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Tag: Dr Deji Omole

  • Only FG can end strike – ASUU

    Only FG can end strike – ASUU

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) said on Monday that only the implementation of the agreement reached with the union by the Federal Government would end the strike and nothing more.

    ASUU described government’s handling of the issue as “mockery of global standards of university education.”

    The union asked federal government to use public funds to fund public education.

    The Chairman of ASUU, University of Ibadan chapter, Dr. Deji Omole, stated these while featuring in a program on Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State (BCOS AM120) monitored in Ibadan.

    Omole, who said ASUU has never run away from negotiation, argued that the issue in connection with the strike is about implementation and not negotiation as disclosed by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige.

    The ASUU chairman said it was sad that successive governments failed to realize that funding of education is an investment that would bring about enduring positive change in Nigeria.

    He said: “When you reached agreement you must implement it. They just finished Ileya festival and why are we celebrating? It was because someone promised to sacrifice his son to God. When he decided to fulfill it, God replaced that with ram and that is why we are celebrating. Jesus Christ also promised to come and die for the sin of the world and he came and fulfill that promise and that is why you still have people who believe in his second coming. Why will government not fulfill their promises contained in signed agreements? That is what brings crisis. Government should see education as investment. The products will come out to change society.

    “University is to develop ideas to change society. What we are doing in the universities is a mockery of university education. Government should pump in money so that we can solve Nigeria’s problems here in Nigeria.

    “If our universities are properly funded, we can conduct cutting edge researches that can take us out of the recession. What we are simply saying is the federal government should use public funds to fund public education.

    “Chris Ngige is naive. He should check his records and see if there are new demands in his file. University lecturers and students are not the one who created recession. The ruling class through their activities plunged Nigeria into recession. Government should stop establishing new universities if they cannot fund existing ones. Universities are not constituency project.”

     

  • ASUU tongue-lashes JAMB over 120-point mark for admission into varsities 

    ASUU tongue-lashes JAMB over 120-point mark for admission into varsities 

    Following the release of the minimum cut-off mark for 2017/2018 admission into tertiary institutions across the country, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Thursday lashed out at the Federal Government describing the move as “a sad policy decision for the future of Nigeria.”

    Reacting to the decision in an interview with newsmen in Ibadan, Chairman ASUU, University of Ibadan, Dr Deji Omole accused the President Muhammadu Buhari led FG of having a dream of destroying Nigeria education

    It would be recalled that, JAMB Registrar Prof. Ishaq Oloyede had in agreement with other stakeholders announced 120 and 100 as the minimum scores for admission into University and Polytechnic respectively.

    He was quoted saying, “30 % of those in higher institutions do not take JAMB or have less than the cut-off marks. The admission process is now automated with direct involvement of the registrar of JAMB for final approval. We have agreed to regularize admissions that were done under the table this year. From next year we will not accept anything like that.”

    Omole who accused the JAMB registrar of presiding over illegality, insisted that the decision on the cut-off mark is a sad policy decision for the future of Nigeria, particularly her education.

    According to Omole, rather than sanctioning the identified universities who admitted over 17,000 students illegally, the JAMB registrar simply regularised illegality and lowered cut-off marks to favour the interests of the friends of government who owns private universities and are hell bent on destroying public education.

    While reiterating the call for the scrapping of JAMB for out-living its useful existence, Omole said students should apply directly to universities of their choice for admission.

    The ASUU boss who noted that to think of admitting into the tertiary education system in the country with 30percent score is to plant doomed future for Nigeria.

    He said: “It is sad that the present administration’s dream was to destroy education in Nigeria.

    “Where are those the JAMB registrar said entered universities illegally? which universities admitted them? If 30percent did not take JAMB and found their way into the university system is that not corruption and a message that JAMB is not significant anymore? What sanction did those who did the illegal thing receive other than regularization of illegality?

    “We are watching because long before now we have said that JAMB has outlived its usefulness. Let the universities set their unique standards and those who are qualified can come in. 120/400 is 30percent. Even in those days 40percent was graded as Pass. But now JAMB said with F9 which is scoring 30percent you can be admitted. They deliberately want to destroy education.

