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Tag: Universities

  • ASUU ends warning strike on Monday, to commence indefinite strike

    ASUU ends warning strike on Monday, to commence indefinite strike

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has said it would end its warning strike on Monday, as considerations on indefinite strike commence.

     

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the national leadership of the union would make public its decision on Monday.

     

    In its Tweet on Sunday, the Union made it known that it will end the warning strike tomorrow (Monday).

    See Tweet below:

     

    It was gathered that the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the union had earlier given the go-ahead to the national leadership to call out members on indefinite strike if nothing tangible was achieved during the eight weeks of their warning strike.

     

    The union had earlier gone on a month warning strike on February 14 this year, and extended it by another eight weeks which comes to an end on Monday, May 9, 2022.

     

    While ASUU was into the second round of its warning strike, other staff unions in the university system also embarked on strike.

     

    The unions are the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU, the National Association of Academic Technologists, NAAT, and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Education and Allied Institutions, NASU.

     

    Though the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, had met with the leadership of SSANU, NAAT, and NASU, nothing concrete came out of the meetings.

     

    He is yet to meet with ASUU leadership, though he announced last weekend that he would meet with them.

     

    According to the National President of ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, the union had not got an invitation from the government’s team as of the weekend.

     

    “We too heard it in the news what the Minister of Labour said about meeting with us, but as we talk, nobody has reached out to us for any meeting. We don’t know when the meeting will be called. However, I think before going to the press to announce any proposed meeting, what ought to have been done is to inform us. Anyway, we are waiting for the meeting when it is called,” he said.

     

    On what would be the next line of action, Osodeke said the national leadership of the union would decide that.

     

    Speaking on the situation, the National President of the National Parent Teacher Association of Nigeria, NAPTAN, Alhaji Haruna Danjuma, expressed disgust with the continued closure of the universities.

     

    “We cannot continue to waste the time of our children. They are staying much at home than in school now. It is unfortunate that we are yet to get over the issue of the closure of our higher institutions incessantly. That is a minus for the system. How do we expect foreigners to respect our certificates?

     

    “Incidentally, it is not everybody that can afford to send their children abroad to study. We must make our education sector work and put an end to this rot. We plead with the government and the university workers to find a mid-course and resolve this issue and let academic activities resume in these institutions, ” he said.

     

    In a chat with our correspondent, the National President of the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, Comrade Sunday Asefon, said the association would study the situation and react appropriately.

     

    “We already have a plan of action in place regarding our demands for the reopening of the universities without further delay and we are keeping faith with that. However, if the strike is extended after the eight weeks of warning action, we will also react appropriately too.

     

    “Nigeria students have wasted more than enough time at home doing nothing. With this current situation now, students have wasted time that is enough for them to finish a semester. We are tired of things like this,” he said.

     

    Recall that NANS has said it would not allow any political party to hold its presidential convention in Abuja unless the universities are reopened.

     

    The All Progressives Congress, APC, and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, among other parties have fixed their conventions for Abuja.

     

    ASUU has been on strike since February 14 this year, while non-teaching staff unions have also embarked on industrial action over a month ago.

     

    Students from various tertiary institutions have been on street protests in Ibadan, Benin, Abuja and Lagos calling for an end to the strike and for universities to reopen.

  • 2022 University Games begins in UNILAG

    2022 University Games begins in UNILAG

    2022 NUGA Games kick started at the University of Lagos sports complex, today Saturday March 19 with a match past ceremony.136 Universities that include both private and public are participating in the games and the competition is expected to last for 1 week.

    The featured games at the competition are athletics, badminton, hockey, cricket, chess, judo, swimming, karate, squash, handball, taekwondo, tennis, table tennis, volleyball, basketball, and boxing.

    Participating institutions started arriving for acclimatization and other logistics for the games since Wednesday whilst some arrived on Friday

    According to NUGA officials, preliminary contests in some of the events started on Wednesday in the facilities provided by the host school, University of Lagos (UNILAG).

    Addressing pressmen on the games UNILAG’s Vice Chancellor,Professor Oluwatoyin Ogundipe at the weekend, said that the institution is well prepared to host the competition.

     

  • Pro-Chancellors ask ASUU to shelve strike

    Pro-Chancellors ask ASUU to shelve strike

    The Chairman, Committee of Pro-Chancellors of State-owned Universities in Nigeria, Mallam Yusuf Alli, SAN has urged the Academic Staff Union of Universities to shelve the ongoing strike by the union.

    Alli made the plea in an interview with our correspondent in Abuja

    According to the PUNCH ASUU on Monday, February 14, declared a total and comprehensive four-week strike over the failure of the Federal Government to honor the lingering demands of the union.

    The strike was declared at a press conference addressed by the President of ASUU, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke. Osodeke explained that the union tried to avoid the strike but the Federal Government is unresponsive to the union’s demands.

    The union stated that the demands of the lecturers’ union have barely changed since the signing of the ASUU/FG 2009 agreement.

