The Nation Newspaper

Tag: universities

  • ‘Take advantage of uninterrupted learning in recognised universities’

    The Vice-Chancellor of the Espam Formation University, Professor Martial Lipeb, has advised parents and students to support an uninterrupted learning for a quality output.

    He made the appeal during the 7th convocation ceremony of the university held at the university amphitheatre in Cotonou recently.

    According to him, the tertiary institution, which is a bilingual university, is recognised and its courses are accredited by relevant private and government agencies within and outside Republic of Benin.

    He told parents to invest in education, and by so doing the future of their children and wards will be secure.

    A total number of 415 graduants bagged first degrees, while 62 graduated with Master’s degree in humanities.

    Also, three Nigerians, Dr. Olatunji Oladunni,  Dr. Kazeem Akande-a renowned education consultant and Dr. Ahmed Ayuba Mohammed bagged PhDs in Organisational Management, Marketing and  Business Administration.

  • Universities, not high schools

    Chief Afe Babalola, SAN, founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD), just outed with an idea: unified university examinations for final year degree students.

    Addressing ABUAD’s matriculation and award conferment on distinguished alumni, Chief Babalola said he would do a position paper on his suggestion, to the National Universities Commission (NUC) and the Federal Ministry of Education.  Meanwhile, he called for support for his new elixir, to build up strong public opinion.

    Hardball finds Chief Babalola’s suggestion rather weird.

    What really is a “final year examination”?  From the course system that universities have adopted right now, there is really nothing like “final year” examination.  Because the courses are broken down into smaller bits, and stretched over the course duration, the so-called “final year” examination starts with the fresher’s first semester examination.  So, ab initio, what the chief suggests is already an anachronism, except he can demonstrate, in his position paper, how you can bend the course system to accommodate a “final year examination”.

    But even if the course system were to be jettisoned, and the “Almighty May-June” were to stage a comeback, Hardball is still at a loss how a unified examination, like the Junior Secondary School (JSS) and Senior Secondary School (SSS) examinations, conducted by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and the National Examinations Council (NECO), fits into the university concept and culture.

    Without appearing fixated with set ideas, Chief Babalola’s latest suggestion is a manifestation of the worrying neo-secondary school syndrome, oozing from the camp of Nigeria’s university investors, simply because they could marshal capital to build fancy structures and attract good staff, no thanks to the progressive under-investment in public universities.

    The chief is calling for unified university final exams.  Yet, the university lobby is calling for the scrapping of a central matriculating exam.  In any case, they have managed to position a pot of gold, which they call “post-JAMB test”, with which they manage to fleece helpless youths, all in the name of “standard”.  Pray, how come a central matriculation exam is heresy; but the new Babalola doctrine is hoped-for new orthodoxy?  It just does not add up.

    But still on neo-secondary school fixation: you have universities that have faculty uniforms, those who decree their hostels are nothing but secondary school dormitories and campuses just glorified civilian barracks, where students need passes to enter and exit!  Now, crown all of these with a centralized degree examination, and what do you have?  Is the Nigerian university system progressing or retrogressing?

    In his Paradise Lost, John Milton shed much light on free will, which he argued God had given every human.  But bear the consequences – good or bad – however you exercise that free will.  That is more or less the concept and culture of universities — almost unfettered intellectual freedom to soar.  It is on that scholastic wing that universities find their niches and build the character of their products for the future.

    That is why the university is conceptually an open sky for free intellectual spirits; not a golden cage for scholastic zombies.

     

