The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Niger Delta University (NDU)

  • Bayelsa to evict 2012 flood victims from camp

    Bayelsa to evict 2012 flood victims from camp

    The Bayelsa State government has said that it will evict victims of the 2012 flood still remaining in the Bishop Dimeari Grammar School, (BDGS) Yenagoa camp, by Monday.

    Hundreds of victims of the 2012 flood disaster that affected the state have been taking refuge in the school premises since 2012 and refused to vacate the school when the flood receded.

    The threat is contained in a statement issued by Deacon Markson Fefegha, Bayelsa Commissioner for Education.

    The statement called on the staff and students of BDGS to commence movement to its original site in Yenagoa Local Government Area as directed by the government as from October 24, 2016.

    According to reports, the original BDGS is currently being occupied by Law Faculty of the state-owned Niger Delta University (NDU) and some residents that are yet to vacate the premises.

    The state government blamed the delay in the movement of the school to its original site on the activities of illegal occupants.

    “All illegal occupants of buildings in the premises of BDGS, Yenagoa, are by this statement advised to vacate the premises on or before Sunday, 23rd of October, 2016.

    “The State Ministry of Education has served enough notice and delayed the return of the school, on sympathy grounds.

    “However, the government shall be compelled to invite the law enforcement agencies to effect the arrest and prosecution of all illegal occupants that will be found from Monday, 24th of October, 2016.

    “The general public and especially staff and students of BDGS should please take note and comply,” the statement read in part.

    The Acting Public Relations Officer of the NDU, Mr Ingezi Idon, said that the eviction order did not affect the Law Faculty of the University.

    “The eviction order does not affect the Faculty of Law, rather it affects illegal occupants that occupied the premises during the 2012 flood of the premises,” he said.

  • Students groan as Dickson fails to reopen Bayelsa varsity

    Students groan as Dickson fails to reopen Bayelsa varsity

    Three students, lecturer lose lives

    ASUU reduces demands, denies suspending action

    The Governor of Bayelsa State, Mr. Seriake Dickson, has failed to resolve the ongoing industrial action involving all categories of workers at the only state-owned Niger Delta University (NDU) five months after the institution was shut down.

    Investigations revealed that the closure of the institution has dealt deadly blows on the students and lecturers who are at the receiving end of idleness and economic hardship caused by non-payment of salaries.

    Lecturers under the aegis of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and other categories of workers commenced industrial action in April to protest the inability of the government to pay them salaries since January.

    The workers said having suffered to discharge their duties without salaries from January to April, they were no longer unable to cope with domestic pressure and cost of going to school for their lectures.

    ASUU declared work-to-rule, asked its members to stay at home pending when government would ameliorate their hardship by paying their backlog of salaries.

    But negotiations to resolve the conflict between the government and the workers were said to have met brick-walls following allegations by ASUU that the government instead of seriously tackling the issues resorted to blackmails to cow them.

    It was further learnt that while ASUU had reduced their terms demanding only two months salaries out of the four they earlier wanted, the government had yet to shift ground on its proposed 50 per cent salaries for two months.

    It was further learnt that within the period of the strike, three students and a lecturer of the university lost their lives in circumstances blamed on the action.

     

  • Strike: Hope dims for Bayelsa varsity students

    Strike: Hope dims for Bayelsa varsity students

    … Lecturers insist on salary payment as meeting ends in deadlock

    Students of the only Bayelsa State University, Niger Delta University (NDU), may have to stay longer at home following the inability of the state government to satisfy the demands of lecturers and other workers in the university.

    The students have spent over four months at home since April when the lecturers exhausted their patience and embarked on an indefinite strike over non-payment of their salaries.

    Workers in the university have not been paid since January, a situation that forced them to down tools and shut down a school that was founded at Amasoma, Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, by late former Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha.

    The students took to the streets last month and protested the closure of the school and appealed to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to resolve their differences.

    ASUU, however, boiled over accusing the government of playing politics with NDU following its decision to establish the African University (AU) through the House of Assembly via a speedy legislation under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement.

    It was gathered that a meeting held on Wednesday between government representatives and ASUU to seek ways of resolving the impasse ended in deadlock.

