Brave Dickson
An associate professor and lecturer at the University of Port Harcourt, Dr Steve Wordu has accused heads of universities, saying they embezzle public funds like politicians.
Whenever the stealing of public funds in any sector of the economy is synonymous with the embezzlement lifestyle of the country’s politicians, it means financial corruption has gone haywire in such sector.
This is because Nigerian politicians are known for high level of financial theft while in office.
In a chat with our correspondent, Wordu said, “universities in Nigeria will not do well on global ranking if those that are vested with managerial powers continue to steal public funds at the expense of their schools.
“This is the reason universities have refused to publish their budget. They don’t want the public to know how much their schools generate, receive or spend.
“These corrupt managers of universities seem to have been entrenched with some political powers that instead of desisting from embezzlement, they turn around looking for dissenting voices to victimize.
“They award poor contracts and procure low quality equipment that do not encourage scholarly advancement, just because of that tendency to siphon the funds of their institutions.
“Universities are ranked by their global contributions in areas of productivities, inventions, etc, and Nigerian universities are seriously lacking behind.”
Wordu also said that the country’s universities don’t have laboratories
to carryout scientific findings.
According to him, during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, it was expected of Nigerian universities to come up with scientific solutions like other countries across the globe but well equipped and technologically advanced laboratories were not there.
