The Nation Newspaper

Tag: ASUU

  • Mark urges FG, ASUU to implement agreement

    Mark urges FG, ASUU to implement agreement

    Senate President, David Mark, on Thursday urged both the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to respect the agreement that culminated in the suspension of the six months old industrial action in order to avoid a repeat of the unfortunate saga in future.

    Mark spoke when the President of ASUU, Dr. Nasir Isa Fagge, his Vice, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi and his predecessors, Dipo Fashina and Dr. Abdullahi Sule-Kano visited him in Abuja.

    He advised that the N200billion education fund lodged with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the purpose of addressing the ills in the universities should be used judiciously to curb the defects.

    He urged them to do all that is required to return education to its former glory.

    The Senate president restated that education remains the bedrock of any nation that must not be compromised or toiled with.

    Mark was quoted in the statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Paul Mumeh, as saying that “Education is the foundation of any development. No nation toils with the education of its citizens. We must make our education strong and functional. We must strive to lay a solid foundation for our future.”

    He sympathized with ASUU on the death of its former President, Prof. Festus Iyayi and canvassed for a qualitative education as a mark of respect for the late Iyayi.

    Mark said wide consultation and dialogue remains the best approach to any disagreement.

    Constant dialogue is the antidote to industrial dispute, he said.

    Fagge thanked the Senate for the mediation that led to the end of the strike.

     

  • Before ASUU strikes again

    Fascinating verbal nuances were evident as the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) ended its marathon five-month old industrial action with effect from Tuesday, December 17. ASUU President, Dr. Nasir Fagge, said “ NEC has resolved to suspend the strike embarked upon on July 1, 2013, with effect from Tuesday, December 17, 2013, and directs its staff to resume work forthwith.” Interestingly, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, said “Notwithstanding the fact that some of the sessions were typically stormy, I am gladdened by the fact that the strike has been called off and we are here to formalise the process that will work to uphold the renewed confidence between ASUU and the government.”

    Note that while Fagge used the word “suspend”, Anyim employed the phrase “called off”. To the discerning, the one implies possible resumption, while the other suggests an ending. This subtle but significant difference in diction deserves contemplation.

    In connection with the likely import of the divergence in their choice of words, in fact, reinforcing the discrepancy, is Fagge’s pregnant statement while addressing journalists at the Bosso Campus of the Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State, where he said, “ASUU would have preferred to undertake the re-negotiation of the 2009 agreement in the second quarter of 2014, but we were persuaded to shift the date to the third quarter, and we agreed as a gesture of goodwill.’’

    So the third quarter of 2014 might be problematic, given the history of conflict resolution involving ASUU and government. It took a marathon 13-hour meeting between ASUU and President Goodluck Jonathan on November 4 to resolve the complicated disagreement, with the government committing itself to injecting N1.3tn into public universities between 2013 and 2018. The compromise involved N220bn yearly government release beginning from 2014, and an agreement to domicile N 200bn in a special account at the Central Bank of Nigeria for the remaining part of this year.

    The high figures were understandable in the context of the dispute which centred on increased funding of the public universities, a declaration of state of emergency in tertiary education, improved wages as well as payment of earned allowances to academic staff.

    It remains to be seen whether the formation of a 12-man monitoring committee on the implementation of the recommendation of the Committee on Needs Assessment of Nigerian Universities can stop a recurrence of strike. It is interesting that the chairman of the committee is no other than the Supervising Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike, the very character who, apparently in a moment of pitiable confusion, threatened to sack any lecturer who failed to return to work on or before December 4, 2013. With such a bossy mentality, may Wike not provoke another storm!

    Fagge put the issue in perspective, saying, “It is our hope that government will honour these resolutions as signed.” This is the crux of the matter. Before the just ended strike, four years ago ASUU had a similar faceoff with the Federal Government which lasted four months, and the terms of resolution unbelievably formed the basis of the 2013 industrial action. So it’s like you never can tell what will happen.

    Sometime ago, in an intriguing creative response to the challenges facing management of public universities in the country, the respected Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, declared that the institutions probably should be shut down for a two-year period to allow for a re-imagining of the concept of tertiary education. Far-fetched, some critics observed at the time. But, in the light of developments, doesn’t it sound reasonable, given the unending see-saw that the ASUU versus government conflict has become?

  • ‘We’ll play our role in nation building’

    ‘We’ll play our role in nation building’

    Fifty undergraduates have promised to assist in achieving effective university administration to boost national development. They spoke at the 12th Correspondents’ Workshop organised by The Nation in conjunction with Coca-Cola System in Nigeria. AYODEJI ADESINA and OPEOLUWA SONUGA (400-Level Law Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife) report.

