The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Academic Staff Union of Universities

  • FUT Minna sets to conduct 2017/2018 Post-UMTE screening – Official

    FUT Minna sets to conduct 2017/2018 Post-UMTE screening – Official

    The Federal University of Technology, Minna, says it will go ahead with the 2017/2018 Post-UTME screening despite the ongoing strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Non-Academic Staff of the University.

    The Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Prof. Oluwole Morenikeji disclosed this a statement signed by Mrs Lydia Legbo, the Institution’s Public Relations Officer and made available to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Minna on Friday.

    Morenikeji, also Chairman University Pre-Admission Screening Exercise (UPASE), said that the institution has concluded all logistical arrangements needed to conduct another hitch-free screening.

    He expressed optimism that the ongoing strike action would not affect the exercise since the Post UTME candidates are not yet bonifide students of the University.

    He said that the University would employ the services of corps members who are serving in the institution to conduct the exercise and other people who have agreed to assist the University during the exercise.

    He explained that since the examination is computer based, there would be no need for many invigilators.

    ” Those who are willing to assist us to conduct the exercise will be contracted and they will be paid for the job. So, I do not see any problem why the screening will not hold as scheduled” he said.

    He said that the corps members have been trained on the procedures for the screening.

    ” We expecting 10, 000 candidates for the exercise and that over 7, 000 candidates have concluded their registrations as at Wednesday, September 13, 2017″

    He further maintained that the deadline for registration for the screening remains 12 midnight of September 15, 2017 as advertised by the University.

    According to him, failure to register for the exercise online before the schedule time would amount to disqualification.

    On the facilities on ground for the exercise, the University has increased the number of computers at the Electronic Test Centre from 400 computers to 800 computers so that the exercise would only take four batches per day instead of eight batches that was used last year.

    He stated that the University would only accept Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination results and O’ Level results downloaded directly from the websites of the various examination bodies.

    He reiterated that the University minimum entry requirements still remain five O’ Level credits including Mathematics and English Language obtained at not more than two sittings in subjects relevant to their proposed courses.

    On the controversy surrounding the 120 cut-off marks set by Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Morenikeji said it was not JAMB that set the cut- off score rather the decision was taken by all vice-chancellors, rectors and provosts who were at the meeting.

    He said that it is the prerogative of University Senate to set cut-off marks.

    He noted that admission into FUT, Minna is straight- forward and transparent, saying that candidates does not need to know anybody before they can get admission into the University rather their performance at the screening would get them admission.

  • At Kogi varsity, students contribute money to pay teachers

    At Kogi varsity, students contribute money to pay teachers

    The dismissed Kogi State University (KSU) teachers have withheld graduating students’ results and vowed not to release them, except the school withdraws their “sack letters” and pays their arrears. To pacify the aggrieved teachers, some of the students are secretly contributing N3,000 each to facilitate the release of their results. MOHAMMED YABAGI reports.

    The fate of the graduating students of the Kogi State University (KSU) in Anyigba is hanging in the balance – no thanks to a battle between the management and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). The school has just resumed another session, but the graduating students’ results from all faculties have not been computed.

    This development is in response to the proscription of ASUU by the government, and last month’s mass dismissal of members of the academic staff by the school authorities.

    At the time of filing this report, graduating students are not sure of their fate, weeks after the school rounded off the 2016/2017 calendar. The sacked lecturers have vowed not to release their results until their demands were met by the school. The lecturers want their salary arrears paid and they also want the school to reverse their dismissal.

    The lecturers were sacked over their refusal to resume work after a six-month internal strike. No fewer than 150 members of the academic staff were affected in the mass dismissal, which followed the government’s proscription of ASUU in the school.

    Some of the graduating students, who spoke to CAMPUSLIFE, are worried about their fate, because they have not had access to the results of their final examinations. The students complained that some of them may end up having two extra sessions in the school if they failed compulsory courses in the withheld results.

    CAMPSULIFE gathered that some of them who had carryover courses in the first semester of the 2016/2017 session could not register in the current session because they did not know if they passed all the compulsory courses in the second semester.

    Gideon Amedu, a graduating student of the Department of Philosophy, said his department had not released 300-Level and final year results, expressing fear that many of his colleagues may likely come back after the session to register for 300-Level courses. He said there was no hope any student from his department would be mobilised for the National Youth Service this year, because the department had not released any result in the last two years.

    He said: “It is sad that my department has not released any results since 2015. Like me, many students in my set are experiencing the same fate. We have not seen our results for both 300- and 400-Levels. Some of us in my department and others from other departments are eager to know our fate as to whether we can still go for National Youth Service this year or not.

    “If the results had been released, most of us would know whether there is a need to remedy any compulsory course. But for now, we don’t know if we are in good standing or not. As I speak to you, none of the graduating students really knows what to do. This is why we are pleading with our lecturers to consider our plight and release the results to the school.”

    Another graduating student, Moses Eleojo, decried the situation, noting that KSU “is one institution that seems to thrive on crisis and unconventional method of doing things”.

    He wondered why students could not access their results a year after they sat for examination, saying the credibility of the results could be affected by the prolonged withholding. He blamed the situation on what he called “the lackadaisical attitude” of the management.

    He said: “In other institutions, lecturers are expected to submit students’ results no later than three weeks after the conclusion of examination. But in KSU, lecturers can sit on results for as long as they want and this situation is putting students under unnecessary pressure, and giving lecturers opportunities to manipulate results.”

    Findings by CAMPUSLIFE revealed that some lecturers, who resigned from the institution in the wake of the recent ASUU-government faceoff, also went away with students’ results and marking sheets to be used to grade final year students’ research projects.

    Some graduating students, who are not ready to take chances, have chosen to take their destinies in their hands, CAMPUSLIFE reliably gathered. It was learnt that some frustrated students had started to contribute money to pay the sacked lecturers’ salaries to facilitate the release of the withheld results.

    A source told CAMPUSLIFE that graduating students from a department in the Faculty of Social Sciences have started to contribute N3,000 each to pay off the salaries being owed a lecturer, who now teaches in another university.

