The analysis of candidates’ performance showed that out of the 8,139 candidates that sat the examination, 3,424 candidates representing 42.07 per cent obtained credit and above in a minimum of five subjects (with or without English Language and/or Mathematics).
Education
No agreement with FG, strike not ending soon – ASUU, SSANU, NASU
The Academic Staff Union of Universities and the Joint Action Committee of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions and Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities have said the Federal Government did not reach a strong agreement with them that can lead to calling off the industrial actions.
All the university unions in the country are presently on strike.
ASUU started its strike on February 14, 2022 and JAC commenced its own on April 14, 2022.
The unions embarked on industrial actions while demanding improved welfare packages, better working conditions and implementation of various labour agreements signed with the Federal Government between 2009 and 2020.
The national leaders of ASUU and JAC of SSANU and NASU, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke and Mr Mohammed Ibrahim, respectively told our correspondent that the Federal Government and all stakeholders in the education sector and religious leaders had a meeting with the four unions but no strong agreements were reached.
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The Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, was quoted in a report at the weekend as saying, “We had a cordial and fruitful discussion; we looked at the issues dispassionately and reached some agreements, to the satisfaction of everybody in attendance.”
But Osodeke said Ngige’s claim after the meeting that the unions would call off the ongoing strike this week was a political statement.
He said, “We are not aware that we are calling off the strike. We met but there was nothing concrete between us and the government. Like we said before, we do not want promises, we want actions, if they show action and implement all the issues, we will go to our members, but knowing their antecedents, we know they will not do anything.
“They promised us since December 2020 and it is going to a year and a half, they have not done anything. We are waiting for them.
“As far as we are concerned, only when they sign our agreements, accept UTAS, release EAA and revitalisation funds will we call the strikes off.”
Ibrahim added that the major progress he could point at during the meeting was the ordering of the National Information Technology Development Agency, by the presidency who was represented by the Chief of Staff to the President and Chairman of the meeting, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, to subject the three payment solutions; Integrated Payroll and Personnel information system , University Transparency and Accountability Solution and University Peculiar Payroll Payment System, to integrity test and submit in three weeks.
“We are not talking about calling off strike now,” he said.
NYSC, varsities to review timetable after strike
Meanwhile, the National Youth Service Corps, Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board, and universities will meet later to harmonise timetable and rollout calendar for the mobilisation of graduates for the mandatory National Youth Service and 2022 admissions following the disruption in the academic calendar as a result of the ongoing industrial actions, The PUNCH has learnt.
The Secretary-General of the Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities, Prof Yakubu Ochefu, disclosed this in an interview with The PUNCH.
He said the heads of JAMB, NYSC and universities would meet to ensure synchronisation of timetables once the strike is called off.
Ochefu said, “If we recall, in 2020, when we had a similar situation, all the parties adjusted their rollout calendars.
“NYSC, JAMB, and the Universities will work together to synchronise their timetables.
“Their leaders will surely meet to review the timelines immediately after the strike is called off.”
Also, the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies, Ilorin, Kwara State, has said that it has started mediating in the dispute between ASUU and the Federal Government.
The Director-General of MINILS, Issa Aremu, revealed this in Ilorin while responding to questions on the strike.
“ASUU issues with the Federal Government are labour issues which are technical; the ministers could not resolve them because they lack skills to meditate on the industrial dispute. “There are two issues; dispute of rights and dispute of interest. While ASUU is on a course on the dispute of rights, it is wrong for it to go on strike on the dispute of interest which includes the system of salary payment,” he said.
Aremu, who described the shutting down of universities as worrisome, said, “We are meeting with stakeholders in the education sector, including ASUU, government, students, and parents to ensure that schools are opened. Nigeria cannot meet the development agenda if it continues with the incessant strike by workers.”
He advised workers to always exhaust social dialogue to resolve issues, warning that they should not use strike as a weapon to fight for their rights.
Also, the National Universities Commission has blamed the delay in the take off of projects on the delay in disbursement of funds by the Central Bank of Nigeria, the industrial actions by university-based unions and the revised budget system in 2022.
