The Nation Newspaper

Tag: MINISTER OF EDUCATION

  • ASUU strike didn’t follow due process – Minister

    ASUU strike didn’t follow due process – Minister

    The Federal Government on Wednesday insisted that the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) did not follow due process.

    Briefing State House correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council meeting chaired by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, admitted that the Federal Government has failed to meet up some ASUU’s demand.

    He said “Very sad that I am here and ASUU is on strike, late last year we had a meeting because ASUU gave one week notice of strike and we were able to work out some agreement, I must confess government has not fulfilled its part of the bargain, even though we are unhappy that ASUU went on this strike without following due process and giving us good notice, we realised that we promised something and we didn’t fulfill it.

    “I hope I will be meeting them later today or tomorrow and am sure we will be able to reach some agreement so that the strike will be called off as soon as possible.

    “Am sure you are aware of the issues we agreed on, there is the issue of re-negotiation which is the only one they agreed government has done what it promised because we set up the re-negotiation team and negotiation is already ongoing.

    “There is the issue of Earned Allowances and I think because of some miscommunication what we promised could not be done, but am assuring ASUU and the whole nation that this is going to be done.

    “There is the issue of registration for Nigerian Universities Pension Commission. I think that one there are few issues that need to be sorted out with the Nigerian Pension Commission, I believe there will be no problem with that.

    “The issue of their staff school which I think the court has given them verdict to go ahead with it, they have requested that they should be allowed to stay off TSA and I think government will not do this but there are some peculiar funds in the university like endowment which are monies kept and all the interest they generate, prices and so on are given.

    “Government will exempt that one only, but universities it is part of the peculiarities, they just must log on. I hope later on when I meet them today there will be total agreement.” he said

    He said that ASUU needs to give account of the releases made by the government for the Earned Allowances before more payment can be made.

    According to him, the government has the money to pay.

    Asked to reconcile the statement  he made during the last dispensation about ASUU strike, when he said ‘So, instead of hectoring ASUU to call off its strike, the nation should be praying for more of its kind in other sectors of the economy,’ the minister said that was still his position.

    He said if ASUU had not forced former President Goodluck Jonathan, he would not have created the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), without which he said, the university system would have collapsed.

    The minister emphasized: “That is still my view. I believe ASUU is composed of patriotic people, very responsible.

    “If I can look at what their struggle is, they force the then government to create TETFund and today, without TETFund, the university system would have collapsed.

    “I’m not supporting ASUU, am supporting what is good. If it is something bad, I will condemn it.” he added

    The Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed disclosed that FEC approved the memo from the Ministry of Transportation for rehabilitation contract for Itakpe-Ajaokuta rail line.

    He said that the contract was awarded to CCECC at the tune of $122.62 million and to be completed in 15 months.

     

  • FG orders immediate separation of CRK, IRK in new curriculum  

    FG orders immediate separation of CRK, IRK in new curriculum  

    The Federal Government on Thursday bowed to pressure and directed the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) to separate the Christian Religious Knowledge and Islamic Religious Knowledge subjects in the basic education curriculum.

    The grouping of IRK and CRK under the Civil Education in the new curriculum by the NERDC had generated controversy in the last few months with religious leaders calling for their separate teaching.

    Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, gave the directive at a meeting of Ministers of Education with education stakeholders from six geo-political zones and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Abuja on Thursday.

    The meeting, which was attended by Commissioners for Education from various States of the Federation, was part of the ongoing efforts to strengthen the partnership within the three tiers of government in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals 4 (SDG4).

    Adamu, who was represented by Minister of State for Education, Anthony Anwukah, said the directive to separate the subjects became necessary because of the various complaints by Nigerians, especially the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) that has been vociferous about the issue.

    He explained that the collapse of the two subjects was done by former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration to reduce the number of subjects offered by pupils and students in schools.

    The minister said: “There is this controversy over the merger of CRK and IRK in the school curriculum. There were complaints by parents that children were overloaded with so many subjects and the recommendation then was to merge one or two subjects. Unfortunately, water and oil were merged together and it is not working.

    “So, to save ourselves the agony, the two subjects should be separated. We push that to the NERDC,”

    Adamu, in his address, reiterated the commitment of the Federal Government to revamping the education sector and appealed to state governments as well as relevant stakeholders to support the federal government effort.

    He also expressed the commitment of the government towards achieving the SDG4 by 2030 in line with the global timeline.

