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Tag: FUTA

  • Varsity teachers divided over strike

    Varsity teachers divided over strike

    Varsity teachers met yesterday on the campuses to discuss President Goodluck Jonathan’s offer to end their more than four months strike.

    According to the operating guidelines of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the local chapters are expected to vote on whether they agreed with the proposal and that the strike should end or whether they disapproved and the strike should continue.

    Decisions reached on the various campuses are to be taken to tomorrow’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting, which will take a decision after aggregating the opinions.

    Opinions were divided yesterday, although many ASUU chapters failed to disclose their decisions.

    The University of Lagos (UNILAG), Lagos State University (LASU), University of Calabar (UNICAL), Usman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto, Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA), Federal University of Technology Minna and Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso chapters voted that the strike should end. Some of them, however, gave conditions.

    The University of Jos (UNIJOS), the University of Benin (UNIBEN) and the Nasarawa State University chapters voted that the strike should continue.

    UNIJOS chapter chairman Dr. David Jankam said members did not see any substance in the dialogue with the Federal Government to warrant calling off the strike.

    He said: “We have just rounded off our meeting. As a matter of fact, our members voted overwhelmingly for the continuation of the strike.

    “I can also confirm to you that five of the eight universities that make up the Bauchi Zone of ASUU have also voted for continuation of the strike, and the general saying is that the government has not shown any commitment so far.

    “We started the meeting by briefing our members on issues resolved with the Federal Government in the last meeting with the president of ASUU.

    “But in responding to the briefing, our members observed that the main issues that led to the strike were not discussed at the Aso Rock meeting.

    “As such, my members said President Jonathan is taking them for a ride by trying to divert attention from the core subjects of the strike.”

    Jankam went on: “I will now convey the resolve of our branch to our national president at the NEC meeting tomorrow.”

    Shedding light on how the meeting will decide the mater, he said: “If the majority of the chapters vote for its end, it will be called off, but if majority of chapters vote for continuation, so be it.”

    The congress of the Union at the Federal University of Technology (FUT), Minna was divided, with majority of the members supporting the suspension of the action. Others would want it suspended with some conditions met by the government.

    The minority demanded that in calling off the action, the leadership of the union should insist that no member is victimised for his roles in the strike. They also insisted that government should indicate in the final agreement that the 2009 agreement was due for negotiation and the payment of the balance of their academic earned allowances.

    As soon as Dr. Fatai Jimoh briefed the congress of the outcome of the meeting between President Jonathan and the union, the house was divided, with the majority of the members pushing for suspension.

    The few dissenting voices argued that the union should not fall prey to the government’s ploy. They cautioned that the union cannot take the government for its word, maintaining that if the union had to embark on a strike after series of correspondences and strike in 2011 that led to the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2012 were not honoured.

    But majority of the university teachers said the plight of the students and their parents should be considered.

    After an exhaustive debate, the congress directed its chairman to convey to the National Executive Council meeting holding tomorrow at the Bayero University in Kano that the union could consider suspending the action, but insisted that the three conditions be met.

    Chapter chairman Dr. Fatai Jimoh, who initially refused to divulge the outcome of the congress, later said: “I have the mandate to take the decision of the congress to NEC. But, if you insist to know, majority of our members called for the suspension of the strike but with the government fulfilling three conditions.

    “Don’t ask me the conditions, because we don’t want it yet in the public domain. All I can tell you is that the strike is still on, until the NEC of the union decides otherwise.”

    The chapter chairman also refused to assess the impact of the action. He said: “As long as NEC has not suspended the action, it will be premature to assess the success or otherwise of the action. When the strike is called off, I’ll give my candid assessment.”

    At Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai, ASUU chair Comrade Yahaya Badeggi said: “The congress at IBBU Lapai resolved that the strike continues until when the National Executive Council of the union decides otherwise. We know they are still negotiating. We shall abide by the decision of NEC.”