The NUC Coordinator, Special Projects, Dr. Joshua Atah, disclosed this while giving an update on the work plan of the Federal Government’s Sustainable Procurement Environmental and Social Standards Enhancement project.
Attah, in the NUC’s bulletin made available to The PUNCH on Sunday in Abuja, was quoted as saying that the commission is engaging with stakeholders to ensure smooth running of the project.
Education
WASSCE: Lagos govt to pay N1.5bn for 58,000 students
WASSCE: Lagos govt to pay N1.5bn for 58,000 students
The Commissioner for the Lagos State Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, Tolani Alli-Balogun, has said the state government will be paying N1.5bn to register 58,000 students for the 2024 West African Senior School Certificate Examination for this year.
The commissioner said this on Thursday while reporting the activities of the ministry in commemoration of the first year of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu in office for the second term of his administration.
Sanwo-Olu took the oath of office for his second term as governor on May 29, 2023, promising in his inaugural speech not to let down Lagosians.
The commissioner, who spoke at the state secretariat, said, “The administration of Babajide Sanwo-Olu has never defaulted on the payment of WASCCE fees of all public school SS3 students in the four years of Governor Sanwo-Olus’s first term in office. The state government paid over N4.2bn between 2020 and 2023 to keep our promise of full payment of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination fees.
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“In the current school year (2024), the governor has approved the sum of N1,571,076,000 as registration fees and other cost for 58,188 SS3 students writing the West African Senior School Certificate Examination.”
Last year, the West African Examination Council, which conducts WASSCE, noted that it had concluded plans to begin computer-based examinations in 2024.
It released the results of the first-ever CBT exam, 2024–First Series, in March this year.
Education
Father arrested for helping son to sit UTME
Father arrested for helping son to sit UTME
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has announced the arrest of a man and his son in the ongoing Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME).
The man was accused of impersonating the son and helping him to sit the UTME.
JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, disclosed this while on inspection tour of the UTME centres in Kaduna on Wednesday.
He said the 2024 examinations were largely well conducted, except for few cases of impersonation, which became possible because some persons had multiple National Identity Numbers (NINs).
Oloyede warned against cheating in the exams, stressing that JAMB had improved its technology check on those engaging in all forms of examination malpractices.
The JAMB Registrar said, “For those who engage in cheating, they should know that it does not pay. The technology is helping us to check that.
“Across the country, most of the problem we have is impersonation. For instance now, we say we have NIN, we now have cases of people with two NINs.
Therefore, that has defeated the purpose of identity verification. We are going to take that up with NIMC, that there are people who have two NINs.
“We have a case of a father impersonating his son, sitting the examination for the son and I wonder. Are you not destroying your son’s future?
“Of course, two of them are now in custody. I can’t understand what the father will now tell his son when they are both locked up in the same cell. This happened definitely not in Kaduna, but I don’t want to disclose the state.”
Education
Senate backs education minister on 18-year entry age into varsities
Senate backs education minister on 18-year entry age into varsities
Members of Nigeria’s Senate endorsed the federal government’s decision to raise the minimum admission age to 18 years old.
Recall that the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, said on Monday that the entry age for higher institutions was 18 years old and cautioned parents not to force their children who are not yet of age to enroll.
The support was made public on Tuesday in Abuja when the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFund, Sen Muntari Dandutse, led other members of the committee as well as his House of Representatives counterpart to witness the ongoing UTME.
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Speaking with journalists after the exercise , the Senator representing Kogi West Senatorial District and member of committee, Sen Sunday Karimi, said the Senate has nothing against the proposal by the Minister of Education.
He noted that by restricting admission to students at least 12 years old before secondary school, the government aims to ensure that students possess the cognitive and emotional readiness necessary to navigate the challenges of secondary education effectively.
“By the time a student who entered into secondary school at the age of 12 years completes his secondary school programme, he is already at the age of 18 as stipulated,” he added.
Karimi also stated the law was already on the ground, adding that if that was needed for any amendment to make it stronger, the Senate will be ready to do that.
He commended JAMB for providing an enabling atmosphere for candidates to have a seamless exercise.
Senate backs education minister on 18-year entry age into varsities
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