The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has alleged that despite funds being allocated for interventions in tertiary institutions, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has ceased funding projects in public universities since 2014.
According to ASUU President Emmanuel Osodeke, the CBN stopped these projects after the tenure of former CBN governor, now Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, who served from June 2009 to February 2014. Osodeke made this claim during an appearance on Inside Sources with Laolu Akande, a socio-political program on Channels Television.
“There are many organizations like the CBN and NNPC that have reserve funds for community development,” Osodeke stated. He praised Sanusi’s leadership, noting that it was under his tenure as CBN governor that these funds were directed toward university projects.
“Every federal university has a project completed during Sanusi’s time at the CBN. In my university, the largest building was funded by the CBN under Sanusi. The same can be said for the University of Abuja, Jos, and others. But since his departure, no such projects have been undertaken,” Osodeke explained.
He criticized subsequent CBN governors, including Godwin Emefiele and the current governor, Olayemi Cardoso, for failing to continue Sanusi’s efforts. Osodeke argued that if these governors had followed Sanusi’s example, there would be no infrastructure gaps in Nigeria’s public universities today.
“The funds for these projects are part of the CBN’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR),” he added. “We should ask: how did Sanusi manage to execute projects across federal and state universities in just four years, while his successors have not contributed a single project?”
Osodeke further questioned Cardoso’s performance, stating, “He’s been in office for a year, yet there’s no visible contribution to any university. Why has this stopped?”