The Senate has asked the Federal Government to stop funding government-owned universities, lamenting that many institutions recklessly spend their Internally Generated Revenue.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Solomon Olamilekan, said this on Monday in Abuja.
Olamilekan, who spoke during an interactive session with revenue generating agencies on the 2023-2025 MTEF/FSP, revealed that some universities generate N17 billion annually and spent all despite the fact that the Federal Government takes care of both their recurrent and capital expenditures.
He added: “It’s time for the Nigerian students to begin to ask salient questions to their various school authorities on how funds generated by schools and institutions internally are spent.
“Federal Government should stop funding of government-owned Universities because some these universities generate up to N17 billion and spend everything without justification.
“It is time for students to also ask the universities how they spend money collected from them by these universities.
Olamilekan further stated that if the lecturers can fix their salaries, the government should allow the universities to fix their school fees and be autonomous.
He lamented that the decision of the Academic Staff Union of Universities to embark on strike for over seven months because the government failed to meet their demands is regrettable.