Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has thrown its weight behind the Federal Government’s directive requiring federal tertiary institutions to publish important financial and institutional information on their websites.

In an exclusive interview with The Guardian, ASUU President, Prof. Chris Piwuna, expressed the union’s support for the directive, emphasising the need for transparency and accountability in the management of university resources and affairs.

The directive, the ASUU President said, had its “backing 100 per cent”. Recall that the Federal Government had directed all 203 federal tertiary institutions to publish key financial and institutional data on their websites by May 31.

The Guardian reports that as of June 2, only two out of 72 federal universities had fully complied with the directive. A sample of 41 major institutions revealed that only three per cent had fully complied, while 97 per cent had not.

The directive aimed to promote transparency and accountability in the tertiary education sector by requiring institutions to disclose data such as yearly budgetary allocations, research grants, endowment fund, current TETFund allocation, as well as a breakdown of the student population.

In a statement in April, Education Minister, Dr Tunji Alausa, stated that the move would uplift the integrity and global competitiveness of Nigeria’s education sector.

The Guardian categorises the 41 sampled federal universities into four levels of compliance: fully complied, substantially complied, partially complied and zero compliance.

It was observed that while two of the institutions fully adhered to the directive, three substantially complied, 22 partially complied, and 14 had zero compliance.

Specifically, out of the sampled size, only the University of Benin (UNIBEN) and Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi (ATBU), ticked all the boxes by fully complying with the directive, while the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Bayero University, Kano (BUK), and Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun (FUPRE) have substantially complied.

Institutions with zero compliance as of the time of filing this report include the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT), Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), Federal University of Technology, Minna (FUTMINNA), and Nnamdi Azikiwe University (NAU), among others.

Piwuna tasked VCs to ensure full compliance with the directive, emphasising the importance of transparency and accountability in the governance of tertiary institutions.