    The Chief of Staff, Chief Talford Ongolo, was said to have led government delegates to meet with ASUU at the Faculty of Law, Gwegwe, Yenagoa.

    Ongolo was said to have met a massively attended congress of ASUU consisting of all cadre of lecturers including reputable professors.

    When Ongolo and his delegates were admitted to the floor of the congress, the lecturers were said to lashed out at him through superior arguments over the way he addressed them.

    A principal member of the union who attended the meeting but spoke in confidence said the chief of staff drew the ire of his colleagues when he accused ASUU of refusing to call off the strike.

    He said: “The Chief of staff started on a  dry bad note by accusing ASUU of refusing to call off the ongoing strike after accepting to suspend the strike after payment of one month salary.

    “He was rebuffed by members of the congress who asked him to either quickly apologise or sit down immediately for telling lies. It took the pleadings and entreaties of exco to calm the  frayed nerves of members .

    “As the congress was calming down, Ongolo raised the sensitive issue of the  African University, Toru Orua.  The Congress flayed up again when he praised the governor for setting up the new university.

    “ASUU  members told him point blank that he (Talford Ongolo) and all the members of the government team attended Rivers State University of Science and technology Port Harcourt.

    “They told him pointblank that the ASUU NDU strike has moved from salary payment to the defence of poor Bayelsan students whose educational opportunities are under serious threat by the calculated attempt by the state government to kill NDU in order to benefit from the proceeds of AU”.

    The source said the lecturers were infuriated when the chief of staff accused three members of ASUU of testifying against the governor at the concluded governorship election petition tribunal that sat in Abuja.

    “Members of the Congress became more infuriated and told Ongolo that the university system has intellectuals drawn from all works of life and that political affiliations of three members have no bearing with the issues in dispute between ASUU and the government”, he said.

    The lecturers were said to have insisted that the government must pay three months out of the outstanding to enable them settle some of their debts and have the capacity to sustain their services at the institution.

    They were said to have told the government not to allow the students suffer at home any longer.

    Ongolo was said to have insisted that the government was desirous of ending the industrial dispute to end the agonies of students.

    He further said Governor Seriake Dickson was willing to address the infrastructural deficit in the university.

  • Militants vow to attack Dickson over unpaid salaries

    Militants vow to attack Dickson over unpaid salaries

    …threatens more attacks on flow stations            

    A consolidated group of militants, the Joint Revolutionary Council (JRC), yesterday, vowed to riddle Bayelsa State Government House with bullets if Governor Seriake Dickson continued to owe workers their salaries.

    The group said it was unacceptable for Dickson to be owing civil servants about seven months, local government workers for over 13 months, pensioners for about nine months and workers in the only state university, Niger Delta University (NDU) for about seven months.

    The group in a statement said after its meeting in Yenagoa, it also resolved to attack more flow stations to express its displeasure in the inability of the Federal Government to address the challenges confronting the Niger Delta region.

    Persons who endorsed the statement for the group identified themselves as ‘General’ Torunanaowei Latei (Creek Network Coordinator); ‘General’ Agbakakuro Owei-Tauro (Pipeline Bleeding Expert); ‘General’ Akotebe Darikoro (Commander, General Duties) and ‘General’ Pulokiri Ebikade (Intelligence Bureau).

    The group said: “We are warning Governor Henry Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa state, without further delay commence the final payment of all workers including the old pensioners been owed their several months of salary. Dickson is to pay these workers/pensioners in full and not 50% or half of half of their legitimate salaries.

    “He will not claim of no funds to pay them. The funds are with him based on the allocations he received from the federation account which is known to the people. No

    fund but the government is busy doing projects and building personal buildings within and outside the state, while these workers are dying in abject poverty in the state.

    “This is unacceptable and it must stop forthwith in the region because our parents, brothers and sisters are not to suffer as a result of their effort in government.

    “Enough is enough, he should go and bring the money wherever he is keeping it and fully pay these workers and pensioners before the end of this month or otherwise, what he is looking for in the state he shall see it from us”.

    Accusing the government and its family of diverting public money for personal projects, the group claimed that the ministry of works of paying all supply contracts to governor’s relatives while ignoring others.