  • Strike looms in universities over agreement with government

    Another round of industrial action may commence soon in the university sector as the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, (SSANU) is  accusing the Federal Government of failing to honour its own part of the agreement entered into with Non-teaching staff of Universities seven weeks after they suspended their strike.
    Rising from its National Executive Council meeting at the Bayero University, Kano, SSANU appealed to well meaning Nigerians to prevail on the Federal Government to implement all agreements it freely signed with Joint Action Committee of NAAT, NASU and SSANU to avert another round of industrial crisis in our Universities.
    In a communique signed by the National President, Comrade Samson Chijioke Ugwoke and the National Public Relations Officer, Abdussobur Salaam, the union also accused the government of fragrantly disobeying judgement of the National Industrial Court judgment on University Staff Schools.
    The union expressed disappointment at the failure of Federal Government to implement some aspects of the 2009 Agreement and other Memoranda of Understanding it freely entered into with University based non- teaching Staff Unions.
    It  warned  that Nigerians should not blame the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of NAAT, NASU and SSANU if it resumes the suspended nationwide industrial action, because seven (7) weeks after the last Memorandum of Understanding signed by Government and the Unions, Government has failed to honor its own part of the bargain
    It said further that “it has become the penchant of Government to choose which court judgments to obey and which to disregard. In cases where an attempt is made to obey court judgments, implementation is done selectively and at whim.
    “NEC decries a situation where the union followed legitimate processes to correct an anomaly and after judgment was given, Government chose to treat with contempt and implement in breach, as is the case with University Staff Schools, where various offices of government have issued circulars which run contrary to the decision of the court. It notes that this development is unbecoming of a democratic government supposedly run under the rule of law and the non implementation of court judgments by the government is an invitation to anarchy”.
    The union also expressed concern about the proliferation of Universities and the “rate of approvals granted for the establishments of universities by Government and observed that the establishment of universities have almost become like constituency projects as almost every Senator seems to be sponsoring a bill for the establishment or upgrade of an institution to a University in his or her constituency and that almost every week, the Federal Executive Council approves the establishment of a new University.
    “NEC notes that though the number of universities on ground may have challenges meeting up with the increasing admission needs of the country, the solution is not the proliferation of universities.
    “Government should rather improve the funding and infrastructures of existing universities so as to increase their carrying capacities and the number of students they can admit. Government should also place premium on internal controls to stem the growing tide of corruption in our universities, indiscipline, academic fraud, sex for marks and other ills that have plagued the university system in recent years.”
    On the decision of the Federal Executive Council barring federal universities from charging tuition fees, the union said while the decision is commendable, government must find a way of stopping university management from spreading the fees across other ancillary fees such as Acceptance Fees, Caution Fees, Medical Fees, among others.

  • NUC sets up committee to make varsity education accessible

    The National Universities Commission (NUC) says it has constituted a committee to make university education accessible to the teeming population, who are seeking tertiary education in Nigeria.

    Executive Secretary NUC, Prof.  Abubakar Rasheed, said this at a stakeholders’ seminar organised by the University of Bradford and Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR), in Abuja.
    Rasheed, represented by Mr Chris Maiyaki, a Director in his office, said the commission was worried over the country’s growing population and the high demand for tertiary education.

    He said that Nigeria’s 143 universities could only accommodate 500, 000 students which is 6.7 per cent of admission seekers.

    “Nigeria is projected to be the third largest population by the year 2050. The concern of NUC is how to educate this number of population when the time comes,” he said.

    “The NUC just commissioned a committee headed by Prof. Peter Okebukola to bring out a blueprint that will help the country to survive the population.

    “As you know that on annual basis, we have 7.5 million students aspiring to get admission to the universities, unfortunately the available 143 universities put together can only admit 500,000 students,” he said

    The Executive Secretary said the commission was making efforts to ensure that Nigerian universities catch up with global happenings.

    He commended some Nigerian universities for partnering with UK’s University of Bradford for joint research and teaching.

    Seven Nigerian universities have signified interest to join the World Technology Universities Network (WTUN) led by the UK varsity.

    They are University of Benin, Edo; University of Port-Harcourt, Rivers; University of Calabar, Cross River; Akwa Ibom State University; University of Uyo; Niger Delta University and African University, Bayelsa.

    WTUN is a consortium of universities committed towards the provision of professional and vocational courses with excellent job prospects for graduates in the country.

    University of Bradford’s Vice Chancellor, Prof Brian Cantor said the school was developing links with its Nigerian counterparts to use the instrumentality of science and technology to solve national and global problems.

    “Because we live in an age of technology, worldwide knowledge-based development either in social or economic sphere, universities play a big role. And partnership is the way to do it,” he said.

    He said that the global university network would run students and staff exchanges as well as joint teaching and research programmes.

    The Director General of IPCR, Prof. Oshita OShita, at the meeting stressed on the need for the country to entrench peace education in its institution’s curriculum.

    Oshita said that education was vital to the promotion of peace and mitigation against conflict in the country.

    NAN

     

  • Falana, SERAP, others accuse universities of corruption

    Activist lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN) and Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), have alleged a grand cover up of high level corruption and other impunity in federal universities.

    They made the claims in Lagos at the presentation of a new report by SERAP titled: Stealing the future: How federal universities in Nigeria have been stripped apart by corruption. The study was done with the support of MacArthur Foundation.