    The minister said Nigeria has selected the Goal 4 of the SDGs, which emphasizes inclusive and quality education for all and promotion of lifelong learning, for implementation in view of the importance of education as a fulcrum to national development.

    He said the federal government was aware that in the journey towards achieving the Education 2030 Agenda, key issues including the phenomenon of out-of-school children, insecurity in and around the schools and infrastructure decay must be addressed.

    The minister said there was also the need to have credible and reliable data, and how to address the challenge of poor teacher quality as well as teacher gaps, low carrying capacity in tertiary institutions, and poor learning outcomes.

    “We recognize that the task of revamping the education sector is challenging, the ministry of education cannot do it alone. Our task is to coordinate national efforts to meet our national goals and objectives.

    “It is our believe that with good planning, appropriate investment of resources, transparency, due process, effective collaboration and coordination of inputs and activities of government and that of all stakeholders, we will realize our vision of providing quality education to build and sustain adequate human capital for national development,” the minister added.

     

  • FEC okays ministerial retreat to end educational crises

    FEC okays ministerial retreat to end educational crises

    The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday approved the hosting of ministerial retreat to end crises in the education sector.

    The retreat, which aims at reviewing education roadmap, also plans to brainstorm on how to boost standard of education in Nigeria.

    The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, briefed State House correspondents at the end of the FEC meeting chaired by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    Adamu, who was in the company of the Special Adviser on media and publicity, Femi Adesina, said: “Council discussed very important issue on the road map of education sector and developments. We discussed many issues but the most important was education.

    “Members agree that the fallen standard in education is so serious that we will need a ministerial retreat to look at all the issues. There are a lot of issues in solution and all of them are crying for attention.

    “So there will be a ministerial retreat in the next two weeks to look at the issues and from there we will take off in what we are doing.

    “Initially we had prepared blueprint but FEC felt the issues is beyond that because there are crises in all the areas of education, in children school, in technical education and training, in ICT, in all the areas you can think of.

    “So ministers are going to start talking to themselves and come out with solutions.” he added

    He also faulted the recent media reports on the issue of Christian religious knowledge teaching and history subject in schools.

    He said “There is no truth in it at all. It was just somebody’s imagination probably somebody who wishes to raise tension in the country after the Biafra issue and then the quit order given by some young people in the north so the person just followed suit trying to stoic the embers of religion. There is no truth whatsoever, I repeat.

    “Certainly there was a policy in 2012 which was given effect in 2014 that is even before this government came in. One of the things I did as minister was to speak to the national council on education to disarticulate history from the social studies curricula because we believe we want our young people to know our history.

    “You cannot know who you are without knowing who your ancestors were in the past. And the national council of education did accept and agree that the teaching and learning of CRK has been made compulsory for all Christians students and teaching and learning of Islamic studies is compulsory for all Muslim students,” he added.

    He pointed out that the reports were accusing the Ministry of doing the opposite of what it has done.

     

  • Teachers to earn higher salaries than other workers -FG

    Teachers to earn higher salaries than other workers -FG

    The Federal Government Thursday said it is working on plans to ensure that teachers are paid salaries higher than other workers in Nigeria.

    The government said increase in the salaries of teachers would help to attract the best to the teaching profession.

    Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, disclosed this at the inauguration of Governing Councils of 21 Federal Colleges of Education.

    Adamu, who was represented by Minister of State for Education, Prof. Anthony Anwukah, said the teaching profession had ceased to be “all-comers affairs.”

    He warned that teachers in Nigeria across all levels must register with the Teachers’ Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) before the end of this year or risk being sent out of classrooms.

    Adamu said government has under studied Malaysia and came to realisation that the country got it right by first taking a critical look at teaching and teacher education.

    He noted that Malaysia in the quest for greatness had brought down its education sector and reorganised it for effective development of human resource in order to get to where the country is today.

    The minister said to start with, teachers in Malaysia were paid higher than other workers and that the federal government felt it was expedient to extrapolate that for implementation in Nigeria.

    He said: “What did they do? They brought the whole system down and ask what do you want us to do in education. Their planning was geared towards the development of human resources. In Malaysia, top percent of those who scored the highest in their equivalent of JAMB compete to be teachers.

    “If you are a teacher in Malaysia, you are to ranked than any other worker in the country. This is why you will find people with PhDs teaching in primary schools. Teachers are paid higher than any other person in Malaysia and we have made that recommendation and we are going to do that in Nigeria,” he said.

