Jonathan set to flag-off N1b key projects in varsities

President Goodluck Jonathan will soon embark on tour of some Nigerian universities across the six geopolitical zones to flag-off key projects under the Needs Assessment of the Universities.
Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue State, who chairs the Needs committee, disclosed this in a chat with State House correspondents on Friday.
Suswam said the President has voted N1 billion for these projects.
According to him, the Needs Assessment of Universities is one of the key demands of the Academic Staff Union of Universities.
The nation’s lecturers are on an indefinite strike.
Suswam said further that the N1 billion will be for take-off while funds will be voted yearly for key projects across the nation’s universities as a way of boosting equipment and creating conducive environment for learning and research.
“It will start with the sum of N1 billion and we set up a wall committee, which will report back to the bigger committee on Tuesday, for us to be able to select universities across the six geopolitical zones where the President will decide to go and flag off projects worth about N1 billion,” the Benue State governor said.
“The leadership of ASUU is demanding full implementation of the 2009 Agreement, including release of huge funds for the so-much needed intervention in the upgrading of facilities in our universities,” Suswam added.
Justifying their demand for intervention in the nation’s Ivory Towers, the lecturers wonder why the Federal Government will neglect the universities while it is intervening in the financial sector to the tune of a whopping N3 trillion.