Jay Jay Okocha institutes scholarship awards

THE University of Bolton, Greater Manchester has announced scholarship awards to Nigerian students to pursue degree programmes of their choice. The University is working with Jay Jay Okocha to provide £20,000 worth of scholarships to 10 Nigerian students, with a drive to succeed. Each of the 10 awardees would receive £2,000. There will be a special prize for winners of the scholarship from Bolton Wanderers FC. N.B Visit www.campusflava.com for updates and information related to other schools.   Speaking on the initiative, the Head of International Recruitment of University of Bolton, Jeffrey Williams stated that the scholarship is structured to provide several young talented Nigerians with the opportunity to pursue their dream of getting a quality British education. "The scholarship is an exciting opportunity for Nigerian students to pursue their academic and career goals without financial barriers that make it difficult for many young people to attain success in school. "The course and living costs in the university are the cheapest available in United Kingdom. Students have access to the campus job shop where they can receive help to find part time job while studying, as well as, professional work on graduation," he added. According to him, students' visa details enable them to work up to 20 hours per week on a part time job, and earn between five to £10 per hour. Head of International Recruitment further explained that Nigerians with WASSCE and SSCE are eligible for the University Foundation, which has duration of 15 weeks. He stated that HND students are eligible for Second or Third year Bachelor Degree Top Up. While a minimum of 2:2 entry requirements is expected from those applying for Postgraduate Studies. The Vice Chancellor, Dr. George Holmes stated that he looked forward to receiving Nigerian students.

World higher education conference advocates more access for disadvantaged groups

THE 193 member states of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Education (UNESCO) have been urged to guarantee equal access to under-represented groups like workers, the poor, minorities, migrants, refugees and other vulnerable populations for higher education opportunities. They were also implored to maintain, if possible, but without mentioning a specific figure, increased investment in higher education to "sustain quality and equity at all times, and foster diversification in both the provision of higher education and the means of funding." This recommendation is closely linked with the assertion that research at this level should "reflect growing expectations and societal needs." N.B Visit www.campusflava.com for updates and information related to other schools.   According to a communiquŽ issued at the end of World Conference on Higher Education, which ended in Paris, France last Wednesday, member states were also urged to guarantee women's access to, participation and success in higher education. Besides, participants agreed that world nations should put in place and strengthen appropriate quality assurance systems and regulatory frameworks with the involvement of all stakeholders. Significantly, they were implored to develop mechanisms to counteract the negative impact of the brain drain while encouraging academic staff and student mobility and enhance the attractiveness of the academic career by ensuring respect for the rights and adequate working conditions of academic staff. Participants, the communiquŽ stated, also agreed on a wide range of issues of how important higher education is to all nations. For instance, they unanimously agreed that this level of education "is the responsibility of all stakeholders, especially governments." Not only did they declare the autonomy was a necessary requirement for higher education institutions to fulfill their missions, they also affirmed that higher education must not only give skills for the present and future world, but should also contribute to the education of ethical citizens, committed to the construction of peace, the defence of human rights and the values of democracy. While participants expressed fears that the current economic downturn may widen the gap in access and quality between developed and developing countries, they observed that "at no time in history has it become important to invest in higher education as a major force in building an inclusive and diverse knowledge society," as the present moment. The past decade, the communiquŽ noted, "provides the evidence that higher education and research contribute to the eradication of poverty, sustainable development and to the progress toward reaching the internationally agreed development goals and Education for All (EFA)." Participants acknowledged that expanding access to higher education had become a priority in the majority of member states, just as increasing participation had also become a global trend. But they asserted that in expanding access, "higher education must pursue the goals of relevance and equity simultaneously." But equity, they affirmed, is not just a matter of access, but "the objective must be successful participation and completion, as well as assuring student welfare, with the appropriate financial and educational support to those from poor and marginalised communities." The communiquŽ continued, "our ability to realise the goal of Education For All is dependent upon our ability to address the worldwide shortage of teachers. Higher education must scale up teacher education, both pre-service and in-service, with curricula that equip teachers to provide individuals with the knowledge and skills they need in the 21st century. This will require new approaches, including Open and Distance Learning (ODL) and Information And Communications Technologies (ICTs)." Significantly, participants insisted that the training offered by institutions must respond to and anticipate societal needs. That it should promote research for development and the use of new technologies, to ensure the provision of technical and vocational training, entrepreneurship education, and programmes for lifelong training. On access matters where Africa is concerned, the document stated, "to meet the rapidly increasing demand for higher education in Africa, there is an urgent need for differentiated institutions, ranging from research universities to polytechnics and technical colleges, as well as diversified programmes within each institution, to cater for different learners as well as the needs of the country. "The increasing demand for higher education will hardly be met by traditional face - to - face delivery alone. Other approaches, such as Open and Distance and online learning, will have to be resorted to, especially for areas such as continuous adult education and teacher training." On funding, it asserted, "while every effort must be made to increase public funding of higher education, it must be recognised that public funds are limited and may not be able to fully cater to the rapidly developing sector. Other formulae and sources of funding, especially drawing on the public - private partnership model should be found."                                                                             By Rotimi Lawrence Oyekanmi

Lagos Rewards Teachers, Seeks Commitment

Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Princess Adebisi Sarah Sosan, has advised teachers in the state not to give excuses in the performance of their duties. She said this was the only way government could recognise their input into the state's efforts at changing the face of education.  N.B Visit www.campusflava.com for updates and information related to other schools.   Sosan said these during the 2009 annual education merit award, held at the state's secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos. The  "most resourceful teacher," Mrs Olajumoke Odukoya, went home with a brand new Kia Rio saloon car. Sheteaches at Baptist Senior High School, Obanikoro and also emerged as the best teacher in the state for 2008. Other teachers, students and schools in the state's primary, junior and senior secondary schools, also received various awards. Sosan, who also supervises the Ministry of Education, said any teacher that gives excuses would not achieve success, adding that the awards were meant to recognise diligent and hard working teachers,  to make them impact positively on the pupils. "This award is in line with our tradition to recognise the acknowledged role of teachers as moulders of minds through transfer of knowledge to pupils and students and thus empowering them to function positively in their environment. "All of those being honoured today have obviously done away with excuses in the performance of their responsibilities for, in the words of Benjamin Franklin,  'he that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else,' which is why they have emerged as award recipients," she said. "She stressed that those being honoured emerged tops after a screening procedure.She added that their emergence was due to passion and dedication they had demonstrated in the discharge of their duties.The Deputy Governor also pointed out that in the face of all the awards, government recognises the fact that the quality of education cannot be improved without the continual upgrade of the teachers and the environment in which they work.She disclosed that government will continually expose the teachers to quality training programme in a bid to improve on the public schools more than any other state.Chairman of the event, Otunba Olarenwaju Folorunso, explained that a quiet revolution is currently taking place in the educational sector in the state, adding that government had shown enough desire and intents to change the system.Acknowledging the efforts of government, Folorunso said he had thought that giving awards to deserving workers was only practiced in the private sectors. He urged the teachers to reciprocate the gestures by putting in their best.He appealed to the government to always involve the private sectors when embarking on awards of this nature, noting that such involvement might further spur teachers in the public sector to strive to achieve excellence..The best teacher of the year said she believed her emergence was as a result of the extra-curricular activities she engaged herself with in the school and clubs.Odukoya said her award will encourage others to put in their best and be dedicated to the service of the students.