    “Yes,” say the speakers at the 12th CAMPUSLIFE Workshop held at Citilodge Hotel in Lekki, Lagos last weekend.

    The three-day capacity-building seminar sponsored by Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited and Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) Limited also featured the fifth award ceremony where student-contributors to Campus Life were rewarded.

    Student-writers from different campuses invited for the event converged on the Matori, Lagos headquarters of Vintage Press Limited, publishers of The Nation on Friday.

    The event kicked-off with a tour of The Nation’s facility. The students were conducted round by CAMPUSLIFE Coordinator Wale Ajetunmobi. The first port of call was the Newsroom where the students learnt about newspaper production.

    They also visited the Production room, Pre-press section and Press Hall, where they learnt about newspaper printing and circulation.

    Because of the late arrival of some of their colleagues, the students could not proceed to the NBC plant in Ikeja, the Lagos State capital, on excursion. The event was cancelled to meet up with award dinner.

    For the students, it was an opportunity to catch up again after a long time of communicating with one another due to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike. On their way to the hotel, the students were treated to a sumptuous meal of rice and chicken at Sweet Sensation eatry.

    On Saturday after breakfast, the workshop began with the rendition of the National Anthem. Ajetunmobi took the participants through writing rules to refresh their memory on campus journalism.

    Mr Agbo Agbo, husband of the late pioneer Editor of CAMPUSLIFE, told the students to always read their published reports for improvement.

    The duo of Caleb Adebayo, 400-Level Law, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Ile-Ife, Osun State, and Uche Anichebe, a student of the Nigerian Law School, Lagos campus, made presentations on a four-day Peace Conference they attended in their capacity as CAMPUSLIFE reporters two months ago in Port Harcourt.

    The seminar was facilitated by Chevron in conjunction with Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited. The students said the event enable them to learn how to promote peace in the society, adding that they had become change agents. They urged their colleagues to promote peace in any community they found themselves.

    Adesuwa Ifedi, the country coordinator of Enactus Nigeria, a non-governmental organisation promoting entrepreneurship among students, said because of Nigeria’s population, its youths were strategic to the world market. She told the participants, who she described as “Caleb generation”, to keep hope alive, saying those who did not believe in the coming good days in Nigeria may not witness the period when it comes. Stressing that Nigeria’s future is bright, Ifedi said foreign firms that left the country in the 1980s and early 90s were returning because “Nigeria is too big to ignore”.

    She said youths should acquire necessary skills and knowledge to be relevant in the emerging business world and end poverty on the continent.

    Ifedi played a video about the life of an average Nigerian, going through human evolution phases and ended up with these posers: “Did he live his life as a footprint on the sands of time? Or as a legacy in the minds of men or as if he never were born on earth?”

    Mr Fred Chiazor, Coca Cola’s Scientific Regulatory Affairs Manager, spoke on Sparkling facts to dispel certain beliefs about Coca-Cola products. He said continuous intake of the beverages could not cause diabetes.

    Tolu Ogunlesi’s entry into the Elizabeth Hall of the hotel drew applause from the students. The unassuming Ogunlesi began his presentation in an unusual manner.

    He asked: “How many of you would love to practise journalism after graduation?”

    Dazed by the poser, a few of the students answered in the affirmative. Ogunlesi asked again: “Isn’t it that everybody here is a writer?”

    Ogunlesi, a trained pharmacist turned journalist and CNN/Multichoice African Journalist Award winner, said he never set out to become a journalist during his undergraduate days. Noticing the bewilderment on the participants’ faces, he said he had a different plan after graduating from the University of Ibadan in 2004. He wanted to be a management consultant, he said.

    “I cut my professional tooth in Accenture, a consulting company, and I just wanted to practise as a management consultant. But the opportunities that opened for me changed all the plans,” he said.

    Ogunlesi, who spoke for 20 minutes, said his penchant for “stringing words together” changed his life and discipline. He told the students to prepare to face life’s challenges, saying what they set out to become may be different from what life would bring to them after graduation.

    He urged the student-writers to adapt to the new media, saying journalism is changing from the conventional print and electronic media to digital platform. He advised the students to keep an open mind on all matters and take advantage of social media.

    Getting a job in media houses, he said, would soon require candidates sending links of their original works on their blog. “The quality of your work and who you know would greatly influence how far you can go in journalism,” he said.

