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Vice-Chancellors(VCs) of Nigerian Universities have appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to take charge and speed up the process of resolving the ongoing trade union dispute between Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and other unions in tertiary institutions in the country. The vice-chancellors under the aegis of Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities, (CVCNU), said their call was necessitated by the impact of the strike on both students and the institutions. "We plead that drastic action is taken to stem the haemorrhage that the system is currently witnessing. For the sake of our children and our society, we need a decisive decision,” Chairman of CVCNU, Prof. Samuel Edoumiekumo. He spoke at the public presentation of the Model Intellectual Property for Nigerian universities, unveiled on Thursday, in Abuja. The document is the outcome of collaboration between the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) and the CVCNU with support from the National...

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has accused some tertiary institutions of learning in the country of being in the habit of opting for ‘crooked options’ by failing to disclose admission offers granted to candidates. The PUNCH reports that JAMB had, in 2021, said it uncovered no fewer than 706,189 undisclosed admission offers granted to candidates by tertiary institutions. According to the board, the admission offers granted were done outside of the Central Admissions Processing System. The board’s Registrar, Prof Ishaq Oloyede, in JAMB’s latest bulletin made available to The PUNCH on Tuesday, said, “It is disheartening today to still see some institutions opting for the crooked option that lacks transparencies or accountability through undisclosed admission offers.” According to the bulletin, Oloyede, who was represented by the Osun State Coordinator of JAMB, Babatunde Jacob, made the comment at the maiden matriculation of the Department of Nursing Education, Ob...

With the high level of unemployment and underemployment, prolonged strikes by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and its polytechnic counterpart, Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), have raised concerns about the country’s rising dependency ratio, as majority of youths are becoming idle by the day. The dependency ratio is a measure of the number of dependents aged zero to 14 and over the age of 65, compared with the total population aged 15 to 64. This demographic indicator gives insight into the number of people of non-working age, compared with the number of those of working age.   Indications emerged that the worsening situation has further mounted pressure on households’ disposable incomes as citizens, who desire to work, are currently excluded as a result of non-completion of academic degrees due to industrial actions and competition for scarcely available jobs.   Yearly, universities across the country churn out thousands of graduates. I...

ADC tasks FG on the immediate resolution of ASUU strike The Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment has warned those accusing its minister, Dr. Chris Ngige, of being a headache for the university lecturers to desist forthwith. This came on the heels of a lingering strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and other related bodies. A statement by the ministry’s Head, Press and Public Relations, Olajide Oshundun, made some clarifications, which, it said, were necessary for the public to understand its role as conciliators and arbitrators in a labour dispute. Oshundun said: “ASUU should know that we are arbitrators and conciliators. We cannot manufacture agreements. Regardless, we are not constrained from listening to the government side and pushing them to do their own bit as quickly as possible.” He clarified why the union was not invited to last Thursday’s meeting at the Presidential Villa. Media reports had, last week, quoted Ngige as saying relevant agen...

IPPIS corrupt, undermines varsity autonomy, says ASUU A software firm, Soft Alliance and Resources Limited, Lagos, have said it is only the university workers that are complaining about the efficiency of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System. Speaking in an interview with The PUNCH, Director, Business Development, Soft Alliance and Resources Limited, Kola Lasaki, stated that over 100 Ministries, Departments and Agencies made use of the IPPIS as a payment platform, adding that it came as a surprise when the unions alleged that IPPIS was an imported solution. Lasaki revealed that the company had offices in Ikeja, Lagos, Bayelsa, and Ekiti, saying they were being patronised by many state governments. Recall that the Academic Staff Union of Universities the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities had demanded the suspension of IPPIS alleging that some of its members have suffered from either short-pa...