POLY JAMB RESULTS RELEASED, withholds 11,105

THE Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has withheld the results of 11,105 candidates who sat for the last Monotechnics, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education (MPCE) matriculation examination last weekend for alleged irregularities. Also, results of four examination centres involved in examination malpractices during the examination had been cancelled. N.B Visit www.campusflava.com for updates and information related to other schools.   The Registrar and Chief Executive of JAMB, Professor Dibu Ojerinde, disclosed at a news conference in Abuja, on Wednesday, to announce the release of the 2009 MPCE results, four days after the examination was conducted. The examination centres where results were cancelled are: 14501, Rivers State College of Education, Rumulomeri, Port Har-court; 14502 and 14503, all in the same college. The other centre is 01502, Western Ahaoda Country High School, Omoka Road, Ahaoda, Rivers State. He disclosed that the board had already sent the list to the Federal Ministry of Education for appropriate sanctions on the authorities of the schools, adding that the results withheld were also being investigated. According to the results released, a male candidate, Jideonwo Onyeka Nwachu-kwu with registration number 93579964DA, emerged the JAMB overall best candidate by scoring 268. Also, a set of twins, Obetta Solomon Chukwudi, with registration number 93266882CF and Obetta Patience Nneka, with registration number 93266539IE, emerged second and third best candidates respectively. A female candidate, Akuta Isorochi Deborah with registration number 932662CF, tied with Chukwudi, as second best candidate with 264 scores. Ojerinde disclosed that the results of 331,852 out of the 342,957 application received and processed by the JAMB, had been released and already placed on the internet.

VC laments ASUU strike

WORRIED by the biting effects of the strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the Vice Chancellor, University of Ibadan, Prof. Olufemi Bamiro, yesterday said the strike could frustrate the successful implementation of some international programmes. The university was one of the 10 top universities in the world that won a grant of $900,000, donated by McArthur Foundation to host a new Master's degree programme in Development Practice. N.B Visit www.campusflava.com for updates and information related to other schools.   He said, "Nobody would want to come from Ghana, Botswana or other countries to University of Ibadan for a four-semester programme and would be happy spending more due to instability in the system". Continuing, he noted that, "People who are coming to you want to be assured that there is stability in the system. If they sense any instability, they will not come. They may decide to go to other African countries with relative stability.". One of the programmes that the incessant strikes and erratic power supply could hinder its success, according to the VC, is MDP. To reduce the possible effects of the epileptic power supply, the university don told newsmen that the institution had gone ahead to acquire two giant generators at the cost of N350m. Another snag that could frustrate the institution's efforts was how to afford about 850 litres of diesel to keep the generators running. He said, having acquired the generators, "Where then do we get money to procure diesel and other equipment necessary for the servicing of the generators? We cannot charge tuition and we dare not increase fees any how. We have to depend on our IGR." Each of the generators, he added, would consume at least 850 litres of diesel every hour. "That is about five drums. Going by the rising cost of diesel, the university would spend a lot to power the entire campus, he stated.. He was, however, hopeful that the move by the institution to further reduce the effects of power outage would pay off as he stressed that the administrative building, offices of the VC, DVC and the streetlight in the Oduduwa area of the campus are being powered by solar energy". ….As lecturers accuse Poly of inciting students LECTURERS of the Polytechnic, Ibadan and other higher institutions in Oyo State have alleged that the authorities are instigating students of the institution against them due to the on-going strike over the introduction of obnoxious tax by the Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala-led administration. Just on Friday, the lecturers of the institutions raised alarm that some people were threatening to kill them. The Chairman of ASUP, The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Comrade Dosunmu Adewale made this known to newsmen. But the Public Relations of the institution, Mr. Sola Soladoye denied the allegation, saying it was baseless and meaningless. He said, "it may be a ploy to blackmail the management. It is not impossible that some people want the strike to continue unabated". The chairman of the ASUP called on well meaning Nigerians to prevail on the state government to remove the crucifying tax which is not being implemented in any institution across the country.                               By Ola Ajayi & Akinwunmi Bello

No end to our strike until ... - ASUU

THE Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), on Sunday, asked Nigerians to brace up for a long struggle, saying that the strike embarked upon by the union had just begun. The notice was coming despite the 40 per cent increase in the salaries of the university teachers announced by the Federal Government on Friday.  N.B Visit www.campusflava.com for updates and information related to other schools.   A statement by the chairman of ASUU, Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) branch, Dr. Pius Enikanselu, however, appealed for cooperation and understanding from the public on the issues that led to the strike. He said the call became necessary, as the union was not ready to shift ground on its demand, particularly on better funding of the university system in the country. He said: "All members of ASUU and the Nigerian public must brace up for a long struggle ahead in order to retrieve the Nigerian university system from the Federal Government cabal and its agents, who are solidly resistant to efforts at ameliorating brain drain and massive decadence in our universities." According to the union, the Federal Government's handling of the matter had shown that it was not ready for a sincere and permanent solution to the problem facing the Nigerian university system. Enikanselu said that the union had rejected Mr. Gamaliel Onosode's directive that subsequent negotiations and other matters contained in the draft agreement reached by both the FG team and ASUU team would henceforth be negotiated with each university's governing council. According to him, the move by the Federal Government was an attempt to destroy collective bargaining in the nation's university system. He also debunked the claim by the Federal Government that members of the ASUU executive were frustrating the resolution of the impasse by refusing to attend last Friday's meeting with the Government Negotiating Team, where the 40 per cent increase in salaries was announced. He explained that, ASUU National President, Professor Ukachukwu Awuzie, last Wednesday, got a telephone call from Onosode that the meeting would be holding on Friday, but that the ASUU president told Onosode that the date was not convenient for ASUU for logistics reasons. According to him, Onosode insisted on the Friday date, saying he would travel out on Sunday, while the ASUU team insisted on getting a formal invitation before agreeing to attend the meeting but none was given to Awuzie. He said: "The truth is that Onosode is being used to bring the concept of collective bargaining to an end in the university system by hiding under their own concept of university autonomy, which they claimed they had granted the universities. We are ready to fight this to the end. "If the Federal Government had accepted everything in the agreement, as claimed by the Minister of Information, Professor Dora Akunyili, the Minister of Labour, Mr. Tokunbo Kayode SAN, and Justice Minister, Mr. Michael Aondoakaa, Onosode's role would have been to invite us for a signing ceremony." He said that ASUU would have been present if it was duly invited for the meeting.

                                                                                         By Yinka Oladoyinbo

Latest ASUU strike update: ‘We Haven’t Received New Salary Notice’

National President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof. Ukachukwu Awuzie, yesterday reacted to the reported 40 per cent increase in salary, offered by the federal government, saying the union was yet to receive a formal notice to that effect. When told that the leader of the ASUU/FG Re-negotiation Committee, Mr. Gamaliel Onosode, had announced on Friday that the federal government was prepared to offer a 40 percent wage increase as against the 109 percent being demanded by the lecturers, Awuzie  said in a telephone chat that, "Onosode is not supposed to announce anything. He is not the Minister of Education, Labour or Finance. He is just the leader of the negotiating team. I don't understand what the 40 percent is about."  N.B Visit www.campusflava.com for updates and information related to other schools.   He added that: "It is not right to say ASUU demanded for 109 percent because ASUU did not demand any percentage. The negotiating team headed by Onosode agreed on a number of issues including how to ensure a conducive teaching and learning environment, im-prove infrastructure, reverse brain drain as well as wages." Onosode, while announcing the 40 percent offer had added that individual universities would henceforth negotiate what it can pay its staff in the spirit of university autonomy and academic freedom.

                   By Bukola Olatunji

OOU: The rot of a university - What we are doing to clear the rot - Kawonise

Prof. Olusoga, acting Vice Chancellor (OOU)Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) started on a very good note as Ogun State University (OSU) in 1983. Though it had infrastructure challenge as it had to make do with makeshift facilities, nobody could say its products were pushovers. The products could hold their own among the nation's best. The school produced medical students who were top of the shelf just as many of its first generation Law graduates as well as those from other faculties shone like a million stars. They dusted students from older schools.  N.B Visit www.campusflava.com for updates and information related to other schools.   They also outwitted their contemporaries from state universities. That was a long time ago. There has been a descent from the sublime to the ridiculous in the university. Gone is the glorious OOU. What you have now is a university that is miles away from the tenets of a university. OOU has become a university of anything goes. Both the students and the lecturers are disparaged by their colleagues; they have become butts of party jokes. Industry and diligence have lost their essence in the university; to score a high mark, all you need do is to play along with the lecturer either by lining up his pockets with money, change the tyres of his car or open up your thighs if you are a lady. The evil geniuses in the university have termed it mark boosting. For anyone who knows how to play the game, moving a score from 35 percent to 75 per cent is as easy as it is for a hot knife to cut through butter. At OOU, marks get boosted not by hard work but by street wisdom. It has been said that in the university, those who do not attend lectures have a way of outscoring those who do.