    According to the union, these demands include the sustainability of the university autonomy, which the introduction of the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System for the payment of its emoluments violates. The union seeks its replacement with its own University Transparency and Accountability Solution.

    Other demands include the endorsement of the renegotiated 2009 ASUU-FGN agreement, which it said was concluded in May 2021; release of the reports of visitation panels to federal universities, and distortions in salary payment challenges.

    https://punchng.com/shelve-warning-strike-pro-chancellors-tells-asuu/

    ASUU had also demanded adequate funding for the revitalisation of public universities, earned academic allowance, improved funding of state universities, and promotion arrears.

    Speaking to our correspondent in Abuja, Ali explained that a strike at this point may lead to a collapse in the nation’s education sector.

    “When two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers, the people who are at the receiving end of these agreements are the children of the poor who have nowhere to go. Most of the people involved in the signing of the agreements have their children in schools where there are no strikes.

    “We should know that Universities in Nigeria now are facing many challenges. We have the problem of shortage of lecturers, school facilities are not upgraded among others, a strike now may lead to the collapse of the education system. We plead with ASUU to please shelve the warning strike. We are also calling on the Federal Government to please reach out to settle so that all scores can be settled.”

  • Politicians, ASUU and Dangerous Universities – By Chidi Amuta

    Politicians, ASUU and Dangerous Universities – By Chidi Amuta

    By Chidi Amuta

    Between the Federal Government and the organized trade union of Nigerian university teachers, ASUU, a familiar dance is about to resume. Few adult Nigerians can remember any length of time in the recent past when ASUU was not on strike. The last stretch coincided with the Covid-19 lockdown, making it harder to know what exactly kept the students marooned at home for so long. If news is the definition of momentous happenings worthy of public attention, I am not sure that anyone will call an ASUU strike or threats thereof news in any serious sense.

    If the tradition of irrational obstinacy on both sides prevails as usual, the teachers may resume their paid vacation in the name of strike any time from now. I am not aware that they have lost even a single month’s pay during each of the many decades of their serial strikes. The pattern has become familiar. With each threat of strike, ASUU reactivates a litany of unfulfilled promises and violated agreements on the part of government. As employers of university teachers in federal and state service, our governments have been less than responsible guarantors of public trust. By any known rules of employer-employee contracts, our public university teachers should have been fired en masse several times over and made to refund salaries received for work not done. Our governments play to the gallery about the arguably unreasonable demands of ASUU without admitting that the government side has been in the habit of reneging on nearly every agreement entered into with ASUU. Responsible governments do not trifle with agreements. But ASUU is dealing with governments led by Nigerian politicians, a unique breed of cavalier creatures.

    The persistent blame tossing between the federal government and ASUU is not likely to end soon. It is an unwinnable war for many reasons. The governments may never find enough money to satisfy the ever expanding demands and entitlements of ASUU. Quite disturbingly, ASUU leadership has become something of a perpetual ‘profession’ in itself. Some otherwise brilliant scholars have found it more profitable to be perpetual ASUU unionists than committed teachers and researchers. Ironically, between the politicians at the ministries of Labour and Education respectively and professional ASUU trade unionist professors, endless televised negotiation sessions have become national theatre. A curious reversal of roles has taken place in the process. The perennial ASUU chieftains in their opportunistic appeals to public sentiments have been playing politics with the future careers of our students. On their part, the negotiating government officials seem to enjoy the photo opportunities and endless negotiations with ASUU so much that they are beginning to look more like the actual trade unionists themselves.

    There is enough luggage of faults and blames on both sides. But government bears the greater burden. Being the employer of academics comes with extra requirements of candor and civility. Asking university teachers to literally queue up for their pay while the federal ministry of finance completes a centralized digitized centralized pay platform is an insult. It undermines the legal autonomy of individual universities. Ordinarily, it is the bursary department of each university that should administer their respective staff salaries. Holding back arrears of sundry allowances due teachers for whatever reason is autocratic and insensitive. Moreover, habitually reneging on agreements reached with ASUU is reckless and irresponsible.

    However, in the process of the perpetual ego ping pong between politicians and ASUU chieftains over the years, certain fundamental questions about our university sector have been raked up. It is only by asking these questions and seeking serious answers to them that we can hope to salvage our university system from the present rot.

    Is a university a social service or a business enterprise? Or, better still, is a university teacher an executive in a business venture or a civil servant in a state charity or parastatal? What university tradition, of all existing models, is Nigeria following? Should university education be cost free to parents and students?

    Deservedly, academics like all other skilled professionals and workers need to be adequately remunerated. This is even more imperative in a system that limits their options of employment to mostly the universities. Governments that insist on maintaining a regulatory and proprietorship stranglehold on public universities should match their monopolistic clutch by paying the teachers well. Politicians and parents who desire uninterrupted academic calendars and tranquility on the campuses should pocket their ego and stop treating intellectuals like mundane civil servants and glorified houseboys.