President Muhammadu Buhari will soon take a decision on the controversial University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) and the condition of service for varsity teachers, Labour and Employment Minister Chris Ngige hinted yesterday.  To guide the President in taking a decision, the inter-ministerial departments and agencies committees of the Federal Government will turn in their reports on Wednesday.  The reports of the committees could bring an end to the four-month old strike embarked on by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).  Dr. Ngige dropped the hint in a statement yesterday by his ministry’s spokesman Olajide Oshundun.  The striking lectures are at war over which payment platform to be adopted in public varsities between the government-approved Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) and ASUU-preferred UTAS.  Yesterday, Ngige said last Thursday’s meeting was with the government side and not with ASUU...

THE Federal Government through the Ministry of Labour and employment, Sunday gave insight into why no unions in the nation’s university system education were invited to last Thursday’s meeting. FG stated that the meeting was to assess the progress made so far on addressing the few outstanding demands of the striking university workers, such as the contentious payment platform and the renegotiation of their conditions of service. In a statement by Head, Press and Public Relations, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Olajide Oshundun, lamented that the combative and several unfounded allegations by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU against the government, particularly, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, saying, “all insinuations that the Ministry of Labour does not sympathise with the students, unions and parents, of which the Minister is one, should be disabused. It noted that “ASUU should know that we are arbitrators and concilia...

The Federal Government, on Sunday said that the meeting it convened on Thursday was only for the government team involved in the resolution of the face-off with the university-based unions that led to the ongoing strike. Recall that the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige had on Wednesday while briefing State House correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting said that the government team involved in the industrial dispute with the university-based unions would be meeting the next day (Thursday) for progress report on efforts so far made towards finding a truce. But appearing on Channels Television, the President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke had said that government excluded his union in the invitation for the meeting.   However, reacting to the allegation of exclusion, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Ngige explained that invitation to the meeting was only sen...

The Association of Registrars of Nigerian Universities has urged the four unions in the institutions currently on strike to alter their approach to negotiations with the government. The registrars, who are also members of one of the striking unions, the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, said the ongoing strike posed grave consequences for the economy of the country. The ARNU Chairman, Dr Abubakar Mamuda, who stated these at the 71st Business Meeting of the association in Abuja on Thursday, expressed concern over the devastating effects of the industrial crisis on the students and the quality of education. “It is true that the struggles of the unions have brought about significant benefits to the Nigeria university system. However, in view of its negative effects on the NUS, there is the need for change in the approach of the unions in pressing home their demands,” he said. When asked to suggest an alternative approach for aggrieved unions and striking worke...

The Osun State government has set up an 11-man committee to oversee the upgrading of the College of Education, Ilesha to a university. The committee is tasked with developing an academic brief and physical master plan for the new university.Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Ismail Omipidan who made this known in a statement in Osogbo on Wednesday, June 22, said the committee will be headed by a foremost educationist, Prof. Olu Aina, and they will work with the State House of Assembly towards the enactment of the law establishing the new university.Members of the Committee according to the statement also include a former Health Minister, Prof. Isaac Adewole; a former Vice-Chancellor of Osun State University, Prof. Labo Popoola, a former Vice-Chancellor of Tai Solarin University, Prof. Yemisi Obilade; and founder, Lead University, Ibadan, Prof. Jide Owoeye. Other members of the Committee are the Managing Director, Saroafrica International, Mr Olakanmi Rasheed Sarumi; Ass...

The Federal Government, on Monday, announced the release of the results of the 2022 National Common Entrance Examination into unity schools. The government said all the admission processes into class one of the Junior Secondary School (JSS 1) in the colleges would be completed on or before July 1. Lagos State had 19,518 pupils, the highest number registered for the examination. The Federal Capital Territory came second with 8,623 pupils, while Anambra came third with 5,335 pupils. Education Minister Adamu Adamu announced the figures at a media briefing yesterday in Abuja after receiving the results from the Registrar of the National Examinations Council, Prof. Ibrahim Wushishi. Adamu, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, David Adejo Andrew, said Ajidagba Akanke, said to be an indigene of Sokoto State, had the highest score of 201, while Obot Abundance Idara, an indigene of Akwa Ibom State, came second with 200 marks. He said, “This year’s edition ...