    The report was presented to the media by Associate Professor of Business Administration and Marketing, Faculty of Business Administration, University of Lagos (UNILAG) Dr. Bolajoko Dixon-Ogbechi Nkemdinim.

    Falana alleged that the bulk of the funds meant to improve the universities end up in the pocket of the contractors. He said the leakages occur because projects that should have been implemented by university communities were being awarded to external contractors.

    He lamented that despite the pendency of an agreement with the Federal Government signed in 1992,  the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), students unions and others that should have been monitoring disbursement and expenditure of funds in tertiary institutions failed to carry out their responsibilities, thereby making it easy for corruption to be perpetuated.

    Falana said based on the 1992 agreement, the Federal Government  was compelled to enact the Tertiary Education Trust Fund Act, which established TETFUND as an intervention agency charged with managing, disbursing and monitoring the education tax to public tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

    He said TETFUND announced the commencement of activities to kick-start the 2017 disbursement of N213 billion to the tertiary institutions.

    “Neither ASUU nor any of the campus unions monitored the disbursement of the funds. Also, how many companies are paying two per cent of their annual profit to support our university system?

    “If TETFUND can disburse N213 billion in one year,  it is my view that if the education tax  is well managed, it will go a long way in addressing the crisis of underfunding of our tertiary institutions,” he said.

    Falana suggested that incessant industrial action by the unions would not be necessary if the unions had enforced the agreement, particularly the monitoring of the use of the funds.

    He also noted that following the change in the management of the Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB), its Registrar, Prof Ish’haq Oloyede recently paid N5billion to the (Treasury Single Account (TSA), being  money  realised from the sale of admission forms to applicants last year.

    “While on the other hand,  university administrators have not accounted for the money realised from the sale of post-jamb examination forms,” Falana noted.

    He added: “It is high  time ASUU established  a committee for the purpose of monitoring the management of public funds in the universities, the collection of the two per cent education tax by all registered companies in the country and the disbursement of fund to universities by TETFUND.

    “Unless the public funds allocated to the universities are judiciously spent by the management , it is morally indefensible  on the part of ASUU to continue to embark on industrial action to press for adequate funding of tertiary institutions and improved working conditions of the staff.”

    Nkemdinim, in the 58-page report, said grand corruption in federal universities included “unfair allocation of grades; contract inflation, truncation of staff salaries on the pay roll; employment of unqualified staff; Senator Dino Melaye’s certificate scandal saga; examination malpractices; sexual harassment; issuance of results for expelled student to graduate; while sales of university certificates for undeserving persons have neither been thoroughly investigated nor punished.”

    According to the report, “Other cases of corruption being covered up are: falsification of results; extortion of students; late payment of money due to staff for examination invigilation, excess workload and other allowances; and collection of bribes before signing official documents; intimidation and victimisation by superior officials; promoting preferred staff ahead of others who are equally or more qualified; and deliberately delaying the progress of Ph.D candidates because of departmental politics.

    ”We also found cases of lecturers writing students’ research projects and extorting fees from them; students fronting for lecturers to extort from other students; stealing and misappropriation of university funds; falsification of age; diversion of funds; and ghost workers syndrome; impersonation during examinations; forgery; and diverting internally-generated revenues into personal account.

    “We also found several unresolved cases of diversion of university funds for personal use; embezzlement, mismanagement, unmerited allocation of hostel accommodation, discrimination in the allocation of staff quarters; certificate/transcript racketeering; improper use of university assets; inflation of cost of contracts, award of contracts to friends or relatives; and admission racketeering by non-staff”, Nkemdinim said.

    She lamented that impunity for corruption in the university system has negatively affected the governance of federal universities and the quality of education received by the students.

    “Most of the time lecturers miss classes and they never get punished. Getting a job in the universities is not the question of merit but of connections. Ghost workers syndrome is a problem in the universities”, she noted.

    According to the report, “there have been cases where staff have used their official status to prevent the administration of justice in their units/departments; universities sometimes recruit mediocre or totally unsuitable candidates in preference to candidates of high merit. Most of the time when non-academic staff are not at their duty posts they never get punished. People with questionable degrees/qualifications paid bribes to get into the university system. In several cases, people are employed by federal universities through connection with political authorities.”

    The report, used UNILAG and Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria as case studies, listed other corrupt acts as: “Bribery to get a position; NYSC mobilisation before graduation; facilitating fake transcripts; short-circuiting employment procedures; auctioning university assets without authorisation; politicised disciplinary action; inflated contracts, admission irregularities and racketeering, result falsification; nepotism; sexual harassment; examination question leakages, abetting examination malpractices; and deliberate poor invigilation of examinations.”