    Adamu, also lamented the dearth of quality teachers Nigeria, saying it was unfortunate that the noble call had not been able to attract the best and the brightest because of inadequacies in the system.

    He insisted that the current administration was ready to get it right with the cooperation of all stakeholders.

    He added that colleges of education have remained critical institutions‎ because they do not only produce teachers on which everything else is dependent, they also produce teachers at the basic level of education.

    He reminded members of the Governing Councils of the enormous task ahead of them saying their appointments, though part-time in nature, have come at a time when the country is recovering from recession and that the institutions have been without Governing Councils since 2015.

    Adamu, therefore, challenged the Governing Councils to come with policy direction that would assist in the effort to strengthen the quality of teachers produce by the institutions as well as how to generate funding for their various institutions.

    He urged them to avoid friction with the management of the colleges, saying there must be clear distinction between the management role of the institutions and the powers of the Governing Councils to enunciate policies and provide needed fillip for the implementation of those policies.

     

  • FG releases results of unity schools

    FG releases results of unity schools

    The Federal Government Thursday said it has released the result of this year’s National Common Entrance Examination (NCEE) into Federal Unity schools.

    Acting Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Dr. Husseini Adamu said this in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.

    He said Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu gave the approval to National Examination Council (NECO) to release the results to the public for access in all the State Ministries of Education nationwide as well as NECO zonal offices.

    According to the statement, 80,421 candidates registered for the examination but only 77, 512 candidates actually sat for the examination.

    “The general analysis of the result shows that the highest score was 189 out of 200 scored by two candidates; Emeka-Egbuna Chinecherem C. and Onubogu Chinazom Joyce both from Anambra State, while the least score was 4 scored by 8 candidates.

    “Queens College, Yaba Lagos was one of the colleges with highest subscription of 5524, while the least subscribed college was FGGC, Monguno Borno State with only 21 candidates.

    “The result can be accessed on-line http://www.fmeinterview.com or through NECO zonal offices nationwide, to know whether a candidate is shortlisted for placement or not,” the statement said.

    The statement added that the placement exercise is scheduled to take place in July, 2017.

     

  • FUTA in joyful mood as Minister suspends VC, Registrar

    FUTA in joyful mood as Minister suspends VC, Registrar

    There was spontaneous reaction yesterday over the suspension of the embattled Vice Chancellor (VC), Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) Prof. Adebiyi Daramola by the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu.

    It was a moment of joy as FUTA campus was thrown into ecstasy with workers exchanging pleasantries on the development.

    Prof Daramola was suspended alongside the Registrar, Mrs Modupe Ajayi.

    The chairman of the Joint Action Committee JAC of the University and Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities SSANU ‎Dele Durojaiye confirmed the suspension of the duo by the minister.

    Durojaiye, however, said details of their suspension had not been communicated to them.

    The VC and the Bursar, Emmanuel Oresegun have been dragged to court by the EFCC over alleged mismanagement of the institution funds.

    They ‎were granted bail by the Akure High Court.The reason why the Registrar was suspended and not the bursar ‎with the VC remained unclear yesterday.

    The Registrar is the Secretary of the University council and her five-year tenure was to lapse on May 31 before the ministers axe on Thursday.

    Spokesman of the University Adebanjo Adegbenro said he has no ‎information to the effect that the two principal officers of the university have been suspended by the Minister for Education.

    The Non- Teaching Staff Unions of the University called off their seven-month old industrial action on Tuesday.

    The unions went on strike to protest the refusal of the federal government to sack of the  Prof  Daramola despite his case with EFCC.

    ‎They have since vowed not to resume work until he steps aside to clear himself of the allegations of mismanagement of the institution funds by the EFCC.

    Besides, the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU‎) ‎of the university insisted that the tenure of the embattled Vice Chancellor had lapsed‎.

    However, the chairman of the Joint Action congress (JAC) of the institution, Dele Durojaiye acting on a verdict of the Industrial Court recalled the workers back to work.

    According to Durojaye, the court had given an order that the striking workers should resume work within 24 hours.

    He said the court equally‎ ordered the university Management to pay all outstanding salaries within 24 hours and that those whose appointments were terminated be reinstated forthwith.

    Durojaiye in a directive to the union members urged members to resume work while they await the university to pay our salaries

    On the tenure of the Vice Chancellor, the leadership of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU‎) of the institution insisted that his tenure had since lapsed on May 9th and not may 23 this year as announced by the university Management.

    In a letter forwarded to the VC, the union leader ‎said that his five-year single tenure ought to have lapsed on May 9.

