TheNewsGuru

Tag: Resumption

  • Election postponement: Lagos Orders Private, Public Schools to Resume Monday

    Public and private schools in Lagos State have been directed to resume on Monday, February 18, 2019 as against Tuesday, February 19, 2019 contained in the earlier reviewed calendar.

    This followed the postponing of the presidential and National Assembly elections on Saturday, February 16, 2019 by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    As a result of the postponement of the polls, the Lagos State Government effected a change in the school calendar.

    Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Mrs Idiat Oluranti Adebule, who supervises the Ministry of Education in the state, announced the new change in the calendar on Saturday.

    She informed all the Lagos State School stakeholders and the general public that all schools in Lagos state are expected to close on Friday, February 22 and resume on Monday, February 25.

    Mrs Adebule said the second leg of the break will be on Friday, March 8, 2019, with the resumption fixed for Monday, March 11, 2019.

    “All public and private schools, school leaders and school associations are implored to take note and adhere strictly to the new School Calendar.

    “This measure is to ensure that the academic development and future of the pupils and students of the state are not compromised by the alteration of the election time table,” the Deputy Governor said.

  • Strike: No resumption till FG implements new offers – ASUU

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Thursday said the ongoing strike would not be called off until the Federal Government fully implemented all the offers it made to the union after their last meeting.

    The public university lecturers said they were tired of Federal Government’s antics of making unfulfilled promises, insisting that the strike would be called off after they got tangible evidence and concrete actions that the offers made to them by the Federal Government had been implemented.

    The National President, ASUU, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, in an exclusive interview with one of our correspondents in Lagos on Thursday, said the team of the union that met with the government on Tuesday did not reach any agreement with the Federal Government.

    Asked when the strike would then be called off, Ogunyemi said, “Our members said they want to see evidence of satisfactory implementation of all they have proposed before the strike can be called off.”

    On Tuesday, ASUU met with the Federal Government officials including the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, as well as his Labour and Employment counterpart, Chris Ngige.

    After their discussions, Ngige explained what the Federal Government was offering to the union.

    He said the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Ministry of Finance had confirmed with evidence that N15.4bn had been released to public universities.

    But ASUU president recalled that last year, the government promised to release funds for the revitalisation of public universities, which was one of the demands of the union, but failed to do so.

    Ogunyemi stated, “As for the proposal, it can be disaggregated. There are items there that require implementation. If they are setting up a committee on state universities, and they actually do, it is not something we need to agree on. It is about action.

    “If they have implemented it, it is off the list. If the government says it will pay a shortfall of salaries on a certain date, and the date comes and they release the money, it is also implementation. There is no agreement on the matter.

    “On the revitalisation fund, we presented to the government that five tranches of N220bn each were outstanding. The government has not said it will release one, even if it is spread over a period of one year. There is no agreement on that. What they are offering is not even up to one tranche.

    “Last year, they promised to release the fund but they did not till November when the strike began. Long story short, our members are saying they do not want promises again, what they want is action, implementation or disbursement of funds. The government must act in a way to convince the union that agreement has not been set aside; to show that government has not set aside the agreement, they should release one tranche.”

    He explained that in order to forestall a situation ASUU and the government would restart negotiations on arrears of earned academic allowances, both sides agreed that “it would be mainstreamed into the 2019 budget.”

    According to him, such an agreement was reached last year, but he said the government failed to honour it.

    Ogunyemi stated, “We are going to have a discussion on when to commence renegotiation because there are still grey areas. If the government can substantially address these issues, we will be more confident to face our members on the way forward. For now, the feeler we are getting is that our members do not actually want to accept this government proposal from us.

    “They said they would pay the shortfall of salary arrears of what was removed from workers’ salaries. There are 20 universities identified. The money will be available by January 18. It is around the corner and we will see if it will come.”

    Meanwhile, the ASUU leadership is expected to return to Ngige with the outcome of its meeting with the National Executive Committee over the offers made by government to the union.

    The meeting between the minister and the ASUU leadership may hold today (Friday).

    Recall that ASUU had on November 4 last year declared the strike to demand improved funding of universities and implementation of previous agreements with the government.

    Other demands of the union include the implementation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU agreements, Memorandum of Understanding (MoU; 2012 and 2013) and Memorandum of Action (MoA, 2017).

    It also asked for the release of the forensic audit report on earned academic allowances; payment of all outstanding earned academic allowances and mainstreaming of same into salaries beginning with the 2018 budget.

    The union went on strike in 2018 to compel the Federal Government to make funds available for the revitalisation of public universities, based on the FGN-ASUU MoU of 2012, 2013 and the MoA of 2017.

