The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Biodun Ogunyemi

  • ASUU strike, Charlie Boy episodes dominate Google searches

    ASUU strike, Charlie Boy episodes dominate Google searches

    The latest nationwide strike  declared by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Charlie Boy episodes in Abuja dominated searches on the internet search engine Google, this week.

    Google’s spokesman Mr Taiwo Kola-Ogunlade made the announcement in a dispatch to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lagos.

    He listed the week’s top trending search terms on Google to range from shocking strike news to an exciting new episode of a hit TV series.

    “The President of the union, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, in a media briefing session held in Abuja on Aug. 13, officially declared that ASUU was embarking on an indefinite strike.

    “He said that during the strike there would not be any teaching, examinations or attendance of meetings of any kind allowed in institutions under the union.

    “The strike is said to be caused by some unresolved financial agreement between the Federal Government and the union.

    “In response to the news, the National Association of Nigerian Students issued a statement, urging the Federal Government to dialogue with ASUU and giving a 21-day ultimatum to resolve the strike.

    “Concerned citizens headed to Google to find out which institutions might be affected by the strike,” Kola-Ogunlade stated.

    He said that the hit TV series, Game of Thrones returned with its 7th season, episode 5 early last month.

    The spokesman said that the much anticipated new season was thrilling fans, keeping them glued to every episode.

    “This week, viewers searched Google for a glimpse of episode 5 as the quest for the Iron throne continues.”

    The Google manager said that the tagged protest, #ResumeOrResign also got a lot of people’s attention online.

    “The self-acclaimed area father and musician, Charles Oputa, a.k.a. Charley Boy and Deji Adeyanju, took to the streets of Abuja last week Monday to protest the indefinite medical leave of President Mohammadu Buhari.

    “During the protest, tagged #ResumeOrResign, Charly Boy collapsed and reported that he was attacked by hoodlums and the police in an effort to derail the protest.

    “In another account, the police claimed that officers only moved to disperse some criminal elements that were infiltrating the protest.

    “They also said that Charly Boy over-dramatised his collapse for the TV cameras.

    “Eye-witnesses contradicted the police account and Nigerians seeking the whole story turned to Google for details,” Kola-Ogunlade said.

    He said that in the world of sports, Cristiano Ronaldo’s 5-match ban by the Spanish Football Federation got people searching for details online.

    He said that the ban was issued to the Real Madrid star as a result of an altercation with referee Ricardo De Burgos at the Real Madrid 3-1 Spanish Super Cup first leg victory on Aug. 13.

    Kola-Ogunlade added that Ronaldo was said to be given a $3,543.20 fine, a four-match ban and one outstanding, due to the red card served to him. Football fans raced to Google search to get the full story.

    The Google image-maker said that the Aug. 12 violence in Charlottesville got well-wishers and interested Nigerian readers visiting Google to search for updates about the situation.

    “A white nationalist-organised ‘unite for right’ march escalated into a full blown protest as they were joined by counter-protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S.

    “The clash between the protesters led to violent exchanges, tussling and the death of one civilian with cars plowing into protesters and the death of two state troopers in a helicopter crash at the scene.”

    Kola-Ogunlade said that a Nigerian singer, rapper and songwriter Keshinro Ololade, a.ka. Lil Kesh, dropped a new single titled ‘Baby Flavour’.

    “The ex-YBNL recording artist has been absent from the music scene for a while before the release of his new song.

    “Fans are excited about his return and headed to Google to download and listen to Lil Kesh’s new single.

    Google trends launched in May, 2006, allows one to see how popular, search terms and its demography have been over time on Google.

  • ASUU frowns at mandatory sale of handouts by lecturers

    ASUU frowns at mandatory sale of handouts by lecturers

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities in Nigeria (ASUU) has expressed displeasure at the mandatory sale of handouts by some lecturers in tertiary institutions.

    Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, President of the union, expressed this view in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja.

    “It is not wise for lecturers in our tertiary institutions to compel students to be buying handouts, though it is not a widespread practice; we have few people that are misbehaving.

    “But the system has a way of handling them, so anywhere they see them they always put them on check.

    “It is not permitted in the system and there is a structure for tracking and dealing with that so ASUU as a union don’t condone it and we discourage it anywhere and everywhere we go,’’ he said.

    However, a cross section of Nigerian students had decried the rate at which some lecturers extort money from them in the name of selling of handouts.

    Speaking in separate interviews with NAN, students lamented that they were being forced to buy handout and that failure to do so could result in failing the courses.

    Mr Osita Chukwu, a student in the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Abuja, alleged that the lecturers usually assigned some students to sell the reading materials to them.

    Chukwu alleged that the handouts were sold between N1, 500 and N2, 000, saying that the students were also made to submit their registration numbers for identification of defaulters.

    “The most annoying thing is that you may have three lecturers handling a course and each of them will print a handout for students to buy.

    “And they will make it compulsory, so that you have no option than to subscribe to it, because if you decide to photocopy it, you may stand the risk of failing the course.’’