    “Even for polytechnic 100 marks is 25 percent. It is sad. And that is where we are in Nigeria. They want to destroy public education at all cost. This is not setting standard for education in Nigeria. It is purely lowering standards and digging grave for the future. This is why ASUU is currently on the struggle to influence the government to do the needful for education in Nigeria.”

  • ASUU to Lawmaker: Strike has no political undertone

    ASUU to Lawmaker: Strike has no political undertone

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) Wednesday responded to allegations against its nationwide industrial action, saying that the strike has no political undergone .

    The union said there was nothing political in asking for full implementation of nine-year old (2009) agreement and four-year (2013) old Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).

    The union said, if at all, it was the federal government through its propaganda machinery that is politicising the moral failure of the federal government to fully implement the agreement it signed with the Union.

    ASUU while reacting through the Chairman University of Ibadan Chapter of the Union Dr Deji Omole to the comments made by a member of the House of Representatives, Johnson Agbonayinma (Edo-PDP), lashed out at the lawmaker for displaying shallow knowledge and playing politics with the lives of children of the masses and the future of the country.

    Omole who noted that with people like Agbonayinma in the National Assembly, education has no future in the plan of the ruling class further accused the National Assembly for conspiring with the executive to further reduce allocation to education to six percent in the 2017 budget while pretending to love Nigerian children.

    Agbonayinma on Tuesday had told the News Agency of Nigeria that the strike embarked upon by the lecturers on Aug. 14 was a deliberate plot to disrupt President Muhammadu Buhari’s return.

    “I have great respect for the lecturers and those who have decided to be of help to humanity, I would advise the teachers to continue their good work and avoid politics. It is just that in Nigeria, teachers are not well respected, however, I have a problem with this strike which is nothing but political. There is a political undertone that is being played for ASUU to go on strike and the cabals are part of the problems we are facing, they do not want Nigerians to move forward. For God’s sake, how can Nigerian children spend seven to eight years trying to obtain first degrees as a result of the strike all the time? It does not happen elsewhere in the developing countries, why is Nigeria always behind in everything. There are feelers that President Buhari is coming back to Nigeria, they now decide with the cabals to instigate strike so that Nigeria will be in a chaotic position. We cannot continue like this as a nation” , the lawmaker was quoted to have accused ASUU of playing politics with the strike.

    However, Dr Omole asked Agbonayinma to guide his utterances and limit his talks to his limited understanding of education as a public good.

    According Dr Omole, ASUU has a legitimate agreement with the federal government since 2009 and 2013 which the government has refused to fully implement.

    He asked Nigerian leaders to demonstrate the love they have for Nigeria by withdrawing their children in private universities both in Nigeria and abroad and stop health tourism by using the health facilities they provide for Nigerians.

    The ASUU boss noted that as members of intellectual community, they were surprised that the Chairman of the Federal Government negotiation team was also losing sight of realities that there is a difference from implementation of agreement already signed and renegotiation of the agreement.

    While reiterating the resolve of the body to get full implementation before going back to the classroom, Omole added that the union will not allow the federal government to mortgage Nigeria’s public education saying the political class has been selfish and self-serving.

    Omole also said it was laughable that the lawmaker could ask ASUU to consider the nation and students when it was indeed ASUU that is fighting to save the future of the nation from maladministration of the political office holders.

  • NAN retracts story, suspends three editorial staff

    NAN retracts story, suspends three editorial staff

    The management of the News Agency of Nigeria has retracted a story published 26 June on alleged increase in school fees in Federal, state and private universities.

    The story, titled: “38 Nigerian Universities increase tuition fees – ASUU“, was credited to Dr Deji Omole, the Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Ibadan Chapter.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) has carried out checks on the story and discovered that standard editorial procedures were not followed to verify its authenticity.

    The alleged press statement was found to have been mailed to a staff of the Agency who passed it on for publication. The statement was utterly false.

    The story was also inadvertently transmitted by NAN after failing integrity tests.

    Three senior editorial staff involved in the processing of the story have been suspended without pay by management, to serve as a warning that the agency will not tolerate breaches of its editorial integrity.

    “This is to assure our numerous clients that NAN will continue to maintain its policy of credibility, fairness, justice and not compromise its professional ethics,’’ management said today.