    Ogunyemi said the union would not participate in the 2019 elections but stated that members were free to take part.

    The union had on January 4 met with the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu and some officers of the commission. After the meeting, it resolved that it would not participate in the 2019 polls, but said that its members could take part as individuals.

    He said, “In accordance with the ASUU’s long standing position, ASUU as a union will not participate in the conduct of 2019 general elections, although members may voluntarily participate in the conduct of the elections

    “However, members are prohibited from participating in the election processes using any material that bears ASUU or relates to the union.”

     

  • ASUU strike: Disregard resumption fake notice, LASU tells students

    The Lagos State University (LASU) has urged its students to disregard any notice directing them to resume for lectures amidst the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

    Spokesman of the university, Mr Ademola Adekoya told the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos that the information was a lie and handwork of mischief makers.

    “Similar information was released for Ladoke Akintola university students some days ago. Kindly disregard the information as it did not emanate from the office of the LASU Registrar,’’ he said.

    NAN reports that a notice had gone viral on the social media recently directing all students of the university to resume for academic activities on January 8.

    The notice had claimed that the management of the university at its meeting of January 3, said all students be notified of the commencement of academic activities including course registration and lectures.

    NAN also reports that ASUU had on November 4, 2018 embarked on what it described as a ‘total, comprehensive and indefinite strike’ to demand action from the Federal Government on challenges affecting universities.

  • LAUTECH reduces proposed tuition fees, announces resumption

    LAUTECH reduces proposed tuition fees, announces resumption

    The Governing Council of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso has announced reduction in the proposed tuition fee which generated heavy controversy in the institution.
    This is contained in a statement signed by the institution’s Head, Public and Alumni Relations Unit, Olalekan Fadeyi, and made available to newsmen on Saturday.
    Recall that the management of the institution had recently announced increase in the tuition fees, which attracted condemnation by stakeholders.
    The tuition was increased from N65,000 to N200,000 for indigenes, while non-indigenes were expected to pay N250,000 from N72,000.
    The statement said that the council Chairman, Prof. Oladapo Afolabi, has directed that the proposed tuition fees in the Institution be brought down.
    Afolabi said that the new tuition should be N140,000 for indigenes of owner states and N170,000 for non-indigenes as against the earlier N200,000 and N250,000, respectively.
    Also, the management of the institution has announced Monday (Oct. 29) as resumption date.
    The governing council and management appreciated the concern of stakeholders over its present situation.
    “We appeal to well wishers to come to the realization that cost of running qualitative and functional first grade technical institutions like ours.
    ”Such cost is becoming unbearably impossible with N65,000 and 72,000 for indigenes and non-indigenes.
    “Internally Generated Revenue from students’ fees would remain supplementary as arrangements have been concluded to enlist parents and students into management of fund to entrench transparency and accountability,” the statement read in part.

  • Police beef-up security ahead of Omo-Agege’s resumption

    Security was on Monday beefed up at the National Assembly, Abuja, ahead of expected resumption of Senator Ovie Omo-Agege following Thursday’s Abuja High Court nullification of his suspension by the Senate.

    Strengthening of security arrangement at the complex, especially around the Senate Chambers is to forestall likely security breach as recorded on April 18, when some hoodlums stormed the chambers and made away with the Mace.

    The incident which occurred while plenary was ongoing in the chambers was linked to Omo-Agege, the Delta Central senator, who defied the suspension order on him and attended the proceedings, accompanied by some strange fellows into the chamber.

    Apart from full security detail in the chamber of the red chamber on Monday, police officers were seen at the lobby leading into the chamber, a development that is unusual on a non-sitting day.

    Sergeants-at-Arms were also seen in clusters discussing in hush tones, and apparently perfecting the security beef-up.

    Some staff of the assembly, who pleaded anonymity, told newsmen that the development was not unconnected with the expected return of Mr Omo-Agege to the chamber on Tuesday after the court judgment in his favour.

    They confirmed that the move to check likely break down of law and order as experienced when the mace was forcefully taken away.

    Mr Omo-Agege had gone to court to challenge his 90 legislative days suspension by the Senate and the court in its ruling declared the action unconstitutional, saying that the Senate could not suspend a member beyond 12 days.

    His suspension was based on is comment that amendment to section 25 of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended), bordering on reordering of elections sequence was targeted at President Muhammadu Buhari.

  • EXCLUSIVE: LAUTECH’s resumption uncertain as striking lecturers insist ‘no alert, no resumption’ [Photo]

    EXCLUSIVE: LAUTECH’s resumption uncertain as striking lecturers insist ‘no alert, no resumption’ [Photo]

    By Adebayo Animasaun

    The proposed resumption of activities by the management of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, LAUTECH, Ogbomoso on Tuesday has suffered another setback as the striking lecturers have vowed not to resume academic activities until their salary arrears are cleared and released to them.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the management had on Sunday, October 1 assured students and the general public of prompt resumption by Tuesday (today) October 3.

