Category: Education

The strike was declared at a press conference addressed by the President of ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke.

He said the strike, which takes effect from Monday, February 14, 2022, would last for an initial period of four weeks.

According to him, the union tried to avoid the strike but the Federal Government was unresponsive to the union’s demands.

The ASUU chairman also said ASUU NEC faulted the creation of new universities.

He said, “NEC resolved to embark on the four-week roll-over total and comprehensive strike as the government has failed to implement the Memorandum of Action it signed with the ASUU in December 2020.

“We invite all lovers of education to join our struggle for a greater Nigeria. Nigerian politicians keep proliferating educational institutions without prioritising education.

“ASUU will not relent in its historic responsibility of advocating an improved university system.

“This is because it holds the key to our collective prosperity and better future for our children and our children’s children; so, let us work together to fix it.”

Osodeke asked the Federal Government to caution the Vice-Chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Prof. Eyitope Ogunbodede,  over the unpaid Earned Academic Allowances of its members in the university.

“We have an agreed template with the Federal Government but the VC refused to pay. Failure to pay using that template is a misappropriation. He should be cautioned,” the ASUU president said.

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The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board decision came barely 24 hours after the board confirmed that it would not reschedule its registration process following the suspension of the verification portal of the National Identity Number due to hitches.

The board, in a statement, claimed that the postponement for the exercise which was initially scheduled to commence on February 12 was due to “fine-tuning”.

The statement by the board’s spokesperson, Fabian Benjamin, partly read, “The process, which will be concluded within the one-week extension period, is also aimed at accommodating feedback from candidates and other stakeholders alike.”

“Further to the above, the new and improved procedures for the 2022 UTME Registration would be made available on the Board’s website, its weekly bulletin as well as other media outlets on Monday, 14th February, 2022.

“The candidates, are by this notice, urged to follow keenly the procedures for registration as would be announced by the Board,” the statement added.

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The Chairman of The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Dr Biodun Olaniran, and  Secretary, Dr Toyin Abegunrin, who said this in a statement issued after the congress of the union, stressed that the failure of the government  to fully implement the agreements was worrisome.

The statement read in part, “Our union, ASUU, is using this medium to call upon the Federal Government of Nigeria once again to implement the agreement it signed with ASUU. It is unfortunate to mention that the FG signed an agreement with the ASUU since 2009, but the agreement is not implemented till date.

“The agreement was renegotiated in the name of peace. But to our dismay, the government has refused to sign the renegotiated agreement. In order to make the implementation of the agreement easy for the FG, the union has limited its demand to only three.

“These include the signing/implementation of the renegotiated agreement of 2009; and the adoption of the University Transparency and Accountability Software instead of the controversial IPPIS.”

He said, “It is wrong for President Muhammadu Buhari to assign two ministers to oversee the implementation of the Memorandum of Action signed last year with ASUU. First, the assigned ministers are not part of the agreement. Only the ministers of Finance and Education were part of the agreement. The Federal Government is trying to take away university autonomy through its designed programmes and it is trying to shy away from implementing the resolutions of the negotiations.

“ASUU is having its National Executive Council meeting at the University of Lagos on February 12 and 13. If nothing is done by the government between now and then, the lecturers may go on strike.”

NECO Registrar, Dantani Wushishi, made the announcement in an official jingle on the council’s website.

Wushishi said the registration was only for pupils who would not be less than 10 years of age by September 2022.

“National Examinations Council wishes to inform the general public that registration for the 2022 National Common Entrance Examination for Admission into Federal Government Unity Colleges has commenced.

“Registration fee is N4,500 per candidate, while payment should be made into NECO treasury single account through ATM card, bank branch, USSD, internet banking or wallet,” he said.

Wushishi also noted that registration for the examination would be done on the council’s official website: http://www.neco.gov.ng.

While stating that registration would close on April 23, the registrar encouraged parents to visit the website or any NECO state office nearest to them for more information on the registration process.

The board made this known in its weekly bulletin released by its Director of Public Relations, Dr Fabian Benjamin, and made available to The PUNCH in Abuja.

In the timeline of events attached to the bulletin, the board announced that the “UTME/DE registration starts 12th February 2022 and ends 19th March 2022. Mock examination holds on 20th April 2022. UTME holds from 20th to 30th April 2022”.

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ACADEMIC activities in the nation’s universities may be disrupted by the end of this month if the Federal Government is unable to implement the Memorandum of Action, MoA, it signed with the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU.