    They said‎“ Prof. Daramola “assumed office on the 10th May 2012; and as such his tenure should end on 9th May 2017.

    The institution Registrar, Mrs Modupe Ajayi said the tenure of Prof Daramola ends on May 23, this year.

    According to her, “While the Vice-Chancellor appreciates the concern of ASUU-FUTA leadership on this matter and has responded to provide the required information, it is considered expedient to bring this to the public domain and in particular to the members of the university community that the information making the rounds in some quarters within the campus that the Vice Chancellor, Prof Daramola, assumed office on the 10th May 2012; and as such his tenure should end on 9th May 2017 is absolutely incorrect.

    “For the avoidance of doubt, this is to inform all members of staff, students and the entire members of the University Community that the Vice Chancellor, Prof Daramola assumed office on the 24th May 2012, the same day his inauguration took place.This implies that his five-year tenure will come to an end on 23rd May 2017“.

    The University Management appealed to all staff, students and the entire members of the University Community to discountenance and ignore any action being orchestrated to cause a breach of peace and stability on the campus.

  • FG to establish National Commission for Secondary Education

    FG to establish National Commission for Secondary Education

    The Federal Government Monday revealed that it plans to establish a National Commission for Secondary Education to regulate secondary education in the country.

    Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu disclosed this in Abuja on Monday when he received students of Nigeria Tulip International Colleges (NTIC) who won 48 awards for Nigeria in mathematics, geometry, robotics and various international academic competitions this year.

    Adamu said the plan to establish the commission was part of the ongoing reforms in the education sector by the federal government.

    He noted that while the National Universities Commission (NUC) and the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) regulate and intervene in tertiary education, there is no agency or commission to regulate secondary education as it is done with primary and junior secondary education through the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC).

    The minister said: “This administration came on the mantra of change and reform and that is what we are going to do.

    “For secondary schools in particular, you know for a very long time, there had been a commission, just like there is Universal Basic Education Commission for primary and junior secondary schools, Tertiary Education Trust Fund for tertiary, this commission for secondary education is going to be revamped.”

    Adamu, who commended the students of the college for making Nigeria proud, added that the Tulip Colleges since coming into Nigeria about 20 years ago had been among the best from Secondary to the Tertiary.

    He expressed the readiness of the ministry of education to support the NTIC.

    According to him, emphasis in education should be on science subjects like engineering, technology, and Mathematical sciences.

    “I want to urge you to keep up what you have been doing. I assure you that the future of Nigeria rest in your hands,” he added.

    In his remarks, Principal of the college, Mr. Nwuazu Omeje, said the aim of the school is to groom the students to greatness through provision of quality education and good moral upbringing.

    According to him, the colleges do not just pay attention to education alone but also the character of the children, adding that one could not aspire to any reasonable position in the society without good character.

    The Principal disclosed that one unique thing that the colleges had done was provision of scholarship to the brilliant but indigent students.

    He said various mathematical competitions are organized in collaboration with the National Mathematical Centre, Abuja, where the intelligent students from poor background who could not afford the school fees are offered scholarship to study in the colleges.

    According to him, the aim of the NTIC is to complement the effort of the federal government in providing quality education to citizens.

    “A good number of our students are on scholarship and we don’t discriminate. We go to every state, local government to advertise the competition and the successful ones are brought into the school,” he said.

    The NTIC has branches in Abuja, Lagos, Ogun, Kano, Yobe and Kaduna,

     

     

  • Okowa hails Buhari Presidency over peace in Niger Delta

    Okowa hails Buhari Presidency over peace in Niger Delta

    Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa on Friday hailed President Muhammadu Buhari’s government for the current peace in the Niger Delta region.

    He spoke with State House correspondents after meeting with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    He said “If you find out in the past few months there has been peace in Delta state so I wanted to appreciate his visit to Delta state because that definitely helped us in the peace process.”

    Speaking further on the Niger Delta, he said “Definitely it’s very peaceful and we will continue to consolidate on the peace.”

    He also commended the Senate for the Maritime university Okerenkoko bill that passed third reading in the Upper legislative chamber.

    “Just Friday the bill for the Maritime University Okerenkoko passed third reading at the Senate that is definitely a very strong plus for us.

    “We are also aware that a committee has been set up led by the Minister of Education, my Deputy Governor is part of the committee to work out the processes to enable the Maritime university take off in October. It’s a step in the right direction so I came to appreciate him and to discuss some other issues with him.” he said

    On the progress on the Modular refineries, he said “I think the process are being put in place, you realise that the President has talked a lot about it and I believe the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and the NNPC have been working in that direction.

