Resumption: ABU unable to power campus after losing N22.5bn to judgment debt

By Adeleye Kunle

Following the resumption from the 8-month strike action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) is currently being confronted with judgement debt to the tune of N22.5 billion, making it impossible for its management to power the campus.

This revelation came to the fore on Friday by the Executive Secretary, the National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, during the 2023 budget defence of the commission and all universities before the Joint Senate and House Committee on Tertiary Education and TETFUND, which was monitored by Track News in Abuja.

To simplify the budget defence process for Federal Universities, the Joint Committee allowed the regulator, NUC, to present the budget on behalf of the universities while the Vice Chancellors listened.
Prof. Rasheed expressed the gratitude of the universities to the legislators on overhead provisions but said the Vice Chancellors wanted him to remind the Senators and honourable members of the serious problem they are facing, especially this year because of the strike for eight months of the academic calendar.

According to him, “eight months is equivalent to an academic calendar in every country. So, one session is virtually lost, but the implication is that one session will now run far beyond one calendar year. It will run between 16 to 18 calendar months, depending on the situation.