The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has called on stakeholders to be vigilant on the spending of the recently approved N683 billion by the Federal Givernment as intervention funds for public tertiary schools in the country.
The association said taking such a watchful eye is primarily to ensure the money, once released, would be used exactly for intended purposes.
The students’ body made the call in a statement made available to Nigerian Tribune by its Senate President, Mr. Akinteye Babatunde, on Sunday.
According to him, the intervention funds are a commendable step taken by the federal government as the money, if channelled rightly, should be able to address the pressing needs of students and school workers and also enhance the general quality of tertiary education in the country.
While commending the Federal Government for approving the funds, Akinteye also urged the same government to ensure it releases the money.
He recalled there were so many ocassions in the past when the federal government approved huge sum of money particularly for universities for one purpose or the other without releasing kobo from such approval let alone addressing the intended purposes.
“So, while we implore the Federal Government to ensure it released the funds without delay, and also sustain pumping of money into the system, the administrators of various tertiary schools should not divert their allocations to something else.
He noted that the belief of the general students is also that various schools would no longer increase their obligatory fees again as the intervention funds would fill the financial gap between their needs and financial capability.
He said all what the students want is the release of the funds and it judicious utilisation for the sake of Nigerian tertiary education landscape.
He also urged government to actively engage with student representatives to create a system of checks and balances that would prevent misuse of funds and promote fiscal responsibility in tertiary schools nationwide.
He argued that it is only when all hands are on deck that meaningful development can take place not only in the education sector but across the sectors of the economy.
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