    The long struggle between ASUU and our governments is rooted in a bit of confusion on both sides about precisely what university tradition Nigeria is following. The assumptions that inform ASUU’s endless labour struggles are rooted in an old Soviet style unitary university model. In that model, the universities belong to the government as public institutions. Higher education is an entitlement of all citizens who qualify. Hardly any fees are charged. University teachers are public servants and are equal irrespective of the depth of their research and the currency of their findings. They progress according to a unified pecking order, not necessarily according to research relevance or significant breakthroughs. A rigid government approved pay structure unites all academics irrespective of the profundity of their scholarship.

    Politically, the public is indoctrinated into a certain sense of entitlement that tertiary education is the right of every citizen whether or not they can afford it. The whole approach of ASUU to issues of university funding and tuition fees is founded on this communist model. ASUU trade unionism is an offshoot of the communist era labour internationalism, an ideological remnant of the Cold War.

    In this struggle for a utopian communist egalitarianism, ASUU teachers want to compete with politicians for lavish perks but insist on insulating the students from paying sensible fees that would make the public universities sustainable. ASUU unionist teachers and the more naïve students and their parents are stuck in a dead entitlement society culture.

    New realities have emerged. Governments have run out of cash to fund higher education and pay the teachers. But government remains reluctant to cede ownership and control. It hands out appointments to university councils to all comers as political patronage. The office of Vice Chancellor has become another chieftaincy title in which extant selection criteria are often subordinated to the whims of powerful political influencers. External influence on the universities from Abuja and the state capitals stretches to contract awards, admissions, promotions, employment and staff tenure.

    We are now in a sad place. Infrastructure in public universities have crumbled under the weight of student population explosion. The quality of available teaching manpower has been eroded and diluted by an unplanned expansion in the size of public universities. Dire economic conditions have forced an exodus of high caliber academic staff either abroad or lately to the many new private universities.

    Tragically, the low fees and dilapidation in our public universities are yielding vast dividends of wrath. We are confronted with youth armed with cudgels, machetes and even AK 47s at every street corner or highway bend. Sophisticated campus cyber criminals, Yahoo Boys, ritual murderers, an epidemic of rape and suicides, cultists and a flowering of superstition on nearly all our public university campuses. The privileged children that we have sent abroad in the hope that they will return to form a new elite, born in Nigeria but bred and tutored abroad now return home to face the monsters that the hypocrisy and neglect of our elite have bred. On the average, most of Nigeria’s youngest and brightest are staying put in the West, adding to their bank of genius while deepening our development deficits.

    Our lip service to modernity now finds a huge mocking bird at the gates of our public universities where there are endless festivals of the cultural traits of the Dark ages. It is not only the government that has to be blamed on the descent into hell on our public university campuses. ASUU’s prolonged absence from its primary duty posts is a grave disservice to our youth in particular and the nation at large.

    There is a way out. As against the persisting Soviet model university system, we are confronted with an alternative system. Since 1985/86, Nigeria has migrated into an imperfect free market system. This reality dictates a different university model which lies somewhere between the United States and the British models. The American model boasts of both private and public institutions. The classic private model is at its best in places like Harvard. For purposes of teaching, learning and research, Harvard boasts of some of the best faculty and facilities. This solid base is supported by a sound business model which ensures the sustainability of the infrastructure and resources required to keep the tradition of excellence running. But those who want to go to Harvard or send their children to study there must ensure that in addition to solid academic credentials, they can afford the hefty tuition and boarding costs.

    Today, Harvard has an endowment surplus fund in excess of $34 billion dollars, slightly more than our total external reserves as a nation. That fund is managed by a crop of some of the best Wall Street class investment experts. They do what they know how to do best in order to grow the wealth of the university while the academic leadership get on with the work of research, learning and teaching to sustain the tradition of excellence.

    Some of America’s most successful public universities thrive on charging modest but sensible fees to ensure sustainability of systems and affordability of access. Their eyes are set on the models of academic excellence set by the Ivy League universities while conscious of their responsibility to a wider catchment population of students. In both private and public institutions, the US university system lays emphasis on both academic excellence and system sustainability. The university teacher remains a disciple of the long established tradition of pursuit of learning and enlightenment. They are not perpetual trade unionists locked in relentless pitch battles against politicians and government bureaucrats.

    Let us face it, the current regime of token fees charged in Nigeria’s public universities is laughable. At today’s rates, it costs more to keep a kid in a private urban kindergarten in a term than it costs to keep an undergraduate in a Nigerian public university for a whole year. Similarly, it costs more to keep a teenager in a modest private secondary school in a year than it costs to pay for four years of public university education. We cannot expect to make the top ranks of universities in the world while no one wants to pay for the facilities and personnel required to compete in a world that is surging ahead.

    We all appreciate the value of sound uninterrupted education for our children. That is why for the last 25 years, most of us -politicians, ASUU chieftains, senior government officials, big journalists etc. -have sent our university age children to some of the best institutions in the world while closing our eyes to the funding needs and the crying necessity for reform in our public universities at home.