    The militant group said: “If the government said there is no money, it should without delay auction those properties it and its relatives amass with the state funds within and

    outside Bayelsa now to pay the workers immediately.

    “We’ll go after any of Dickson’s relation and political appointees who have given wrong advise to the Pharaoh (Gov. Dickson) of Bayelsa state to cripple the state.

    “Since the governor cannot pay workers in the state, by avoiding the oath he took and his constitutional responsibilities, he should leave the seat of power in the state by

    avoiding bloodshed. Whoever that attacks us in words will also go for it.

    “If Dickson undermines us what he saw while serving as Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice of the state on that fateful day of April, 27th 2007 were we came and sacked President Goodluck Jonathan then governor of the state at government house, will experience same but this time around it will be disastrous and head will roll, whoever that confronts us”.

    On attack on oil attacks on oil installation the militant group named its targets as the oil and gas pipelines running from Ogboinbiri in Southern Ijaw LGA of Bayelsa state to Obrinkon in Ikwerre LGA of Rivers state.

    Other it planned to attack are the flow stations of Ogboinbiri, Oporoma, Peremabiri, Tabidaba, Nembe, Brass, Chevron platform in Koluama, Okordia-Zarama and Biseni including Gbarain-Ubie gas gathering plant.

    It said they would be be set ablaze because  the oil companies were major hindrances to the development of the region.

    The group warned persons staying within its targets to leave insisting that its mission was to cripple the economy of the country and not to kill anybody.

    “The Nigerian securities who are claiming they are securing the oil facilities in the region should stay as their dwelling places and see whether their safety will be guarantee by the music on those days.

    “We thanked the Minister of state, Petroleum Resources for the bold steps he personally took to resolve the injustice created and sponsored by the wicked companies and government in Nigeria.

    Our struggle is beyond monetary gains and we cannot be bribe by the Nigerian government to the detriment of our suffering people and the struggle is unstoppable until justice is done to the region.

    “Our Field Commanders have been instructed what to do and those who are

    on standby in Rivers, Akwa-Ibom, Edo, Delta Cross River await after Bayelsa state operations.

    “We further warned that, henceforth, any attack on Ijaw communities or person(s) by the military or para-military body in the region, we will not hesitate to order our shoot-at-sight squad of any uniform personnel in the region.

    “For the records, Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) are not in Delta state, we only go there to strike and  returns back safely to the struggle base, Bayelsa state”.

  • Robbers kill final year student of Bayelsa varsity

    Robbers kill final year student of Bayelsa varsity

    Rampaging armed robbers have shot and killed a final year engineering student of the Bayelsa State-owned Niger Delta University (NDU), Wilberforce Island, Amasoma, Southern Ijaw.

    It was gathered that the victim identified as Obele Wilson was attacked along the Sani Abacha Expressway, Yenagoa, where some branches of new generation banks are located.

    The bandits who were armed with guns and other weapons reportedly rounded up Wilson and some bank customers at about 2pm and started dispossessing them of their cash, mobile handsets and other valuables.

    Prior to the incident, Wilson was said to be in the business of electronically processing NDU’s screening forms for admission seekers.

    A source who spoke in confidence said the deceased student was at the spot to seek customers from persons who bought the NDU forms from banks.

    He said: “The killing of Wilson was very painful. He was a final year engineering student who was in the business of processing screening forms for admission seekers.

    “He was at the premises of the bank on Tuesday to look for customers from among those who purchased the forms. Some armed stormed the place and started collecting people’s valuables and cash at gunpoint. Wilson was said to have argued with them in the process they shot him.”

    The source said after the shooting, sympathisers tried to rush him to an undisclosed hospital but that he died before getting there.

    He, however, blamed the incident on the ongoing industrial crisis between the employees of the university and the Governor Seriake Dickson-led administration which led to the shutdown of NDU.

    All the workers in the university have been on strike since April following the inability of Dickson to pay them their salaries for about six months.

    The source said: “If not for the strike, Wilson would have gone for his compulsory industrial training for final year engineering students. He was processing the training when the strike started”.