    Reacting, one of the disengaged lecturers at the Department of Mass Communication, who did not want his name in print, vowed not to release students’ results in his possession if his arrears were not paid by the school. Before the matter blew open, he said the management made several entreaties to the affected lecturers, noting that many of them rejected the school’s plea because of the way they were treated by the school and the government.

    The Mass Communication lecturer said the decision to hold on to the results was taken because the affected academic staff did not get assurance on whether salaries owed would be paid.

    He said: “The only thing that can make me release results in my possession is for the school to pay my arrears and withdraw the illegal sack letter issued. This is the only condition to settle the matter. There were promises made by the management in the past, they ended in disappointments. I will release the students’ results only if I am paid and recalled.”

    Another affected lecturer, Mr. Ben Ibe Onoja, said the graduating students’ results were not unjustly being withheld. “The fact is that, we are still on strike,” Onoja said.

    He said it would be unprofessional for any lecturer to refuse to submit students’ results at the end of the session. He added that the school management should know how to recover any result being unjustly withheld by any lecturer.

    He said: “Do you expect people who are on strike to carry out any official engagement? Marking of scripts and submission of results to management is an official function, which anyone on industrial action should not engage in.”

    A source in the Public Relations Department, who pleaded not to be named, said the management was working round the clock to ensure the matter was resolved on time, so that the students could be mobilised for National Youth Service.

  • LASU sacks ASUU leader, 16 others for alleged bribery, forgery, other offences

    LASU sacks ASUU leader, 16 others for alleged bribery, forgery, other offences

    The accusations and counter-accusations between the Management of the Lagos State University and the Chairman of the school’s branch of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Dr Isaac Akinloye Oyewunmi, reached a climax yesterday with Oyewunmi’s dismissal by the authorities of the university.

    Also dismissed alongside Oyewunmi were 14 academic and two non-academic staff of the university, whose dismissals were ratified at the sitting of the Governing Council on Thursday.

    The dismissed staff of the university include Dr. Adebowale Adeyemi-Suenu, Senior Lecturer and Acting Head, Department of History and International studies; Mr Olatoye Mubin Raji, Assistant Lecturer, Department of Religions (Islamic Studies Unit); Dr. Olugbenro Bankole Odofin, Senior Lecturer, Department of Education Foundation and Counselling Psychology; Dr. Adebowale Adebayo Ademeso, Senior Lecturer, Department of Theatre Arts and Music; Dr. Scholastica Ebarefimia Udegbe, Lecturer 1, Department of Marketing and Dr. Olufemi Olugbenga Soyeju, Lecturer ll, Department of Jurisprudence and International Law.

    Others are Dr. Olawale Ganiyu Raimi, Senior Lecturer, Department of Biochemistry; Mr Ademola Olusola Adesina, Lecturer ll, Department of Computer Science; Dr. Shamisudeen Olusesan Badmus, Lecturer ll, Department of Accounting; Dr. Emmanuel Sesofia Asapo, Senior Lecturer, Department of Chemical and Polymer Engineering; Dr. Christiana Ibidun Obagbuwa, Lecturer ll, Department of Computer Science; Mr Lateef Babatunde Salami, Lecturer ll, Department of Microbiology; Olubukola Adetoun Oyeniya, Assistant Research Fellow, Centre for Environmental Sciences and Sustainable Development; Dr. Fatimat Oluwatoyin Bakare, Assistant Lecturer, Department of Chemical and Polymer Engineering; Mr Ramon Ajose Alli (former Head Machine Operator); Mr Emmanuel Baoku Babatunde, a Senior Security Officer and Mr Ernest Odili, an Assistant Security Officer.

    Their dismissal was contained in a statement signed by the university’s acting Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mr Adekoya, and made by available to The Nation.

    The allegations against the affected lecturers ranged from bribery, result/grades falsification and doctoring of certificates to defaulting on the conditions of their training leave bond and dishonesty, among others.

    Similarly, Dr. John Olufemi Adeogun, an associate professor, Department of Human Kinetics, Sports and Health Education, Faculty of Education, was demoted for “acts bordering on dishonesty,” while a non-teaching staff and senior security officer, Mr Emmanuel Baoku Babatunde, was also reduced in rank for “deliberate sabotaging of the university’s security operations.”

    The case of Oyewunmi, a senior lecturer in the Department of Human Kinetics, Sports and Health Education, had been on the table since November last year when the school’s management alleged that he collected a N50,000 bribe from 2003 modular year students of Political Science Education on the sandwich Programme.

    Oyewunmi, who until his dismissal yesterday was the ASUU-LASU chairman, denied it all.

    His case was to later polarise the rank and file of the union, with some pitting their tents with management others described it as victimisation of the union by management, using certain elements who were considered loyal to the immediate past administration which had a running battle with ASUU-LASU and other unions, but was eventually kicked out.

    However, the management said it premised its judgement on the integrity of the investigative panel as well as the individuals being given a fair hearing.

    “The Joint Council /Senate (Academic) Disciplinary Committee and the Joint Council (Administrative and Technical Staff) Disciplinary Committee which heard the cases strictly followed all laid down procedures, and duly gave opportunity to the individuals involved to defend themselves. The Lagos State University is poised to continue to quality assure its processes,” the statement further stated.

    The university’s branch of ASUU said yesterday that it was aware of the report and would make its pronouncement known at the appropriate time.

    ASUU-LASU Secretary, Dr Tony Dansu, said the union would keep mum on the issue for now.

     ”We are aware of the release, but we want to be silent for now.

    “We shall soon convene a meeting, and whatever is the outcome shall be made public through you. That I can assure you,” he said.

  • ASUU strike and non-compliant varsities

    ASUU strike and non-compliant varsities

    Some universities did not join the nationwide strike called by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) for various issues.  However, the ASUU leadership says their non-compliance does not discredit the strike, report KOFOWOROLA BELO-OSAGIE, ADEKUNLE JIMOH (ILORIN), AIWERIE OKUNGBOWA (ASABA), and SOJI ADENIYI (OSOGBO).

    The campus of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife is unusually not busy. The hustle and bustle of academic activities have reduced. Classes are not going on. The reason is not because of the nationwide strike called by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on August 13. It is because the institution is wrapping up its first semester examination of the 2016/2017 academic session.