    On the gains of the action, Badeggi said: “I make bold to say that the action has produced some positive results. From the N100 billion released, our university got N450 million. This would not have been so but for the strike. I believe that at the end of the day, the university system will be better for it.”

    The following are the decisions at the various ASUU chapters on the strike.

    •University of Benin (UNIBEN). Members unanimously voted for the strike to continue because the Federal Government’s offer omitted some vital segments of the 2009 agreement;

    •University of Lagos (UNILAG) teachers want suspension of strike, but will await further directive from the national body after meeting tomorrow in Kano;

    •University of Calabar (UNICAL) lecturers voted for the suspension of the strike;

    Nasarawa State University, Keffi. ASUU chair Dr. Theophilus Lagi, said: “I can assure you that all members present at the congress today wanted the strike to continue because the documents from the government failed to address the grey areas in contention. We believe there is nothing practicable in the government’s offer, even with the N200 billion it promised to release. Before we can suspend the strike, all unpaid salaries of our colleagues must be paid and there must be solid assurance from the government that no member will be victimised after the strike is eventually suspended;

    •Ahmadu Bello University (ABU). When the issue was put to vote, the majority of members wanted an end to the strike, with the agreement that the government must sign a binding document on how it will release the N1.2 trillion it promised to release. They promised to abide by the decision of the NEC in Kano;

    •Delta State University (DELSU) members want suspension of the strike.

    •Ekiti State University (EKSU) lecturers would not disclose the outcome of the congress until after the NEC meeting tomorrow;

    •Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso (LAUTECH). The ASUU local chairman said he would not disclose the outcome of the congress but a lecturer who attended the congress said members were okay with the offer of the government and wanted the strike to end;

    •Lagos State University (LASU) chapter supports the strike suspension.

    A source who is from ASUU-LASU executive, but pleaded not to be mentioned, said the chapter only gave certain conditions under which the strike should be suspended.

  • FUTA to host VCs’ meeting

    The Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) is to host the 28th Annual Conference of the Association of Vice- Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (AVCNU).

    The event, slated for November 10-14, has as theme: The Nigerian university system and challenges and the prospects of globalisation.

    The host Vice Chancellor, Prof Adebiyi Gregory Daramola, said the conference would chart the way forward for tertiary education in Nigeria.

    Prof. James Momoh of Howard University, United States, will deliver the keynote address of the conference; Prof Nimi Briggs, former Vice Chancellor, University of Port Harcourt, will speak on Getting our Universities to the top ranks; Prof B.L Fetuga will address the gathering on the socio-economic dimension and the challenges of quality and globalisation; while Prof. Femi Mimiko, Vice Chancellor, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, will speak on the Future of the country’s universities.

     

     

    The Governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko is expected to declare the Conference open on November 12.

    The Chairman of the Local Organizing Committee, Prof Adedayo Fasakin said all the country’s universities and relevant stakeholders in the education and allied sectors are expected to attend the conference.

     

  • FUTA plans food revolution

    The Vice-Chancellor of Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), Prof Biyi Daramola, has said the institution is on the threshold of emerging the African Regional Centre with support of the governments of African countries and the World Bank.

    He said the institution is hosting the N1.2 billion World Bank grant for the centre of excellence in food production and security.

    With this development, Prof Daramola said the university might provoke a revolution in Nigeria’s agricultural productivity that would make the country fully secured in food production and sufficiency.

    Daramola, who made the disclosure during the fifth FUTA Registry annual lecture held at the main auditorium of the institution, said the institution and Multi Trex Integrated Foods, has entered into partnership on cocoa processing for export and local consumption.

    According to Daramola, the partnership will create an enduring mutually beneficial relationship between the university, Multi Trex and end users.

    He said the institution is committed to conducting high impact research into food production, processing, packaging and storage.

    The Vice-Chancellor said the development was aimed at boosting the nation’s food production out put, generating income for the institutions as well as serving as a training ground for the younger generation.