    “You know it’s not something that you can just bring up all in one day or in one month, I believe that the processes are being put in place to ensure that we have some of them in some of our communities in the creeks and in the Niger Delta generally,” he said.

  • FG set to stop uncertified teachers next year – Ajiboye

    FG set to stop uncertified teachers next year – Ajiboye

    The Federal Government has said it will not allow any teacher without Professional ‎ Certificate of the Teachers’ Registration Council (TRCN) to teach beyond 2017.

    This is part of the 3-years Ministerial Strategic Plan by the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu which is designed to end unqualified teachers in Nigerian classrooms.

    The Registrar/Chief Executive Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), Professor Olusegun Ajiboye made the disclosure in Ibadan on Tuesday.

    According to Professor Ajiboye, the Registration Council will put a stop to normal registration at the end of May 2017.

    He hinted that the first professional qualifying Examination of TRCN will take place at the end of September, 2017 designed to fully professionalise teaching in Nigeria and ensure that only those qualified are employed by government for quality assurance.

    The Registrar who noted that those who wants to use the normal registration has till the end of May 2017 added that the Buhari-led administration does not joke with teacher-professionalism.

    Ajiboye who noted that teachers who register on or before May 31, 2017 ‎ will be exempted from the qualifying examinations added that the Council has registered about 1.6million teachers since he assumed office.

    The professional qualifying examination, according to Ajiboye is designed in modules comprising category A (PhD holders), B (Master degree holders), C (Bachelor degree holders), and D (NCE holders).

    Ajiboye however said the induction in higher institutions will continue while the examination will be infused as part of the requirements of induction.

    “By the end of 2017, Nigerian children will be taught by only qualified professional teachers who can deliver the quality education desirous for the elevation of our children and our country. Professionalism ‎is the key for entering into the profession. Those who do not have what it takes cannot be trusted with the lives of our children. We are out to ensure a guaranteed future for our future leaders by ensuring that those who teach them are the best around. This will translate to higher performances and better value for professional teachers. The professional examination takes place by September ending and it is the first of its kind and we have structured it into modules of different categories. This is in line with the 3-year Ministerial strategic Plan education policy of the Minister of Education Malam Adamu Adamu.”

     

     

  • FG, ASUU begins 2009 renegotiation agreement

    FG, ASUU begins 2009 renegotiation agreement

    The Federal Government has inaugurated a committee to re-negotiate the 2009 FGN/ University Based Staff Unions Agreement.

    The Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, who performed the inauguration on Monday in Abuja, said the inauguration of the 14-man committee was done in demonstration of the government’s commitment to fulfilling its promises.

    Adamu said that the team for the re-negotiation with unions from the polytechnics and colleges of education would soon be constituted as their respective Governing Councils are being put in place.

    The minister said: “The inauguration of the re-negotiation team is significant as it confirms to the unions that government is committed to keeping its own side of the promise.

    “It wants to ensure that an environment that is conducive for teaching, learning, research and community service is engendered through lasting industrial harmony in all our tertiary institutions.

    “Today’s inauguration kick-starts our drive for re-negotiation across the three segments of the tertiary education sub-sector –universities, polytechnics and colleges of education, starting with universities.

    “The administration in the ministry and the administration in the country does not consider the unions enemies or even opponents. As I have always said, ASUU, NASU, NATE and all other are patriotic people who are very concerned about education because what they are struggling for is not for their personal glory or gain. Therefore, you should be facing friends who are interested in education as you are.”

    In his remarks, the Chairman of the committee, Dr. Wale Babalakin, said a conducive environment in the tertiary institutions was the bedrock for development of a nation’s intelligentsia.

    Babalakin, who assured the minister that the committee would rise beyond expectations for the furtherance of tertiary education in Nigeria, appealed to the members to ensure that the task is not underestimated but carried out with the commitment of all to enhance education in Nigeria.

    “A conducive environment in the tertiary institutions is the bedrock for development of a nation’s intelligentsia. A nation’s development can be seriously enhanced by the active participation of the intelligence in the pursuit of the country’s developmental goals.

    “We want to also assure you that we intend to rise even beyond your expectations for the furtherance of tertiary education in Nigeria. This task should not be underestimated but with the commitment of all, we will provide a very serious enhancement for education in Nigeria,” he said.