Cash crunch grounds Open Varsity scheme
By Fabian Ozor
Senior
Correspondent, Lagos
A serious financial
crisis is facing the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), hampering is
programmes.
It admitted about
4,000 students early this year and conducted orientation for them preparatory
to the beginning of academic activities but lack of funds has affected the
take-off, six months after.
Prospective students
who took part in the orientation are disturbed by the development.
Some of them lamented
in an interview the lack of information from the school authorities on the
delay, adding that several calls and visits to its headquarters on Victoria
Island, Lagos have yielded no positive response.
They said they have
paid all fees but regretted that even the lecture packs, like audiovisual and
lecture materials, are yet to be sent to them.
NOUN Public Affairs
Officer Bunmi Oke admitted that
lack of funds is hampering operations and that she had been bombarded by
students who want to know when the university would begin lectures.
She disclosed that the
university senate met twice on the issue recently and assured that the
authorities would make public its decision on commencement of academic
activities.
It was learnt that the
Federal Government released about N600 million to the school for the academic
session.
The university was one
of those said to have benefited from the money recently released by the
National Universities Commission (NUC) for capital and recurrent projects in
all federal universities and other related institutions.
The government has so
far spent over N4 billion on the Open University project. The Education Tax
Fund (ETF) alone has spent over N2 billion on it to provide vehicles and
equipment, among others.
During the tenure of Babalola Borishade as Education
Minister, the government gave it N600 million from the university stabilisation
account to upgrade its structures.
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