Jigawa varsity funding: Badaru halts 2% LG deductions

Governor Muhammadu Badaru Abubakar of Jigawa State has said that the government has packaged a bill to stop the deduction of two percent from the statutory allocation of the 27 local government areas in the state used in funding the state-owned Sule Lamido University (SLU), Kafin Hausa.

The bill currently before the State House of Assembly has been generating criticisms from major stakeholders, notably the State’s university chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), which has raised fears that stopping the deductions would push the university into bankruptcy.

However, the governor, in an interaction with reporters in his office yesterday, described the current law, which allows the deduction of two percent from the allocation of the local governments to fund the university as unjust and unfair to the council areas.

It would be recalled that the university’s ASUU chapter led by the Secretary, Dr. Mustapha Hussaini had stormed the State Assembly on Monday demanding an explanation for the change in the law scrapping the two percent deduction.

But the lawmakers had denied the existence of an attempt to stop the deduction of the two percent from the local governments’ allocation to fund the university.

However, the governor’s clarification has put a lie to the lawmakers’ submission pertaining plans to amend the law allowing the deductions.

Justifying the amendment, the governor submitted that the local governments were no longer in a position to continue to fund the activities of the university due to the general downturn in the economy.

Besides, the governor said it was not the responsibility of the local governments to fund the university, but that of the state government.

“They don’t have the money. I inherited the law, but I believe it is an unjust law because tertiary institutions are supposed to be funded by the state, not by the local governments. The local governments should fund primary and junior secondary schools,” he said.