    We have been ready to pay an average of $50,000-$75,000 a year for undergraduate courses abroad to keep our children in choice American and European universities. Yet we advocate the retention of paltry token fees sometimes as low as N100,000 per student per annum for undergraduate studies in Nigerian public universities. These schools are now reserved for the children of the less privileged.

    Only recently has a middle of the road option emerged. There are now a spiraling number of private universities. The rise of private universities in Nigeria is driven solely and exclusively by a profit motive. Nigerian entrepreneurs have seen the billions of dollars Nigerian parents are spending to send their children abroad and concluded that even a fraction of that amount would support a profitable sector. Nigeria now has a total of 79 private universities as against 43 federal and 48 state universities. Average tuition and accommodation costs in Nigerian private universities are between N1m and N1.5m, far much lower than the $50,000 average in American universities.

    There is a disconnect between the current two penny public university and the practical realities of an open market economy and society. The free market means that the labour force being trained by our Soviet style university system will service the needs of a free market where labour and manpower are commodities with price tags. Profit and competition are the key words in this jungle.

    Unfortunately, therefore, our public universities need to charge sensible fees to remain competitive and sustainable. Infrastructure needs to be maintained and expanded. Libraries and laboratories need new current stock of books and equipment. Staff need to be motivated to go out and compare notes with their colleagues in the rest of the world so that they can compete and excel. Admittedly, competitive fees and charges will strain the social fabric where poverty remains a limitation to high educational aspirations. The politics of inequality will stroll into education where it should not. But we need to initiate a series of innovations:

    • Indigent students can be helped. Bursaries, scholarships and grants from local, state and federal governments as we had in the 1970s and 80s would come in handy. For federal institutions, grants on the basis of student enrolment would be a more advisable option.
    • The defunct students loans scheme should not be revived to advance loans tied to bonds of service after graduation. Students that study with loans from government should serve the NYSC longer than others. The differential between their NYSC allowance and their market value as young graduates should be calculated as repayments for their students loans.
    • Universities should be encouraged to offer both real time and online degree programmes. The online option should be at a lower cost to ensure that the benefits of higher education reach the highest number of citizens.
    • Nationwide trade unionism among teachers in all public universities should be prohibited by a National Assembly legislation. The work of university teachers in public universities should be re-categorized as strategic national service on the same level as the armed and security services who cannot engage in trade unionism or collective bargaining.
    • Up to 50% of municipal and junior staff jobs in the public universities should be reserved for students who opt to participate in a work/study programme as janitors, cafeteria servers, part time cooks, gardeners, horticulturists, electricians, plumbers and drivers of campus buses.
    • University teachers salary scales should be partially deregulated. Teachers with more relevant research and whose work attract external grants, endowments and funding should earn more than those who do more routine teaching and research.

    As a former university teacher and ASUU branch chairman, I have had time to reflect on the crisis in our university system. I have come up with an inconvenient conclusion: both ASUU and the government have been wrong all along.

  • Whenever universities commit criminality, the country dies a little – By Owei Lakemfa

    Whenever universities commit criminality, the country dies a little – By Owei Lakemfa

    By Owei Lakemfa

    It was a sobering moment for me. Processing the fact that a number of tertiary institutions in the country, from the oldest to the newest generation, are engaged in conscious criminality, especifically, admission racketeering.

    I had been part of a January 29, 2022 Stakeholders Meeting between the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board, JAMB and Media Executives. It was billed to be a social event where there was to be exchange of ideas between JAMB and its guests, but the information provided by the former was more a wakeup call for the country because whenever universities commit criminality, the country dies a little.

    JAMB, the entrance examination board for all tertiary-level institutions in the country, is empowered to administer admission into all such institutions. For this, it conducts a Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME for all candidates seeking admission.

    But what happens when about a million and half youths are made to undergo such standard entrance examinations, and a privileged handful do not need to meet the minimum scores, or even take the examinations, before being admitted? What happens when some of the institutions apparently sell admission spaces or are actively involved in massive admission racketeering?

    JAMB Registrar, Professor Is-haq Olarenwaju Oloyede stood before the media executives reeling out figures of such criminal acts. They showed that in the three-year period between 2017 and 2020, there were 812,570 illegal ‘under-the-table’ admissions. This means that on the average, these educational institutions carry out 270,856 illegal admissions annually. While in the period, the polytechnics engaged in 533,494 illegal admissions and the Colleges of Education involved in 175,349, the universities fraudulently admitted 94,802 students to pursue degree programmes.

    Tertiary institutions are not just places students study for degrees, diplomas and certificates and engage in academic research, but are also where people are groomed and characters sculpted or polished to enable them play transformational roles in the society. They are designed to be where students fully appreciate being respectable, trustworthy, responsible, caring and having a sense of social justice and dedication to the universe. Yes, to the universe; that is partially why the university carries the name, universe. Each university is designed as a universe; the sum total of everything that exists in the worlds . So anybody passing through it, is expected to develop his inner and outer personality enabling the graduate play positive roles in society.