    At the event, the President of Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), Mr Femi Adesina; former Vice-Chancellor University of Ibadan, Prof Olufemi Bamiro; the immediate past Ondo State Head of Service (HoS) Mrs Kosemani Kolawole; and Managing Director, Multi Trex Integrated Foods Plc, Mr Dimeji Owofemi were honoured with the FUTA registry award for distinguishing themselves in their various callings.

     

  • ‘Arts important for development too’

    A professor of Art History, Ola Oloidi, and Art Criticism has called on the management of tertiary institutions to recognise the contributions of art courses to national development.

    Oloidi, of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), who made this call while delivering the 6th Annual Lecture of the School of Environmental Technology, Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), said it has become necessary to avoid programme translocation and save the disciplines in the Arts from extinction.

    In his lecture titled “Knowledge Scientification in Nigeria’s Tertiary Institution: Implication for Art and Technology,” he canvassed for synergy and cross-fertilization of ideas between the arts and sciences.

    Oloidi said: “In modern technology, sciences and arts are inseparable. Scientists produce the means, while artist/designers produce the form; making art the flesh and science the soul of not only modern technology, but also industrialization.”

    Lamenting the negative effect of the scientification process in the arts or arts-related disciplines, he said Fine or Applied Arts also known as Visual Arts which has impacted positively on every area of human endeavor, especially manufacturing, has been most dangerously affected at the expense of creativity and design technology. This has reflected in re-christening of Art related disciplines to the sciences thereby systematically initiating those Arts courses into the elitist cult of science.

    Speaking further on the importance of arts-related disciplines in contemporary society, the don quoted The New Book of Knowledge, which stated that “art is one of humanity’s oldest inventions”.

    “It existed long before a single farm was planted, before the first villages were built. Art was already thousands of years old when writing appeared; in fact, the letters of the alphabets were pictures,” he said.

    Summing his lecture up, the don said no nation can experience industrialization without the unity of art, science and technology because production of industrial products and other designs must always start with sketches or linear drawing; graphic designs, floral design, fashion design and lighting design. All these designs put together bring aesthetic to human being and the environment.

    Earlier in his address, the FUTA Vice-Chancellor, Prof Adebiyi Daramola, represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Prof Adedayo Fasakin said the theme of the lecture was fascinating in the sense that beauty of science is the way it replicates scientific knowledge.

  • ‘Arts important for development too’

    A professor of Art History, Ola Oloidi, and Art Criticism has called on the management of tertiary institutions to recognise the contributions of art courses to national development.

    Oloidi, of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), who made this call while delivering the 6th Annual Lecture of the School of Environmental Technology, Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), said it has become necessary to avoid programme translocation and save the disciplines in the Arts from extinction.

    In his lecture titled “Knowledge Scientification in Nigeria’s Tertiary Institution: Implication for Art and Technology,” he canvassed for synergy and cross-fertilization of ideas between the arts and sciences.

    Oloidi said: “In modern technology, sciences and arts are inseparable. Scientists produce the means, while artist/designers produce the form; making art the flesh and science the soul of not only modern technology, but also industrialization.”

    Lamenting the negative effect of the scientification process in the arts or arts-related disciplines, he said Fine or Applied Arts also known as Visual Arts which has impacted positively on every area of human endeavor, especially manufacturing, has been most dangerously affected at the expense of creativity and design technology. This has reflected in re-christening of Art related disciplines to the sciences thereby systematically initiating those Arts courses into the elitist cult of science.

    Speaking further on the importance of arts-related disciplines in contemporary society, the don quoted The New Book of Knowledge, which stated that “art is one of humanity’s oldest inventions”.

    “It existed long before a single farm was planted, before the first villages were built. Art was already thousands of years old when writing appeared; in fact, the letters of the alphabets were pictures,” he said.

    Summing his lecture up, the don said no nation can experience industrialization without the unity of art, science and technology because production of industrial products and other designs must always start with sketches or linear drawing; graphic designs, floral design, fashion design and lighting design. All these designs put together bring aesthetic to human being and the environment.