Another feature of the decadence that has become synonymous with the university is admission racketeering. Not too many of the students that eventually get admission offer into the university get that purely on merit; at least 50 per cent of the students get into the university through the back doors. Admission racketeering is said to be so rampant in the university that even very junior non-academic staff members usually promise candidates admission and deliver on the promise.

This has degenerated to the extent that nobody could give a specific figure of student enrolment in the university. Admission is at the whims and caprices of the people concerned without any recourse to laid down procedure. This also has led to an overstretch of the facilities in the university.

Then the university is notorious for delaying examination scripts grading. Graduates of three years and more could not be mobilised for the National Youth Service Corps, further their education or seek employment simply because the lecturers have refused to grade their scripts. This has gone on for many years without those in authority being able to do anything to remedy the situation.

Sunday Tribune gathered that at a point Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) had to cut electricity supply to the main campus because of a debt of about N2million. However, instead of the university management paying the debt, it resorted to using generators and ended up spending about N3million monthly on the purchase of diesel.

Similarly, there is no water supply. In the same vein, staff members were owed series of entitlements. The management owed the unions as deductions from staff salaries were not remitted to the unions. Its accounts in various banks were extremely overdrawn to the point that the banks were threatening to stop further granting of facilities.

Worse still, some of the lecturers were accused of making false claims to academic credentials. According to the findings of the Sunday Tribune, contrary to the condition of service which made it mandatory for lecturers employed with master degrees to complete their PhD programmes within seven years of their employment, there are lecturers who have been teaching for upward of 20 years in the university with just the master degree.

The whole situation in the university had already started affecting the perception of the products of the university by the industry with the effect that many of them are spurned by employers. The matter had gotten to a head and there must be a denouement. That was at the point that the visitor to the university, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, moved in. He set up a 12-man visitation panel chaired by Professor Oyewusi Ibidapo-Obe, former Vice Chancellor, University of Lagos to check the records of the university in respect of financial management, curriculum and staff development, research programmes and the general adequacy of the conditions of learning, and make recommendations necessary to move the institution forward, to effectively achieve its objectives.
Part of its terms of reference, among others, include:

• to examine the state of the infrastructure, its level of decay, its use, its maintenance and how this has affected the quality of academic activities in the university;

• establish the quantum of staff and students welfare programmes going by the prevailing situation in Nigeria and the vision of the founding fathers;

• assess the staff needs/establishment of the university in relation to the various programmes currently run by it with emphasis placed on quality and quantity of such needs in adherence to carrying capacity principle;

• study the academic programmes in the university with a view to determining its relevance and usefulness to the state; examine broadly the students' activities from the point of entry to graduation. This will include admissions, registrations, attendance in class, examinations, results, transcripts and certificate issuance, mobilisation for the NYSC and convocation ceremonies;

• find out the various challenges of the staff and students' unions and associations in the university and how such could be managed successfully; and

• find out how the university has been able to generate revenue in the last 10 years and how such has been managed. This must be done with a view to establishing the challenges of the university management in financial matters, paying attention to transparency as against opaqueness, and taxable issue, and on the basis of the foregoing, make recommendations that would lead to the proper functioning of the university.

The panel came up with its recommendations within the stipulated time. Part of the recommendations was that the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Professor Odutola Osilesi and three other management staff; the two deputy vice-chancellors, Professors Olukayode Ajayi and O.Otolorin, and the Acting Registrar, Mr O. Osinulu be sent on compulsory leave.

The panel also recommended that the state government should address issues such as appointments that did not follow due process; lecturers appointed or promoted to senior positions without adequate number of publications, lecturers without doctorate degrees who have spent 10 years after their master degrees and without evidence of appreciable progress to complete their doctorate degree programmes would have their appointments reviewed. It also asked the government to stop appointments into professional positions without the necessary academic assessment while lecturers with questionable doctorate degrees and those who made false declarations of substantive positions at the point of interview would have their appointments determined. But the panel singled out the Bursar, Mr. A.M.A. Tonade, for commendation.

Following the recommendations of the panel, the state government put in place a new governing council, headed by Otunba Alex Onabanjo, as chairman. The council, at its first meeting, implemented the government's white paper by asking the principal officers with the exception of the bursar and the librarian to proceed on their accumulated leave and appointed Professor Olusoga Sofola. The council later disengaged the vice chancellor and paid him six months salary in lieu of notice. Since then the council has been at work trying to restore the university.

Sina Kawonise

I am aware that for about two years, there was no governing council for the univer- sity. But what kind of system was in place that allowed the rot in the university to go on unchecked for that long?
The problem had to do with leadership, putting the wrong people in positions. In Ogun State, there is this zoning formula. If the last VC came from, say, Ijebu, the next one must come from another part of the state. That narrowed down the scope of search for the right person. For instance, the last VC composed what he called the management team. Now, the management team of a university is composed of the principal officers. These are the VC, the DVC, the registrar, the bursar and the librarian. But this man enlarged the management team; he brought in the director of works and others. It became so unwieldy that sometimes they had management meeting of about 25 people. Some people knew that this was illegal. A few of these professors pointed out the illegality but the VC overruled them.

But before him, there was Professor Soyode, a first class and reputable academic. But the man had a weakness; he did not know how to decline a request. A lot of people got employed that were actually not needed, especially the non-teaching staff. They were just employing people. What was the implication of that? As at April 2007, the wage bill of the university was N97million. By the time we were inaugurated in April 2009, the salary had gone to N240 million. What happened? Yes, there was a salary review within that period but that wouldn't have increased the wage bill by more than 35 per cent.

That takes us to another problem the university had. A wage bill of N240million, how is it funded? The visitor to the university said there was no way the university could continue the way it was going and ask the management to control the way it was employing new staff. So, the government decided to give the university N148million every month. Meanwhile, Ogun State government runs 13 institutions. The total amount of money that the state government pays to these 13 institutions is N550million monthly. Out of this, OOU alone takes N148 million. Yet, ASUU (Academic Staff Union of Universities), OOU chapter always accuses the government of not funding that institution. Now, let's look at the issue of IGR. In a university owned by a state government, the IGR actually belongs to the government and should go to the treasury, that is the normal financial practice. But the government said instead of the money going into the treasury, the university should use it to augment what the government gives. The implication is that by the time the IGR is added to what the government gives, it amounts to over N200million. But in spite of that, the university still had to borrow every month to augment salary payment. By the time we got there, when we looked at the books, we first found a debt of N1.3million. We later found out, upon proper scrutiny, that it was N1.9 billion. Certainly, if we had not come in when we did, that university would have caved in under its own weight because it became unsustainable. The banks that were giving them loans were ready to stop that because they were not servicing those loans. The implication of that was that for about two years there was no physical development. By the time we got there, there was no water on the campus. The university was owing PHCN N2.7million. PHCN had cut off power supply to the university. We found out that instead of paying PHCN, they were buying diesel to the tune of N3million every month. These are some of the things we found on the ground and we said "No, you cannot run a university like this."

