Education
Students block Benin airport road over ASUU extended strike
- Poly lecturers threaten nationwide industrial action
Students of tertiary institutions in Edo State on Monday blocked the gate of the airport and the busy Airport Road over the extended strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
The incident created gridlock along the Airport road, which extended to adjoining roads in the GRA of Benin City.
The students were from the University of Benin, Ambrose Alli University of Benin, Ekpoma, Auchi Polytechnic and Edo State Polytechnic, Usen.
The protesters also moved to the secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Edo State council to register their grievances, with the Students Union Government’s president of UNIBEN, Foster Amadin, appealing to the media to reach out to those connected with the protracted ASUU strike.
“We are lending our voice and we are appealing to whosoever is concerned. We have also come here as students that know the importance of the media to express our displeasure over the lingering ASUU strike.
Meanwhile, the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, (ASUP) has announced its plans to embark on nationwide strike action from May 11, 2022 over what it called non-implementation of the Memorandum of Action it reached with the Federal Government in May 2021.
The Zonal Coordinator of Zone D comprising the South-South and South-East, Mr Precious Nwakodo, stated this during a press briefing at Auchi Polytechnic, Auchi, Edo State, on Monday.
He said part of the reasons for the strike was the non-release of the N15bn revitalization fund approved over a year ago for the sector to address infrastructural deficit as contained in the 2014 Needs Assessment Report.
He said, “Following the discouraging response of the government to the one-month notice of ultimatum, which ended five days ago, 4th of May, the NEC of the union will be meeting in two days’ time in Abuja to review the situation and take a decision on the planned strike.”
He said that the Federal and state governments had failed to commence payment of 10-month arrears of the new minimum wage after three years of signing the bill into law, adding that many states of the federation were yet to implement the new minimum wage in the various institutions
Education
FG threatens to stop funding tertiary institutions with poor performance
FG threatens to stop funding tertiary institutions with poor performance
The federal government has said the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) will defund any non-performing centre of excellence it established eight years ago.
Professor Tahir Mamman, the Minister of Education, said the government will not continue to reward indolence by giving free money to institutions that are not doing what they are supposed to do.
The minister spoke while receiving two reports of TETFund’s ad hoc committees on Assessment/Review of TETFund Centres of Excellence and Operationalisation of Skills Development Special Intervention.
“The government is encouraging our scholars to simply rise to the occasion and deliver on their scholarship, what world class scholars do; and we are not going to reward indolence. We can’t be giving free money to institutions that are not doing what they are supposed to do.
“In terms of the skill, we want to raise the equipment level of those institutions, polytechnic and others so that they can provide all the skill set that we need in Nigeria in the highest quality that can service the country and internationally,” he said.
On his part, the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Arc Sonny Echono, said the fund will not continue to throw money away to centres that are not living up to expectations.
Echono disclosed that some centres have funds with TETFund that they have not accessed since inception.
“The funds are with us because we have not released until you reach a milestone, but while they have delayed in reaching those milestones, are causes of concerns.
The TETFund boss noted that the strategy for establishing centres of excellence was a very good one because TETFund realised that it didn’t have enough resources to improve all the facilities of all public institutions at the same time.
READ ALSO:
- Don’t impose assistants on Finidi — Udeze warns NFF
- Lagos issues 48hr quit notice to Ikoyi Towers’ illegal squatters
- Lagos issues 48hr quit notice to Ikoyi Towers’ illegal squatters
“The idea was to incubate, to have one centre, the right equipment, the right tools, the right faculty and experts, that would lead our efforts in research, in promoting scholarship at the highest level so that they can also inspire other centres.
“We are going to be pooling from other institutions within the area who want to do further research or who want to carry out any other exploratory study in those particular fields in those areas,” he said.
He said some of the centres have done fantastically well since inception, stating that a lot of them are doing innovations.
“Sokoto just came up with one major solution for us. For example, they were the ones that discovered this vaccine for Covid, in partnership with other institutions. Now we are also in the process of getting vaccines for Lassa fever and so many others.
“So, some are doing very well. And some have come up with prototypes that we now hoping to take to industries so that they begin to produce these goods and services,” he said.
On the non-performing institutions, he said, “If you were established five years ago and you are still at your infancy, you have not been able to provide modern laboratories, facilities for scholars to come and learn, we want to know why. But we don’t want to be arbitrary.
“So, it decided to look at some institutions to find out their relative positions in terms of the quality of their faculty, their reputation in certain courses and in certain areas and designated them as centres of excellence for those particular courses.
Earlier, the Committee on the Assessment/Review of TETFund Centres of Excellence, led by Prof Oyewale Tomori, in its report, decline to recommend any centre for upgrade
The report noted that most centres did not utilise their first seed grant of N150 million for the initial infrastructures required in the centres, and advised TETFund to provide some bail out funds to the centres to enable the proper take off of the centres.
