The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) has cautioned governors against establishing universities they cannot fund.

The North-east zone of the union made the call in a communique on Friday after its zonal meeting in Maiduguri and read by its national vice president, North East, Abdulkadir Isa.

It called on all levels of government to invest in education, saying that the neglect and poor funding of universities by governors was detrimental to teaching and research.

The communique also condemned the sharing formula for the N22.1 billion released by federal government for the earned allowances at the rate of 75 per cent for teaching staff and 25 per cent for non-teaching staff, and called for an urgent review on the development.

“The union is concerned that the non-teaching units of the universities are being usurped by teaching staff in violation of the condition of service and establishment procedures.

“On pending cases of earned allowances, the union noted that both the Federal and State Governments still owed the arrears of earned allowances derived from the Federal Government/SSANU 2009 agreement. We demand for the full payment and implementation of same, in staff monthly salaries.

“We are against the forceful retirement of our members at the age of 60 in violation of 65 years agreement, in state universities,” the communique said.

The communique added that there was an urgent need for legislation that includes representative of unions in university governing councils.

The national president of SSANU, Mohammed Haruna, alongside other officials from universities in the North-East attended the meeting.

(NAN)