There is this question about the membership of the council that some of the members are not fit to be in the council. What is your reaction to this?That is a very surprising question because when you look at the people appointed into council, you will find out that they are distinguished Nigerians. Take our chairman, Otunba Alex Onanbanjo, for instance, he is a man who has really made his mark in the business world. He is an oil magnate, he is there in the banking industry. He is among the SW8 that bought controlling shares in Wema Bank. We have Mr. Fola Adeola, pioneer Managing Director of GT Bank, one of the best banks in the country. Just about two weeks ago, Fola Adeola signed a contract for his own company that is supposed to lay a communication backbone. The contract is worth about $240million. We have Professor Bello, who made a first class in his first degree and has risen to become a professor and a fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Engineering. We have Venerable Oyebolu, a 79-year old professional who was once a president of Nigerian Institute of Engineers. I will tell you that I am the most insignificant member of that council, not just in terms of age but also in terms of achievements and attainment. We have Honourable Odusanya, a former member of the National Assembly and Chief Otesanya, a very successful publisher. We also have Dr. Bashiru Akinyemi, a lawyer. He has a PhD in Law.

The visitor deliberately brought in people with experience in the business world into the council so that they will be able to run the university in a way that there will be value for money. If anybody is raising any question about the membership of the council that means such person does not know the pedigree of those of us in that council.

But there is also the question of non-inclusion of OOU members of staff in the council.Yes, but that is beyond the powers of the council. Now, the composition of the council is this: nine external members are appointed by the government, it is out of the nine that we have the chairman, Otunba Alex Onabanjo. Apart from the nine we have the statutory members, the VC, the DVC, the registrar as secretary, then we have two members of senate elected by the senate itself, two members of congregation and one representing convocation. On the day of our inauguration, we asked the former VC where the two members of senate were and he said the position had become vacant and that the senate had not elected new ones and that they would be elected as soon as possible. The convocation was represented by Mr. Olusanya, Rector, Adegbenro Polytechnic. He is the chairman of Alumni Association and statutorily, alumni chairman represents the convocation. Out of an 18 member council, 14 attended the inaugural meeting. The example I want to give is this. Ogun State House of Assembly has 26 members. Let's say that at the end of the 2007 elections, the election of two or three members were not conclusive, would that stop the inauguration and the functioning of the house? The house would go ahead. We also have to go ahead. We cannot say because congregation and senate have not brought their own representatives we will not govern our university. What the law says is about quorum. Once we have one-third you form the quorum. At the inaugural meeting we had 14, which was more than enough to form the quorum.

What is the council doing to clear the rot in the university?A lot. First, we are looking at the staff strength. There is this NUC (National Universities Commission) guideline on staff mix that if you have a particular number of academic staff you should have a given number of non-teaching staff. For instance, we have 810 academic staff which we are maintaining. Even those who have to go because of non productivity with respect to their PhDs, not writing papers etc will have to be replaced. If we have 810 academic staff, by the guideline of the NUC, we should not have more than 969 non-teaching staff. But when we got there we met 1715 non teaching staff, that is a veritable leakage in the system. It is very regrettable. Nobody takes delight in disengaging people who have been in a system one way or the other but somehow we have to shed weight because it has become unsustainable. Every month end is always a headache for us looking for how to raise money to pay the salary. We cannot even do any other thing apart from paying salaries. We cannot buy diesel for our generators, we cannot support our academic staff to even develop themselves. Even the university is owing staff unions. We cannot continue that way. We have spoken with the unions and they have seen reasons with us. What they are only saying now is that those we have to disengage we have to ensure that their severance allowance is paid immediately.

We have prevailed on the visitor and he has graciously approved N100million for us to do certain things. So, we are working on providing water on the campus. We are also working on electricity. We need transformers on that campus because when PHCN even supplies electricity, the network on the campus does not allow for full current. So, we want to get more transformers. So, the N100million is for water and electricity. Whatever is left will be used as a revolving fund to pay staff that will be disengaged.

Apart from that, the governor has also directed OGROMA to construct the roads on all the campuses of the university. We are also in the process of reviewing the financial processes. Very soon we are going to embark on a head count to see if we have ghost workers among those who are claiming salaries every month. We want to see what actually is the staff strength of this university.

Again, we have secured the approval of the ETF (Education Trust Fund) for a N110million building which we are splitting into two classrooms; one at the permanent site in Ago Iwoye and the other one in Ikenne.

The chairman of council has just donated an e-library where students can access not less than 7 million books online. Quite a number of members of council are bringing in their friends to do one thing or the other for the university because these are very influential people. Apart from that, we found out that we have not less than 10 banks on campus, they are making money from the university and the students without putting anything back into the system. The council is planning a meeting with the management of the banks to discuss with them how they can be of assistance to the school.

The Acting Vice Chancellor, Professor Sofola, has also been able to get an aid from the ETF to the tune of N40million to support our academic staff who want to do their PhD locally and abroad. We know that the reform will take us sometime but we are determined to see it through.

                                                       By  Sulaimon Olanrewaju

Strike: FG Offers ASUU 40% Salary Increase

THERE is no sign that the current indefinite industrial action embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) will end soon as the Federal Government on Friday said it could only afford 40 per cent pay rise as against the 109 per cent demanded by the varsity teachers, among other things. N.B Visit www.campusflava.com for updates and information related to other schools.

Also, indications emerged in Abuja on Friday that the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities (SSANU) may eventually join their colleagues in the indefinite strike action, as the union has rejected the Federal Government's offer of a paltry salary increase.

The position of the Federal Government was made known by the Chairman, FGN/ASUU Re-negotiation Team, Mr. Gamaliel Onosode, at a news conference held at the National Universities Commission (NUC), though ASUU boycotted the meeting with the Federal Government's negotiation team, where this final offer was to be made known to them.

With the new development, the Federal Government has asked ASUU to go back to finalise their agreements with their governing councils in line with the principles of university autonomy which the Federal Government announced earlier as part of the demands of the union.

Onosode explained that the provisional agreement reached between ASUU and the government's negotiation team for a salary increase for university lecturers was initially thought out as a way of curbing brain drain in the system but that did not go down well with the government considering the present economic realities.

He said the 40 per cent was what the government could pay and sustain and that the rest of the negotiations now should be held by the unions with their various institutions, pointing out that a bill was already before the National Assembly to amend the act of the Education Trust Fund (ETF) to take care of the issue of funding.

This, according to him, would allow the ETF to specifically focus on improving the university infrastructure and instructional facilities as well as staff development.

"Already, the issue of university autonomy and 70 years age of retirement have been granted," he said.

                        By Clement Idoko

Lautech concluded its Post Ume

Lautech Post Ume Screening was concluded earlier today and it was a stress free examination thanks to the proper management even though it clashed with the Poly Jamb. The when or time in which the result will be released is not yet ascertained.

N.B Visit www.campusflava.com for updates and information related to other schools.  

American varsity honours NAFDAC DG, Lawal

Arrangements have been concluded by Texas Southern University in the United States Of America (USA) to honour two of its significant alumni, Dr. Paul Orhii, Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and Dr. Kase Lawal, the Chairman of CAMAC International Corporation. N.B Visit www.campusflava.com for updates and information related to other schools.   In a statement from the Marketing and Communication office of the institution, the honour would be bestowed on these alumni for distinguishing themselves in their different professions. To this end, the President of the Texas University, John M. Rudley, along with the Provost, Sunny Ohia, and the University Advancement President, Wendy Adair, are due in Lagos and Abuja between July 10 and 13. The statement further said that the president, following the Nigeria visit, would extend his Africa stay to meet with government and university dignitaries in Ethiopia and Tanzania. The purpose of the tour, according to the statement, is to re-establish an active Alumni Chapter in Nigeria and in all the three countries to meet with government officials and university leaders to develop faculty and student exchanges, to provide information on graduate programmes for potential students, and to raise fund for scholarship for Texas southern students. The statement disclosed that Dr Kase Lawal received his under graduate degree in chemistry from the institution after which he established CAMAC International Corporation, a global energy services business that specializes in oil and gas exploration and production, crude oil and natural gas trading and in transportation. On the other hand, Dr. Paul Orhii is head of the Nigerian government agency responsible for regulating and controlling the manufacture, importation, exportation, advertisement, distribution, sale and use of food, drugs, medical devices, chemicals and pre-packaged water. Dr. Orhii is a Russian trained doctor who has a Doctorate Degree in Neuro-Pharmacology and a Juris Doctor degree from Thurgood Marshall School of Lae at Texas Southern University.