    Its Public Relations Officer, Mr. Biodun Olarewaju, said the examinations would be concluded this week and the students would begin a short holiday that would last no longer than a fortnight before they resume for the second semester.  He confirmed plans by the university to conduct the post-UTME screening for prospective candidates this month.

    “We will finish this week. Some, who were meant to write last Friday and Monday but did not, are waiting to do so. We will give the students a break of one or two before resuming for the second semester.  They do not have to go home; this is not a sessional exam. Those who don’t have money to go home can stay and those who want to can go home. We will do post-UTME this month,” he told The Nation on Tuesday.

    However, that is not the news. The news is: OAU is not part of the ASUU strike.  This is because OAU is usually one of the institutions noted for compliance with directives from the national leadership of the union.  But this is not presently the case.

    When asked why the institution did not join the strike, Olarewaju said the lecturers were magnanimous enough to consider the welfare of students, given that the university was behind in the academic calendar.

    “We put the interest of our students at heart because we have not been meeting up with the academic calendar, so our lecturers decided we should join the strike.  We are grateful to OAU ASUU chapter for that,” he said.

    However, The Nation found that the lack of compliance has more to do with crisis in the local chapter of the union than the magnanimity of the lecturers.

    Before the call for the industrial action, the OAU ASUU had been bedevilled by crisis occasioned by the appointment of Prof. Anthony Elujoba, as Acting Vice Chancellor, which a faction of the union, led by Dr. Caleb Aborisade, insisted did not follow due process. But another group led by Dr. Niyi Sunmonu, has the blessing of the university authorities.

    It is this group that claimed that the directive of the national secretariat of ASUU could not be obeyed because the union was not informed about the strike.

    Sunmonu said:  “The directive to embark on a strike was not communicated to my committee. The directive from the national ASUU was not directed to us, but as faithful ASUU members we still considered it at our congress. And the decision of the congress was that since we were not communicated officially, the referendum to go on strike or not was not before us.”

    However, on his part, Aborishade, who said his group was the one recorgnised by the national ASUU secretariat, said that his “loyal members complied with the strike order.”

    According to him, the strike is for the future of the education sector.

    He said: “As far as we are concerned, the OAU is on the same page with ASUU national secretariat. My members were in compliance with the directive of the NEC, which is to fight the rot in the university system. The greatest offence anybody can commit in ASUU is to break a strike which some people have decided to do. We resolved at our congress that we will not disturb anybody from holding exams; they go by their own conscience, and it’s by choice. For example, my own exams, there is no way it can be done, because I am on strike. Though the university authorities are trying to intimidate my members by issuing queries to them, we still complied with strike order.

    When asked to comment, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Eyitayo Ogunbodede, said OAU lecturers were not interested in the strike.

    The Nation, however, gathered that past leaders of ASUU, including Dr. Dipo Fashina, were in the university to reconcile factional members of the union in the interest of all. OAU is known for taking active positions in union matters in the past.

    Nevertheless, OAU is not the only institution that did not the strike. Others include the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), which has not embarked on strike since 2001; the Kwara State University, Malete, and the Delta State University (DELSU), Abraka.

    All the institutions have local issues.

    Explaining the no-compliance at DELSU, the immediate past ASUU chairman, Dr. Emmanuel Mordi, said although the lecturers backed the decision by the national body to go on strike, the chapter could not comply with the directive because it did not recognise the election that ushered in the chairman, Prof Abel Diakparomre.  As a result, he said, the chapter did not participate in the process leading to the strike.

    Mordi hailed the decision the strike, saying “the strike action is long overdue”.

    He accused the Federal Government of “freely making agreements and breaching them”, stressing that ASUU demands were geared towards arresting the downward spiral in the tertiary education sector.

    At KWASU, which had just resumed for a new session when the strike was announced, there are two factional chairmen, Dr. Adesola Dauda and Dr. Issa Abdulraheem.

    Both said the branch did not join the strike.

    Dauda, whose faction is recognised by the national body of ASUU, said his faction was still on observer status.

    He said: “The ASUU national is on strike but KWASU is not because we are on observer status. We have just joined ASUU and by their constitution we have to observe. We are on observer status if we have the capability to join.  But up till now, I am still having problem with my university management. The university management does not want union to exist in KWASU.”

    Abdulraheeem, recognised by the KWASU management, said the strike was not being observed in the university.

    “We are not on strike. We have just resumed,” he said.

    At UNILORIN, the local ASUU chapter that has the heart of the university management has gained notoriety within the national leadership of the union for not complying with strikes. This has been the case since 2001 when 49 lecturers of the university were sacked for joining a national strike.  Though they were reinstated in 2009, the university has two factions of ASUU, the stronger of which does not comply with strikes.

    Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academics) Prof Sidikat Ijaya said the university had gained positively from not going on strike.

    Speaking at an international conference organised by the Social Studies Association of Nigeria (SOSAN) and hosted by the university, at the start of the strike,  Ijaya said: “This non-participation of UNILORIN in all strikes called by ASUU has been responsible for the unbroken academic calendar and peace we have on campus in the last 16 years.”

    However, the factional ASUU Chairman, who is recognised by the UNILORIN management, Dr. Usman Raheem, said the union agreed with ASUU on the reasons for the strike.

    He said the lecturers did not join the strike because the chapter was not informed about it.

    Raheem said: “UNILORIN is not observing the strike called by the national union of ASUU because of obvious reasons.

    “Since 2001, UNILORIN has not been part of ASUU national, which has also been carrying its activities without us. The reasons for the strike and need for it were not communicated to us at UNLLORIN. So, the referendum for whether it will hold or not in this university was not conducted because it was not communicated to us.

    “However, we came across the reason the national union is calling the strike. We believe in it; we believe that ASUU has a reason to agitate for the implementation of the 2009 agreement, which the Federal Government signed with the union. It is just honourable that the Federal Government honours the agreement. We support the move to force them to do the needful.”