    Educational institutions are expected to also play moral roles and inculcate values. If a student is expelled for being a member of a cult gang, the message being sent is that it the institution does not encourage cultism in the bigger society or in the politics of the country. So, educational institutions are not just places to learn concepts but also build the human being to his fullest potentials. That is why the ethologist, Sathya Sai Baba cautioned that: “Politics without principles, Education without character, Science without humanity, and Commerce without morality are not only useless, but also positively dangerous.”

    The university of Ife (Now, Obafemi Awolowo University) which I attended, was not so much about passing examinations, it tried to inculcate in its students, the motto: “For Learning and Culture” Yes, it is for learning, but also, for African and universal culture; a culture that rejects oppression and stresses social justice. So a university like that cannot afford to be involved in criminality.

    But then, some other leading universities in the country according to JAMB, are implicated in such practices. The University of Nigeria, Nsukka, UNN which was established in 1960, the year the country got its flag independence, has a motto: ‘To Restore The Dignity Of Man’ This is quite noble. JAMB however discovered that while UNN had an admission quota of 200 for its Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery, MBBS programme, it admitted only 106 legally, and rather than fill the balance vacancies from amongst the 342 other qualified candidates, it admitted an additional 448 other candidates. Also, while UNN has 250 official slots for law, JAMB claims it admitted 125 candidates and: “Released another 240 on University’s portal”

    The Mashood Abiola Polytechnic, MAPOLY, Abeokuta had an admission quota of 12,587, but JAMB said: “ Not a single candidate was admitted…” legally. Rather it: “Admitted’ over 10,795 and went on to receive acceptance fee from 5,950 candidates not yet proposed to JAMB.”

    The Nigeria Police Academy, POLAC, Wudil in Kano State was established in 1988 with the motto: “ knowledge for Service.” JAMB discovered that POLAC changed the: “… programme of candidates… through (the) Academy portal without the consent of the candidates; ‘Admitted’ candidates who were already admitted genuinely into other institutions (and) ‘Admitted’ candidates who did not choose the Academy as first choice.”

    In the case of the premier University of Ibadan established in 1948 with the motto: “Recte Sapere Fons” (To think straight is the fount of knowledge) JAMB discovered a number of discrepancies in its admission system. This included denying a qualified candidate with a high Aggregate Score of 66.25 admission to read Human Nutrition, rather offering her Agricultural Extension, while admitting candidates with lower aggregate scores. In another case, a student qualified to read Economics, was denied the course and forced to read Adult Education while another who was qualified to read Cyber Security was denied and forced to move to Physics.

    However, these admission rackets appear to be less scandalous than the admission fraud committed through the Interim Joint Matriculation Board Examination, IJMB and Joint Universities Preliminary Examination, JUPEB Programmes which are equivalent to an Advanced Level Certificate qualification

    In one uncovered case, a private coaching-centre operated from the bowels of the Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin without the institution’s officers being the wiser. The centre then began: “exporting candidates to Kabba, Kogi State for IJMB.” Such a centre is nothing but a ‘miracle centre’ where for fees, students are given certificates that enable them get Direct Admission into universities.

    JAMB revealed for instance that when a tertiary institution verified the IJMB examination results of 148 candidates admitted between 2019 and 2020, it found that only 6 results were genuine, the other 142, were fake. The Bayero University, Kano expelled 178 students for faking IJMB results. The response of the Education Minister was to establish an A/Level Task Force, to sanitise the process.

    However, given the serious damage admission racketeering does to the psyche of the country and its development, we need to take more drastic measures. Beyond getting the tertiary institutions involved in admission racketeering to account for their criminality, Vice Chancellors, Registrars and Admission officers of such institutions should be held individually liable even after leaving office. A few of them spending ‘sabbatical’ in jail will go a long way to sanitized the system.

  • SSANU cautions governors against establishing universities they can’t fund

    SSANU cautions governors against establishing universities they can’t fund

    The North East Zone of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), has cautioned governors against politicizing education by establishing universities they cannot fund.

    The union made the call in a communique on Friday after its Zonal Meeting in Maiduguri.

    The communique was read by its National Vice President, North East, Mr Abdulkadir Isa.

    It called on all levels of government to invest massively in education, saying that the neglect and poor funding of universities by some governors to the detriment of teaching and research is a matter that required urgent attention.

    The communique condemned what it described as provocative, the formula used for sharing the N22.1 billion released by Federal Government for the Earned Allowances at the rate of 75 per cent for teaching staff and 25 per cent for non teaching staff.

    It called for an urgent review on the development.

    “The union is concerned that the non-teaching units of the universities are being usurped by teaching staff in violation of the condition of service and establishment procedures.

    “On pending cases of earned allowances, the union noted that both the Federal and State Governments still owed the arrears of earned allowances derived from the Federal Government/SSANU 2009 agreement. We demand for the full payment and implementation of same, in staff monthly salaries.