    The Chairman Governing Council of the institution, Prof. Dayo Afolabi had assured the lecturers that they would start receiving salaries from last Friday: “What we did was that we have spoken with the two Governors who have started bringing in their quota and the information we have is that the money would be in before the end of today (Friday), so before the close of work, we would start paying salaries and also the management would meet with the staffs,” Afolabi said as at Friday last week.

    However, in an exclusive phone interview with TheNewsGuru.com on Tuesday (today), the Zonal Coordinator of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, Mr. Olusiji Sowande, said as at press time, they were yet to receive any notification of salaries from their respective banks.

    Sowande noted that the salary arrears was just one of the 11 demands the union presented to the university management and visitors (Governors Ajimobi and Aregbesola) before embarking on the state. He noted that other issues raised were not accorded adequate attention.

    In his words: “The two governors (Ajimobi and Aregbesola) promised to clear the salaries in tranches beginning from today. At the last meeting we held with the management, the information passed to us was that the money was still being expected from the governors. And as I speak to you now, (Tuesday), we are yet to receive any notification from the banks that the money has been paid. However, it might drop tomorrow but right now it’s not yet paid.

    Sowande noted that aside the salary issue, the governors and management must be willing to properly fund the university. He noted that most the courses are due for accreditation and without adequate funding plans, the university might plunge into another crisis sooner than expected.

    He spoke further: ” Our demands are very clear. We are owed 12 months salary arrears and as at now, nothing is offered yet. Salary is just one out of about 11 demands that led us to embark on the strike. Nobody is talking about the arrears of promotion, pension, health insurance and other critical issues that we raised. Let’s even leave that aside. If we resume today, we are resuming on zero level because all our courses are due for accreditation. So if we resume without anybody talking about how to fund accreditation, we are only deceiving ourselves. And most importantly, we are saying that even if they pay us the 12 months salary arrears at a go, that is good for the surface of it but how are we going to ensure that LAUTECH is properly funded on a sustainable basis by the two governors? That is what led us to this crisis in the first place and until these issues are holistically resolved, we might soon be heading to a bigger unrest in the nearest future,” Sowande said.

    A distressed student of the institution who identified himself as John said he was disappointed that the unions and the management are yet to resolve the crises that have lingered for too long.

    John in a phone conversation with TheNewsGuru.com said for over two years now he has remained in same level while his mates in other public institutions had moved ahead.

    ‘I am sincerely tired. I have been in 200Level for over two years now as result of this unstable academic calendar in LAUTECH. Most of my mates in other institutions are either in their finals or semifinals. They said academic activities will resume today and here we are with nothing to show. As at today, while we came to school with high hopes that school will resume, lecture halls were deserted and there was no sign of anything serious happening in the next couple of weeks. just don’t know why things are like this in this country. If these issues are not resolved soonest, I might be forced to seek transfer to another institution or start all over. Its now becoming unbearable,” John said with a sorrowful voice.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that LAUTECH was already enmeshed in internal wranglings before ASUU embarked on an indefinite strike that lasted for over a month. While the strike was suspended about two weeks ago and academic activities fully resumed in other public institutions, the ASUU-LAUTECH issued a stay at home order to its members pending the time that the university management and visitors will meet their demands.

    Efforts by TheNewsGuru.com to reach the registrar of the institution, Mr. Agboola was not successful as at press time as he was said to be in a management meeting.

  • Army/IPOB crisis: Ikpeazu extends curfew, postpones resumption of schools

    Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State on Friday extended the curfew imposed in the state capital till Sunday.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the dusk to dawn curfew was earlier scheduled to end on Friday.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the curfew was imposed following violence between members of the pro-Biafra separatist group, IPOB, and soldiers in the state.

    According to a statement by Enyinnaya Appolos, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, the state government has also postponed the resumption of schools in the state.

    Primary and secondary schools in the state, initially scheduled to resume on September 18 will now resume on September 25.

    Read the full statement below:

    Further extension of curfew in Aba

    Abia State Governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, wishes to express his appreciation to Abians and residents, particularly those living and doing business at Aba, for their support and cooperation during this trying period.

    For a commercial city that is also the economic hub of the state and the South East region, the effect of the socio-economic disruption at Aba is too massive to measure at this time and the Government fully appreciates all the sacrifices made to ensure early restoration of normalcy.