    The report read in part: “The focus on federal universities is important because the Federal Government of Nigeria is the custodian of tertiary education at the national level …”

    The report advised university authorities to publish and blacklist individuals guilty of corrupt practices. It suggested total adherence  to provisions designed to ensure the proper conservation and use of resources entrusted to staff in the performance of their jobs in the university’s condition of service.

    It further recommended that unions and other stakeholders should be involved in deciding how funds are to be used for projects in the universities, as well as in developing sanctions for staff who do not report corrupt practices.

  • FEC approves six private universities 

    FEC approves six private universities 

    THE Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting has approved the establishment of six additional private universities.

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

    He was with Minister of Information Lai Mohammed and Minister of Foreign Affairs Geoffrey Onyeama.

    The private universities, Adamu said, are located in Lagos, Abia, Oyo, Rivers and Delta states.

    He listed the universities as: Admiralty University, Ibusa, Delta State, Spiritan University, Nneochi, Abia and Precious Cornerstone University, Ibadan.

    With the newly approved six, there are 75 approved private universities in the country, making a total of 161 when added with public universities.

    Others are: Pamo University of Medical Sciences, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Atiba University, Oyo State and Eko University of Medical and Health Sciences, Lagos State.

    He added that the National Universities Commission (NUC) is determined to carry out quality assurance in all the country’s universities in line with its statutory responsibilities.

    The minister said there are still more applications for private universities that will be brought for council approvals.

    On commitment to ensure quality assurance in universities, he said: “The NUC is going to take the issue of accreditation very seriously and if any university fails to meet their standard, we are going to deregister their courses and if enough courses are deregistered, it will lead to the university’s closure.”

    Asked why the Federal Government was finding it difficult to keep to the terms of memorandum of settlement with the non-teaching staff unions, especially on Earned Allowances, Salary shortfalls and reinstatement of sacked teachers in staff schools, he said: “As far as I know, we had sat down with the unions. We met and these issues had been thrashed out. I don’t know that there was problem that rose later because I travelled out of the country and came back yesterday (Tuesday).

    “But as far as I am concerned, these things had been addressed before I left and the formula that was used to share the money was agreed by them.  They sat down with the officials in the Ministry of Education and agreed. So, the money was not for ASUU alone, it was for all the unions.

    “The shortfall in salary is being addressed. On the teachers of staff schools, it will certainly take time.  Government has accepted the court’s verdict that says they should be reinstated and they will be reinstated. I think the only issue before I left was that they will be in salary relevant to what they are doing, they are not university staff. So, they will just be receiving normal salaries like the grade level they get.”

    Onyeama spoke on the President’s recent trips to Cote d’Ivoire, Jordan and the Federal Government’s most recent decisions on Libya slave trade.

    He said: “On the issue of Libya, of course, it has been in the news in the last two weeks on trading in slaves; also, the imprisonment of Nigerians in various detention centres in Libya. What we’ve done is that first of all, we’ve got our Charge D’ Affairs in Tripoli to come to Abuja to give us the full details of what is actually going on there.

    “How many Nigerians are in detention and are trying to come home? So, once we establish that and we are given all those facts, we are now meeting with various agencies like National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) to now arrange the evacuation process…”

  • FG to investigate universities operating multiple accounts

    FG to investigate universities operating multiple accounts

    The Federal Government says it will immediately begin to investigate universities operating multiple accounts in violation of the Treasury Single Account policy of the government in order to checkmate corrupt practices in the nation’s universities, adding that concrete efforts would be made to protect whistleblowers in the country as part of the ongoing anti- corruption crusade.

    The government also said it intends to find an alternative means of sourcing funds for the revitalisation of infrastructure in the universities. , while the office of the Accountant General of the Federation is to immediately commence the process of investigating universities that have since maintained multiple accounts.

     This was part of the resolution reached after over nine hours conciliatory meeting between striking non-teaching staff of Nigerian universities and the Federal Ministry of Education brokered by the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige.

     The non-teaching staff made up of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, Non-Academic Staff Union and National Association of Academic Technologists had embarked on indefinite strike action on Monday, September 11, to compel government to honour its commitment to them.