    “We are against the forceful retirement of our members at the age of 60 in violation of 65 years agreement, in state universities,” the communique said.

    It also raised concern over insecurity and inflation in the country and called for urgent measures to address them.

    The communique added that there was also an urgent need to for legislation to be made to include representative of unions in university governing councils.

    The National President of the SSANU, Mr Mohammed Haruna, alongside other officials from universities in the North east attended the meeting.

  • Only 25 of 170 Nigerian public, private varsities fully accredited – NUC [Full List]

    Only 25 of 170 Nigerian public, private varsities fully accredited – NUC [Full List]

    The National Universities Commission (NUC) has affirmed in its 2021 universities ranking that only 25 out of the 170 public and private universities in Nigeria are fully accredited.

    The commission added that less than 70 per cent of courses offered by the other ivory towers are accredited.

    Eight out of the 113 universities that the NUC focused on, including the Nigeria Army University, Biu, in Borno State and Air Force Institute of Technology, have none of their courses accredited by the NUC the document showed. Nigeria has 170 public and private universities.

    According to the commission, none of the 113 universities has a full complement of professors.

    In its “2021 Nigeria University system rankings” dated December 11, 2021, the NUC also rated the University of Ibadan (UI) as the country’s best with 454.56 points.

    The premier university is trailed by Redeemers University (RUN) with 384.96 points; Covenant University (368.11 points); Ladoke Akintoka University, Ogbomoso (315.23 points) and Federal University of Technology Akure (264.14 points).

    Surprisingly, none of the best-ranked varsities was listed among the 25 institution that have their courses 100 per cent accredited.

    The 25 are: Adeleke University, Osun State; Al-Qalam University, Katsina State; Caleb University, Lagos State; Chrisland University, Lagos State; Crescent University, Ogun State; Federal University, Lokoja, Federal University, Wukari, Federal University, Kashere.

    Also on the list are Hallmark University, Ogun State; Hezekiah University, Imo State; Ibrahim Babangida University, Niger State; Igbenedion University, Edo State; Kano University of Science and Technology, Kano; Kebbi State University of Science and Technology, Kogi State University and Maitama Sule University, Kano State.

    The others are McPherson University, Ogun State; Mountain Top University, Ogun State; Niger Delta University, Delta State; Nigeria Defence Academy; PAMO University of Medical Science, River State; Rivers State University; Samuel Adegboyega University, Edo State; Summit University, Kwara State; Umaru Musa Yar’Ardua University, Katsina State.

    NUC explained in the 146-page report by its Executive Secretary, Abubakar Rasheed, that the ranking was coordinated by a team of experts drawn from the academic planning units of 91 universities.

    A former NUC Executive Secretary, Prof. Peter Okebukola headed the team.

    According to the document, 31 universities have over 90 per cent of their courses accredited. Twenty have over 80 percent accredited; 11 have above 70 per cent and 11 with between zero and 50 per cent accredited courses.

    Apart from the Nigeria Army University and Air Force Institute of Technology, the other six universities without a single accreditation are Admiralty University, Bayelsa Medical University, Dominion University, Skyline University, Spiritas University, and The Technical University.

    Ambrose Ali University, Ekpoma, Taraba State University, Bukar Abba University (Yobe State university), Ogun State University, Ago-Iwoye, Novena University, Federal University of Petroleum Studies, Maritime University among those missing from the ranking.

    Others include Moddibo Adama University of Technology, Yola; Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndife-Alike; Veritas University, Abuja, , Federal University, Dutsin-Ma, Katsina State, Federal University, Gashua, Federal University, Gusau, Federal University Kebbi.

    The report further revealed that several private institutions with very high fees performed poorly in the ranking with 12 failing to make any contribution to what NUC classified as “knowledge economy.”

    The ranking of universities, the Commission explained in the report, is based on several factors.

    One is the percentage of academic programmes which is used to measure the overall academic standing of the university, compliance with carrying capacity, the proportion of the academic staff of the university at the professorial level as well as the proportion of the academic staff who are non-Nigerians and non-Nigerian students.

    Another is the proportion of staff of the university with outstanding academic achievements, Internally–generated Revenue, research output, student completion rate, doctoral graduate output for the year, stability of university calendar, and student to PC Ratio.

    NUC added in the report that in arriving at the proper rating, the computation was based on student-teacher ratio; percentage of full professors; percentage of international staff and students; percentage of programmes with full accreditation; efficiency which is measured as student completion rate; all citations per capita; All h-index per capita; All 1-10-index per capita; Google scholar presence and contribution to knowledge economy.

    Mountain Top University was listed as the only institution with a 100 per cent presence on Google scholar. It was followed by Babcock University, 91.22 per cent; University of Port Harcourt, 89 per cent; Rivers State University, 82 per cent, and Edo State University, 81 per cent.

    Bells University of Technology has a 65.63 per cent presence on Google scholar; the American University of Nigeria, 62.76 percent, and Afe Babalola University, 26.99 per cent.

    The report showed that Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, has no single presence on Google scholar.

