By; BAYO AKAMO, Ibadan.
Vice Chancellor of University of Ibadan, Professor Idowu Olayinka at the weekend alerted that massive underfunding of the university by the federal government is making it very difficult to run.
Professor Olayinka raised the alarm in Ibadan at the 4th National Public Service Lecture organised by the Alumni Association of the University.
Speaking through the Deputy Vice Chancellor Administration, Professor Emilolorun Aiyelari, the VC urged the National Assembly to allocate special funding to the University to sustain the growing global ranking of the university and not plunge it into unnecessary industrial crisis.
Professor Olayinka stressed that the university authorities was yet to receive a Kobo to run the university in the third month of the year and that it has to accommodate about eight thousand students in the hostels.
“For the past one year, there was no month we got full salaries. We want the National Assembly to help the university. It is becoming difficult to run Nigerian universities. We pay close to 12million to clean the university and 40million on electricity. We are yet to receive a kobo to run this university this year and we are in the third month. We have about eight thousand students accommodated in hostels”he said.
Lamenting that the university staff had not got full salaries in the past one year, the Vice Chancellor declared that the university spent close to 40million on electricity supply.
Emphasizing that the unpaid salaries could have great influence of employee commitment to work,he said “When you are underfunded and a letter came that you have been overpaid. This is the serious problem we have”.
“Our tasks is teaching, research and community service and not pursuing Internally Generated Revenue. While we received slightly above eight hundred million in January which paid about 95percent of our salaries, we received 696million in February and the federal ministry claimed were over paid. This is a mystery to us.”