     Addressing newsmen after the meeting, Minister of Labour, Senator Chris Ngige, said: “The Federal Ministry of Education is to ensure academics stick to their teachings and research and stop doing functions of  administering   the universities

     “The Federal Ministry of Education and Office of the Accountant General of the Federation also agreed to monitor the internal revenue generated by the universities to curb mass corruption and ensure transparency.

    “The university administration should also operate the Treasury Single Account (TSA) and the union also altered the office of the Accountant General of the Federation to investigate cases of universities that are still operating multiple accounts and the meeting agreed on that.

     “We also agreed that government should expedite action and send visitation panels to federal universities that have not been visited and revisit the previous visitation panels for the purpose of implementing their recommendations.

     “Again, on whistle blowing which is the new anti-corruption policy of this administration, government agreed with the unions that the whistle blowers should be protected.”

     The minister added: “On the issue of CONTIS 14 and CONTIS 15 for technologists, the technology union NAAT should provide the Federal Ministry of Education with information that would assist the ministry to develop appropriate scheme of service for the new cadre.

     “That NAAT and the Federal Ministry of Education should work with the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation to get the necessary approval for the National Council of Establishment within the year 2017.”

  • Universities should initiate researches for innovations – Sanusi

    Universities should initiate researches for innovations – Sanusi

    The Emir of Kano, Alhaji Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has challenged Nigerian universities to initiate researches that could lead to innovations toward boosting technological growth.
    “For the country to become competitive at the global stage, it must explore, exploit and utilise science and technological innovations; the universities should spearhead such effortst,” he said in Kano on Saturday.
    A statement by Lydia Legbo, spokesperson of the Federal University of Technology, Minna, said that Sanusi spoke when he received a delegation from the institution, led by its Vice Chancellor, Prof Musibau Akanji, on a visit to his palace.
    It quoted Sanusi as urging education managers across the universities to identify challenges peculiar to their system and address them so as to achieve their mandate.

    The monarch commended the university for its outstanding achievements over the years, noting that it had remained
    a leading institution for technology education.‎

    The Emir applauded the outgoing governing council, led by Prof. Rufai Alkali, for its selfless service to the university, and advised the succeeding council members to sustain that zeal.
    Earlier, Akanji had said that the visit was to thank Sanusi for honouring the invitation to the inaugural ceremony of the institution’s ultra-modern Mosque.

    He said that the Emir’s presence was worth celebrating, especially after he led the first Friday prayers in the mosque after its inauguration.
    “Above all, your sermon on peaceful co-existence of all faiths was a big plus.‎ It has elevated Islam and gingered up adherents to further dedicate themselves to Allah,” the statement quoted Akanji as saying.‎ (NAN)

  • Our universities, again

    Our universities, again

    • A case for subsidies

     

    The communiqué issued by the Committee of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities at the end of its biennial meeting in Abuja reads like a manifesto on the future of higher education in Nigeria, by a conclave of one of its principal custodians. It deserves careful study and analysis.

    A good many of its prescriptions are all too familiar: full autonomy for the governing councils of universities, not just on paper but in practice; strict compliance by proprietors of private universities with the charters of their institutions; funding universities and tertiary institutions to make them relevant and globally competitive, and providing more government scholarships and bursaries.

    That these prescriptions invariably figure in every discussion of higher education is an indication that they have not been addressed forthrightly.

    The vice chancellors are eminently on solid ground when they challenged their colleagues to deal creatively with the unending labour disputes that often paralyse the campuses of many universities for the better part of an academic year, if not longer. They noted correctly that transparent and accountable management practices would help create a healthier industrial climate on the campuses.

    This calls for communication and consultation, as well as good-faith negotiation on the part of the university authorities and all the unions, not forgetting the student body.

    Some of the issues raised in the communiqué are self-indicting, such as when the vice chancellors urged universities to work out fresh strategies to build linkages with industries, as well as partnerships with the private sector. Examples of such collaboration abound in Germany, the United States, South Africa, and India. The vice chancellors will do well to draw on them to advance the fortunes of their institutions.

    It is even a greater self-indictment for the vice chancellors, principal actors in the scheme of things, to call for a comprehensive overhaul of the education sector “to tackle the decay reflected from the primary to the tertiary level.”

    Why did they not raise an alarm before standards fell so precipitously? Every year, tens of thousands graduate from the universities, only to join the multitude of thousands who had graduated years back but cannot find meaningful work.