Whether the four and a half months old strike by members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, would be called off soon now rests on the response of the Federal Government to the demands of the union made through a committee set up by the government to negotiate with it. Checks by Vanguard on Monday showed that the national leadership of ASUU has made its presentation to the Prof. Nimi Briggs-led committee set up to renegotiate the 2009 agreement signed by both sides. Speaking in a telephone chat with our correspondent, the National President of ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, said his union had done its best in the circumstance. “We have made our presentation to the committee and there is nothing more to add,” he said. On when the feedback is expected from the government’s side, he said, “They promised to get back to us within a short time.” Though he did not say anything about what the union’s presentation contained, it was gathered that union could give the g...

The Academic Staff Union of Universities has said the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement between the Federal Government and the union has reached an advanced stage. The union encouraged its members to remain focused to the end “of the struggle.” The union made this known in a memo titled, “Strike bulletin number 6”, signed by its National President, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, and made available to all branches of the union. Our correspondent obtained a copy of the memo on Sunday. Osodeke, in the memo, noted that the union had a total of five meetings with the representatives of the Federal Government, while two meetings were held with the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu. The memo read in part, “Our iron-cast resolve has forced the government to sit down and negotiate with us. “We have had five meetings with the Federal Government team and two meetings with the Minister of Education.   “The renegotiation of the 2009 ASUU-FGN agreement is progressing smoothly and has reac...

The Academic Staff Union of Universities has said its members are not beggars and the stoppage of their salaries by the government won’t force them to call off their strike. The leadership of the union also commended the members for keeping faith with the union despite the hardship imposed on their families as a result of the No-Work-No-Pay directive of the Federal Government. Following the failure of the government to meet some lingering demands of the union, ASUU on February 14, 2022 announced a one-month warning strike, followed by another eight-week strike before it eventually commenced its indefinite strike. The continued strike led to the imposition of No-Work-No-Pay by the Federal Government. The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, said the directive was in compliance with Section 43 of the Labour Law. Though some of the demands by the union are still undergoing negotiations, the ASUU President, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, expressed optimism that the union ...

Civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, has called on the National Assembly to pass a vote of no confidence on the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.). According to the group, the lingering strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, which began on February 14, has endangered the security of the country with students being out of classrooms. This was contained in a statement signed by the National Coordinator, HURIWA, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, on Wednesday, which noted that students could have been recruited to commit crimes such as terrorism, banditry, Internet fraud, prostitution, and drug trafficking. The statement read in part, “We call on the National Assembly to impeach President Muhammadu Buhari for letting the ASUU strike linger thereby endangering national security. Everyone knows an idle hand is the devil’s workshop. This is why it is not imaginable that some undergraduate youths would have gone into sophist...

The Academic Staff Union of Universities declared a comprehensive and total strike four months ago in order to compel the Federal Government to act on a variety of issues that have lingered between both parties for years. Since the strike was declared in February, there has been little progress in the deliberations. Instead, meetings continue to end in deadlocks; banquets, fanfare, party conventions, primary elections, and political campaigns are the order of the day, while the crumbling education sector continues to receive sparse attention. The PUNCH spoke to some of these students who expressed their frustration with the Federal Government’s lackadaisical attitude to their plight. A final year student of Bayero University, Kano, Zainab Olayinka, revealed that she has “locked away the student” in herself in order to avoid feeling depressed. “I have been coping by not letting the thought of it cross my mind too often. It is like I have just locked away the student in me ju...