    Earlier in his address, the FUTA Vice-Chancellor, Prof Adebiyi Daramola, represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Prof Adedayo Fasakin said the theme of the lecture was fascinating in the sense that beauty of science is the way it replicates scientific knowledge.

     

    In his address, Dean, School of Environmental Technology, Prof Deji Ogunsemi said it was a rare privilege and honour to have a distinguished professor of Oloidi’s standing deliver the lecture.

    He said “We are lucky to have one of our founding fathers of Art history who graduated the first indigenous art history students to deliver this lecture,” he said.

    He also thanked the Vice-Chancellor for the continuous support of the school.

     

  • Building a nation we want

    The idea of this country was conceived before 1960 that we gained independence. On October 1, 1960, we were given freedom to govern ourselves and grow as a nation. However, things did not go as planned.

    Before oil was discovered in Nigeria in 1958, agriculture was the main source of our income. Through this, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the then Premier of the defunct Western Region, built the first television station and a functional university among other things he did. When the geologists came to Oloibiri in today’s Bayelsa State, the story changed for the country.

    For years, Nigeria and its people wandered in the wilderness. The oil boom of 1960’s has now turned to oil doom in 2013. Instead of using the profit accrued to the nation from the sales of oil to develop and provide infrastructure such as electricity and good roads, the country witnessed unbridled official profligacy and fraud, which perhaps have not been witnessed in history.

    In 1999 when the military handed power to civilian regime, we had the opportunity to change our misfortune for good. Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, a former head of state, came in as the civilian president. Hopes and expectations were high. But at the end of Obasanjo’s eight years of misrule, Nigeria remained where it was during the Gen. Sani Abacha’s regime.

    Fourteen years after the return of democracy, nobody can answer if the nation’s fortune has changed for good. I have come to understand that Nigerians are great but desperate people, because we are ready to do anything just to get rich. We are best known in the Western part of the world as Internet fraudsters and money launderers.

    As I write this, many Nigerians are rotting away in foreign prisons for one crime or the other. But when one comes to think of it, most of our countrymen in jail abroad left the shore of this nation as a result of poverty in the land; without being allowed to work, some Nigerians believe that the only way they can survive is to engage in illegal business.

    The so-called elected democratic leaders, who got to office through our mandate – or should I say stolen mandate – pay little or no attention to the cries of the masses.

    The present administration of a man with no shoes is making now difference. Rather, through his policies, the president has made many Nigerians to suffer his fate while growing up by making a lot of us shoeless. The last time I checked, majority of Nigerians are still wallowing in poverty, a situation that has aggravated the security problem in the country.

    In all parts of Nigeria, criminally-minded people go on killing spree without anybody stopping or preventing them from committing the crime. A lot of lives have been lost to ethnic clashes. Recently in Sokoto State, 20 people were killed in a remote village because a cow of a Fulani man was slaughtered. Other parts of the country have not been left out in the bloodbath.

    The Federal government has not been sincere in tackling the root cause of crimes being committed on our land. Our destiny is in our hands. Up in the North, Boko Haram members hold sway. After declaring state of emergency, the criminal using religion to kill came back through the back door to attack secondary school, killing pupils and teachers in the process.

    When will this country of 52 years that prides itself as Giant of Africa starts intelligence gathering? Most of the killings in the North are sometimes targeted at selected individuals to settle personal or political scores. I once heard of a story of a man, who killed his boss by paying the assassins just N2,000 (equivalent of $20). This is the price of a life in Nigeria.

    It must be noted that poverty is the cause of these crimes being committed daily on our land. Presently, employment has reached unprecedented level; no job is being created despite huge funds that go into employment generating parastatal and agencies. It is only in Nigeria that we fight corruption using corruption.

    The truth is that the federal and the state government are not sincere about the plight of the people. In a level unimaginable, flood wrecked its havoc last year and two years ago, submerging some states and rendering people homeless and impoverished. This year’s raining season has begun but how many states governments and federal agencies are preparing for the consequence?