    Reacting to the reasons for non-compliance in the institutions visited, National ASUU President, Prof Biodun Ogunyemi, said ASUU was aware of the local issues in the chapters and excused the unions to sort out their domestic issues. Nonetheless, he said their non-compliance did not discredit the union’s struggles as it recorded more than 90 per cent compliance.

    “Any branch that has crisis, we know they have a disability and as such they cannot present a common front.  In each organisation, there will always be weak areas.  But it does not detract from the integrity of our struggle.  Over 90 per cent of our branches are on strike,” he said.

    He however accused the UNILORIN chapter of being hypocritical by supporting the reasons for the strike, but not joining in the struggle.

    Ogunyemi said: “Can you not see that it is contradictory? You believe in what someone is doing but you cannot do it; you say you were not invited.  They know they have violated the ASUU constitution.  UNILORIN has always maintained this moral bankruptcy.  They want to reap where they did not sow.  Don’t be surprised this has been happening in Ilorin. UNILORIN is not a good university to showcase when it comes to moral steadfastness.”

    The ASUU chief also condemned the university management for persecuting lecturers loyal to the national body.

    “Our members who are loyal, they have sent them out – placing them on suspension. The secretary of the union has been suspended for more than six months.  We protested but nothing was done – so there is official connivance,” he said.

    ASUU is billed to meet with the government again today in Abuja to negotiate issues that led to the strike. The union is demanding: The registration of Nigerian Universities Pension Management Company, NUPEMCO; payment of complete salaries in federal universities (salaries have been incomplete for about a year) and better funding of state universities; payment of arrears of earned academic allowances; release of funds for rehabilitation of public universities; implementation of guidelines for retirement benefits of professors; exemption of universities from the Treasury Single Account (TSA) and resumption of funding for universities staff primary schools.

    If all goes well, students may soon be called back to the classroom.

     

  • ASUU strike: I have one of my children at home as we speak – Minister

    ASUU strike: I have one of my children at home as we speak – Minister

    To find a lasting solution to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is now to lead the Federal Government’s negotiation team with the teachers.

    ASUU has been on strike since August 13 over the failure of the government to implement an agreement it reached with the union in 2009.

    The union also alleged that the Federal Government did not implement the Memorandum of Understanding the two sides signed in 2013.

    The union, in a statement on Tuesday, said it would call off its strike after receiving a positive response to its demands from the Federal Government.

    The teachers boycotted a meeting scheduled to hold between the government and the union on Tuesday.

    Minister of Labour and Employment Chris Ngige briefed State House correspondents at the end of the FEC meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    Ngige, who was with the Ministers of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola and Sports and Youth Development, Solomon Dalung, also blamed the private sector for the delay in announcing the chairman of the Minimum Wage Review Committee.

    According to him, the Federal Government is ready and will announce the chairman of the committee when all the names of representatives of the private sector is received.

    He said: “The government thanked the parents and even the students who are supposed to take their exams and promotional exams now but have been forced by circumstances beyond their control to stay at home. I have one of my children at home as we speak.

    “Government is leaving no stone unturned to make sure that we reach a conclusive agreement with ASUU so that they can go back to the classroom. This is the first national strike that this government is facing and we want to discuss.

    “The Vice President has taken over some of the aspects of the negotiations and discussions, so we are continuing the meeting in his office and when we finish meeting, we will get back to ASUU for another round of meeting and we are hopeful that we will be able to go to an appreciable extent to solve some of the outstanding issues that is preventing them from going back to work,” he said.

    The Federal Government, he said, is ready and will announce the chairman of the Minimum Wage Review Committee when all the names of representatives of the private sector are received.

    He said: “The National Minimum Wage Committee, the government side is ready. We have on the government side four ministers – ministers of Labour and Employment, Finance, Budget and Planning.  I can’t remember the last one now but we have our team ready. We also have the Head of Service of the Federation, Acting Secretary to the Government of the Federation on the government team. The chairman will be unveiled when we have full component of the committee.

    “The aspect that is delaying us from inaugurating the committee is the organised private sector. The organised private sector has eight representatives of which the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA) has four nominations, we have not gotten their nominations. Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) has two nominations; their nominations just came in yesterday. Nigeria Association of Small Medium Enterprise (NASME) has one; they have not sent in their nomination. NACCIMA has not sent in its nominations.

    “So we are waiting fir these nominations. When they come in, the government will nominate the chairman and inaugurate the committee.” he added

    Fashola said FEC approved the award of engineering and electromechanical works contract worth $5.792 billion for the Mambila Hydro Electric Power Plant located in Taraba State.

    Recalling that the project started in 1972, he noted that there has been no significant progress since its inception.

    According to him, the contract now awarded to a joint venture with a Chinese Civil Engineering Company (CCECC) will be completed in about six years.

    On the scope of work to be handled by the firm, the minister said: “The project requires the construction of four dams; one of them is about 150 meters in height, the immediate two are 70 meters in height and the smallest of them is 50 meters in height.

    “It also includes 700 kilometers of transmission line. It will be in Taraba State in the area called Gembu, and it will unleash the potential that have been reported about Mambila, including agriculture, tourism and energy,” he said.

    When completed, Fashola said, the project will help Nigeria strike a big blow on the climate change and fulfill its commitment under the Paris Agreement.

    Explaining how the joint venture will work, Fashola said: “You will recall that sometimes last year, the Chinese government held a summit in South Africa; essentially what that was about was supporting and partnering with African government to do their infrastructure and also funding the Agurua projects. So, this was one of the projects of infrastructure that was submitted there and I think it also had the rail component.

    “The money is coming from the Chinese government through their Exim bank, so it is an export funding support for them and an import funding for us; 85 percent is supposed to be financed by them and 15 per cent is our own counterpart funding. The award now triggers contract negotiations for the financing side and after that is concluded the projects can now start.”

    Mambilla will generate 3,050 megawatts of power. “The productive output will be a function of water supply, because that is the major source of fuel, its a hydroplane,” Fashola said.

  • BSU: 6,400 matriculate amid ASUU strike

    The matriculation of 6,400 new students by the Benue State University(BSU), Makurdi, coincided with the nationwide strike declared by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASSU).