Many poly lecturers unfit to teach -NBTE boss

The Executive Secretary of the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), Dr. Nuru Yakubu, has chided polytechnic lecturers in the country for lacking professional and pedagogical skills to effectively deliver. He said in Kaduna that a good number of the lecturers in the nation's polytechnics were not adequately experienced or equipped to teach. N.B Visit www.campusflava.com for updates and information related to other schools.      The NBTE boss spoke at the closing ceremony of the 2nd Instructional Materials Development workshop for new TVE curricula his organization organized in collaboration with UNESCO, Paris. He said some lecturers were new to the system, while others were simply not professionally trained for the challenges of teaching in higher technical institutions. According to him, "Most staff, old and new, require academic training to improve their capacities to deliver adequately, consistent review of curricular of polytechnics will add an impetus in developing capacity for both lecturers and students.  "Sound technical education along with advancement in both science and technology, these are foundation of development in all ramifications considering the globalization trend in the world."   "The board after developing the first set of curricula for TVE found out that books and publications that address issues raised by the curricula were in short supply while the few available ones were either imported and beyond the reach of most staff and students or not suitable for our local situation."  He therefore explained that the project had identified the crucial importance of developing books and publications locally and had to date produced relevant, effective and user-friendly e-books totalling about 350 in form of a simple, current, informative and professional guide to both teachers and students.    "In developing these materials, the board took cognisance of the pedagogical needs of lecturers to function effectively and the need to align content delivery with the ever changing world of knowledge and skills," he said. He added that, "Already, arrangements have been concluded by the UNESCO-BREDA, Dakar office and ECOWAS to host a sub-regional conference next month to, among others, take a look at the first ever comprehensive review of TVE curricula; leading to the review/development of 68 curricula by Nigeria.   "During the Phase 1, the project had brought about an upgrade and standardization of quality of contents of curricula with the inclusion of ICT and entrepreneurship courses in all programmes as well as successfully  entrenching a systematic staff development process in the sub-sector with the training of more than 9000 staff," he said. Dr. Hashim Abdulwahab, the UNESCO team lead consultant, said  on the occasion that the exercise was a great achievement that the nation should replicate in the entire education system.   He commended the nation's strides in the TVE sub sector, pointing out that other African countries had expressed the desire to adapt it in their countries.

Strikes: FG calls for ILO interventions

Disturbed by the wave of strikes and industrial crises going on in all sectors of the nation's economy, the Federal Government has called on the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to intervene and assist Nigeria with expert and technical advice. Minister of Labour and Productivity, Prince Adetokunbo Kayode, SAN, made the appeal to the ILO to assist Nigeria with "expert advice and technical assistance," to enable the present administration to effectively tackle the consistent labour demands and industrial actions. N.B Visit www.campusflava.com for updates and information related to other schools.   He stated that the widespread strikes in all areas of the nation's socio-economic life were already inflicting untold hardship on many Nigerians. The Minister, who was represented by his Permanent Secretary, Alhaji Suleiman Kassim, made the remarks while receiving the ILO Director of Industrial and Employment Relations, Professor Tayo Fashoyin in Abuja on Thursday.. He urged Professor Fashoyin to assist Nigeria with available information within his portfolio, which would enable the nation to get necessary interventions from the ILO, especially in areas of symposium, lecture and workshops on resolving industrial conflicts. The minister disclosed that the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity had been able to push the pending labour bills through the Federal Executive Council for observation which, if passed into law, would solve some of the labour problems in the country.

Lautech Post Ume still holds

This is to inform all intending Ladokites who are preparing for the Lautech Post Ume that the screening still holds on July 11, 2009. The screening will be done not minding the ungoing ASUU strike which is to last for 90 working days.

N.B Visit www.campusflava.com for updates and information related to other schools.  

ASUU writes students on strike

The Academic Staff Union of Universities University of Lagos {UNILAG} branch has written a public letter to students to solicit their support in the struggle to ensure that government sees reasons why it should adequately fund the education sector .The undated letter signed by the chairman of UNILAG ASUU, Dr Ayo Olowe assured students that government is aware of the importance of the ASUU demand. N.B Visit www.campusflava.com for updates and information related to other schools.   The letter reads in part: "We have compelling reasons to solicit your cooperation and support in this great struggle. The sacrifices may be much but they are however worthy of being offered by all well meaning academics, under\post graduate students and Nigerians" Dr Olowe dismissed the claim that ASUU is engaged in the present struggle for personal gains "The impression is generally created that ASUU is on this struggle in order to receive fat salaries. This is not true. The essence of the strike action is to impress it on government to see reasons why it should adequately fund education for national development, to stall brain drain and create good learning, teaching and research environment'. The chairman of UNILAG chapter of ASUU enjoined the parents that the present struggle is about the development of education and the future of their children in the universities "Those in power are well-aware of the importance of these demands by ASUU. As students in Nigerian universities, you experience and bear the brunt and burden of the consequences of the inaction of government on education." The letter stressed further that children of serving politicians are all studying abroad adding that foreign trained students get preference in the employment market in Nigeria."                                                                                                   By Duro Adeseko

