The Nation Newspaper

Tag: hike

  • Hike in corps members’ allowance coming, says Kazaure

    THE Federal Government is working to increase the monthly allowances paid to corps members, National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Director-General Brig-Gen Suleiman Kazaure has said.

    He said the increase would be done in line with the approved minimum wage for civil servants.

    Brig-Gen Kazaure spoke at an orientation programme for Batch ‘A’ Corps Members in Ebonyi State Orientation Camp.

    The DG, in a statement in Abuja by NYSC’s Director, Press and Public Relations, Adenike Adeyemi, announced an increase in local and transport allowances paid to corps members.

    According to the statement, the transport allowance for each corps member has been increased from N1, 500 to N1,800.

    The local allowance has been pegged at N1,400 as against the N1, 000 earlier paid to them.

    Kazaure, who urged the corps members to avoid all forms of social vices like drug addiction, armed-robbery, prostitution, fraud, among others, encouraged them to live a responsible life as worthy ambassadors of their families and the NYSC Scheme.

    The NYSC boss warned them to avoid lone movements and dangerous terrain that may expose them to danger.

    Kazaure, at the Obubra Orientation Camp in Cross River State, warned corps members to cut down on travelling and night parties during their service year.

    Kazaure gave the warning while addressing corps members.

    The DG urged the corps members to always respect the culture of their host communities with a view to foster good working relationships.

    At Sagamu orientation camp, Ogun State, Kazaure said the NYSC would not post corps members to any crisis area.

    He disclosed this at an orientation program organised for the 2018 Batch ‘A’ corps members in Sagamu orientation camp, Ogun state.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Understanding Ajasin varsity fee hike

    Economic boom and hardship are inevitable but rewarding life occurrences, if properly handled. Every nation or corporate entity has their own share of both at various times. Nations and entities that make sense of boom are those who save for the rainy day and make good investment decisions. Nations or corporate entities which come out of hard times are those which not only make unpopular but courageous decisions but also put palliatives in place for citizens to cope with the hard times. Either way, the people’s interests drive the decisions for which they enjoy thereafter.

    Adekunle Ajasin University can be said to have applied these time-tested principles during its good and challenging times. The university applied the resources that accrued to it judiciously during the boom period in the eight years precedent to 2015 by putting up unprecedented structures, engaging in unparalleled capacity development and cutting-edge researches including the university milestones, including winning Best State University award in Nigeria in 2013.

    Then came the period of sore economic crunch – a time the university’s seven months’ subventions were not forthcoming from its proprietor, the Ondo State government owing to shortfall of resources from the federal government; a time when the new government of Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu had to bend over backwards to net off part of the seven months arrears of salaries it inherited from its predecessor and at the same time strive to pay salaries due during his tenure; a time when staff salaries had to be sourced from the savings of the university, contrary to statutory provisions. Then came the sore point: The savings dried up, government’s subventions nosedived to an abysmal level.

    The Governing Council of the university, under the leadership of Dr. Tunji Abayomi, engaged in an empirical analysis of the income and expenditure of the university with a view to establishing a fool proof basis for the requirements for a competitive university.

    According to the findings of the council, N500 is required to maintain the 17,000 students per day, which translates to N15, 000 per student per month and N180, 000 per student per annum.

    According to figures released by the Pro-chancellor and chairman of the Governing Council, students’ expenses per annum stand at N3, 060, 000, 000; staff salary N2, 640, 000,000, both totalling N5, 700, 000,000 or N5.7 billion.

    The Pro-chancellor says income from government is N1.8b per annum. Income from students (old regime) approximately is N5.5m per annum – using an average of N30, 000 per student as the 17, 000 students pay between N23, 000 and N34, 000. Income from other sources is approximately N400m, and all these figures add up to approximately N2.75b.

    He said further, “When we looked at the total income for the university and how much it spends in total, there is a huge difference of almost N3 billion.”

    The point must be made that if the old student fee regime is maintained, the university will groan under the burden of unpaid worker’s salaries, inability to provide essential services – health, water, electricity, examination materials, science and laboratory equipment –  inability to conduct research, and will have no option but to close down eventually. That, obviously, is not an option. We all have a lesson to learn from a sister university in the southwest whose experience with this option has made it to close down for over one year.

