Katsina — The Katsina State Government has faulted the Academic Staff Union of Universities' (ASUU) claim of reducing the monthly overhead of the Umaru Musa Yar'Adua University (UMYU) from N16 million to N7 million.

The state's Commissioner for Higher, Technical and Vocational Education, Prof. Abdulhamid Ahmed, debunked the union's claim while briefing journalists in Katsina on Monday.

The Chairman of ASUU, UMYU branch, Murtala Kwara, had, in a press conference, decried the reduction of the monthly overhead of the Katsina State-owned University from N16 million to N7 million by the state government.

As a result, he said the institution faces severe financial challenges and could no longer sustain itself with the meagre funds allocated to it by the state government

But Ahmed, during the media chat, said the current administration of Governor Dikko Umaru Radda inherited the N7 million monthly overhead cost of the institution from the previous administration of the state.

He said the administration of Governor Radda, which he proclaimed as committed to revolutionising the educational sector of the state, did not reduce the overhead of the university or any of the state's tertiary institutions.

According to him, "Just to be clear, the current monthly overhead of N7 million for Umaru Musa Yar'adua was inherited from the previous administration of the state. Therefore, the current administration, led by Malam Dikko Umaru Radda, did not reduce the overhead for Umaru Musa Yar'adua University or any other institution in the state.

"The administration received no complaints or requests to increase the university's monthly overhead. Therefore, the union is raising concerns about the reduced and inadequate overhead, which the university management should address."

He said the state government has prioritised the welfare of both academic and non-academic staff of the university, hence the prompt payment of their salaries and Earned Academic Allowance (EAA), "as a result, it stands tall against all the public universities in the country in that respect".

He further stated that the university has financial autonomy over its revenue, as it can generate and spend revenue without remitting any funds to the treasury of the Katsina State Government.

Despite the financial autonomy and 'huge' internally generated revenue of the institution, Ahmed said, the state government has never denied the university's requests for financial assistance since assumption of office by Governor Radda.

While describing the government's financial support to the university as unprecedented, the commissioner said: "This includes the release of N85,992,000.00 for the accreditation of new courses and N40,000,000.00 for the conduct of the 9th-13th convocation ceremony."

He said Governor Radda has demonstrated his administration's commitment to educational development of the state by paying off the outstanding liabilities for the construction of the university's Faculty of Agriculture at Layin Minista.