    NAN Management will send a letter of apology to Dr Omole.

    NAN Management regretted the story and has apologised to its subscribers. It has also enjoined subscribers to trash the story from their websites

  • 38 varsities hike fees: UNILAG from N14,500 to N63,500

    38 varsities hike fees: UNILAG from N14,500 to N63,500

    At least 38 universities across the country have increased their tuition fees due to poor funding by federal and state governments.

    The Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Ibadan Chapter, Dr. Deji Omole, stated this in a statement in Abuja on Monday.

    The statement which assessed the two years of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, lamented that the government had made Nigerians poorer.

    Omole said the public education was not taken seriously because “children of the rich and those in high offices” do not attend school in Nigeria.

    The latest increment might be attributed to poor funding by the federal and state governments as ASUU poorly rated the President Muhammadu Buhari in the area of funding of university education.

    ASUU also noted that it would be difficult for any Nigeria university to compete globally due to inadequate budgetary allocation to the educational sector.

    Findings revealed that students of University of Lagos (UNILAG) who were paying N14, 500 would now pay N63, 500 as tuition fees.

    Other institutions that increased their fees included the Ahmadu Bello University ( N27, 000 to N41, 00), University of Nigeria (N60, 450 to N66, 950) and Obafemi Awolowo University ( N19, 700 to N55,700).

    Others are – Nnamdi Azikiwe University ( N20, 100 to N65,920), Bayero University, Kano, (N26,000 to N40,000), University of Abuja (N39,300 to N42,300) and Usman Danfodiyo University ( N32,000 to N41,000).

     

  • Workers’ Day: There is nothing to celebrate – ASUU

    The Chairman of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Ibadan Chapter, Dr. Deji Omole, has lamented the poor condition of facilities in the nation’s universities.

    While the Nigerian workers celebrate the workers day,  he said there is nothing to celebrate going by the deplorable conditions of universities’ laboratories and the suffering of lecturers in the institutions.

    The don, in a statement, asked the Federal Government to address the shortfall of personnel cost and other obligations in the universities.

    Dr. Omole said the present administration has adopted a “Maradona style” in meeting the agreements it signed with the union in 2009 and 2013, adding that academic staff in Nigerian universities are enduring the worst of welfare and lack attention.

    He said while the student to lecturer ratio keeps increasing, and science laboratories are nothing to write home about, lecturers are still expected to teach students with poor facilities to produce globally competitive students.

    He lamented that most university lecturers now face hard times due to fractional payment of salaries and unpaid academic allowances.

     

     

  • Strike paralyses academic activities in UI

    Strike paralyses academic activities in UI

    Academic activities were paralysed on Wednesday at the University of Ibadan (UI) as the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) commenced its one-week warning strike.

    The strike forced most students to stay indoors at their halls of residence.

    NAN also reports that the strike monitoring committee put in place by the union was led by the Chairman of the ASUU in the Branch, Dr Deji Omole.

    Omole, who moved round the faculties to monitor compliance, described the strike as successful and urged members to continue to defend their interests.

    “The congress of ASUU, UI branch, at its meeting on April 4, received permission from the national body of the union, declaring one-week warning strike beginning from Wednesday, April 5 to Tuesday, April 11,” he said.

    He said the warning strike was to compel the university administration to address pending welfare matters affecting the members.

    He identified some of the issues to include, shortfall and fractional payment of the salary of members, illegal pension deductions, non-payment of postgraduate supervision allowance and non-payment of promotion arrears.

    “During the strike period our members are not to be involved in teaching, supervision, or attend to statutory and ad hoc meetings,” Omole said.

    He advised members to remain resolute and await further directives from the leadership of the union at the branch level.

  • ASUU commences one-week warning strike in UI

    ASUU commences one-week warning strike in UI

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Ibadan (UI) Chapter, has declared a one-week warning strike over illegal pension deductions, fractional salary payments and non-payment of supervision allowance.

    The decision was taken on Tuesday at a congress convened by the union and presided over by its Chairman, Dr Deji Omole.

    The report says members also complained over excessive deductions in their March salaries.

    The management of the university was also alleged to have failed to declare the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) profile of the university.