“If the Centres are to achieve set objectives, TETFund in collaboration with institutions hosting the centres should ensure that Centre Directors are on full time assignment at the Centre.
“All Centres that are not performing well should be given six months moratorium as a way to prevail on them to refocus and achieve their true mandate after which a revisit will be conducted to determine their status and continue funding,” the committee recommended.
Also presenting the Report of the Advisory Committee on Operationalisation of TETFund Skills Development Special Intervention, the Chairman of the Committee, Dr. Nuru Yakubu, said the committee recommended polytechnics for TETFund Special Intervention according to zones.
“South-West: The five schools visited have shown preparedness except for the Polytechnic Ibadan because of the school leadership transition. It is therefore recommended that in 2024 the following two polytechnics should benefit; Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State and Federal Polytechnic, Ede, Osun State for 2025 the committee recommends Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, Ogun State and The Polytechnic Ibadan, if they can sort out their preparations.
“South-South: The committee recommends Port Harcourt Polytechnic, Rimuola, Rivers State, and Akwa Ibom State Polytechnic Ikot Osunaa for 2024 TETFund Special Intervention. For the year 2025, the committee recommends Delta State Polytechnic and another polytechnic to be identified
“South-East: The Institute of Management and Technology has been recommended for 2024 and for 2025, Abia State Polytechnic, Aba and Federal Polytechnic, Oko.
“North-East: The committee recommends Federal Polytechnic, Bauchi and Ramat Polytechnic, Maiduguri for 2024 Intervention and Adamawa State Polytechnic and Tatari Ali Polytechnic for 2025.
“North-West: 2024 Birnin Kebbi, Daura for 2025 Kano State Poly, Sokoto State Poly and North-Central: 2024 Nasarawa and for 2025 Lokoja and Ilorin.
FG threatens to stop funding tertiary institutions with poor performance
Education
Disclose top 2024 UTME scorers, lawyer tells JAMB
Disclose top 2024 UTME scorers, lawyer tells JAMB
An Abuja-based lawyer, Chief Chukwuma Nwachukwu, has taken action against the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) for withholding information about the top scorers in the recently released 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) results. In response, Nwachukwu has invoked the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) against the examination body.
In a letter addressed to JAMB, Nwachukwu requested to be provided with the names and scores of the top 10 candidates in the 2024 UTME within seven days, as mandated by the FOI Act. He expressed dissatisfaction with JAMB’s decision to withhold this information despite providing a breakdown of candidates’ performance on April 29.
READ ALSO:
- Terrorist attack claims 24 lives in Katsina community
- Chicago priest blesses same-sex ‘spouses,’ says Fiducia Supplicans allows it
- Many dead, houses razed in Delta tanker explosion
Specifically addressing the Registrar General of JAMB, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, Nwachukwu demanded: “The names and scores of the 10 best students and their respective performances in the above examination.”
JAMB recently announced that the results of 64,624 candidates were withheld while releasing the results of 1,842,464 candidates. Prof. Oloyede stated that the withheld results were under investigation for verification, procedural investigation, and alleged examination misconduct.
Furthermore, he revealed that 2,896 candidates were under investigation for verification, 4,594 for procedural investigation, and 57,056 for centre-based investigation in 18 centres across Edo, Akwa Ibom, Delta, and Kwara.
Disclose top 2024 UTME scorers, lawyer tells JAMB
Education
UniAbuja: ASUU declares indefinite strike over disagreement with varsity management
UniAbuja: ASUU declares indefinite strike over disagreement with varsity management
University of Abuja’s branch of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has declared an indefinite strike.
The union announced the decision on Thursday during a congress held at the permanent site of the institution.
A communique issued by the varsity’s branch of the union declared the “total and indefinite strike” over a lingering disagreement with the UniAbuja management.
The issues involve ASUU’s interest in a multi-stakeholder microfinance banking venture; promotion procedures in the absence of a governing council, election for faculty deanship, and alleged illegal appointments.
Abubakar Kari, the UniAbuja student affairs dean and ex-convener of ASUU’s national political committee, confirmed the development.
NNPC blames fuel scarcity on panic buying, marketers deny allegations
FG threatens to stop funding tertiary institutions with poor performance
Don’t impose assistants on Finidi — Udeze warns NFF
-
metro2 days agoSecurity forces, vigilantes arrest kidnapper terrorising communities in Kogi
-
metro2 days ago19-year-old boy convicted for impregnating 14-year-old sister
-
metro2 days agoNeighbour, son beat mother of four to death in Edo
-
News2 days agoDrama as Delta workers boo Gov Oborevwori over minimum wage
-
News3 days agoAdopt quarterly exchange rate for Customs duty, economist advises FG
-
International1 day agoUS students slam Biden’s comments on Gaza encampments
-
metro2 days agoBREAKING: EFCC, Cubana Chief Priest agree to settle out of court
-
metro2 days agoThree ‘EFCC officials’ arrested for kidnapping, robbery in Nasarawa