Fake lecturer exposes universities’ admission racket

The ugly tale Sanni Osaghe Mattew, a 35-year-old NCE holder reels out to the police in Lagos now would be a pointer to the extent of decay and fraud that has taken over the university admissions system in Nigeria. The man is surely the scam don with abilities to pull his deals through without borders or discriminations on who the victim and accomplices are. N.B Visit www.campusflava.com for updates and information related to other schools.   He traverses universities, institutions and exam bodies, families, teachers and the echelon of the academia to get his job done. In almost all the deals, he came out clean. His acolytes cut across the security, academic, JAMB, WAEC, parents and others. He plays straight in the language of a master con man. You drop the pay, he gets the job done. He knows his way round with the false identity he brandishes as a senior lecturer. And he had lived that way until that fateful day when his cup overflowed. Sanni allegedly forged an ID to convince victims and accomplices that he was clean and by so doing gets their assistance and patronage in securing admission for his clients who are not even qualified. The professors who have upper hand in the administration of the school after collecting an agreed sum of money would see to it that applicants who are not qualified would suddenly become eligible students. He was arrested when one of his clients, Emma, who had parted with hundreds of thousands of naira, felt that he was delaying in delivering and decided to trace the 'lecturer' to his home at No. 31 Okongwe Street, Egbe, Lagos only to discover that he lives in a room with a 12 by 10 mattress.. Alarmed, he decided to report the matter to the Festac Police station. From the station, they called him to collect money for another job. Still dressed in his suit, he drove in his newly acquired Mercedes Benz into the waiting hands of the police. Knowing that the game was up, he quickly confessed that he is not a lecturer and has not seen the four walls of the university. He claimed he was a staffer of Cornerstone Secondary School where he taught Mathematics and was paid N20,000 a month. He resigned when the school forced him to teach a subject that he was not familiar with. "I was forced to teach Infotech which I knew little or nothing about. So, when I flopped, they queried me and out of annoyance, I decided to resign. With his wealth of knowledge, he started tutorials that were shut down when it was banned in schools. I got the idea that since I was good in Mathematics I could fit in as a lecturer. I quickly arranged and forged documents to back my claim and promoted myself to the post of a Lecturer 2. I applied at LASPOTECH and was still waiting for a reply. His first client was Emma who needed admission into postgraduate studies. As a rule, University of Lagos offers candidates postgraduate admission after passing a qualifying entrance exam. Sanni offered to assist him with the admission and to also ensure that he would pass the test. "Emma bought the form, submitted it and gave me the copy as instructed. He gave me N60,000 as fee. I had to help him and forge a WAEC result we used for the application. He also introduced me to other people who were interested in the same admission. On the day of the exam, I had already made some enquiries and confronted one Professor Ade Adeyinka of the Postgraduate School who was one of the supervisors of the test. I introduced myself as a lecturer and with my ID hanging on my neck he greeted me like a colleague. I called him aside and told him my mission and that I had some students who needed help during the test and that they were offering good money. I gave him N120,000 and the examination and phone numbers of the candidates.. He smuggled out the answer sheet and shaded it correctly and called the owners to watch out for their result, which was due on July 18, 2003. This effort convinced Emma who later connected Sanni to other desperate Nigerians who needed admission into UNILAG but did not beat the cut-off point. When the business became too lucrative, Sanni decided to spread his tentacles to other areas. He forged all kinds of stamps and documents to further convince his client that he was real. He assisted those that did not apply for UNILAG as their first and second choice At a stage, he infiltrated JAMB. During the last JAMB examination, Sanni claimed that he visited one of the centres at Amuwo Odofin where he met one of the coordinators from Abuja (names withheld). He took his phone number with the promise to get back to him soonest. "I visited JAMB office at Buhari, Abuja, where I discussed possibilities of helping me to upgrade scores. We agreed and I left for Lagos where I assembled money from four persons and paid in N140,000 through Cashfast. "True to his words, he upgraded their scores. One of my clients, known as Sonia Edet who had scored 207 had her scores upgraded to 229 to beat the cutoff mark of the school she applied for." In spite of the recession hitting the economy, Sanni was busy smiling to the bank as the number of clients multiplied. He started visiting universities all over the country with his Identity card as proof of his genuine personality. "Recently, I had cause to travel to Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma to assist my client get clearance and proceed for NYSC because he failed one course, when Sanni was not able to get across to the dean in charge of NYSC, he got to the office of the registrar with the aid of the PRO (names withheld). He as usual hit success and his client was shortlisted after paying N50,000. Sanni, the admissions deal don did not spare policemen as some of them desperate to secure admission for their children in the University of Lagos parted with huge sums of money. On a day Sanni's neighbour was arrested by the police, he was enlisted to assist the family to secure his bail. Knowing the power of being a lecturer, he got to the Ikotun Police station where he demanded to see the officer in charge of the matter. Casually he introduced himself as a lecturer in UNILAG. The police readily listened to him and released his neighbour. Through that link, he got into a contract with some of the officers to do them a favour in return. This favour is consistent with his art – admission racket. Through this contract, he allegedly collected not less than N225,000 from these desperate fathers. A 90-year-old man was not spared as he paid through the nose to secure admission for his grandchild. Pleading for mercy, Sanni, who forged documents to back up his position as a senior lecturer, said that it was greed that drove him into the trade. I have learnt my lesson. It was the devil and greed to make it fast that dragged me into this act. I am an expert in mathematics, try me even with further mathematics and you will be surprised how good I am. I actually graduated from Technical College of Education, Asaba with in uppers in Mathematics. I lost the documents to armed robbers and decided to use the photocopy to forge a new one. Saturday Sun sought to know why the police were yet to arrest the accomplices in the universities, the police Public Relations Officer confirmed the story but promised that investigation was on to ascertain if the people he mentioned got themselves involved in such scam and bring them to book.                                      By Chioma Okezie-Okeh

Poly Expels 112 Students

The management of the Osun State Polytechnic, Iree, with the approval of the institution's governing council, has expelled 112 students for various offences, which included impersonation, examination malpractices, admission fraud, theft, as well as using fake NECO/ WAEC results. The students were duly sanctioned, after being tried before the Students Disciplinary Committee set up by the school management earlier this year for the various offences indicated against their names. Addressing the media, the Registrar/ Secretary to the polytechnic council, Alhaji J.A. Akande, disclosed that of the 112 students, 19 were expelled for impersonation, 12 for examination malpractices while two were found guilty of admission fraud. N.B Visit www.campusflava.com for updates and information related to other schools.   Also facing sanction were five other students being punished for theft charges. Another group of 74 students were sanctioned for gaining admission to the institution with fake results. Twenty seven are being held for using fake NECO results while the other 47 used fake WAEC results for processing their admission to the school. He disclosed further that the institution would not tolerate any act of indiscipline or forms of malpractice among its students. He also warned any student who, in one way or the other, might be planning to practise such vices in the future.

Students Groan As Strike Bites Harder

With the recent strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), almost all campuses are now empty as both students and staff have vacated the school premises. Following closely on the heels of the ASUU strike is the Non Academic Staff Union (NASU) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU)'s strikes. Members of these unions decided to join the ongoing strike in solidarity of their fellow workers to protest non payment of money due to them. N.B Visit www.campusflava.com for updates and information related to other schools.   A mild drama played out in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, recently when members of NASU denied some staff of the entry by parking their motorbikes at the road. They also came with mats and matresses, which they lay on the road and slept on them, just to get the of the authorities to listen to their grieviances. On Monday, the Senate summoned officials of the ASUU together with the Minister of Education over the strike, in a bid to finding lasting solutions to the lingering crisis. The strike is coming at a bad time for most students as almost all the universities were about to begin their second semester examinations. These had to be put on hold as lecturers refused to administer such examinations.. Even if they had been willing to conduct the examinations, it was not possible with the involvement of the Non Accademic Staff Union (NASU) in the strike because this body is responsible for typing questions, stamping answer sheets, cleaning exam halls, among other responsibilities. At the University of Lagos, students were seen within the premises, with a few idle lecturers present. The same situation was observed at the Lagos State University (LASU), where students were seen in different lecture rooms, chatting and whiling away time. As a result of the strikes by the unions, authorities of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ile-Ife, Osun State, over the weekend, ordered the students to proceed on a temporary break. A statement by the Public Relations Officer of the institution, Mr. Abiodun Olarewaju, directed students to vacate their halls of residence with immediate effect. All foreign students in the institution were, however, asked to liaise with the Dean of Students Affairs for arrangement on their stay on campus for the period of the break. Also, the institution's post-JAMB screening slated for today, has been postponed, indefinitely. Similarly, authorities of the University of Ibadan have given a two-week break to academic and non-academic staff. Students at the University of Abuja, especially the part- time ones were, quite badly, affected by the strike action as they had already commenced their examinations. Of course, they had to stop halfway and most of them will have to go back to complete the semester examination after the strike would have been called off. This, invariably, means the students would have their stay prolonged in the institution. A student of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, who spoke with campusrendezvous on condition of anonymity, said "the strike has caused a break in the academic calender and now, we will not graduate in time. They say "an idle mind is the devil's workshop," but we don't want that to be our case. We plead with the government and ASUU to resolve their differences as soon as possible so that we can go back to school. "I wonder how long these lecturers will be able to watch their children sitting at home, doing nothing, because I want to believe that most, if not all, of them have university-age children in their homes." A law student at the University of Abuja believes the lecturers are justified in going on strike after issuing a warning to the government. He, however, called on the lecturers to temper justice with mercy and put the plight of the students into consideration as they don't want to spend avoidable time in the higher institutions as undergraduates. "Some of us have laid out our plans and targets. For instance, I hope to have completed my first degree by 2011 but with the way things are going, that may be an unachievable dream. People hardly spend the stipulated four, five or six years, as the case may be, in the university these days. "We have one strike action after the other; we are not even encouraged to study in Nigeria. Our parents keep on wondering why we want to study abroad, I'm sure they now understand what we've been talking about,"he said. Another student of the University of Abuja, Mojisola Yusuf, who runs a part-time course, was able to write four of her five papers before the strike began. She said she would have prefered to write all her papers together at once and wished the lecturers could have given them a concession, considering the fact that most of them had to travel to town for the examination.