Giving the indications in a chat with newsmen, the National President of ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, said the union was waiting for the period of grace given the government to lapse before taking the necessary steps.

“As a responsible union, we are consulting widely on the issues at stake. We have an MoA that is yet to be implemented fully and we also have the renegotiation of the 2007 Agreement pending. A lot of groups and concerned individuals have stepped in to intervene in the matter.

“We are responsible unionists and citizens and we must give room to those interventions; may be they can help persuade the government to do the needful. We have given them up till the end of this January and if nothing is forthcoming, we can take the next step,” he said.

It was gathered that if the union’s demands are not met, nationwide mobilisation of members would follow and congresses held to mandate the national leadership to act appropriately.

Vanguard

The Director-General, Office of Education Quality Assurance, Abiola Seriki-Ayeni, made this known in a statement.

The statement was titled, ‘LASG Frowns At Non-Compliance With Academic Calendar By Some Schools’.

Seriki-Ayeni reiterated that part of the mandate of her office was to develop a harmonised school calendar in conjunction with stakeholders in the education sector and ensure compliance, stressing that the monitoring exercise embarked upon by the officials of the Agency was to appraise the level of compliance with the resumption date, students’ presence and COVID-19 safety protocols.

“During our recent exercise to monitor the level of compliance with Tuesday 4th January, 2022 resumption date, we observed that the level of compliance was low. We are going to seal the schools that have not adhered to the academic calendar with ‘Notice of Non-Compliance’ stickers and issue letters of invitation to the Administrators to visit our office in Alausa where further disciplinary actions will be taken,” Seriki-Ayeni was quoted as saying.

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This is according to a statement signed by the Board’s Head of Media and Protocol, Dr Fabian Benjamin, which noted that any claims that the sale of forms had commenced was fraudulent and should be disregarded.

The statement reads, “The attention of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has been drawn to the activities of unwholesome elements who had been misleading the general public on the purported commencement of the sale of the 2022 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination and Direct Entry application documents.

“For the avoidance of doubt, any information in circulation purporting to have emanated from the Board to the effect that the sale of the 2022 UTME and DE forms has commenced is not only fraudulent but is a calculated attempt by mischief makers to create unnecessary panic among prospective candidates for their own selfish ends.

“It should be noted that the commencement of the sale of the Board’s application documents in any given year has never been shrouded in mystery rather it is always a well-publicised undertaking in the print media as well as online and electronic platforms.

“Although the Board has concluded all arrangements to commence the sale of the 2022 UTME/DE Application Documents in due course it is yet to fix any date for its commencement.

“The general public is, therefore, by this notice urged to be mindful of speculators who are in the habit of second-guessing the Board’s on certain procedural issues with the aim of defrauding hapless candidates.

“The Board wishes to inform the general public that they would be sufficiently informed of the commencement of the sale of EPINs once approval has been granted by relevant authorities.

“Furthermore, the announcement of a suitable date to commence the sale would be accompanied by well-defined information on the procedures for the purchase of the e-pins, creating a profile, and where to go for biometric capturing, among other essential details.”

The board stated this in its weekly bulletin released by the Office of the Registrar in Abuja.

“The board, is at the moment, engaging its core functionaries in a series of intensive training to ensure that once the date is announced, the stage would have been set for yet another hitch-free exercise.

“The release of this information is in line with the board’s firm determination to ensure that candidates who are desirous of enrolling are ready and prepared.

“Similarly, it is expected to serve as a wake-up call to all who may want to register, to first obtain their NIN, a major prerequisite for the UTME registration.

“It will give them an idea of the course requirements and the syllabus they are expected to cover for the examination,” the board said.

The Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, said resources were not enough to meet all the demands of the Academic Staff Union of Universities at once.

He said, “We cannot possibly be blackmailing them; we tried to explain to them that we will fulfil the agreements when we have the resources. Agreements have been signed and they are meant to be fulfilled.

“But we do not have all the resources to meet all the demands at once. The thing is that we all are working together – ASUU and the Federal Government. The goal is to produce graduates, who will serve Nigeria, and to make sure that the academic calendar is running smoothly.

“So, the government will always pay its dues; you do not have to go on strike to drive home your points. They need to know that it is not the government versus ASUU. It is about doing what is right. Let us use the resources as they come. There are lots of sectors that need attention.

“All we are saying is that once there are resources, we will meet your needs; all you have to do is to keep the academic calendar running. So, please, where is the blackmail?”

Punch