    None of the universities that featured in the ranking has full complement of professors it needs with the highest-ranked in terms of full professorship being Uthman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto with 36.44 per cent Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife with 35.80 percent, UI with 29.04 percent, the University of Abuja with 25.53 per cent and University of Benin with 23.26 per cent.

    The remaining 108 universities have less than 20 per cent of full professors with Summit University having no single professor.

    Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, University of Nigeria, University of Lagos, and Afe Babalola university have 18.92; 15.51; 14.74 and 14.71 per cent respectively.

    On the availability of International staff, Skyline University was ranked first with 65.23 per cent presence, followed by the American University of Nigeria with 20 percent and Nile University, Abuja, 12.11 per cent.

    Forty universities have no presence of international staff, with seven of them being federal universities.

    The National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) lead the others in terms of student-to-teacher ratio with 363.35 points followed by Tai Solarin University, 88.26 points.

    Adamawa State University, University of Abuja, the University of Benin, and University of Lagos followed with 59.24; 43.49; 24.47, and 20.73 points respectively.

    In terms of ranking by efficiency, Niger Delta University was ranked highest with 99.49 per cent, followed by Babcock University, Bowen University, Tai Solarin University of Education, McPherson University, and the Federal University of Technology, Minna.

    UI also led in per capita All citations with 377.52 points. RUN came second with 304.4 points followed by Covenant University and Ladoke Akintoka University with 279.37 and 245.78 points respectively.

  • Fresh crisis averted in universities as FG, ASUU agree renegotiation of revitalisation fund

    Fresh crisis averted in universities as FG, ASUU agree renegotiation of revitalisation fund

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has agreed to renegotiate its initial agreement with the Federal Government on the revitalisation of universities.

    The agreement was reached at a meeting with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila at the National Assembly, on Thursday.

    The Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed and Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, were also in attendance.

    The meeting came on the heels of ASUU’s announcement that it is considering embarking on another strike over unpaid benefits and the revitalisation of universities.

    The renegotiation process is expected to commence in one week after Minister Nwajiuba said the 1.3 trillion naira currently being demanded is unrealistic.

    The Finance Minister also assured that within one week the earned allowances and the salary shortfall issues would be addressed.

    Speaker Gbajabiamila said the House will be involved in the renegotiation process between both parties and will ensure that a concrete agreement is reached that will be beneficial to all in order to avert any further strikes .

    Meanwhile, the ICT and Education committees of the House are to meet with ASUU on the payroll system, the University Transparency, Accountability Solution (UTAS).

  • LAW SCHOOL: Between more campuses and vocational training in universities, By Onyema Ikechukwu

    LAW SCHOOL: Between more campuses and vocational training in universities, By Onyema Ikechukwu

    By Onyema Sylvester Ikechukwu

    It is extremely difficult to fault the precision, timing and genuineness of purpose of the Bill sponsored by Senator Sam Adeyemi representing Kogi West in the 9th Senate titled: ‘’A Bill for an Act to Amend the Legal Education (Consolidation, Etc) Act by Establishing the Campuses for the Nigerian Law School and for Other Related Matters’’, which is presently at the Senate. The Bill is detailed and progressive in intendment and purpose. In summary, it seeks the establishment of six more campuses to augment the existing six bringing the total number to twelve campuses. What seems to have slipped the mind is the new Port Harcourt campus of the Nigerian Law School under construction, funded by Nyesom Wike-led River State Government.

    The Bill named the proposed locations for the campuses, and specifically itemized the cost of the construction, establishment and one-year overhead cost of running the campuses, which altogether sums to about N32billion. It goes further to elucidate the benefits to the nation in general and importantly the quality of legal education in Nigeria. Unequivocally, the sponsor brought to mind the impending catastrophe awaiting legal education if the Bill is not promptly passed into law and implemented. Intentions don’t get nobler than this and I agree with the sponsor absolutely.

    Incidentally, this is a capital project that ought to be considered side-by-side with the strength of the nation’s treasury which is a major factor particularly the debt profile alongside imminent crises inherent in continuous proliferation of Nigerian Law School Campuses in the distant future.

    For emphasis, Debt Management Office (DMO) shows that the Federation’s debt stock stands at N33.1trillion ($87,239billion) as at March 31, 2021. FG alone is responsible for N26.91trillion of this debt, and it represents a 658% increase since the return to democracy in Nigeria. External borrowings skyrocketed from $7.3billion in 2015 to $26.57 Billion as at December 31, 2020, with an additional domestic debt of N7.63trillion at that time. As at July 2021, the Senate has approved loan requests of N2.343trillion, approximately $6billion, another $8.3billion and E490million. In all, the present administration has recorded an increase of 366% in debt since 2015, and the President has presented to the Senate a further loan request of about $4.054billion. The point is that as far as finances go, the nation is impecunious.