OAU workers’ unions protest illegal deductions

In spite of the on-going national strike by members of the Academic Staff Union Universities (ASUU), the four staff unions of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife continued with their quests to seek refund of the illegal double deductions of pension contribution from their salaries by the management with protests and prayer session at the institution's Sports Centre. The staff unions made up of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), National Association of Academic Technologists Staff (NAATS) and the Non Academic Staff Union (NASU), since six months, have been battling the Vice Professor, Michael Faborode and the Bursar, Mrs. Omolara Odeyemi, over the illegal double deductions of the contributory pension. N.B Visit www.campusflava.com for updates and information related to other schools.   The aggrieved OAU workers, who were battle ready started with a prayer session and while singing, called the VC and bursar unprintable names for being adamant and vowed to continue the struggle until the university management refunds the money with interest. The four staff union chairmen took turns to address the workers on the on-going struggle and sought for their supports to ensure that the over N400 million illegally deducted as pension from their salaries was refunded by the management, stressing that no amount of intimidation and falsehood would make them back out. Addressing newsmen on the issue, the Chairman of the Joint Executive Committee of Staff Unions (JECOSUN), Dr. Ife Adewumi, said the Federal Government deduct 7.5 per cent pension from source and that OAU management is also deducting another 7.5 per cent making it double deductions. Adewumi alleged that the illegal deductions by the university management is not being remitted to Pencom as stipulated by law, insisting that the money, based on evidence made available to the Bursar, Mrs. Odeyemi, is still within the system and wondered why it has refused to accept the unions position and stop the illegal deduction. His words: "We have evidence of illegal deduction and cheques written in the name of the university bursar which was presented to the management, yet they fail to reason with the unions. The illegal deduction is being investigated by relevant government agencies." According to him, the staff unions last month gave the OAU management an ultimatum that if by June 30, if it fails to stop the illegal deductions, the entire workforce would stage protests to press home their demands for refund. The Chairman, JECOSUN, faulted the claim by the VC that the staff unions' executives at a meeting with the management in 2008 agreed to a 36-month deduction from their salaries to cover an earlier payment made to the staff in error which government wanted a refund. He noted that once the unions found out the truth, they asked for its stoppage. He disclosed that the unions are waiting for the outcome of the investigation into their petition on the issue by the Accountant General of the Federation and confirmed that ICPC official with the VC, who was absent invited the unions.

ASUU strike: NANS demonstrates in Kano

PIQUED by the ongoing strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), which has paralysed academic activities in the nation’s universities, hundreds of members of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), on Thursday, staged a solidarity demonstration in Kano.

The students began their demonstration from Bayero University, Kano, (BUK) old campus and moved to various strategic places in the city. The demonstration also lasted for many hours and the students covered over 20 kilometres.

N.B Visit www.campusflava.com for updates and information related to other schools.  

Addressing the crowd of students, the national president of NANS, Babale Bashir, said the demonstration was a national mass action directed by NANS, saying other institutions were also doing a similar thing in other cities.

He added that the demonstration was a peaceful one, adding that its motive was to sensitise the general public to the fact that there were problems in Nigeria’s education sector, hence the need to join forces together and solve them once and for all.

To All Uniport 2009/2010 Pume Candi. (change Of Institution And Second Chioces) « on: Today at 01:54:45 PM » ----------- TO ALL 2009/2010 PUME CANDIDATE------------ ----------- UPDATE OF DATABASE FOR 2009/2010 UME CANDIDATE-------- ALL QUALIFIED CANDIDATES WHO CHOOSE UNIPORT AS SECOND CHIOCE AND OR CHANGE OF INSTITUTION AND WAS UNABLE TO LOGIN FOR THE POST UME REGISTRATION SHOULD NOT HESITATE TO CALL THE NUMBERS BELOW OR CHECK THEIR STATUS ONLINE AND QUICKLY PROCEED WITH REGISTRATION. JOE -   08067186664 DIKE - 08036519077 NB. ALL CANDIDATE HAVING PHOTOCARD PROBLEM SHOULD PLS CALL THE NUMBER ABOVE.

N.B Visit www.campusflava.com for updates and information related to other schools. 

Latest Update on ASUU strike

ASUU-FG face off: Punishment for the innocent
Dr. Sam Egwu, Education Minister
THE proverbial two elephants are at war now with the federal government’s failure to accede to the demands of members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the grass, in this case students, is groaning in pain. Already, end of semester examinations were disrupted at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, University of Maiduguri and the University of Nigeria, Nsukka while lectures have stopped. But SULAIMON OLANREWAJU, in this report, writes that the pains of the students transcend the postponement of examinations and stoppage of lectures.

N.B Visit www.campusflava.com for updates and information related to other schools.  

ACADEMIC Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is determined to make the ongoing strike the mother of all strike actions. The union is resolved not to balk; it is prepared for a long drawn battle. According to the president, Professor Ukachukwu Awuzie, ASUU members would stay away from work for as long as it takes the government to decide to meet the demands of the union. To this end, the union has anticipated that the government’s immediate reaction to the strike action will be stoppage of salaries and it has prepared for it. According to Dr. Kabir Olusegun Akinyemi, ASUU chairman at the Lagos State University (LASU), the union has already set up a Coping Strategy Committee (CSC), which would offer assistance to any member of the union in dire need of it in case the government decides to stop salaries of the striking university lecturers. So, he said, thinking that ASUU members would be cowed by withholding salaries would not work.
The union embarked on a strike action Monday last week as a way of forcing the government to grant its demands. An agreement reached between the federal government and the union in 2001 states that the government ought to make adequate budgetary provision for education, improve condition of service that would check the problems of brain drain, ensure university autonomy and academic freedom.
According to ASUU, the government has failed to keep its part of the bargain. Since 2004, the issue of government honouring the agreement it entered into freely with the lecturers has been on and the government at each point has demonstrated lack of interest in the matter. To underscore its lack of commitment to the issue, the Federal Ministry of Education, which hitherto had been negotiating with the union, referred the matter to the Federal Ministry of Labour, a development which piqued the university lecturers to no end.
However, despite the fact that a majority of the people support the agitation of the ASUU, parents and students would want an early resolution of the crisis. According to Mr. Johnson Hezekiah, the earlier the matter is resolved the better it is for everybody, especially the students.
“Really, anyone who has keenly followed the issue will know that ASUU has a justified case. The lecturers are not just fighting for themselves, they are fighting for the survival of the university system,” Hezekiah, who claimed to have two children in different universities said. “ASUU is asking for better funding for the universities. The union is asking the government to improve infrastructure provision in the universities. All of these will lead to an improved university system in the country. Having all these in place would lead to an improvement in the quality of the products of our university system. This fact is well known. However, with the posture of the government, it is going to be a hard battle for the lecturers to win. ASUU has said it would not call off the strike unless the government meets its demands, if the government does not respond in one or two months does that mean that ASUU will remain on strike. What will that mean to the system? How will that help the case of the students? When you are dealing with a stiff necked government, pursuing the hard line will not help. The lecturers should fight for their entitlement but they should bear in mind the situation of their students.”


Professor Ukachukwu Awuzie- ASUU president
Speaking in a similar vein, a 200 level student of medicine at the Ladoke Akintola University, Ogbomoso, Dupe Isola, said the lecturers should take the plight of the students into consideration in making their decisions.
“No matter how long the strike lasts, even if the government refuses to pay their salaries during the strike, the lecturers cannot lose because eventually they will be paid. The losers in this imbroglio are the students,” she said. “If the strike does not go beyond two weeks, then we are lucky because it will not be too difficult for us to catch up but if it goes beyond two weeks, then it will be a real disaster.”
The medical student explained further that the leaders were not interested in developing public universities because their children were either in private universities in the country or foreign ones.
“So both the leaders and the lecturers have nothing to lose. It is the students that will lose. We are the ones who will not be able to complete our course in time. We are the ones that will not be able to go for service early enough. We are the ones that will grow old on campus while still trying to earn the first degree due to no fault of ours. It is not fair,” she said.