    The matriculation ritual for new students for the 2016/2017 academic session, last week Wednesday, had hardly wrapped up when ASUU members, in the university joined their counterparts in other institutions.

    Barely two hours after the matriculation exercise, the Academic Staff Union of Universities, BSU chapter joined the nationwide strike declared by the national body of ASUU.

    ASUU-BSU chairman Prof David Ikoni, told The Nation that the union met same day of the matriculation, and resolved to join the strike.

    Administering oath of allegiance on the new students, Vice-chancellor of the university Prof Moses Kembe lamented incessant strikes that have rocked the university.

    He recalled that the matriculation initially scheduled for April was put on hold due to a three-month strike earlier embarked upon by ASUU-BSU.

    Kembe said of the 13, 141 who sat for the last Unified Tertiary and Matriculation Examination (UTME) as well as an additional 1,482 direct entry candidates, only 6,400 scaled admission hurdle.

    He said the new students should consider themselves lucky to have been offered admission, urging them to abide by the spirit of the oath.

    Kembe further implored the new students to remain committed to academic excellence, adding that that the university is now Information and Communication Technology-driven,.

    On his part, Ikoni dispelled rumors that the chapter paid over five million naira to the national secretariat of ASUU to abstain from the strike. He described such speculation as a ‘blatant lie’, noting that the strike is for their benefit.

    “We have just finished our congress and it was resolved that we must join the strike with immediate effect. It is for our benefit. It is a blatant lie that we six million naira not to go on strike,”he said.

    It could be recalled that the university had just reopened for academic after being closed down for more than three months as a result of strike embarked upon by lecturers to demand  the earned academic allowances (EAA).

  • Tension as Kogi varsity sacks 150 teachers

    Tension as Kogi varsity sacks 150 teachers

    The Kogi State University (KSU) has sacked 150 striking lecturers for their refusal to return to work. The action drew the ire of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), which described it as callous. MOHAMMED YABAGI reports.

    THE  battle line has been drawn between the Kogi State government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), following the sack of 150 lecturers in one fell swoop.

    Their dismissal followed the proscription of the KSU chapter of ASUU by the Governor Yahaya Bello after the institution resumed from a seven-month strike. The lecturers were fired for refusing to return to work. The lecturers are sympathetic to the ASUU leadership, which insisted that the government must pay all arrears owed workers before the school  is re-opened.

    CAMPUSLIFE gathered that the lecturers, who received their letters of dismissal on August 14, refused to sign the attendance registers opened in all faculties. It was gathered that 48 lecturers were affected at the Faculty of Natural Sciences, where the ASUU Chairman, Dr Daniel Aina, teaches.

    A source, who asked not to be named, said affected lecturers would not get last month’s salary. The source said: “Their names have been removed from the July salary schedule that will soon be sent to Lokoja for payment.”

    Two weeks after the re-opening of the university, the national leadership of ASUU declared an indefinite action. But KSU lecturers said they would not join the strike, because of the proscription of their chapter.

    The local ASUU said the proscription was illegal, describing it as an infringement on members’ right to associate. The union also dismissed as a joke, the management’s decision to sack its members. The union, Dr Aina said, would fight the replacement of Heads of Departments.

    But, students are backing the school in its face-off with their teachers. They criticised the local ASUU chapter for “attempting to bring the school to another round of strike” while it is yet to recover from the effects of the previous action.

    The students hailed the government for proscribing ASUU on the campus.

    A final year Economics student, Nathaniel Ekele, said: “It may not have gone down well with many people, but I support the government’s decision. It is the best decision to save the school from collapse. With what is happening within the national leadership of ASUU, it shows the government took a wise decision. After about seven months of internal strike, we cannot afford to join the ongoing strike.”

    Solomon Ajayi, a 200-Level Chemistry student, said the mass sack of lecturers might backfire on the institution and cause another crisis. While he did not support the KSU for joining the strike, he urged the local ASUU  to consider the plight of students.

    “Since I gained admission into the institution, we have not had a stable academic calendar. We have been bearing the brunt of the disagreement between the institution and its workers. KSU needs to do away with any strike. This is why I support the ban on ASUU. But, I am afraid about the mass sack of lecturers by the management. This may create another problem for the institution. We expect all parties to meet and solve the matter amicably because students will resist any attempt to close the school again,” he said.

    Describing ASUU’s demands as “selfish”,  the students warned the lecturers not to mortgage their future.

    An employee, Andrew Ojonugwa, said the proscription of ASUU was unpopular on campus. But, the action, he said, was in the interest of the students and academic stability.

    He said most KSU workers did not support the ASUU leadership.

    Ojonugwa said: “Those of us who saw reasons with the government and supported its decision on the proscription of ASUU have been labelled with all sorts of unprintable names. How would the students feel today if the current industrial action by the national ASUU again disrupts academic activities in KSU?”

    A top management officer told CAMPUSLIFE that members of the local ASUU forced the school to implement the  proscription order. He described ASUU as “highly confrontational and insensitive”.

    The source said the Vice-Chancellor (VC), Prof Muhammed Sani Abdulkadir, reached out to ASUU for amicable resolution of the matter. He claimed that the ASUU leadership  rebuffed the peace move.

    He said: “The VC, at a point, found it pointless to continue making efforts to engage the local ASUU leadership. Despite all entreaties to them, they could not see why they should suspend their strike. It was natural to have believed, therefore, that there was more to it than met the eyes. The ASUU was highly insensitive and confrontational in its approach. We had to proscribe the union and dismiss some of them that did not resume for work.”

    But, ASUU said it would not be intimidated by the action. The union said the condition for peace is for the school to reverse the “callous decisions” taken against its members.

  • Sounding the death knell (1)

     It has become fashionable – and indeed a status symbol – to post pictures of Nigerians graduating from foreign universities. A close look at the surnames of the graduates says one thing: they’re mainly the children of the elites. Even in the posting of such pictures, attention are often paid to the university in question before one is accused of graduating from a third rate foreign varsity like the finance minister is often accused of.

    Like almost everything Nigerian, some have grown so numb that they do not see anything wrong when leaders flash the images of their sibling’s matriculation or graduation ceremonies in some of the world’s most prestigious or elitist universities. There was a time holding wedding ceremonies and other parties in Dubai and London was in vogue. Some say that’s simply who we are.