    Ogunlesi noted that that there is no end to self-development, saying: “There is no excuse any more. There is no excuse to not know or find out new things. Find experts to learn from and do things that will make experts want to listen to you. People will always give serious people attention. Writing can be learnt. We learn a lot by imitation. When you read a particular writer for so long there are tendencies you begin to reason and write from perspective similar to the writer of such works.”

    After the workshop, the students went on community outreach campaign to the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) in Idi-Araba. They visited children being treated for cancer through Child Survival and Development Organisation of Nigeria (CSDON), a non-governmental organisation established by wife of former Cross River State governor Mrs Onari Duke.

    After the outreach, the participants visited CSDON office in Ikoyi, Lagos, where they spoke with Mrs Duke on how to end infant death in Nigeria.

    According to Uche, it was a life-time experience for her to be part of the youths being mentored through CAMPUSLIFE. UNIMAID’s Taiwo Isola said his flair for selfless service was renewed after the workshop. He hailed The Nation and Coca Cola System for creating a “progressive” platform for youths to channel their thoughts on issues affecting them and the nation.

     

  • What next after ASUU strike?

    What next after ASUU strike?

    With the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike over, universities are trying to find their feet again. How will they recover lost ground without compromising quality? KOFOWOROLA BELO-OSAGIE and Sampson Unamka report.

    THank God, it is all over, at last,” some students erupted in joy on Tuesday on learning that the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) had called off its strike. The students had every reason to jubilate having stayed at home for five months and 16 days, a period during which they would have completed a semester. The joy of ASUU’s suspension of the strike echoed nationwide. From Lagos to Ibadan, Benin, Makurdi, Ilorin, Minna, Kano and Abuja, the students and their parents heaved a sigh of relief.

    The suspension of the strike had long been expected, but it was delayed by the death of former ASUU president Prof Festus Iyayi on his way to Kano for a meeting of the union’s National Executive Committee (NEC) on November 12.

    Rising from a 17-hour meeting of the NEC held at the Federal University of Technology, Minna (FUT Minna) in Niger State, on Tuesday, ASUU President, Dr Nassir Fagge said the union was suspending its strike following its acceptance of the resolution it signed with the Federal Government last Wednesday.

    Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President Abdulwahid Omar witnessed the signing.

    The details of the resolution include the Federal Government’s pledge to pump N1.3 trillion into revamping the infrastructure of all public universities in the next six years.

    With the strike over, public universities are expected to pick up from where they stopped when the action began.

    Though their academic calendar were disrupted, they have redrawn their schedule to catch up on lost time.

    To make amends, Fagge said members of the union would double their efforts to cover the lost ground.

    “We have undertaken to go back to the classroom, laboratories etc, to do our best for our students, their parents and our country,” he said.

    The universities, many of which have fixed resumption for January next year, are considering some options. Should they run a crash programme so that final year students can graduate and those who have just been offered admission can come in? Many students, especially those in their final year, dread elongation of the calendar, and may not mind a crash programme for them to graduate.

    Oritsemolebi Eric, a 300-Level student of English at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), said he does not want to spend longer than necessary in school if it can be helped.

    “Although a lot of students have lost the zeal to read, I will like to be rushed. Anything that will make me to go to the next level as soon as possible, I want it. I do not want to spend extra year in the school because of the strike,” he said.

    Caleb Adebayo, a 400-Level student studying Law at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) also wants to be rushed so he can meet his counterparts in other schools in the Law School next year.

    “I will prefer if they rush us so we can meet up with Law School. If we resume now, we will be in second semester of Year Four. To meet up, they need to rush us,” he said.

    However, will rushing the academic calendar not negatively impact learning? Mr Soji Oyawoye, CEO, Resource Intermediaries Ltd, a recruiting and human resources firm, said the impact of crash programme is that Nigerian universities produce graduates who cannot apply what they learn in school.

    He said: “The truth is that there is no way quality will not be sacrificed. Once time is lost, you cannot get time back. People just come up with certificates; they have the degrees but lack the application. Education in most places outside the country is geared towards of the knowledge gained in school but in Nigeria, it is just to possess the certificates. Universities cannot reverse time. The way it is, they will most likely rush the students to sit for exams in topics they were not taught. If they elongate the calendar, it means the next set will not come in. That is the unfortunate thing about education in Nigeria.”

    As a recruiter for many corporate organisations, Oyawoye said he now advises them to organise robust training programmes for fresh graduates to be able to fit into the work place.

