President Muhammadu Buhari says corruption in the education sector has undermined the government’s efforts and investments over the years.
Buhari spoke on Tuesday in his address at a summit on
diminishing corruption in the public sector held at the state house, Abuja.
The president said members of the Academic Staff Union of
Universities (ASUU), who have been on strike for eight months, are also
complicit.
“Incessant strikes especially by unions in the tertiary
education often imply that government is grossly underfunding education, but I
must say that corruption in the education system from basic level to the
tertiary level has been undermining our investment in the sector and those who
go on prolonged strikes on flimsy reasons are no less complicit,” he said.
The president said the inclusion of education on the
concurrent list of the constitution shows the priority given to the sector.
Buhari urged critics and the media to look into how
internally generated revenues of the education institutions are expended to
address corruption in the system.
“Corruption in the expenditure of internally generated
revenue of tertiary institutions is a matter that has strangely not received
the attention of stakeholders in tertiary education, including unions,” he
said.
“I call on stakeholders to demand accountability in the
administration of academic institutions and for unions to interrogate the
bloated personnel and recurrent expenditure of their institutions. Let me also
implore the unions to work with government to put faces and identities to names
on the payroll.
“I am aware that students in our universities, for example,
use different terminologies to describe different forms of corruption they
experience on our campuses.
“There is sorting or cash for marks/grades, sex for marks,
sex for grade alterations, examination malpractice, and so on.
“Sexual harassment has assumed an alarming proportion. Other
forms of corruption include pay-roll padding or ghost workers, lecturers taking
up full time appointments in more than one academic institution, including
private institutions, lecturers writing seminar papers, projects and
dissertations for students for a fee, and admission racketeering, to mention
only the most glaring corrupt practices.
“I am happy to note
that ICPC is investigating and prosecuting sexual harassment as abuse of power
in our educational institutions. I approve and encourage them to continue to do
so.”
Buhari said the federal government alone cannot bear the
cost of funding education due to “declining resources”.
He encouraged academics to attract endowments and grants to
universities, polytechnics and colleges of education similar to what is
obtainable in other countries.
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