    Council, in its wisdom, decided that it should share the N3 billion shortfall with the students and the parents, with council sourcing for N1.29 billion from grants, professorial chairs, foundations across the globe while the students (the beneficiaries) and their parents should contribute N1.7 billion in form of school fees.

    The N1.7 billion in form of the new school fees translates to the school fees schedule as follows: Faculties of Arts and Education:  Fresh Students – N150, 000; Returning Students – N120,000; Faculties of Science, Agriculture, Social and Management Sciences: Fresh Students – N180, 000, Returning Students – N150, 000; and Faculty of Law: Fresh Students – N200,000, Returning Students – N150, 000.

    Abayomi had said in an interview with Orange 94.5 FM recently that the students’ school fee was the baseline as, according to him, government had shifted ground from its earlier stance to give the university N1.5 billion subvention to the current N1.8 billion owing to dwindling resources.

    Conscious of the harsh economic realities and determined to ensure that no student drops out of school, council and management have resolved that palliatives be put in place to cushion the effects of the inevitable fee hike, he said.

    One of the palliatives being put in place by the Governing Council is to establish the Students Support Centre that will handle grants and endowment schemes and give opportunities to genuinely indigent students to access bank loans.

    The Pro-chancellor, other members of Governing Council and principal officers of the university have all shown their individual commitments by pledging to contribute funds to the scheme.

    Another incentive is the expansion of the Student Work-Study Centre of the university to accommodate more students and upward review of the stipend for willing and indigent students. The scheme, which took off in July 2010, allows willing students to work for two hours daily and receive a monthly stipend to support themselves financially while studying in the university.

    The council has also graciously resolved to subsidize the fees payable by physically-challenged students substantially.

    There is also the approval of payment by semester by students. Under the arrangement, students can pay half of their total school fees per semester.

    The university management has engaged in an aggressive strategy to elicit funds from philanthropists. Only three weeks ago, management was able to obtain N20 million from a philanthropic Nigerian.

    It is obvious from the above that the decision of council and management to increase school fees was borne out of constraint orchestrated by inevitable economic realities. There is, therefore, the need for all well-meaning Nigerians, especially citizens of the state, to join hands together to ensure that no AAUA student drops out of school and that the dream of the founding fathers of the university to build a first class university is not extinct.

     

    • Imoru writes is of Information , Protocol and Public Relations Unit, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, On do State.

  • Ondo Govt: hike in varsity fees inevitable

    The Ondo State Government yesterday appealed to parents and students of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, to show understanding and accept the inevitability of fee hike.

    Some of the students went on protest following the announcement of a new regime of fees.

    In a statement by the   Commissioner for Information and Orientation Yemi Olowolabi, the government said “It is very important for the general public and the good people of Ondo State to note that the tuition was arrived at and announced by the governing council after robust and exhaustive meetings with the university’s stakeholders, including the staff, students and parents.

    “It is equally important to note that the current fee of between N23, 000 and N37, 000 charged by AAUA was introduced about 18 years ago at commencement of the University in 2000.

    “How do you explain the fact that students in the Ondo State University of Science and Technology, Okitipupa (OSUSTECH) pay between N120, 000 and N150,000 as tuition per session, those in the University of Medical Sciences, Ondo (UNIMED) pay between N200,000 and N450,000 per session.

    “At the beginning, especially between year 2000 and up till year 2013, the University had it good with subventions from the state government for payment of salaries and execution of capital projects.

    “The fortunes of the University began to suffer with the downturn in the economy of Nigeria, becoming more serious from 2014, when the payment of subventions began to suffer and was eventually reduced.

    “It is rather unfortunate to note that, for a University of its status, no fund has been released for capital projects between 2014 and now.

    “The University further slid into financial problems in 2016 when subventions were not released to the university for a period of nine months. As we speak, the University still has an outstanding subventions, covering July 2016 to January 2017 and totaling N1.48 Billion.”

    According to the statement, despite the fact that other universities across the country have been compelled to hike the fees paid by their students, same cannot be said of the state owned university.

    “There is a wide gap between government subvention to the University and what is required to meet up with salary payment. The monthly wage bill for staff and pensioners is about N220 million while the monthly subvention is N150 Million, leaving a deficit of N70 million every month on salary payment alone.”

    “The public also needs to get the fact correct that there are two major classes of expenses the university is confronted with: Cost of maintenance of students and their education and Salaries for staff and pensioners

    We also need to know that despite its dwindling fortunes, the University is burdened with providing several other important services that cannot be left undone. These include health services, electricity supply and laboratory equipment among several others.