    “We advise that every employer should have a practical training process to make sure that the graduates they employ for entry level get the appropriate training they need for the work place,” he said.

    Already, many universities have restructured their academic calendar. Some universities that pulled out of the strike started lectures since last month. The Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida University, Lapai and the Enugu State University of Technology recalled their students on November 18. The Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA) and the Ebonyi State University (EBSU), Abakaliki followed suit on November 24 and 26.

    Mr Sunday Gana, Public Relations Officer, IBBUL, said the institution has since adjusted its second semester calendar. Lectures, which started November 18 would continue until tomorrow after which the institution will go on break from December 23 to January 3 for the Yuletide. Examinations will hold for three weeks from January 8-31, and the session would end February 3.

    For institutions that did not break rank, some have rescheduled to start next year, and they have resolved not to rush the students. The University of Ibadan will now resume January 4 and continue with lectures until the second semester examination starts on March 31, running the calendar normally until June.

    EKSU VC, Prof Aina said the university has decided to start the session again so as not to sacrifice quality. “There is no short cut. We have to run the normal academic calendar. We probably will resume January 6 for lectures and run the normal calendar. We cannot afford to compromise quality. We were only five weeks into the new session when the strike started,” he said.

    To ensure that students admitted for the 2013/2014 academic session do not lose a full year, Aina said they would start classes when the school resumes.

    “We are bringing in the new students for the session. So we will likely have two sets of 100 Level students. Fortunately, they are not many. They started screening last Monday. We will spend the normal number of weeks for lectures and exam, and probably end the session in November,” he said.

    Vice-Chancellor, Federal University of Technology, Minna (FUT Minna), Prof Musbau Akanji, also said there will be no rush in his university.

    “We will take off from where we stopped. There will be no compression of the semester. We will put in the remaining weeks for the second semester,” he said.

    Dr Tajudden Yusuff of the Department of Actuarial Science and Insurance, UNILAG, said the students will not be rushed because they still have three weeks before the strike.

    “Of course, the three weeks are enough to cover the course outline. Before ASUU went on strike, I almost finished my course outline and was already preparing my students for exam.

    During the strike, the students are expected to have been reading. So for me, when the school resumes I will only use a week to round off my lecture,” he said.

    Mrs Alawode, FUNAAB’s Head, Directorate of Information, said there is no cause for alarm at FUNAAB as the 2012/2013 academic session had already been concluded before the strike.

    “Our session ended normally before the strike. It is just that the holiday was extended. The new session will be starting when we resume,” she said.

    Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar urged the government and ASUU to evolve strong mechanism for resolving crisis of this nature to ensure that it does not fester and disrupt academic studies in future.

    “It has become imperative for ASUU, the Federal Government and other stakeholders to put in a place a mechanism for addressing crisis of this nature so that our students and their parents will not be visited with prolonged closure of our universities in future with its concomitant effects,” Atiku said.

    The former Vice President, who had initiated an online petition to end the strike, regretted the extended loss of time arising from the closure and its adverse effect, which he said, would be borne in the main by the unlucky students and their fee-paying parents.

    Additional report by Medinat Kanabe, Ibrahim Yusuff and Jane Chijioke

     

  • ASUU calls off strike

    ASUU calls off strike

    Life is set to return to public universities after 169 days of a teachers’ strike.

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) called off its industrial action yesterday.

    This followed a marathon meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the union at the Federal University of Technology (FUT) Minna, Niger State.

    ASUU National President Dr. Nasir Isa Fagge said: “NEC resolved to suspend the strike embarked upon on the 1st July 2013, with effect from Tuesday December 17th, 2013 and directs its branches to resume work forthwith”.

    He said the NEC considered the reports from National Secretariat and various branches and resolved to accept the resolutions signed between ASUU and the Federal Government on December 11. The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) as witnessed the ceremony.

    In suspending the strike, the union will facilitate the inauguration of the Implementation and Monitoring Committee on the Report of the NEEDS Assessment of Nigerian Universities and ensure faithful compliance to the report.

    Fagge said NEC wanted areas in the ASUU-FGN agreement of 2009 that require policy and legislative steps to be promptly addressed for the challenges facing the system to be effectively tackled.

    He added that the union hoped that all the provisions of the extant agreements for the revitalisation of the University system will immediately focus on the policy and legislative needs.

    Fagge appreciated the understanding and support of students, saying teachers have resolved to go the extra mile to cover the five months lost.

    Assuring parents and students, the ASUU President said: “We have undertaken

    to go back to the classroom, laboratories etc, to do our best for our students, their parents and our country.