    We also wish to commend the efforts of the men and women of the security services currently working round the clock to restore law and order and safeguard lives and properties of law-abiding citizens and residents.

    After a profound review of the security situation across the state, we are compelled to extend the current curfew imposed on Aba to enable us to consolidate the peace and normalcy that is gradually returning to the city.

    The government is, therefore, seeking your continuing support and understanding for the further extension of the dusk to dawn (6pm to 6am) curfew at Aba to Sunday 17th of September 2017.

    Furthermore, in order to ensure the safety of our children and wards who were billed to resume school on the 18th of September 2017, we hereby direct that the resumption be postponed till the 25th of September 2017 across the state.

    It is our hope that all the measures taken so far will help to rapidly restore full normalcy to all areas of the state.

  • JUST IN: NASS postpones resumption by one week

    The National Assembly has postponed its resumption from the annual recess by one week.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the lawmakers, who were to resume on September 19, are now to resume on September 26, 2017.

    This was contained in a statement by Clerk to the National Assembly, Mr. Mohammed Sani-Omolori, on Wednesday, entitled, ‘Postponement of Resumption.’

    The statement reads in part: “This is to inform all distinguished senators and honourable members of the National Assembly, of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, that the resumption date of both Houses in plenary has been rescheduled from Tuesday 19th September 2017 to Tuesday 26th September 2017.

    “All distinguished senators and honourable members are by this notice requested to resume sitting in plenary on Tuesday, 26th September 2017 at 10 am prompt, please.”

  • LAUTECH to resume February 1 after 7 months strike

     

    Governor Ajimobi of Oyo State has called on the students and the entire working force of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, LAUTECH to prepare for resumption on or before February 1 2017.

    This is coming after several pleas by stakeholders within and outside the state to reopen the institution after it was shut by the striking workers for seven months.

    Ajimobi, on Friday, said that he had closed ranks with his Osun State counterpart, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, to break the logjam in the overall interest of the stakeholders.


    Recall that LAUTECH is jointly owned by Oyo and Osun, the two states that constituted old Oyo State before Osun was carved out in 1991.

    A statement by the governor’s Special Adviser on Communication and Strategy, Mr. Yomi Layinka, said that the decision was reached after Ajimobi’s meeting with the national, zonal and state leadership of the students’ unions in his office, on Friday evening.

    The team was led by the Senate President of the National Association of Nigerian Students, Salam Olajide; General Secretary, NANS, South-West zone, Olanrewaju Oloja; and General Secretary, Joint Campus Committee, NANS, Oyo State, Farouk Musa.

    The governor said that the decision to reopen the institution was reached after another round of discussions and commitments by the stakeholders, on Friday, which, he said, would be heartwarming to the striking workers.
    The university had been grounded since June 9, 2016, when its branches of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Non-Academic Staff Union, and Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities downed tools in protest against non-payment of accumulated salaries.

    Meanwhile, in a separate development the statement added that Ajimobi had ordered the immediate reopening of the five secondary schools shut in the wake of students’ attack on some schools in protest against the cancellation of automatic promotion in public schools.

    The affected schools are Isale Oyo Community High School, Oyo; Anglican Methodist Secondary School, Oyo; Oba Adeyemi High School, Oyo; Ojoo High School, Ibadan; and Community Secondary School, Iyana Idi Ose, Ibadan.

    Ajimobi said he took the decision in deference to pleas by stakeholders and respected members of the society that the schools be reopened.

    On the LAUTECH prolonged strike, it will be recalled that Ajimobi and Aregbesola, had led top officials of the state to a meeting in Ibadan, last October, to proffer a lasting to the lingering disagreement.

    In the same direction, representatives of the two owner states had met last Tuesday in Osogbo to agree on the way out of the crisis prior to Friday’s round of talks culminating in the agreement to reopen the school.

    The statement reads, “The students’ delegation had sought audience with the governor to plead with him to facilitate the urgent reopening of the university.

    “While thanking the student delegation for their concerns, the governor explained that the two owner states regret the huge loss of valuable time to all stakeholders, especially the students whose academic calendar has been significantly disrupted by the prolonged closure.

    “He however stated that this was due to the constraints currently being experienced on account of the debilitating effects of the recession on the two governor’s respective capacities to meet the demands of the striking workers.

    “He regretted the fact that despite all efforts at persuading the striking workers to resume they refused to yield grounds. He, however, announced that the schools would be reopened on or before February 1 going by the level of his discussions with his Osun State counterpart, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola.

    “With today’s pronouncement, it is hoped that all stakeholders including the management, staff and students of LAUTECH will begin to put adequate machinery in place preparatory to full resumption of academic and non-academic activities in the university.”