2004 Budget: Varsity Chiefs Risk Sanctions
From Juliana Taiwo in Abuja
The Federal Government has said it views seriously the non-utilization of the full capital allocations by any institution in the year 2004 and has threatened to sanction heads of higher institutions for such failure.
Minister of Education, Professor Fabian Osuji made the disclosure yesterday at a meeting with principal officers of Nigerian Federal Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education.
He, however, said that the Federal Government in the current budgetary year allocated N93.8 billion to Education. Of this amount, N50.96 billion, N12.305 billion and N8.086 billion were allocated to the university, polytechnic and college of education systems, respectively.
"This is an implicit show of commitment of Mr. President and the Federal Government of Nigeria to qualitative education for our youths and to the future of our nation. Of these specific allocations, N12.283 billion, N1.825 billion and N1.615 billion were respectively allocated to the Federal Universities, polytechnics and collages of education for the completion of on-going capital projects which were clearly identified and specifically funded in the budget," he said.
He expressed worry at the inability of the institutions to access these funds even when government has kept faith with the releases.
"For capital projects, government provided the modalities for the utilisation of the funds to ensure full value for money. All capital utilisations were to go through 'due process' and the Ministry and the coordinating agencies - National Universities Commission (NUC), National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and the
National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) in consultation with the Budget Monitoring, Price Intelligence Unit (BMPIU) which conducted a series of briefings for the principal officers of all our institutions of higher learning to acquaint them with the process.
"The ultimate objective was to ensure, in tune with the new culture of reform that transparency is fully entrenched in the manner of doing business in our institutions of higher education as well as ensure that the funds are fully utilized within the year."
Osuji said since these measures have been in place, there are indications that a number of the institutions have mastered the process and have effectively utilised it to gain approval for the release of allocated funds while some, unfortunately, have not taken advantage of the facilitative measures.
"Realising that in about two months these funds will lapse, one of the principal objectives of this meeting is to review the process of accessing these funds and to ascertain what hindrances may exist in the processing of projects by institutions and to set a target for the full utilization of these funds....why some today cannot utilise a standardised process to access available funds to address the crying and clearly
identified needs, therefore beats my imagination," he said.
"For two years, our institutions received no capital funds, it will amount to sheer ineptitude, gross insensitivity and a display of total lack of executive capacity on the part of the leadership of any institution not to fully utilize the generous provisions by government to improve facilities in his/her institution.
"I want to make it abundantly clear that heads of institutions, who are unable to follow clearly defined government policy and process in this matter, will be sanctioned appropriately. For the higher educational institution's much of the capital provision in 2004 was to enable us complete the abandoned projects that litter and disfigure our campuses or rehabilitate the dilapidated structures. It will be totally inexcusable to fail to deploy these resources for the purpose," he added.
The Minister further disclosed that the Federal Government in the 2005 budget presented to the National Assembly has proposed a total allocation of at least N90 billion for education with an additional N28 billion for the Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme, making it one of the highest sectoral allocations for this year.
"This confirms the commitment of government to consciously, consistently and systematically 'repair' the education sector, after a long period of unfortunate neglect. It is also a show of confidence in you, the managers of the system, as it is well appreciated that many of you are truly making determined efforts in your institutions to weather the difficult circumstances, and make a difference," he said.
|