    Olowolabi called on the good people of the state to remain calm and eschew any form of violence, insisting that the governor will address the matter soon.”

  • Bakers cry out over hike in flour price

    Bakers cry out over hike in flour price

    BAKERS on Wednesday cried out over the rising prices of ingredients, asking the government to come to their aid.

    According to them,  the hike in the cost of flour has turned them to debtors which has incapacitated them from producing bread on regular basis.

    Their president, Alhaji Dauda Sulaiman, said the  price of flour has risen from 6,300 to 11,500.

    This, he attributed, to the exchange rate in the international market.

    Sulaiman said the millers had been adamant over the hike in flour price, explaining that all efforts to appeal to them to reduce the cost have proved abortive.

    “A bag of flour which we used to buy at N6,300 is currently being sold at  N11,500, yet all our bread prices still remain the same; this is killing our business, the millers should have a rethink and bring down the cost of flour for us to produce bread for the populace. We have been in dialogue with them but the millers have turned deaf ears to our appeals,” he said.

    Sulaiman said some of their members have taken  to Okada riding business.

    “Some of our members have quit the business and turned Okada riders because of their inability to continue over debts, some have nothing to do again,” he noted.

    He said “the prices of flour in  neighbouring countries were lower than that of Nigeria. Where are we going? We are running on debts, we appeal to the government to quickly come to our aid for us to remain in business.”    Sulaiman added that the cost of flour in the Southwest is two times higher than that is of the North.

    The Progressive Bakers Association National Secretary, Comrade Olalekan Timothy,  accused some government agencies of turning the bakers to Automated Teller Machine (ATM) where they come to collect money with no reason at any time.

    He urged  the government to stop  the abuse.

  • Buhari directs end to petrol price hike, hoarding

    Buhari directs end to petrol price hike, hoarding

    President Muhammadu Buhari has directed government officials to end the arbitrary increase in price of petrol and hoarding of products across the country.

    Expressing sympathy with Nigerians for their suffering due to the lingering petrol scarcity, the President, in a  statement posted on his twitter handle, described the petrol scarcity as “regrettable”.

    He said going by the briefings he was getting, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) was on top of the situation.

    Buhari said: “The fuel scarcity being experienced nationwide is regrettable. I sympathise with all Nigerians on having to endure needless fuel queues.

    “I’m being regularly briefed, especially on the NNPC’s interventions to ensure that there is enough petrol available during this period & beyond.

    “I have the NNPC’s assurance that the situation will improve significantly over the next few days, as new shipments and supplies are distributed across the country.

    ”I have also directed the regulators to step up their surveillance and bring an end to hoarding and price inflation by marketers,

    ”Let me also assure that the relevant agencies will continue to provide updates on the situation. I thank you all for your patience and understanding.”

  • Labour, civil society kick against electricity tariff hike

    Labour, civil society kick against electricity tariff hike

    The civil society and the organised labour have vowed to engage the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) over plans to increase electricity tariff by over 61 per cent.

    Speaking after a rally in Lagos, leader of the Campaign for Democratic and Workers’ Rights (CDWR), Comrade Toluwani Adebiyi, said the move was unacceptable.

    Adebiyi said the increment is totally unaffordable, considering the biting economic hardship assailing the already impoverished masses.

    The human rights activist recalled that the electricity distribution companies (Discos) were yet to honour the agreements they signed with the Federal Government in November 2013 to issue prepaid metres to all Nigeria consumers within 18 months.

    “It will amount to a rude disrespect to the rule of law to talk of increment now when the matter that touches so much on tariff increment is still pending in court,” he said.

    Adebiyi observed that it has been incessant power tariff increments without commensurate improvement, saying Nigerians have been paying for gross darkness with no value in return for the exorbitant bill paid by consumers.

    He urged NERC to optimise its generating capacity by ensuring that the electricity generating companies (GENCOs) generate enough power for the DisCos.

    He advised the Federal Government to revoke private companies license and take over the sector if the private companies cannot stabilise and improve power in Nigeria after four years of privatisation.

    “The Nigeria power sector for long has been taking undue advantage of and exploiting Nigerian electricity consumers. Until the labour group and civil society organisations decided to take up and challenge their inordinate trade practices, he added.