    The average university graduate, Professor Charles Soludo declared when he was Governor of the Central Bank, suffered from a deficit of knowledge as well as language skills that rendered him or her unemployable. His was by no means a lone voice. What concrete measures have the universities taken to stem this scandalous slide? What remedies are they proposing?

    There is also the huge deficit in the training of technicians and technologists in manufacturing, building and construction, agriculture, and health. The education authorities need to address this deficit as well. It is a distortion of the nation’s needs when a university degree, any university degree, counts above all else.

    Perhaps the most controversial of the committee’s prescriptions relates to the overarching issue of tuition. The committee said tartly that tuition-free education was “no longer realistic” in Nigeria. In its place, it called for a policy that would have parents, guardians and the government share “equitably” the financial burden of education. It proposed a policy whereby students would pay fees “commensurate with the true value of university education.” Free tuition, it went on, was “incompatible” with sustainable practical and qualitative education.

    Charging such fees would shut out at least one-half of the students currently enrolled in the university system, and the same proportion figure of potential enrollees. It would reduce university education in public institutions to a transactional undertaking. No society that cares for its place in a knowledge-driven future will embrace such a policy.

    There is always an element of subsidy in the provision of social goods such as education and health. For the same reason that no modern society requires patients to pay “commensurate” hospital and treatment fees to stay healthy, no society should require citizens to pay fees commensurate with the cost of educating them.

    In the final analysis, that cost, including the subsidy, constitutes society’s investment in its own future. The more substantial the investment, the richer the harvest, all things being equal

    How much subsidy to provide is the crucial question, not whether to provide it. As vice chairman of the Federal Executive Council during the regime of General Yakubu Gowon, Chief Obafemi Awolowo calculated that the Federal Government was subsidising university education to the tune of 97 percent of the cost. There was, he argued, nothing to lose, but much to gain, from making university education tuition-free.

    Since then, the numbers of universities and student enrolment has exploded, just as the nation’s economic fortunes have declined. But Awolowo’s argument still holds: the public universities are still heavily subsidised, and little value would be added by charging fees that only the wealthy can pay for their wards. Under such a scheme, education would be a privilege, to be enjoyed by the privileged.

    University education should be seen as a social good and an investment. To regard it in any other light is to handicap Nigeria in the global race toward a knowledge-driven future.

    So, let the subsidies continue.

  • ASUU threatens to close universities

    ASUU threatens to close universities

    ACADEMIC Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) at the weekend warned federal and state universities risk closure following lack of prompt payment of salaries.
    Speaking at a press conference in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, the Port Harcourt zone of ASUU said the zone was the worst hit with shortfall in salaries and unpaid salary arrears.
    The institutions in the zone are the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Niger Delta University, Amassoma, Bayelsa State, Federal University, Otuoke, Bayelsa State, Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Rivers State and Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Rivers State.
    ASUU zonal coordinator, Prof. Beke Sese, said lecturers would no longer continue to endure the situations against the backdrop of current economic hardship.
    Sese described the idea of withholding staff salaries while establishing new universities at the same time as the height of irresponsibility and wickedness.
    He said: ”Our members are being compelled by the actions and inactions of government to contemplate the hard decision of withdrawing our services.
    ”We call on the students, parents, the media and well-meaning Nigerians to intervene and request the federal as well as state governments to live up to their responsibilities in the universities to avoid the imminent and avoidable closure of our campuses.”
    The professor lamented the federal government and some state governments last year enforced a policy of starvation in universities by either paying fractional salaries or outright non-payment of salaries.
    He said academic institutions had become the major recipients of ”this inhuman and abhorrent policy of starvation,” adding at the Niger Delta University (NDU), lecturers were not paid salaries for a period of six months.
    He lamented that lecturers could no longer cope with caring for their families, paying their children’s school fees and meeting other commitments with such imposed deficit in their income.
    Sese said: ”That academic activities still go on at NDU in the face of this extreme deprivation, is indeed, an exemplary demonstration of patriotism, patience and unbridled commitment to service by members.
    “But the elasticity definitely has a limit and should not be stretched any further.
    ”In both RSUST and IAUE, the government of the state has withheld union check-offs, which by interpretation is tantamount to paying fractional salaries.
    ”In the case of UNIPORT, fractional salaries were paid throughout last year and when there was hope of the refund of the withheld portion of salaries, the government resumed its policy of paying part salaries.
    ”The administration of the school claimed that there was shortfall in allocation to the institution between July 2016 and December 2016, but shortfall was part of the staff emolument all through the year (2016).”