    According to Omole, the warning strike is, therefore, to compel the university administration to address the issues which ASUU said bordered on the welfare of her members who are being owed since 2010.

    “The congress of ASUU, UNIBADAN, at its meeting of 4th April, 2017, having received permission from the national body of the union, hereby, declare a one-week warning strike.

    “The warning strike will commence from 12:01 midnight of Tuesday, 4th April, to 12:00 midnight of Tuesday, 11th April, 2017.

    “The congress of the union maintains that the failure of the university administration to satisfactorily resolve all the issues, will force the union to proceed on a comprehensive and total strike,” said Omole.

    The congress, which was well attended, was also addressed by the national delegates of ASUU, which included Professors Mahmood Lawan, from Kano; Tony Monye-Emina, from Benin and Bebe Sese, from Port Harcourt.

    The union had in a congress resolution in March warned the university management to address its grievances, bordering on reversal of illicit deductions and non-payment of promotion arrears.

    The three non-academic staff unions of the institution had also been on strike  since March 13, grounding administrative activities in the institution.

     

  • ASUU to commence warning strike in UI Friday

    ASUU to commence warning strike in UI Friday

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) University of Ibadan Chapter, says it is awaiting the approval of its national body to embark on a one-week warning strike.

    The union, at an emergency meeting presided over by its Chairman, Dr Deji Omole, on Wednesday in Ibadan, threatened to proceed on an indefinite strike to protest illegal pension deductions and shortfall of salaries.

    Omole gave the management up to March 10, to address the issues or face an indefinite strike.

    ASUU asked the Governing Council to mandate the Vice-Chancellor to present to the staff unions the budget, detailing the personnel cost, capital and recurrent expenditures as presented to the university Senate.

    According to the union, all joint unions of the institution are convinced that pension’s deductions hitherto are illegal, the university must be refunded since 2004.

    “While ASUU awaits the approval of the national body of the union to proceed on its strike, its Non Academic Staff counterparts have also resolved to proceed on an indefinite strike unless the issues are resolved favorably.

    “Failure to implement all the items stated above by Friday, the staff unions in the university, arising from the warning strike earlier issued in August, 2016, will embark on an indefinite strike,” Omole said.

     

  • ASUU faults JAMB on new admission guidelines

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Ibadan chapter, has lashed out at the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) for acting beyond its powers by releasing admission guidelines for Nigerian universities.

    The union said it is the mandate of the Senate of Nigerian universities to regulate admission modalities and determine what best suits each institution.

    The ASUU Chairman at the institution, Dr. Deji Omole, stated this while reacting to the 2016 admission guidelines recently released by JAMB.

    He said both the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, and JAMB Registrar, Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, are confused and inconsistent by first going against collection of administrative charges under Post-UTME by universities, but now preaching payment of screening fees in “its illegal guidelines which is designed to favour the children of the rich against the poor.”

    Omole said Adamu and Ojerinde are unaware of happenings in Nigeria universities, adding that the newly released point – based scoring system is not new as it was innovated and used at the University of Ibadan for five years and abandoned.

    He stressed that the institution has moved beyond such model of admitting students.

    He said, “JAMB is acting beyond its mandate which is to conduct and release results. The Senate of universities has the right to determine the model or guideline to adopt to admit their students from the pool of candidates sent to it by JAMB.

    “Each university has standards which are not subjected to the whims and caprices of any government appointee. JAMB does not have the powers to tell universities how to conduct their screening. It is a way to cover up their inadequacies because JAMB’s credibility as an examination body is yearly being queried.

    “JAMB and its handlers are confused. Last year, they arbitrarily placed students in private universities to satisfy the needs of their cronies. These were mainly children of the poor who had not chosen those institutions. In the just concluded JAMB examinations, they awarded candidates with extra 40 marks without any justification.

    “Now, those with two sittings results will be shortchanged and those awaiting results will be disadvantaged. There will be rise in result racketeering at WAEC again as people will be purchasing grade ‘A’ since that is what will guarantee admission.

    “More miracle examination centers will spring up and JAMB and the minister would have succeeded in entrenching corruption and further kill university education in Nigeria. ASUU stands by university autonomy. JAMB cannot determine admission guidelines for universities, rather JAMB must be overhauled to make their results believable and trusted.”