    Wilson was described by some friends as an active youth from Ogbia Local Government Area, immediate past Vice-President of the National Union of Bayelsa State Students (NUBSS), and leader of the Ogbia students union.

    There have been rising cases of armed robberies and other violent crimes in Yenagoa, the state capital, since the economic crisis occasioned by non-payment of salaries started in the state.

    It was gathered that despite concerns raised by the police over reports of increasing armed robberies by the Nation, the situation had not changed.

    Investigations still revealed that most streets and roads remained impassable from 7pm because of the activities of armed youths.

    Most notorious among the dangerous streets is Samphino, located at the Kpansia suburb close to the Mbiama-Yenagoa Road.

    Residents still told the Nation that they hardly sleep each day with their eyes closed complaining that movement along the street from 7pm is suicidal.

    A resident of the notorious Samphino who identified himself simply as Joshua said their lives were in danger.

    He said: “In fact, there is nothing like security on this street. Every day they beat up people to collect their properties. Even yesterday, they broke into one shop and made away with foodstuffs.

    “They also entered one barbing saloon and stole plasma television. They are constantly attacking shops and sometimes between 5 to 6am, they beat up ladies and collect their hand bags.

    “As far as we are concerned, there is no security. You know how the Nigeria police operate. They normally come after the incident. They do their normal patrol. They even come the time they are not needed.

    “Before now, this street was not like this. But now once its 7 to 8pm, you see people locking their shops which is not supposed to be”.

     

  • Dickson to Bayelsa varsity: Look elsewhere for funding

    Dickson to Bayelsa varsity: Look elsewhere for funding

    Bayelsa State Governor, Henry Seriake Dickson, has asked the management of the state-owned Niger Delta University (NDU) to explore other revenue sources to fund itself.

    A statement sent through the office of Dickson’s Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Mr. Daniel Iworiso-Markson, said the governor insisted that his administration would no longer sustain the existing funding system because of the present poor financial situation of the state.

    The statement said Dickson spoke in Government House, Yenagoa, when he met with the Governing Council and principal officers of NDU.

    The governor said a situation where the state government’s monthly subvention of about N480million was spent on recurrent expenditure was unsustainable.

    He expressed concern over the bogus wage bill of the university and the need for its leadership to be prudent in the use of funds.

    He said his administration religiously provided the school’s funding until January this year, to enable the institution gain some degree of financial autonomy.

    On the ongoing industrial action embarked upon by the state chapter of the Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU),  Dickson appealed to the striking lecturers to call off their action and join hands with the government in proffering solutions to the issue of unpaid salaries caused by the sharp drop in state revenues.

    He empathized with the staff and students of the institution over the development and re-affirmed his commitment to measures that would help in cutting down the wage bill of the university.

    Dickson called on the university to work with the government for a more feasible funding arrangement that would cater for the salaries of all academic staff and appropriate number of non-teaching staff.

    Describing the current non-academic staff strength of 2,502 as unacceptable, Dickson frowned at the practice, where the university asserted its autonomy only in the area of employment, but passed all salary obligations to the state government.

    He said:  “At the inauguration of the NDU Governing Council four years ago, we laid out our vision of what our University should be.

    “We realized that it was going to be unsustainable to have the situation we met, hereby the university with its very high recurrent wage bill will be drawing its salaries on a monthly basis from the government.

    “A situation where the university will employ as they wish and then transfer the salaries to the state government can no longer be sustained.

    “Our vision, moving forward, is for an NDU that is properly organized and run as a university that can stand the test of time irrespective of the economic vicissitudes that may afflict our state.

    “We are interested in an NDU that will be a centre of excellence, as we all want it to be; an NDU that will stand the test of time irrespective of the government that is there or whether the government gets low or high allocation.  That is why we must all be united in looking inward and seeking alternative funding pattern for our great university”.

    The statement also quoted the Chairman, Governing Council of NDU, Prof. Turner Isoun and Vice-Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Humphrey Ogoni, as acknowledging the financial contributions of the present administration to the effective running of the university in the last four years.

    But he asked the governor to see the proposed new policy of financial autonomy in the management of the university as a medium-term initiative.

    He said any attempt to enforce immediately would result in the escalation of tuition fees and other charges that could spell doom to many indigent students.