    Miss Joy David, a student in the Faculty of Business Administration, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, decried the manner some lecturers compel students to buy handouts that sometimes lack depth.

    Contributing, Miss Janet Obiora, a student of Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, said the sale of handouts by some lecturers had promoted mediocrity among students as many of them no longer go to the school library to do research.

    She opined that the mandatory sales of handouts also encouraged laziness among students who often want to concentrate on the handouts from their lecturers.

    Similarly, Mr Yinusa Bello of the University of Abuja said that compulsory sale of handouts by lecturers would increase examination malpractice among students, who may be tempted to take such handouts into examination halls.

    Bello, therefore, appealed to ASUU to take the necessary measures that would discourage the habit of  the lecturers in indulging in the sale of handouts compulsorily for students.

    According to him, not many students have the purchasing power to the bidding of the lecturers, who insist that the purchase of their handouts is the surest way to passing certain courses.

    “Some of these handouts are less than 30 pages which if students were allowed to photocopy will cost them lesser than the original price,’’ he said.

  • ASUU calls for more help for IDPs in North East

    ASUU calls for more help for IDPs in North East

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Tuesday appealed to Nigerians to help donate food items toward the survival of the many Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the North East.

    The ASUU National President, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, made the appeal while presenting food items donated by the Bayero University Kano (BUK) chapter of union to Gov. Kashim Shettima for the Borno IDPs at the Government House in Maiduguri.

    The items donated included bags of rice, millet, sugar, spaghetti, cooking oil, among others.

    Ogunyemi said that the gesture was aimed at addressing food problems among the IDPs.

    He said that the union was touched by the conditions of the IDPs who had lost almost everything in life.

    “We in ASUU feel for our people and we are sincerely concerned on what is happening in terms of survival level of Nigerians today.

    “The ordinary people are finding it difficult to earn a living, talk less of our compatriots in the IDP camps,’’ he said.

    “In view of that, we have encouraged our members all over the country to start thinking of a way to intervene in order to bring relief to the IDPs.

    “What we are witnessing today is like a start off of the programme, one of our branches have started and I want to assure you that other branches will pick up too.’’

    Ogunyemi urged Nigerians, especially wealthy individuals and philanthropists to also mobilise resources toward helping the IDPs.

    Receiving the items, Shettima, who was represented by the Borno Head of Service, Alhaji Bukar Yakubu, thanked the union for the gesture and urged others to emulate them.

    The ASUU team was also at the Goni Kachallari IDP camp in Maiduguri where it distributed the items among displaced persons.

    Speaking at the ceremony, the ASUU, BUK Chairman, Dr Ibrahim Barde said that the items were purchased from monthly donations by members of the union.

    “We decided to tax our members through a monthly contribution. Today, we have been able to raise enough to buy these food items,’’ Barde said.

    He said that the object was to alleviate the suffering of the IDPs and expressed hope that the intervention would help alleviate the sufferings of the people in no small measures.

    “We hope to ginger others not only from the North but from the entire country to help,’’ Barde said.

    Barde said that the donation had also shown that ASUU had a human face.

    “ASUU is an association of intellectuals and most people used to see us as an association always fighting government.

    “This is to show that ASUU has a human face,’’ Barde said.

  • ASUU to NASS: Address funding issue for varsities

    ASUU to NASS: Address funding issue for varsities

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has called on the National Assembly to address the issue of low funding of the education sector in the country.

    The ASUU President, Prof Biodun Ogunyemi made the call on Wednesday while answering questions from newsmen after the inauguration of a new secretariat constructed by the ASUU chapter of Kano State University of Science and Technology, Wudil.

    NAN reports that the new ASUU secretariat was named after Nasir Hussein, a founding member of the union in the university.

    Ogunyemi said the union was not happy with the allocations to the sector in the last three years and said that the National Assembly must change the narrative.

    “In this year’s budget 6.1 per cent was allocated, last year it was eight per cent and we rejected it and the year before was 11 per cent.

    “So the allocation to the education sector has been on the decline and what we are saying is that we will no longer take it.

    “We went to the National Assembly during the budget defence and argued our case,” the ASUU president said.

    He expressed hope that the lawmakers would do something urgently to address the issue, to enable Nigerian universities have the necessary facilities for uninterrupted academic activities and be able to compete with other universities across the world.

    “We hope the National Assembly will address the issue of funding and address other problems bedeviling the universities in the country.

    “We have always been engaging government on what they need to do to make our universities globally competitive to attract and retain the best academics.”

    According to him, the union is also working to promote policies that would address the welfare of its members as well as improve the quality of lives of Nigerians.

    Ogunyemi also commented on salary shortfalls in some universities, saying that the union would no longer tolerate such.

    “We have written to the government. We met at Yola last week and we put it on the table that as from the end of March, we will no longer accept any reduction in what is due to our members as their entitlements.”

    He added that ASUU would continue to concsientise Nigerians to identify people with the capacity to provide the best leadership in the country.