    Arguably, the present template of legal education run by the country has a rich history, part of which was alluded to by the lawmaker, which later culminated in the implementation of the recommendations of the 1959 Unsworth Committee. The Committee then approved a faculty of law at the University of Ibadan and a Law School at Lagos for vocational training but today, there are about 70 accredited Law Faculties operating in Nigerian universities and six campuses of the Nigerian Law School.

    While highlighting the shortfall of the six existing campuses for the teeming fresh law graduates alongside the number of candidates for re-sits, the official figures as adumbrated by the Senator didn’t exactly reflect the situation. For instance, besides the re-sit candidates, several law faculties admit above the admission quotas allocated by the Nigerian Law School. These excesses automatically create backlogs. The resultant backlog when graduating sets run into others is a constant source of anguish to a law graduate of a Nigerian university. Of course, the universities are culpable in this, but the law graduate bears the brunt. With sundry glitches including ASUU strikes and delay in accessing admission to the law school that also contribute negatively, after completion – call to bar for practice, most times, those delays compound, and ultimately, deprive the students’ employment opportunity by age barrier considering that most vacancies for employment come with age clause hunting for young persons.

    Prudently, a good alternative to spending N32billion of the scarce resources for six new campuses is to grant approval to deserving universities to run Law Schools, by adding Law School curriculum to faculty of law in universities, however under strict supervision of the Council of Legal Education. This will make law graduates from universities to also undergo their vocational training immediately after completing a Bachelor of Law degree. The Legal Education (Consolidation, Etc) Act L10 LFN 2004 should be amended to accommodate these adjustments. For foreign law graduates, two options can serve – either to be factored in the universities or the Abuja campus as done presently to cater for them. Then, the Federal Government can convert the rest of the campuses to other purposes.

    Of course, there will be no loss of employment as the existing workforce of the Nigerian Law School will be immediately absorbed by the federal universities’ Law School and the demand for capable Law School personnel will be high. As for revenue, registration fees for Bar I and II will still generate revenue for the federal government. This is not heterodox that we need to grope in the dark to try. It is a system that works in the United States, several countries of Europe and Asia, as well as the United Kingdom, the home of Sir Edgar Unsworth, the committee chairman.

    With the exponential increase in the number of law graduates from universities, the need for an additional six campuses indeed confronts us, unfortunately, at a time when the economy is limping. This is 2021, about 22 years from the multi-campus concept, yet the problems are still unresolved. If the universities could effectively train doctors, pharmacists, architects and other professionals, they can also deliver on lawyers. Thus, the Bill is timely in addressing pertinent questions in legal education in Nigeria, but it should for all intents, content and purposes be titled; ‘’A Bill for an Act to Amend the Legal Education (Consolidation, Etc) Act by Empowering Universities to Operate Law Schools for Vocational Training and for Other Related Matters’’. Convincingly, this will provide reliefs to the federal government from further impecuniosity, and spontaneously, permanently solve the problems presented by the present multi-campus arrangement.

    Onyema writes from Lagos.

  • Seven Nigerian universities make list of world best varsities

    Seven Nigerian universities make list of world best varsities

    Times Higher Education World University Rankings has released the 2022 World Best University ranking recognising seven Nigerian Universities among the top 1000 universities in the globe.

    The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2022 include more than 1,600 universities across 99 countries and territories, making them the largest and most diverse university rankings to date.

    In the latest ranking, the University of Lagos (UNILAG) is in second place (501-600) and Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State third position (601-800), respectively. University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) was in the 4th position (1201+) while the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) is in the 5th place (1201+).

    Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) is in the 6th position (1201+) and the Lagos State University (LASU) occupying seventh place on the table.

    The current ranking analysed more than 108 million citations across over 14.4 million research publications and included survey responses from almost 22,000 scholars globally.

    The table is based on 13 carefully calibrated performance indicators that measure an institution’s performance across four areas: teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook.

    “Overall, we collected over 430,000 data points from more than 2,100 institutions that submitted data. This year’s league table reveals how the COVID-19 pandemic has started to shift global higher education performance,” Time Higher Education’s report said.

    The US is the most-represented country overall with 183 institutions, and also the most represented in the top 200 (57), although its share of universities in this elite group is falling.

    Harvard University tops the teaching pillar, while the University of Oxford tops the research pillar and Macau University of Science and Technology leads the international pillar.

    The University of Oxford tops the ranking for the sixth consecutive year, while mainland China has two institutions in the top 20 for the first time: Peking University and Tsinghua University share 16th place.

    Globally, the California Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Stanford University and the University of Cambridge came second, third, fourth and fifth, respectively.

    In Africa, the University of Cape Town, South Africa topped the continent’s representation occupying 183 on the global scale. Stellenbosch University came second (251-300) followed by the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg and the University of Kwazulu- Natal in that order.

    The University of Ibadan that ranked first in the country scored 12.6 % in research, teaching 23.4%, citations 91.2, industry income 35.3, and international outlook 32.2% while the University of Cape Town, which ranked first in South Africa and the continent had 41.4% in research, teaching 31.4% citations 85.5, industry income 56.4% and international outlook 80.1 %.