  • Hike in farmland cost challenges new investors

    Hike in rent on farmland across the South-west has seen values quadruple in the last three years, challenging the capacities of prospective young farmers and new agric investors.

    Farmland values in some parts of Ogun and Oyo states have  risen by  100 per cent. In some places, such as Ifo and Papa in Ogun State, an acre of farmland now sells for between N800,000 and N1,000,000.

     In places near the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and Moor Plantain around Iwo areas of Oyo, an acre of farmland goes for between N650,000 and N1,000,000. The Nation learnt that the demand for cropping land is high.

    Demand for good quality farmland to purchase has seen land prices rise by up to 20 per cent in some areas of  Osun State  and this economic activity is only likely to increase as farmers’  seek lands outside of the Lagos axis, as farmland  places such Apara  are priced  for N1.5 million.

    Following increasing shift to food production by serving and retired company executives, investment  activity in farming business is at a cracking pace in most areas of the Southwest.

  • Proposed tariff hike

    •Govt should not succumb to undue pressure from electricity firms

    Once again, Nigerians are confronted with the question of which comes first: the egg or the chicken, with the report that electricity consumers might soon have to pay more. Going by the report, the consumers may have to part with between N2.89 and N7.45 more per kilowatt hour (kwh) anytime from now. According to the report, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), which is in charge of electricity tariff, has completed receipt of complaints on the new tariff after the expiration of a 30-day window. The review, according to reports, is necessitated by current economic realities. The proposed tariff however has to receive the blessing of the government before its implementation.

    As we have always argued, we have nothing against tariff increase per se. After all, the power sector is not immune from the country’s economic vagaries, the exchange rate and all. Our disagreement however has to do with the issue of prepaid meters which the electricity distribution companies are reluctant  to give their customers, for obvious reasons. Yet, it was clear a long time ago that one of the most contentious issues in the electricity sector is that of appropriate billing of customers.

    Indeed, many Nigerians had expected that this would be sorted out as soon as the new investors took over. Unfortunately, more than three years down the line, the issue has persisted even as the arbitrary billing by the electricity distribution companies is being resisted by more Nigerians. We wonder why Nigerians make a fetish of nearly everything. In neighbouring Ghana, prepaid meters are found all over the cities and even in the remotest parts of the country. How come the meters have to become something we would be debating for more than three years?

    In our view, the Federal Government should have reviewed the contracts with the electricity firms a long time ago. They had shown early in the day that the challenges in the sector were beyond their ken. The ideal is for Nigerians to have constant supply of electricity but it amounts to double jeopardy for them not to have electricity and yet be made to pay for what they never used.

    The complaint of lack of funds by the distribution companies to buy prepaid meters would appear laughable given that the power sector was among the various companies, individuals and parastatals that donated N21.27 billion during a fund raising dinner organised by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on December 20, 2014 in Abuja. Indeed, the power sector alone coughed up a whopping N5billion, in what former information minister Jerry Gana said was the contribution by his friends and associates in the power sector, to the campaign. This huge amount would have gone a long way in procuring many prepaid meters for electricity consumers at the relatively lower exchange rate at that time. How can companies that embarked on that subversive generosity now turn round to complain of lack of funds to run their operations? The donation to the Jonathan campaign was made public; who knows how many other such avoidable expenses the companies have incurred which they now want Nigerians to pay for through crazy bills?

    Much as we do not support the Federal Government turning itself into a Father Christmas for the electricity firms, we would readily support any reasonable assistance it could render to them if it is convinced they genuinely require such. For instance, the government should expedite action on the more than three million prepaid meters that it promised would soon be rolled out under its intervention programme.

    We are not happy that the distribution companies have continued to demonstrate a lack of capacity to tackle their problems. Rather than concentrate on service delivery, they have kept emphasizing increase in tariff as if that would automatically translate into improved power supply. It would be sad for the government to allow tariff increase without evidence of their seriousness to bill Nigerians only for electricity consumed. Firms in the power sector won’t have any motivation to be efficient if they can always slam bills indiscriminately on their haples customers.

  • ASUU denies issuing statement on hike in varsities’ fees

    The Chairman, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Ibadan Chapter, Dr. Deji Omole, has called for investigation into an alleged false and damaging report on hike in universities’ fees.

    Omole, while expressing dismay over the report attributed to him, denied issuing any statement to any media house on increment of fees in 38 universities.

    The union chief described the report, which originated fromthe News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), as mischievous.