    It is against this background that I want to address the current “total, comprehensive and indefinite” strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) which commenced last Monday in response to the federal government’s failure to fulfill the 2009 agreement it reached with the union.

    Strikes by university lecturers is nothing new, it is a recurring decimal in our polity. The surprise this time around is that it took this long. The lecturers have been giving the signal for some time now, but as usual, there are “more important” matters to deal with than lecturers strike. After all, how many of the children of government functionaries and the elites attend Nigerian universities? For whatever it is worth, there appears to be a silent conspiracy to simply allow public universities die a slow and painful death.

    The last major ASUU strike during the regime of former President Goodluck Jonathan was long drawn and bitter. To gain a better understanding of the issues at stake in the 2009 agreement a flashback is necessary.

    At the height of the 2014 strike, the former president was quoted as saying: “We have witnessed strikes before; most of the strikes, government don’t agree to the extent we have agreed before they (ASUU) called off the strike. I believe in Nigeria, politics has crawled into so many things we do. When you observe the way people do certain things, you have the feeling that something else is happening… There are some of the issues in the 2009 agreement; there are those issues that they know cannot be implemented.”

    Countering the former president, Dr. Nasir Isa Fagge, former ASUU president said: “What government has so far been doing is no more than a repeat performance of a one-act-play: all the deceptions, propaganda, lies, mischiefs and such other Shenanigans were tried by previous Governments, including Military Juntas, but our resolve to save the University System and our country remained unwaivered. We will continue to carry the banner of this struggle to its logical conclusion. I urge all our members to maintain the spirit of camaraderie and remain firmly resolute in ensuring that our patriotic struggle succeeds.”

    These were two diametrically opposed views from the actors in the last fight to position, re-position or politicise tertiary education in Nigeria; it goes to show how “complex” the issue has become. A major determinant of national university policy from 1991 appears to be the agreement negotiated between ASUU and the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN).  These agreements officially referred to as the ASUU/FGN Agreements, have also come to be the major determinant of academic peace, progress, stability and quality on most university campuses.

    Since July 1 2013 – as has been the case on an average of twenty years since 1992 – the academic peace, stability and standard has come under severe strain due to  disagreements between  the signatories to another agreement – the 2009 ASUU/FGN Agreement on state of implementation.

    At his fifth presidential media chat in 2014, Jonathan said the nation’s bitter politics had crept into the strike and was responsible for the refusal of the lecturers to suspend their action despite the government’s effort. “In the past, they did not go this far before a strike was called off; but now politics has gone into everything.”

    He however did not elaborate when pressed further by a five-member interview panel on his claim about ASUU demands being politicised. I left with the impression that we are still on ‘a long walk to freedom’ (apologies to former President Nelson Mandela). In the interview though, the former president underscored the important role of education in liberating Nigerians saying his administration was the first to carry out an inventory of the infrastructure in all the nation’s universities with a determination to change things for the better.

    He said on the completion of the inventory of the infrastructure, his administration set aside N100 billion to reverse the infrastructural decay in the tertiary education sector, adding that the situation would not improve overnight.

    On the allegation that the federal government refused to implement the agreement it reached with the ASUU in 2009, which forced the teachers to go on strike, the President said the issue was beyond the 2009 agreement. According to him, the federal government has agreed to all the issues in the 2009 agreement, except the agreement on the transfer of assets and wondered how such an agreement was signed in the first place. “There are some of the issues in the 2009 agreement; there are those issues that they know cannot be implemented,” he said.

    But in a letter to the Federal Government dated August 20, 2014 ASUU had expressed dissatisfaction with government’s offer of N100billion as a way out of the strike. “We observe that the Committee is so far mentioning only N100billion. If the implementation is to be related to the funding requirements in the 2009 ASUU/FGN Agreement and the Jan 2012 MoU, what is due for 2012 and 2013 is N500billion not N100billion. Only the provision of this sum will meet the immediate needs of the universities.”

    Fagge, had at a press briefing in Lagos late August 2014, said, the Association wants the best for the students and calling off the strike without getting it (the funds required) will amount to a waste of time with all the protests. “If the Federal Government doesn’t shift grounds, we’ll also remain here until we are attended to appropriately. We can’t call off the strike now and return to what we’ve been going through over the years. Or embark on the strike action again after three months or in one or two years’ time. Do we just continue deceiving Nigerians when facilities are not in place for proper learning? We want to address the problems once and for all.”

    An agreement, as far as I know, is in jurisprudence binding and, therefore, subject to judicial interpretation should any of the parties to the agreement have reason to believe that the terms are not followed.  The ASUU/FGN Agreements shouldn’t have been a different exemption from this universal jurisprudential principle especially in a democracy like Nigeria.

    But here we have different interpretation to things.  The fact though is that the immediate victims are not the signatories but the Nigerian society who must trail behind others in Africa and elsewhere on the international scene in this regard.  For one, and I need to emphasise this, ASUU has nothing to lose from the truncation of academic programmes and the abridgment of academic syllabuses that turns out unemployable graduates.

    From reports, the strike is holding firmly across the country. While a country like Singapore became one of Asia’s great success stories, transforming itself from a developing country to a modern industrial economy in one generation trough education, here we are toying with the destiny of millions of Nigerians. During the last decade, Singapore’s education system remained consistently at or near the top of most major world education ranking systems.

     

     

  • ASUU strike: Blessing or curse?

    ASUU strike: Blessing or curse?

    The national strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has once again disrupted the academic calendar.  While students and their parents groan about the impropriety of the strike, ASUU leaders defend their decision to shut the classrooms until the Federal Government honours the 2009 Agreement. 

    After a three-year break from prolonged national strikes, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) started an indefinite strike on Monday, causing concern for students and their parents.

    The lecturers are not to return to the classrooms or laboratories of public universities until the Federal Government honours the 2009 agreement with the union.

