Falana disclosed this at the launch in Ikeja, Lagos, of a report by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) titled: ‘Stealing The Future: How Federal Universities In Nigeria Have Been Stripped Apart By Corruption’.

He regretted that issues like unfair allocation of grades, contract inflation, employment of unqualified staff, examination malpractices, sexual harassment and sale of university certificates to undeserving persons have plagued tertiary institutions.

Falana noted: “In 2017, over N200 billion was disbursed by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) to our universities. Neither the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) nor any of the campus unions monitored the disbursement.”Executive Director of SERAP, Adetokunbo Mumuni, stated that the report focused on the University of Lagos and Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria as case studies.