    Omolesaid he was never in Abuja and did not speak with any medium nor issue any statement concerning fees hike in universities.

    He said ASUU is a well-coordinated union and places factual data in public domain in an incontrovertible manner.

    The union chief called on Director-General of NAN, which was quoted by national dailies as the source of the news, to investigate the matter.

    Omole, who noted that he was shocked when people called him over the news item, noted that ASUU as a responsible pro-public education and masses union must not be linked to independent investigations conducted on education to make it authentic.

    He stated that his comments on the second year anniversary of President Muhammadu Buhari was clear on poor funding and inadequate budgetary provisions for public education.

    Omole maintained that both Federal and state governments continue to play politics with the lives of the children of the masses by planning to deny them quality education.

    “I need to place it on record that I was never in Abuja nor issued any press release to NAN or any other news medium in Abuja as falsely presented to the public.

    “Therefore, I do not know the sources of the figures quoted in the report. ASUU is a well-coordinated union, who will carry out incontrovertible research and present this to the public.

    “It is the duty of journalists to carry out investigation and if you have done that, why can’t you state that to the public? Why must you link it to ASUU that never spoke to you?

    “Is it because NAN is a federal institution and does not want government to sanction them for stating the obvious? This is bad journalism practice. For me, my position remains that the government has not lived up to the electioneering campaigns of funding public education. We shall continue to fight for the funding of public education and resist any attempt to deny children of the poor masses public education,” he stated.

     

    ‘ABUAD has not increased school fees’

    The Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD) has condemned the publication in some national newspapers on hike in universities’ fees.

    The said publication listed ABUAD among 38 Nigerian universities that recently increased their school fees.

    In a statement yesterday, the university’s Head, Corporate Affairs Tunde Olofintila, said: “We want to say in clear, unambiguous and unmistakable terms that the information, which was attributed to the Chairman of the University of Ibadan Chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Dr. Deji Omole, is absolute falsehood with intent to misinform and mislead the public and deliberately distort the facts and circumstances surrounding our fees regime in ABUAD.

    “No increase in fees in any programme in ABUAD:

    We would like to say very equivocally and unambiguously that very much to the contrary of this spurious and speculative claim and for the records, we have not increased our tuition fees. For the avoidance of doubt, we have not in any way increased the tuition fees from N675,000 to N1,075,000 as claimed in the publication or at all.

    “We make bold to say that our fees have remained the same in the last two years, the biting economic recession the country is wading through notwithstanding. To ensure that we continue to provide quality and functional education, we have been subsidising the education of our students with part of our Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and additional funding by our Founder and Chancellor, Aare Afe Babalola, OFR, CON, SAN and this will continue to be the case.

    “We take a serious objection to the opening paragraph of the said publication which said: ‘Thirty eight universities across the country have increased their tuition as a result of poor funding by the Federal and state governments’.

    “Ours is not a Federal Government owned university, but a Federal Government licensed non-profit private university, which does not enjoy any form of funding either from the Federal or state government. It is the peak of mischief for anyone or body to claim that we have increased our tuition fees because of poor funding by government.

    “We are, therefore, demanding for a retraction of this obviously offensive, misleading and malicious publication.”

  • ‘NAHCON not responsible for hike in hajj fares’

    The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has denied allegations that it is responsible for the hike in hajj fares.

    The Executive Chairman, Abdullahi Muktar Mohammad, who addressed reporters in Abuja yesterday, said hajj fares are usually determined by factors which are not within the commission’s control.

    According to him, hajj fares are largely paid in dollars to ease transaction between the host country Saudi Arabia and Nigeria, since the naira is not accepted in Mecca and Medina, the major towns where pilgrims converge during the yearly exercise.

    He said: “Between Nigeria and Saudi Arabia, there is no naira exchange; but there’s one thing that unifies us, the dollar. The hajj package is made up of 98 per cent dollar component and just two per cent naira component.

    “However, for this year’s hajj, we have tried to reduce the dollar component substantially.”

    Mohammad recalled that in 2015, the total dollar component was $4,721 and $750 Basic Transport Allowance (BTA), and based on N160 official exchange, pilgrims paid N760,000.

    “In 2016, the total dollar component was $5,077, in addition to $750 BTA, at N197 official exchange rate. However, for 2017, the total dollar component is $4,839 while the BTA is $800 at the official exchange rate of N305, making N1.5 million.”