A non-governmental organisation, Education Advancement Initiative (EAI), based in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has called for increased funding of the education sector to improve the literacy rate among citizens for peaceful coexistence and the socio-economic development of the nation.

This came as the EAI Executive Director, Higher Education Monitoring, Dr. Faseluake Oladikpe, a trained educational psychologist, on Thursday, called on President Bola Tinubu to save the university system by directing the Accountant General’s (AG) office to release the N300 billion captured in the budget to universities.

The group, which also decried the non-release of over N300 billion university revitalisation funds captured in the 2023 and 2024 budgetary provisions by the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, bemoaned the poor state of infrastructure in tertiary institutions, especially public universities across Nigeria.

Dr. Oladikpe, speaking to newsmen in Abuja, accused government functionaries, particularly officials of the Ministry of Finance and the Accountant General’s Office, of an alleged plot to sabotage public university education and promote private ones in which they have vested interests.

Insisting on the release of the revitalization fund, Oladikpe said the lack of funding of public universities by successive governments portends grave danger to national development.

He stated that the refusal of the government to release the university revitalization fund is gradually killing public universities, adding that infrastructure that could aid teaching and learning has become an eyesore in almost all Nigerian universities.

Oladikpe revealed that in July, the organisation assessed public universities, and in all the schools visited, deteriorating infrastructure and the absence of necessary equipment were common problems.

He warned that if public university education is allowed to collapse due to the government’s lukewarm attitude toward funding, the country will suffer dire consequences, including an increased crime rate precipitated by joblessness and a lack of skills for productive ventures among the youth.

According to him, the Tinubu-led administration’s Student Loan Scheme will amount to nothing if the infrastructure decay in the nation’s citadel of learning remains unattended.

The EAI executive also insisted on the implementation of the agreement the Federal Government entered into with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on the Needs Assessment programme.

He pointed out that ASUU is deeply angered by the Federal Government’s failure to honor the 2009 Needs Assessment agreement aimed at providing N220 billion annually as an intervention fund for the revitalization of public universities in Nigeria.

Oladikpe cautioned the president against abandoning the Needs Assessment scheme designed to provide funds for the reinvigoration of public universities, particularly for rehabilitating decaying infrastructure and providing state-of-the-art teaching and learning equipment.

He appealed to the president to cause the immediate release of funds for the continuation of critical projects in the institutions being executed under the Needs Assessment project.

According to him, the university community anxiously awaits the commencement of these projects.

Oladikpe further advised President Tinubu, whom he acknowledged has made significant statements toward revamping the education sector, to release funds for these projects to ensure a stable and quality academic environment.

It would be recalled that the Federal Government in 2009 reached an agreement with ASUU for the provision of N220 billion annually as intervention funds for the revitalization of universities.

A review of the agreement was done in 2014. However, it is yet to be implemented, resulting in the distortion of the academic calendar in the ivory towers.