    When there is another flooding incident, perhaps the president might be on a tour of Asian countries, scouting for investors for a country where safety of human and businesses is not guaranteed.

    Nigeria is on the brink of collapsing; we must all stand up and fight for this great nation by tackling injustice, insecurity, corruption and vices, which have constituted cogs in the wheel of our nation’s progress. If Nigeria is to break today, it is the common men that would be worst hit, which is why we must act to save the country.

    Nigeria, as a nation, has a lot to offer its peer in leadership and economy. Ours is a country of great people but the onus lies on us to develop our country in order to provide the needed leadership for the rest of the African countries to follow. We must let go our religious and ethnic differences and work together as a united people to make this country better.

    The 2015 general elections is approaching; it is the time every Nigerian will get the chance to refresh his mandate and vote for progressive leaders that will have the interest of the country at heart. It is about time that we do away with selfish interest and do vote wisely to deserved leadership.

    Nigeria is a great country only if the people work in unity. That is when the world will know we are building a country and not a mere geographical entity where nothing works.

    If we don’t change who we are now, 2015 will come but there won’t be any difference in our politics, leadership and wellbeing. The change we have been waiting for won’t come if we don’t change our individual belief in thinking that we cannot get the government we deserve.

    Oluwatobi, 200-Level FUTA student

     

  • Training on space research

    Training on space research

    The Centre for Space Research and Application (CESRA) at the FUTA has collaborated with the African Regional Centre for Space Sciences and Technology Education in English (ARCSSTE-E) of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife on a two-day workshop.

    The objectives of the training was to familiarise first-time users with the basic knowledge of tracking the motion of vehicles, planning and executing satellite launch mission, evaluating feasibility and reliability of communication links, among others.

    Also, it exposed participants to hands-on-training on how to assemble, build and launch microsatellites encased in empty can drinks, recover the satellite and analyse the data returned by the microsatellite and as well learn programming in C-language.

    Declaring the training open, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Adebiyi Daramola commended the effort of CESRA in meeting its mandate which is to anchor the university’s contribution to the field of space research and applications.

    In his address, Director, CESRA, Prof Moses Ajewole appreciated the Vice-Chancellor, ProfessorAdebiyi Daramola for endorsing the training and for consistent support and contributions to the growth of the Centre.

  • 28 athletes for NUGA

    28 athletes for NUGA

    Twenty eight athletes are to represent FUTA at the Nigerian Universities Games (NUGA) to be hosted by the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.

    At the 24th Zone B Pre-NUGA eliminations held at the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, FUTA paraded 82 athletes for nine games with 28 of them scaling through in athletics, table tennis, tennis, judo and taekwondo.

    The university’s Sports Co-ordinator, Coach Michael Ajibua, praised the efforts of the athletes and their officials in qualifying for the finals and urged them to step up preparation to bring laurels to the institution.

    Ajibua also praised the university management for releasing funds which enabled the athletes to participate in the preliminaries, soliciting for more. He also promised that the athletes would perform even better at the finals.

     

  • Students get award

    Students get award

    Two students of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), have distinguished themselves and received awards while concluding the mandatory industrial training exercise as they were among the top 50 students who underwent the exercise in APM Terminals, Apapa Limited.

    The beneficiaries are: Orji Ngozi Edith and Odemona Oluwatobi Miracle.

    Presenting the awards to the students, the Managing Director, Mr. Dallas Hampton, represented by the Head of Administration Mr Kingsley Akhigbe, praised the beneficiaries not only for their academic excellence, but also for conducting themselves properly throughout the exercise.

    He praised APM Terminals Limited for awarding scholarships to 50 Engineering and Technology undergraduates of universities and polytechnics and for providing industrial working experience to the top 10 of the group.

    In his response, the Vice-Chancellor, FUTA, Prof. Adebiyi Daramola who was represented by his Deputy (Academic), Prof. Adedayo Fasakin, promised that FUTA would find a way of partnering with APM Terminals to develop its students to enable them become self-reliant.