The Academic Staff Union of Universities has asked the Federal Government to meet the needs of the association from the proposed N4 trillion for petroleum subsidy this year.
The Chairman of the union, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, made the demand on Thursday on a Channels Television programmed.
Osodeko said the decision of the Federal Government to fund petrol subsidy to the tune of N4 trillion in the 2022 Budget while ignoring ASUU’s demand for N200 billion showed it was not giving priority to tertiary education.
He said: “It is always funny that the government cannot raise N200 billion to revamp all Nigeria’s universities annually to world standards.
“The same government can raise N4 trillion for fuel subsidy.
“You can raise a budget to make N4 trillion for subsidy in a year, but you cannot raise N200 billion to fund your education where you don’t have the infrastructure.
“You can spend N228 billion to feed children in primary or secondary schools, but you cannot raise this fund for your university.
“It is an issue of priority.
“That is the problem.
“If you remove N200 billion from N4 trillion to fund your universities, you still have N3.8 trillion for fuel subsidy.
“We don’t believe there is a fuel subsidy.
“There is no country where you have the crude intelligentsia.
“You have been importing fuel for the past 20 years.
“Something is ongoing.
“No country in the world will do that.
“In the 60s, we built four refineries, and between 1999 and now, we cannot build one or service the ones we had.”