Tag: Varsity
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Lecturer, students killed as suspected militias invade Taraba Varsity
Academic activities have been put on hold at the Federal University Wukari, Taraba State, following an invasion by the suspected Jukun militias that led to the killing of two students from Benue and a lecturer of the institution on Tuesday.
The killing sparked protest among Tiv students and staff of the institution.
However, the Vice-Chancellor of the institution, Prof Abubakar Kundiri, has suspended the academic activities and closed down the institution following the incident.
The announcement was contained in a statement by the Registrar, Mr Magaji Gangumi which was released in Wukari, on Wednesday.
According to the statement, all students are expected to leave the University premises before 12:00noon on Wednesday.
The statement also added that the suspension of lectures and closure of the institution is till further notice.
“The closure of the institution follows the protest by students over the kidnapping of their mates along Wukari -Katsina Ala high way on Tuesday. Therefore, students are directed to vacate the hostel and university premises on or before 12 noon,” the statement said.The Vice-Chancellor assured that adequate security measures had been put in place to ensure the safety of both staff and students as they leave Wukari.
He said apart from school buses, the Chairman of Ukum Local Government in neighbouring Benue State was sending 10 buses to evacuate students from that state.
Prof Kundiri stated that security has also been reinforced from both the army and police to ensure that members of the academic community conveniently leave Wukari without any hitch.
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FG speaks on alleged plans to increase varsity tuition fees
The Federal Ministry of Education on Wednesday debunked the news trending on social media that the Federal Government had approved the hike in tuition fees of Nigerian universities to N350,000.
Mr Sonny Echono, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry made the clarification at a symposium in Abuja.
Echono, who said the Federal Government was not planning to increase the tuition fees, urged Nigerians to remain calm on the issue.
The symposium has its theme: “The Right to Education means the Right to a Qualified Teacher’’.
“The Federal Government did not and has no intention of introducing new tuition fees in our public universities not to mention the figure to N350, 000.
“What is true is that the present administration is committed to guarantee quality of education.
“President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the ministry of education along with the ministry of finance to jointly organise a workshop that will inform on a very sustainable and workable recommendation of funding education in Nigeria.
“And to this end, we have been engaging various stakeholders including ASUU who can come up with a very useful contribution that will bring all these recommendations achievable.
Echono added that the ministry was working toward re-establishing the education bank to address the role of education funding as the government cannot do it alone.
He said the role of the education bank would be to give loan at a low interest rate, saying this would not be limited to students alone but also parents.
On the right to education, Echono said every child has the fundamental right to quality education, adding that the ministry had developed strategies to ensure pupils and students with special needs were carried along.
Echono said that the National Teachers Institute (NTI) had also concluded plans to train and develop the capacity of primary and secondary school teachers in the 36 states and FCT.
He said that the right to education was sine qua non to national development, saying the Ministerial Strategic Plan (2016 to 2019) had been designed to guarantee expanded access to all levels of education.
Echono said that the plan was geared toward providing adequately the necessary infrastructure and facilities to ensure that the right to the basic level and standards were maintained.
He, therefore, called on teachers to upgrade themselves as effective from January 2020, any teacher who did not present the prerequisite qualifications would be pushed out of the system.
Echono urged the teachers to take advantage of the professional examinations made available in 35 states and online resource materials to guide them as a teacher.
He, however, called on states governments owing teachers’ salaries to take a step in ensuring that teachers were paid as when due and as well motivate teachers adequately for optimal performance.
Earlier, Mrs Justina Ibe, the Director, Education Support Service of the ministry, said the Federal Government had not relented in its efforts to ensure that the teaching profession was provided with qualified personnel.
Ibe said that this informed the Ministerial Strategic Plan which were now being implemented gradually with positive results.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the symposium was part of activities to commemorate the World Teachers Day to hold on Oct. 5, to celebrate the contributions of teachers to nation building. (NAN) -
Varsity breaks silence, says Grace Mugabe’s PhD fake
University of Zimbabwe’s Department of Sociology has broken its silence concerning the award of a PhD to ex-First Lady Grace Mugabe, saying the qualification was fake and earned without the department’s knowledge or involvement.
The department has since engaged Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights which has written to UZ Vice Chancellor Prof. Levi Nyagura, compelling him to revoke the doctorate degree and nullify it immediately.
The institution is also expected to make a public statement concerning the revocation.
The Sociology Department Board has said the award of the degree constituted “academic corruption and criminal abuse of office” in terms of Section 174 of the Criminal Law on the part of anyone implicated in the case.
Grace graduated in 2014, but, in a departure from the norm, the university did not publish her 226-page thesis, entitled “The changing social structure and functions of the family: The case of children’s homes in Zimbabwe.”
The thesis was only published in January under the name Ntombizodwa Grace Marufu.
Prof Nyagura has been given seven days to respond to the issues, failure of which the department would approach the courts of law for appropriate recourse.
“The candidate earned the degree without the knowledge or involvement of the Sociology Department Board, from the application, acceptance, supervision, examination, to the award of the degree.
“The Sociology Department Board has never approved anything in respect of the candidate’s research or thesis.
“The members of Sociology Department Board were shocked at the news that the candidate was awarded the degree by the sociology department,” reads the letter of demand to Prof. Nyagura.
The Sociology Department Board said the requisite procedures were not followed and there was a complete disregard of university rules, processes and procedures.
“The candidate was therefore not subjected to the processes, conditions, and standards demanded of all other doctoral candidates within the Department and indeed within the University.
“The Sociology Department Board was not privy to these acts of omissions and commissions, save for the Acting Chairperson of the Board, Prof. Claude Mararike, who was apparently the candidate’s supervisor,” the letter of demand reads.
The Sociology Department Board also claims that the quality of the final product was not controlled by qualified professionals, “if at all research was conducted to warrant conferment of such a degree.”
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Panic as Ekiti Fed Varsity’s bursar slumps, dies at meeting
Grief has enveloped the Federal University at Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE), with the death of its bursar, Mr. Adebayo Adejuyigbe, during the governing council’s meeting in Lagos, last Thursday.
Adejuyigbe, 59, was said to have slumped. Though later revived, he died at an undisclosed hospital.
The meeting was called by FUOYE Governing Council’s Chairman, Prof. Saadat Mabadeje.
The deceased was reportedly buried according to Islamic injunction on Friday at Offa in Kwara State.
A source, who witnessed the incident, said: “He was in the meeting when suddenly he started shaking and slumped. He was revived and was rushed to the hospital where he died.
“His health situation deteriorated on the way to the hospital and he died after he got to the hospital.”
FUOYE’s Vice Chancellor Prof. Kayode Soremekun described Adejuyigbe’s death as a big loss to the institution.
The vice chancellor said his prudence and administrative acumen would be missed.
Soremekun, who confirmed Adejuyigbe’s death, said it was devastating.
He said the late bursar’s expertise and commitment to duty would be missed.
Soremekun, who spoke through the university’s spokesman, Mr Godfrey Bakji, said: “He (Adejuyigbe) has been buried in his country home and we pray that Allah grants the family the fortitude to bear the loss.
“Mr Adejuyigbe was a prudent and highly professional man. His advice to the management had helped in so many ways and times. He was a reservoir of knowledge on fiscal issues. He was a good and dependable administrator.
“The university community commiserates with his family, the people of Kwara State and the Federal Government on the loss of this illustrious son and great Nigerian.”