    The unfulfilled agreement the union is fighting for include the non-payment of Earned Academic Allowances (EAA), the failure to complete modalities to set up the Nigerian Universities Pension Commission, withdrawal of funding from staff schools, and the non-injection of the agreed N200 million funds yearly into the university system to support infrastructural development.

    The directive had immediate effect in many public universities were classes stopped abruptly and examinations suspended.  In others, academic activities slowly grounded to a halt – with some schools cramping the examination timetable to conclude the academic session with minimal damage. However, some other institutions could not salvage the session as they were scheduled to start examinations in a few weeks.

    The strike was in full effect at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), University of Ibadan (UI), Ekiti State University (EKSU), Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA), Federal University Oye Ekiti (FUOYE), and Bayero University Kano (BUK), University of Calabar, among others.

    At BUK on Tuesday, students were seen leaving the campus with their suitcases. The situation was similar at EKSU and FUOYE with a good number of students travelling back home while those who did not travel were holed up in their hostels both on campus and off-campus.  At UNILAG, where examination was scheduled to commence in two weeks, many students hung around waiting for directives to vacate the hostel, while at UI, students were forced to stop examination midstream.

    When our correspondent visited the Federal University Lokoja (FUL) on Monday night, examinations were ongoing in some of the departments. While the 200-Level Economics students sat for one of their papers on Tuesday morning, others in 100 Level had theirs in one of the courses at 11.30am.

    A student in the History Department, who gave her name as Blessing, said she was billed to finish her end-of-semester examinations by Saturday, but that the papers were crammed, to make all end by Thursday.

    However, not all public universities may join the strike.  The Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, which usually always complies with ASUU strikes, and the Delta State University (DELSU) are not on strike because of problems in the local chapters of the union; while the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) has a tradition of not joining ASUU strikes for over a decade.

     

    Students: strike not fair

     

    Students were unanimous in describing the strike as unfair, particularly coming at a time institutions are about conducting examinations to complete the 2016/2017 academic session.  For some others, such as FUOYE, the Benue State University and Kogi State University (KSU), where students recently resumed after various local strikes that kept them at home for long, this one is a sad blow.

    A BUK student, Silver Dada, said: “These ASUU people are not trying at all. They did not consider the hardship our parents are facing in this economic meltdown. For a course of five years, with this strike, which is indefinite, I may end up spending six years in the university. They are doing this because all their children are schooling abroad. Please, help me to tell ASUU and the Federal Government to settle their differences because we are going for another round of suffering. I cannot just imagine what is actually happening in the academic system and education system of Nigeria.  This is quite unfair.”

    Another BUK student, Joshua Enenche, who was on his way out when he spoke with The Nation, described the ASUU strike as a big disappointment and big shame to Nigeria.

    “I am going back to my parents without knowing when I am coming back because the strike is indefinite. The government must rise up and do something urgent to resolve the crisis in the shortest possible time because an idle mind is the devils playing ground,” he said.

    A UNICAL student, Jane Okwocha, said students were idling away time in school.

    “We came to school on Monday morning for lectures but no one came to teach us. There were no academic activities the entire day.  Today, Tuesday, again nothing is happening. Some of us you have seen are those who belong to study groups or have tutorials among themselves. I think it is quite unfair to the students. What this means is that there is hardly any academic session that does not gets disrupted by these strikes.”

    A student of KSU, who had already spent five months at home, said the situation at the institution would become even worse with the national strike.

    The source said: “We are in a quandary here, and just when we were hoping that some miracle will unknot the issues, it has gotten worse. We are in double jeopardy. Our ASUU has problem with the state government, and, now this!”

    Peter Abah, a 400-Level English student at the Benue State University (BSU) also recently resumed school after a strike.  He expressed concern about the incessant strikes and called on the Federal Government to tackle the matter once and for all in the interest of young people.

    Nigerian Youth and Students Organisation (NYSO) National President, Comrade, Tonye Tom-George, at a briefing on Tuesday said the strike was untimely.

    “It is unfortunate that at this crucial time that our universities just started recuperating from the damages done by the same strike in the previous years, that the same ASUU is embarking on another indefinite strike.”

    Niger Delta Students Union Government, National President, Edom Smart, appealed to ASUU to consider the  recession affecting students and their parents/guardians, urging the Federal Government to expedite action in the implementation of the ASUU agreement.

    However, another group, the Education Rights Campaign (ERC), backed the strike.  Its LASU Coordinator, Akorede Dhikrullah, urged students to look beyond the effect of the strike, saying it would benefit them, if well implemented.

    A statement by the group accused public servants of spending money that would have been used to meet the lecturers’ demands.

    “For us in the Education Rights Campaign (ERC), we find it unacceptable that while the government finds money to buy exotic cars for lawmakers, finance the outrageously expensive treatment of President Buhari in London and guarantees insanely luxurious lifestyle for political office holders, it is unable to find money to fund public education and meet the needs of academic staff,” it reads in part.

     

    Parents: strike an expensive venture

     

    A parent with three students at BSU, Mr Terna Ugande, said the strike was costing him too much money.

    “I am at loss over the current strike because I have three children in the university. It has cost me enormous money.  My hope was that this year they would graduate,” he said.

    A mother, Mrs Angela  Obodo, who has three daughters at the University of Port Harcourt, said she almost collapsed when her children called to inform  her that they  might be returning home  because of another strike.

    Obodo said: “This is sad news for me. I cannot afford to have them at home.  What is the problem? If they owe the lecturers, the government should settle them because at the end, it is our children that will suffer. They are about to write their exam; they should allow them to finish this semester first before anything.”

    Another parent, Mr Paul Adebamito, whose daughter schools at EKSU, said he was saddened that the strike commence at a week students were supposed to start their examination urging ASUU and government to reach an agreement to prevent a lengthy face-off.

    He said: “What pains me most was that the lecturers went on strike a week the students were supposed to start their examination. With this situation, many of the students will be doing a lot of negative things.”

    Mr Archibong Andinam, a parent with a child at UNICAL, urged the government and lecturers to resolve the impasse to limit the negative effect on students.

    “These issues have lingered for too long and it is never a pleasant experience when our children have to come back home and just stay like that. The negative impact is so much. The constant disruption of their academics is not the best for their entire teaching-learning process. There is a calendar that should be adhered to for effective teaching and learning, but with the constant disruptions, I really wonder how effective the whole process would really be.”

