The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Lagos NUT

  • Lagos NUT holds election May 25

    Lagos NUT holds election May 25

    The Local Government Area Branch Delegates Conference/Election of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Lagos Branch, holds at the designated venues on May 25.

    In a statement, NUT’s Assistant State Secretary Comrade Gbenga Ayetoba urged contestants to pick their nomination forms at the association’s secretariat in Ilupeju. The forms, he added are free.

    He said the closing date for the submission of forms for chairman, deputy chairman, secretary and treasurer is May 19. That for other offices is noon May 25.

  • Lagos NUT faults use of CBT in schools

    Lagos NUT faults use of CBT in schools

    The  Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) in Lagos State has said the introduction of the Computer Based Test (CBT) in secondary schools examinations may not achieve the desired result.

    The state NUT Chairman, Segun Raheem, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Lagos.

    Raheem said  the situation might be so because most of the pupils are not adequately prepared for CBT.

    He said the pupils are not prepared due to the non-availability of Information Communication Technology (ICT) facilities and human resources.

    He noted that Computer Science which, hitherto, was an optional subject and suddenly made a compulsory subject would leave some pupils unprepared for CBT.

    “Computer Science has just been introduced in secondary schools as a compulsory subject, which is coming rather late.

    “However, only a few schools in Lagos State have Computer Science teachers and some schools gave temporary appointment to Computer Science teachers.

    “Others got the teachers through the efforts of the Parents’ Forum (PF),’’ he said.

    The unionist noted that most secondary schools in the state had a desktop or a laptop, which they used mostly for administrative work.

    He, however, said only few schools had a fully equipped ICT laboratory.

    “With the present situation, in my own view, I doubt if the use of CBT is result-oriented for secondary schools pupils in the state.

    “Except if crash programmes on computer studies and practice is introduced in schools.

    “This must allow each pupil to have free practice on the computer, if we dont do this, CBT will not achieve the desired aim.

  • Lagos’ll allocate 4,219 mortgage homes before December, says Fashola

    Lagos’ll allocate 4,219 mortgage homes before December, says Fashola

    Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola has said the allocation of houses under the Lagos Home Ownership Mortgage Scheme (HOMS) would begin before the end of the year.

    Fashola spoke on Wednesday during an interview on the Lagos Television Station to mark the 6th anniversary of his administration.

    He said over 4,219 housing units in 12 locations across the state would be ready for allocation before the year runs out.

    About 540 units are located in Sangotedo, 270 in Ogba, 36 in Shitta, 60 in Ilupeju, 73 in Mushin, 660 in Agbowa, 540 in Ajara, 720 in Ibeshe, 144 in Iponri, 168 in Oyingbo and 1,008 in Ijora Badia.

    The governor was interviewed by the former President of the Nigeria Guild of Editors (NGE), Mr. Gbenga Adefaye of the Vanguard; the Editor of The Sun, Mr. Steve Nwosu; Ms. Mauye Ogun of Channels and an activist, Mr. Mohammed Fawehinmi, first son of the late Lagos lawyer, Mr. Gani Fawehinmi.

    Fashola said: “I assure you that before this year ends, we will start the process of allocating the houses. The allocation would be done by public draw. We are almost done. We are trying to eliminate the need for anyone to be a relation or friend of any government official before he/she can get a house.

    “We have prepared forms and set up a Lagos Mortgage Board. We are recapitalising the Lagos Building and Investment Company (LBIC) to give mortgages. We have set up arbitration rules and gone through the mortgage documents. We have prepared the draw rules. Draws would be made in public.

    “We have set guidelines for those who would be eligible – those who pay their taxes – so it will not do to rush to go and pay the tax overnight because we built the houses with taxpayers’ money. It is only fair that those who have been paying faithfully get priority.

    “We will not ask you to pay cash once. You will deposit 30 per cent equity of the value of the house you choose and pay the rest over a minimum of 10 years.”

    On affordability, the governor said: “I have always said there is no low cost cement or low cost iron rod sold to the government. We borrow at the same interest rate. Our contractors charge us the import duties and all of the cost attendants of bringing in the raw materials to build the houses.”

    Fashola hailed the first civilian Governor of the state, Alhaji Lateef Jakande, on his achievements in housing, regretting that he did not stay long enough to institutionalise the process.

  • Lagos NUT equips teachers for e-learning

    Lagos NUT equips teachers for e-learning

    •Says no going back on strike

    With the new customised laptops the Lagos State wing of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) has provided for its members, teaching and learning is expected to improve in public primary and secondary schools across the state in the 2012/2013 academic session.

    The customised laptops were launched at a colourful ceremony chaired by the Lagos State Commissioner for Education, Mrs Olayinka Oladunjoye at the Memorable Events centre, CBD, Alausa, Lagos.

    However, it may take a while before the teachers begin using the curriculum and customised lesson notes installed on the computers if the Lagos NUT joins 23 other states in a strike over non-payment of the 27.5 per cent Teachers Special Allowances (TSA) on Monday, despite pleas from the Lagos state government.

    Chairman of the union, Comrade Kayode Idowu said at the event that the government has had enough time to implement the TSA and faulted claims that the MoU did not force the government to pay the allowance.

    He said that the government started paying 9.2 per cent out of the 27.5 last year and promised to pay the remaining before April 2011.

    He said the union has rejected claims that the government may commence full implementation January next year.

    “The government set up a committee to look into the issues and they are now claiming that the MoU the national leadership of the NUT signed on the TSA did not force any state government to pay. But the Lagos State government has been paying 9.2 per cent of the allowance since last year. They are now saying they may pay the rest from January next year and we said no,” he said.

    Speaking about the customised laptop initiative, Idowu said the union has thrown a challenge to the government to complement its efforts with provision of projectors in the classrooms.

    “This is a new beginning in Lagos State and the government is also buying into it. What we are doing as teachers is taking our future in our hands. The idea is brought about to meet challenges all over the world,” Idowu continued ‘and teachers in Lagos should not be left behind. Today, we are talking of e-learning, e-examination so on. How do our teachers meet up with these challenges? We want to challenge the Lagos State government that they have to improve the standard of education in the state. We are challenging them to provide projectors where our teachers can fix in their laptops and beam the topic on the board for teaching to take place,” he said.

    About 500 teachers from all the 17 NUT branches across the state, including state executives, are benefiting in the first phase of the initiative. The cost of the laptop, which is about N140,000 will be deducted in installments from their salaries.

    The laptops boast of lesson plans are uploaded, questions and answers for pupils for revision, and textbooks on various subjects.

    One of the recipients Mrs Fayemi Yetunde from Ikeja Senior Grammar School, Ikeja, commended the innovation which she said was in accordance with Lagos teachers’ readiness to embrace new technology.

    “The Lagos State government has been assisting us teachers by sponsoring lots of training including computer training. Many of us have gone for computer training ourselves, so we are ready for the e-learning. This customised laptop will go a long way in assisting us the teachers, especially reducing the stress for us in terms of imparting knowledge to our students. We will no longer be searching for textbooks elsewhere. Everything is in the computer.”