    “We are going back to rekindle the motivation and aspiration in our members to strive to encourage our students to excel, all in expectation that government will sincerely honour its own part of the bargain.

    “We are returning to classes with the firm hope that parents will take actual interests in their children’s conditions of learning and living. We expect parents to actively demand better funding, better living conditions, better laboratories, better freedom for their children, in order to get on all-round education that will enable them compete with the rest of the world.”

    The ASUU President said: “It is our hope that government will honour these resolutions as signed. That nobody shall be victised in any way whatsoever for his/her role in the process leading to these resolution and agreement”.

  • After ASUU, don’t forget ASUP

    After ASUU, don’t forget ASUP

    SIR: The long waited suspension of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has finally come. Students of federal and state owned universities can now go back to school after 170 days of strike by their teachers. But still, it is not yet over.

    Our brothers, sisters, friends and colleagues in the polytechnics are still at home. They have not been in class since October 4. This is as a result of the resolve of Academic Staff Union of the Polytechnics (ASUP) not to return to class until the constitution of governing councils for the polytechnics, release of white paper on the visitation panels to federal government and the commencement of NEEDS assessment of the polytechnics.

    Other demands/grouses of the polytechnic teachers are the halting the appointment of unqualified persons as rectors and provost by some state government, failure of government to implement the approved salary package(CONPCASS), 65-year retirement age for the members, the worrisome state of state owned polytechnics, the continued recognition of the National Board of Technical Education as the regulatory body of the Nigerian polytechnics as against the unions’ repeated call for the establishment of National Polytechnic Commission(NPC), the non commencement of the re-negotiation of the FGN/ASUP agreement as contained in the signed agreement, the snail speed on works on the amendment of the federal polytechnic Act/scheme of service and migration of the lower cadre to CONTISS salary scale.

    Indeed, these issues need not shoved aside nor left unattended. The continuous stay of students at home is uncalled for. These young minds are delayed from progressing.

    It will be recalled that ASUP embarked on strike on April 29. The strike lasted for 81 days before the intervention of the joint committees on education in the National Assembly. The strike was suspended for one month in order to address the issues.

    As a result of the failure to address the issues, the strike resumed on October 4. Till date, nothing has been heard on the strike.

    Education at whatever level is pertinent to society development. No level need receive attention more than the other. If it happens, the result would be an unbalanced scale in our hands. A scale where graduates of universities are perceived to perform better than their polytechnic counterparts. A scale where there is segregation and discrimination; a scale where polytechnic graduates are treated as second-hand citizens. Are these meant to be so?

    Over N400 billion was allocated to the entire education sector in 2012. Out of these, federal polytechnics got N63.7 billion, representing 15.92 percent, while federal colleges of education got N42.5 billion which represented 10.62 percent. But federal universities got N188.4 billion representing 47.10 percent – in other words, the university sector alone received twice of what was allocated to the polytechnics and colleges of education.

    Even as the needful has been done for the universities, same hand needed to be extended to the polytechnics. Government, do the needful; the students are anxious to resume their studies.

    • Kelechi Amakoh

    University of Lagos

  • ASUU finally calls off strike

    ASUU finally calls off strike

    After 169 days Nigerian public Universities are now open for academic activities as the National Executive Council (NEC) of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) suspends its action.

    The national President of the Union, Dr. Nasir Isa Fagge announced the suspension of the action at the Federal University of Technology (FUT) Minna after a 17 hour council meeting.

    Announcing the council decision Fagge said, “NEC resolved to suspend the strike embarked upon on the 1st July 2013, with effect from Tuesday December 17th, 2013 and directs its branches to resume work forthwith”.

    The ASUU boss said the NEC considered the reports from National Secretariat and various branches on the on-going strike which commenced on the 1st July, 2013 resolved to accept the resolutions signed between ASUU and the federal government on the 11th December, 2013 with the President of NLC as witness.

    It also resolved that in suspending the strike the union will facilitate the inauguration of the Implementation and Monitoring Committee on the Report of the Needs Assessment of Nigerian
    Universities and ensure faithful compliance to the Needs Assessment Report.

    Fagge also said that NEC wanted areas in the ASUU-FGN agreement of 2009 that require policy and legislative steps to be promptly addressed for the challenges facing the system to be effectively taken care of.

    He further said that the union hoped that all the provisions of the extant agreements for the revitalisation of the University system will immediately focus on the policy and legislative needs.

