The House of Representatives Committee on University Education has expressed concern over dilapidated infrastructure and land encroachment at the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, FUTO, and other universities in the South-East Geo-political Zone.
In his remarks following an oversight visit to Federal Universities in the South-East region, Abubakar Hassan Fulata, Chairman, House Committee on University Education, appealed to older universities to make concerted efforts to renovate and maintain the structures on ground instead of building new ones while the available facilities are left to decay.
Fulata noted that most of the universities his committee visited did not comply with federal character principles and also spend internally generated revenue without the approval of the National Assembly, which he considers as gross violation of the Constitution.
He said the fact that a university is located in a certain location in the state does not mean a certain ethnic group or people from that location should dominate without recourse to federal character principles.
The Vice Chancellor, Federal University of Technology Owerri, Professor Nnenna Nnannaya Oti in her submission lamented over the encroachment of the land belonging to the institution by the host community.
She said non-availability of perimeter fence is one of the factors that resulted to the land encroachment and sought the assistance of the committee to address the challenge.
In the same vein, the Vice Chancellor, Alvan Ikoku Federal University of Education Owerri, Prof. Stella Lemchi said the school was recently upgraded from Federal College of Education to university.
She said Infrastructure remains one of the major challenges as the school needs expansion in areas of structures for various faculties and departments.
Similarly, the acting Executive Director, National Institute for Nigerian Languages, Aba, Prof. C.I. Ugwu told the committee that despite vast land allocated for the school, only little portion has been utulised due to lack of fund.
Prof. Ugwu noted that despite previous efforts, there has not been assistance from Tertiary Education Tax Fund (TETFUND). He appealed to to the committee and TETFUND for an intervention.
The Deputy Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Okpolupm Etteh in his contribution said the oversight visit should not in any be viewed as witch-hunting as it is inline with the provision of the constitution.
He said the oversight visit enables the lawmakers who are saddled with the responsibility of appropriation to also check whether what has been appropriated is properly utulised.
Hon. Ilyasu Aliyu, a member of the committee, said while there are several needs to be attended to, the resources available are limited hence the need for effective utilisation of the appropriated fund.
Reps panel laments decayed infrastructure, land encroachment in tertiary institutions
