The Federal Government has backed the plan by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to investigate Vice-Chancellors over alleged corruption and mismanagement of funds from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).

ASUU had raised concerns about what it described as weak oversight in the implementation of TETFund projects across universities.

It warned that some vice-chancellors had diverted funds meant for critical academic development.

Speaking in Abuja during the public presentation of 72 TETFund-sponsored academic textbooks, ASUU President, Prof. Chris Piwuna, said the union would soon begin a detailed scrutiny of university managements.

Piwuna said: “We are going to turn our searchlights on the VCs and our universities soon. Honestly, we will. Because funds are not being properly managed at the university levels, we are going to take them up to make sure that they account for all of them.”

He lamented that despite increased financial support to universities in recent years, many institutions had failed to utilise the funds effectively.

The ASUU president added: “Yes, there is plenty of money being given to the universities in recent years. Sadly, many of them have not utilised it effectively. While some of them have mismanaged it, others have used them for different purposes than what they were meant for.”

According to him, some institutions rely on the expectation of fresh disbursements from TETFund instead of properly accounting for previous allocations.

“They come back because they know that TETFund will make another disbursement to the institutions the following year. I think there should be more scrutiny about what’s been going on with TETFund interventions in the universities, especially in the Centres of Excellence,” he added.

Piwuna further criticised the performance of several TETFund-backed Centres of Excellence, noting that many were operating below expectations despite substantial funding.

He said: “TETFund has just added about six more Centres of Excellence to the existing 30 that are obviously not well. Most of them are performing below expectations. Hence, they must be made to account for those monies.”

Responding to the concerns, the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, said the Federal Government supports ASUU’s call for greater scrutiny of university administrators.

“Several of our Vice Chancellors, Rectors, and Provosts are running the institutions like an empire,” the minister said.

He urged the union to work with the government to ensure accountability in the management of public funds.

“We need your help in ensuring that fiduciary responsibilities are met and that they are held accountable. Every single naira that we deploy to those institutions should be used the way they are meant to be used,” Alausa said.

He added that the ministry would collaborate with ASUU to ensure that TETFund resources are properly utilised for the development of tertiary institutions.