    Fagge while appreciating the understanding and support of the Nigerian students during the strike said that members of the union have resolved to go extra miles to cover the five months of non-academic activities.

    Assuring parents and students ASUU President said, “we have undertaken to go back to the classroom, laboratories etc, to do our best for our students, their parents and our country.

    “We are going back to rekindle the motivation and aspiration in our members to strive to encourage our students to excel, all in its expectation that government will sincerely honour its own part of the bargain.

    “We are returning to classes with the firm hope that parents will take actual interests in their children’s conditions of learning and living. We expect parents to actively demand better funding, better living conditions, better laboratories, better freedom for their children, in order to get on all-round education that will enable them compete with the rest of the world”.

    The ASUU President then urged the federal government not to renege but faithfully implement the resolutions reached and signed with his Union, especially in the area of victimisation.

    According to Fagge, “it is our hope that government will honour these resolutions as signed. That nobody shall be victimised in anyway whatsoever for his/her role in the process leading to these resolution and agreement.”

  • ASUU: Needs Implementation body raises monitoring teams

    ASUU: Needs Implementation body raises monitoring teams

    The NEEDS Assessment Implementation Committee for public universities has constituted monitoring teams to oversee the execution of projects on the campuses of the 59 federal and state universities.

    They are to benefit from the Federal Government’s N100 billion intervention fund.

    The constitution of the monitoring teams was the high point of the meeting which held at the Benue Governor’s Lodge, Asokoro, Abuja.

    The meeting, chaired by Benue State Governor Gabriel Suswam was attended by Minister of State for Education, Nyesom Wike; representatives of the Senate and House of Representatives Committee on Education Senator Atiku Bagudu and Dr Macjohn Nwaobiala, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), and leaders of industrial unions in the university system (NASU, SSANU and NAATS) with the Acting Executive Secretary of TETFund as Secretary.

    Members of the committee include the Minister of Education, Minister of Labour,Senator Atiku Abubakar Bagudu, Hon Jerry Alagbaoso, Permanent Secretary Federal Ministry of Education, Executive Secretary NUC, Chairman Board of TeTFund, Presidents of ASUU, NASU, SSANU and NAATS while Mr.Ifiok Ukim,Head of Legal Services at TeTFund will serve as Secretary.

    The Committee constituted six monitoring teams for the six geo- political zones with responsibility to monitor project implementation in all the universities within the zones.

    The North- Central team which has Hajia Hindat Abdullahi as chairperson will monitor the projects in the zone. Mr Oluwole Oluleye will chair the monitoring committee for northeast zone. The Northwest has Mallam Aliyu Na’Iya, Acting Executive Secretary of TeTFund as Chairman with Prof. Kimse Okoko, Chairman, Committee of Pro- Chancellors as Chairman of Southeast Monitoring Sub-Committee. The Southsouth Team will be led by Mrs Sarah Alade (Deputy Governor, Economic Policy), representative of CBN while the representative of the NNPC, Dr Dan Efebo will chair the Monitoring Team for the Southwest geo- political zone.

    Suswam urged the teams to take the assignment seriously. He described the exercise as a call to national service. The Benue governor appealed to the governing councils of the 59 benefitting universities in the first phase of the intervention programme to expedite action on their procurement processes so that the actual work on the projects will begin in earnest.

    The Federal Government had last month disbursed N100billion to the public universities in a bold move to redress the serious infrastructural deficit in the university system.

  • ASUU to announce decision today

    ASUU to announce decision today

    Striking universities teachers will today announce their decision on whether to end the almost six months old strike.

    They stated this last night after a marathon National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) at the Federal University of Technology, Minna.

  • Journalists assaulted as ASUU holds NEC meeting

    Officials of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Federal University of Technology, Minna chapter, on Monday manhandled journalists who converged to get details about the union National Executive Committee meeting at the university.

    They were also shut out of the university on the orders of the branch Chairman, Dr. Abdulfatai Jimoh.

    But the journalists were later allowed in after the intervention of Mrs. Lydia Legbo, the university’s chief information officer, after they had been locked out for more than one hour.

    Problems started when a member of the local organising committee in the institution came out, warning that the safety of the journalists were not secured.  He also rained abusive words on the journalists, resulting in a face off.

    The refusal of journalists to leave the premises and confirm social and international media reports that the union has called off the strike did not go down well with the branch chairman who resorted to name calling and hurling insults on them.

    Dr. Jimoh claimed that reporters’ presence  “was not needed.”

    At the time of filing this report, a source within the meeting said they were yet to take a decision on whether to suspend the strike or not.