The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has accused the Federal Government of cutting budgets for health and education in the proposed 2020 revised budget, designed to take care of the dwindling revenue to the federation accounts as a result of falling global oil prices and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The union, in a statement signed by the ASUU chairman, University of Ibadan, Prof. Ayo Akinwole, in Ibadan, said the government failed to learn from the challenges of COVID-19.
ASUU stated that the proposed cut on the budget by the Buhari regime depicted the lack of understanding of the precarious state of things in the country’s health and education sectors.
The Federal Government has been reported to have proposed a cut of N111.78bn UBEC budget to N61.02bn and a cut of 26.51bn from the N44.49bn allocated to basic health care.
The ASUU’s statement said a progressive government will pay attention to health and education instead of allocating funds for mundane things.
It accused the Buhari administration of rendering over 30,000 lecturers and their dependants vulnerable by stopping lecturers’ salaries.
ASUU also berated the alleged poor handling of the social intervention funds for the vulnerable in the wake of the spread of COVID-19.
“The distribution of the palliatives seems fraudulent as reactions from Lagos and other states of the nation indicate that government officials are profiting from the distribution.
“The union will not be cowed in its resolve to fight for the revitalisation of public-funded education and the sanctity of the laws of the land.
“I have not seen this kind of government. A top government official claimed he never knew our health institution was this precarious and the government that has not allocated sufficient funds to that sector is further reducing it.
“They are also muddling up palliative being distributed. Most Nigerians are on the fringe and any mismanagement of palliative distribution will be counter-productive to the fight against the pandemic.”