Another student, James Ilori, described the development as a demonstration of the heartlessness of the government and the lecturers.

“The government is not bothered about the situation because many of the officials have their wards outside the country. The same goes for our lecturers; many of them have their children in private universities or even abroad. So, why will they not decide to grind the system?”, he queried.
Ilori also explained that the strike action if not resolved early would further destroy the university system and worsen the quality of the products of the nation’s universities.
“How will any university in the country be among the first 1000 in the world? How will foreign universities not reject Nigerian university graduates for postgraduate studies when we always put our universities under lock and key at the flimsiest of excuses? The government is not serious about improving the system but are the lecturers also ready? We have to face the fact; those in authority have no intention to improve the system. The unfortunate thing is that the students are made to suffer unnecessarily. When will this change?”

University system in Nigeria has collapsed – Osundare

ERUDITE scholar and social critic, Professor Niyi Osundare, has said the university system in Nigeria has totally collapsed, blaming the government and all stakeholders including university dons, for the crumpling.

Osundare, who disclosed this, on Tuesday, in Ibadan, at a symposium organised by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Ibadan chapter, entitled 'Africa and the 21st Century University,' decried what he described as disrepect of education by the Federal Government.

While equally holding the university community responsible for what he called poor administration, lack of qualitative teaching and absence of teacher-student relationship, Osundare called for a total overhaul of the education system, adding that all the seven-point agenda of the government would amount to nothing without solid education.

N.B Visit www.campusflava.com for updates and information related to other schools.   

Also delivering an address at the symposium, Professor Kassey Garba said the Federal Government had shown lack of respect for universities in Nigeria through poor funding, intrusion in and manipulation of their administrations, as well as poor attitudes to all the problems besetting the ivory towers.

Garba, who highlighted creativity, restructuring of curriculum to meet present challenges, utilisation of system-produced human resources, effectiveness of information and communication technology in the system, as well as dynamic relationships between teachers and students as hallmarks of 21st century universities, however, lamented that Nigerian universities lacked all that could make them 21st century universities.

In his speech, the Dean of the Faculty of Technology, Professor Ayo Oluleye, urged stakeholders in Nigerian education to be innovative and more productive Nigerians as these would solve our problems.

                                             By Joseph Ajayi

We can’t meet ASUU’s demands - FG

THERE are no indications that the present strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) which has paralysed academic activities in the nation's universities will end soon as the Federal Government, on Tuesday, refused to accede to the lecturers' demand for 109 per cent pay rise.

According to the Minister of Education, Dr. Sam Egwu, the salary demand was unrealistic, especially against the fact that there were other sectors which had also demanded for salary increases.

The minister, who was speaking at an interactive session with the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at its national headquarters, in Abuja, also observed that the current global meltdown and shortfall in the production of crude oil, arising from the activities of Niger Delta militants, meant that government could not meet such a demand.

N.B Visit www.campusflava.com for updates and information related to other schools.   

According to him, "Mr. President approved that there should be an inter ministerial committee to look at this salary issue, because as you are talking of salary for ASUU, mind you, the Nigeria Labour Congress is also talking of salary for every member of the public service. The medical sector is also demanding. So, it is not something that can be done and we have not considered the other people demanding for salary increases."

Itemising the four key demands of the striking lecturers, he noted that most of them had been implemented by the present administration. According to Dr. Egwu, "the only issue that is outstanding is salaries. They are asking government to pay academic staff 109 per cent of what they are receiving now. In other words, 109 per cent should be their new salary.

"Government is saying inasmuch as there is nothing bad in paying academics that amount, you have to pay something that is realistic and sustainable. Something they can pay today, tomorrow and next tomorrow. Something they can pay and they will be very happy that they are also touching other needs of the country. That is where we are now," he stated.

He said, following the negotiations which began in 2001 and renegotiations in 2006, the present administration had implemented the request for autonomy for universities by ensuring that they were able to hire and fire their vice chancellors while the number of government appointees in their governing councils had been reduced to four as against 10 in the 11-member council.

Dr. Egwu added that "the university communities have more members in the various councils. Out of the 11members, the government has only four with the chairman, as against a situation where government appointed up to 10 members previously.

"Now, the universities are in charge of their councils. The university board can appoint a vice chancellor without reference to Mr. President; they can sack a vice chancellor without reference to Mr. President," he said.

On the extension of the retirement age of lecturers to 70 years, the minister remarked that government had also agreed to implement it but it would involve only lecturers, who had attained the rank of a professor for now.

According to him, "Mr. President has also approved it but said it should apply to only professors. You don't just enter the university as a junior lecturer or Assistant Lecturer I and you want to retire at 70. In the judiciary, judges retire at 70.

"And government said that for you to be a professor, it means that you have worked hard; you have reached the pinnacle and, therefore, that position should be for the professors, for now, and not anybody who just entered the university," he declared.

Also speaking on increased funding, which is another demand by ASUU, Dr. Egwu observed that apart from special interventions, it was also being achieved through Education Trust Fund (ETF) which was now being targeted at particular institutions at a time instead of being spread across all the institutions at the same time.

Meanwhile, the meeting between the leadership of ASUU and the Minister of Education, Dr. Sam Egwu, called by the Senate Committee on Education, Mrs. Joy Emordi, was, on Tuesday, deadlocked as both of them refused to shift grounds.

However, at the time of sending this report, both of them were in a closed door meeting with the Senate Committee on Education deliberating on whether they could still find a solution.

The ASUU team, was led by the National Chairman, Professor Ukachukwu Awuzie, and assisted by Dr. Dipo Fasina, Dr. Abdullahi Sule Kano and Dr. Nasiru Isa Fagge, among others, while the Minister of Education led his own team.

At the open meeting, which was presided over by the chairman of the Senate Committee on Education, Professor Awuzie informed the committee that there was an agreement contrary to the position of the minister.

However, the education minister, disclosed that President Yar'Adua was not happy with the strike, saying that the president was committed to the improvement of education.

                                             by Leon Usigbe and Ayodele Adesanmi

‘We encourage our students to bring laurels home’

Students of the Nigerian Turkish International Colleges (NTIC) have brought honour to Nigeria through their international achievements. With about 13 branches in the country, the students have won more than 100 laurels at international competitions in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Computer Science. In an interview with Daily Sun recently, Mr. Kamil Kemanci who is the Principal of Nigerian Turkish International College in Lagos, revealed why NTIC remains the choice place for learning and how students are encouraged to shine at international competitions. He also spoke on the proposed Nigerian Turkish Nile University, Abuja. N.B Visit www.campusflava.com for updates and information related to other schools.   How NTIC berthed in Nigeria NTIC has a history of 12 years. It started in 1997 in Abuja in a small rented building. It started with a primary and secondary school. After two years, they applied for a permanent site, which was approved by the government in Abuja. After two years, the school moved to the permanent site in Wuse II, Abuja. Later, other schools and branches started coming up. Now, we have thirteen branches in Nigeria, we have schools in Kano, Kaduna, Yobe, Lagos, Ogun and Abuja. The schools were established to serve both countries, Nigeria and Turkey in several aspects. Nigerian Turkish colleges are fertile grounds for promoting academic excellence especially in the sciences. Our schools are avenues for promoting bilateral business relationship with both sides and our students are encouraged to participate in international competition and various social activities. We have boarding schools, day schools, co-educational schools, boy's schools, girls schools, different kinds of schools. There is a university coming up which we hope to start in August. Our vision is to strive through the provision of broad based, appropriate and adequate curricular offering, using state of the art technology to provide qualitative and functional science oriented education of international standard to our students, irrespective of nationality, religion or tribe.                                        By Ime Ola and Sam Otti

DELTA STATE UNIVERSITY TEACHING HOSPITAL

N.B Visit www.campusflava.com for updates and information related to other schools. 

This is Delta state university teaching hospital. It is located in Oghara, Delta state.