Lecturers in universities, polytechnics and colleges of education have embarked on no fewer than 719 days of strike since the inception of the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), in May 2015. An analysis of activities in the tertiary education sector, carried out by our correspondent on Wednesday, revealed this. The Academic Staff Union of Universities is currently on strike in protest against members’ poor welfare and lack of adequate funds for universities among others. Members of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics and the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union are also currently on strike based on similar issues. The analysis showed that in January 2017, ASUP, under the then National President, Usman Dutse, embarked on a seven-day warning strike from January 30, 2017 to February 5, 2017. Also, ASUU declared an indefinite strike on August 17, 2017 over unresolved and contentious issues with the Federal Government. The strike was call...

ASUU: Varsity lecturers have embarked on strike for 1,404 days since 1999 The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has used a total of 1,404 days to go on strike since the inception of this democratic dispensation in 1999. This figure means that the universities’ lecturers have used three years and 10 months to boycott classrooms as one major means of pressing home their demands from the federal and state governments. ASUU, an umbrella body of the teaching staff of federal and state government-owned universities in Nigeria is currently on strike since February 14, 2022 as they demand certain conditions and emoluments to improve their teaching profession. The striking lecturers’ demands include funding for the revitalization of public universities, Earned Academic Allowances, University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) and promotion arrears.   ASUU President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, in Abuja, cr...

Kwara State Muslim Community has suggested that the names of all schools formerly owned by Muslim and Christian proprietors in the state should be changed as part of solutions to the lingering hijab crisis in the state. The Muslim community, in a letter addressed to the State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, recommended six actions to be taken by the government in resolving the issue of hijab-wearing by female Muslim students in all public schools in the state. “The Kwara State Government should change the names of all schools formerly owned by both the Muslim and Christian proprietors by adding’ Government’ into them, e.g, Ansarul Islam Government Secondary School, Ilorin, Bishop Smith Memorial Government College, Ilorin,” the community stated in the letter. Copies of the letter dated June 7, 2022, with reference number KWS/MS/01/22 and signed by Alhaji Ishaq AbdulKareem (Chairman) and Professor Ibrahim Abikan (Secretary), were made available to newsmen in Ilorin, the sta...

The Federal Government has continued its negotiations with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) as the strike by the lecturers enters its fourth month. A meeting between the striking lecturers and the Professor Nimi Briggs Committee, however, ended without a concrete agreement as members planned to reconvene within 24 hours to consider a draft agreement. Talks between both parties were held on Monday at the Nigeria University Commission (NUC) in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The government had tasked the committee to ensure the renegotiation brings an end to the ongoing industrial action by the university lecturers. Three months after it was inaugurated, the committee met with the lecturers but also failed to reach a final agreement that could end the strike that has crippled academic activities across government-owned universities. ASUU embarked on a nationwide strike on February 14 over the adoption of the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information ...

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board on Monday said the transfer of candidates from one programme to another in any tertiary institution can only be effected with the consent of the candidates concerned. The JAMB Registrar, Prof Is-haq Oloyede, made this known in the bulletin he made available to our correspondent in Abuja. Oloyede stated that the warning was in line with the Board’s policy which disallows tempering with the preferences for particular programmes or courses as expressed by candidates unless he/she indicated otherwise. The bulletin read, “The comments of the Registrar were to clarify the call by some institutions that JAMB allow them to transfer candidates from one programme to another within the institution’s CAPS at no extra charges to the students. “It was also to clarify the notion that it is difficult to transfer candidates from one programme to another and that not all the candidates transferred on the change of Programme platform would appear o...

ASUU President, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke and Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige The Federal Government has resumed talks with representatives of unions in the nation’s universities, The PUNCH reports. The PUNCH reported last week that the Prof Nimi Briggs committee set up by the government to renegotiate the 2009 agreement was expected to end its three months’ timelines given on June 7, 2022. But investigations revealed that the committee would meet Academic Staff Union of Universities on Monday (today) while the Joint Action Committee of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and allied institutions would have their meeting on Friday. “We are meeting the FG committee in Abuja on Monday,” a source in ASUU said. The union’s National President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, in an interview, also told The PUNCH that meetings would resume this week. We are resuming the meeting this week and we have an invitation...