     

    ASUU: recession no excuse

     

    While both parents and students have urged ASUU to consider the poor economy and not insist on getting all its demands, members of the union do not agree.

    ASUU Chairman at EKSU, Prof Olufayo Olu-Olu, said there was nothing wrong about the timing of the strike as the university teachers had endured a long wait to have the agreement implemented.

    Olu-Olu revealed that part of the agreement was the setting up of a pension scheme to which ASUU as a body had contributed over N1 billion.  However, members who were retiring could not access the funds because the Nigerian Universities Pension Commission had not being licensed.

    He said: “You (government) have an agreement with a body since 2009 for God’s sake; it is a long time because this is 2017 and that makes it eight good years.

    “We kept on reminding them and within these eight years, there have been changing governments and you are hearing how they have been embezzling money and spending huge amounts of money on elections every four years.

    “Those in the Executive arm, those in the Senate, House of Representatives and House of Assembly members, are earning huge sums of money, despite the recession in our country and the same government has refused to implement our agreement.”

    The immediate past chairman of Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUU), Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike chapter, Comrade Uzochukwu Onyebinama, said contrary to insinuations by many that persistent industrial actions by the lecturers was having negative effect on the education system, he said it had brought huge benefits the system.

    Onyebinama, who spoke to our reporter at the institution on Tuesday, blamed the government for being insensitive to the plight of students and lecturers.

    “Well, the strikes are not the reasons for the fallen educational standards. The reason is really lack of facilities. You are here in my office and as you can see, I don’t even have light. I cannot even engage in any meaningful activity today. The essence of this strike is to redress these inadequacies to enable us perform.

    To end persistent strikes, he said the government should be alive to its responsibilities.

    “This strike is to get the outstanding agreement of 2009 implemented. If they have done that, we won’t be talking about the strike.

    “They should address the issue of salary shortfall. It began in 2015 actually, but since this January, we have not received our salaries in full. It is eight months as we speak. Our earned allowance from 2014 till date hasn’t been paid. When we were on a week strike last year, the leadership of the National Assembly intervened and made an offer to clear the arrears after they concluded the forensic audit of the money already released, we said that we don’t want the money to be paid in piece mill, that we will wait for the next 6months to allow them finish what they were doing, that ended in June and government hasn’t written to tell us if they have concluded with the audit.”

    ASUU Chairman of UI, Dr Deji Omole, said it was sad that after the last major strike in 2013, which lasted six months, the Federal Government only realeased N200 billion to improve facilities in public universities once instead of annually. He said the government is owing federal universities N880 billion intervention fund and N128 billion fearned academic allowances.

    Spokesperson of the Committee of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian universities, Prof Michael Faborode, faulted the government’s handling of its negotiation with the union.

    He said the issues ASUU has raised were cogent and should not be treated lightly.

    “The ASUU strike is a result of mishandling and non-demonstration of sincerity by the government. There should have been no strike with forthright engagement with the education sector, but we have been playing to the gallery.

    “While serious apprehension persists about the state of our education from primary to tertiary level, the NEEDS Assessment conducted in 2012 did not tell a lie about how bad things were. Yet, government after government played around with the future and destiny of the country, while more and more government officials and the rich send their children abroad, including to West African countries, with the implied capital flight.

    “It makes no sense, as in the health sector too, that we allow our own facilities and institutions to decay, while we scamper overseas draining the already dwindling resources to sustain other economies, and our own continue to rot.

    “We are too eager to complain about quality of education and that no Nigerian university is highly-rated globally. The way forward is a visible pragmatic commitment to taking the issue of knowledge-driven economy that accords proper priority and focus on quality and functional education very seriously. It is very obvious that the nation is handling education with levity and disturbing insincerity and we have to face the reality. Pretending or hoping that we can continue to patch-patch without serious soul-searching and redefinition of purpose will be wishful thinking,” he said.

     

  • Use varsity research, govt urged

    A professor of History, Siyan Oyeweso, has challenged the Federal Government to utilise research from universities.

    He said the Federal Government had done well by heeding the advice of the Academic Staff Union of Universities to set  up the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund),  which public universities, including tertiary institutions nationwide, are able to tap into for infrastructural upgrade, particularly research, most of which often end up on the shelves.

    Oyeweso spoke at the Nigerian Academy of Letters’ 19th Convocation and investiture of new fellows held at the University of Lagos (UNILAG).

    Oyeweso, alongside four others-Professors Unionmwan Edebiri, Mabel Osakwe, Abubakar Adamu Rasheed ans Josephth Inikori, were inducted fellows of the academy.

    He said: “We should thank ASUU, which made a case for TETFund, which was formerly Education Tax Fund. TETFund has impacted greatly on infrastructural development of universities in terms of laboratories, ICT buildings, lecture halls, libraries and all that.

    “When people say researches in Nigeria are not of high quality, I tend to disagree. The quality of research will first and foremost be determined by scientific and rigorous criteria, before conclusions are made.

    “Our colleagues in universities keep churning out research upon research, but how often do the government utilise them? Each time there is a research, governments are often informed but that is where it ends.  So, it’s not about the quality of research, but the impact of the research on policy formulation and execution. And this is where I must make passionate appeal to the media to also help disseminate this information.”

    Oyeweso describes the investiture of the quintet as a ‘call to duty’

    “It’s a beautiful experience! It’s a call to duty and renewal of faith in academic discipline and integrity, and the need for those of us in the humanities to show greater relevance to our society,” he said.

    He continued: “Not every professor can become a fellow or member. To become a member, you must have been a professor for five years minimum, and held key academic positions. But to be a fellow, you must have been a professor of at least 10 years. Even if you are 20 or 30 years as a professor, what matters is your magnitude of teaching, research quality and currency of publications. You must be able to publish up to date and your publications must impact on the society.

    “Today, others and I rededicate ourselves to the value and essence of the Nigerian Academy of Letters to sustain academic discipline, integrity and to follow in the footsteps of my grandfathers and masters in humanities discipline.‘