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Ignore Ngige, pay ASUU February to October salaries – Falana tells Buhari

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Femi Falana, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to direct that members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) be paid their full salaries.

BODEX BLOG had reported the confusion that arose on Thursday when some ASUU members were not paid their full salary for October.

The union had on October 14 called off its eight-month strike.

Olajide Oshundun, head of press and public relations, federal ministry of labour and employment, had said ASUU members were paid their October salary pro-rata and not half salary as reported.

According to Oshundun, pro-rata was done because the union could not be paid for work not done.

Reacting to the development, Falana, who is also ASUU legal representative, said the position of the federal government on the matter is “factually faulty and legally misleading”.

He argued that since Buhari overruled the no-work-no-pay principle invoked on members of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), it is logical to do the same for ASUU.

Falana asked the president to ignore the advice of Chris Ngige, minister of labour, and pay ASUU members their full salaries from February to October.

‘The position of the federal government is factually faulty and legally misleading,” he said.

“Since the industrial action was called off, the public universities have adjusted their calendars to ensure that the 2021/2022 academic session is not cancelled. Consequently, students are currently taking lectures or writing examinations that were disrupted during the strike of the ASUU.

“Therefore, having regard to the facts and circumstances of the ASUU strike the doctrine of ‘no work, no pay’ is totally inapplicable as students who were not taught during the strike are currently attending lectures and writing examinations.

“Furthermore, it is public knowledge that the members of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) embarked on a strike that lasted two months last year. The federal government dragged the striking doctors to the national industrial court which ordered the NARD to call off the strike. As soon as the strike was called off, President Muhammadu Buhari jettisoned the ‘no work, no pay’ principle and ordered the payment of the salaries for the two months that the strike lasted.

“On that occasion, the President overruled Dr. Ngige in the interest of industrial harmony in the health sector.

“In the same vein, the ASUU recently called off its 8-month old strike in compliance with the order of the national industrial court and the court of appeal. We are therefore compelled to call on President Buhari should ignore the advice of Dr. Ngige and direct the public universities to pay the full salary of each lecturer from February to October 2022.”

The senior lawyer said if the government fails to pay, it would be accused of engaging in the selective application of the “no work, no pay” principle which is discriminatory and illegal.

Education

4-year-old boy dies after being fed meat in Abuja school

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Miguel Ovoke, a four-year-old pupil of Brickhall School in Kaura, Abuja, has died during feeding hours.

Ovoke was said to have been pronounced dead upon arrival at Excel Specialist Hospital, following complications during his lunch on Wednesday.

PUNCH reports that the hospital issued a death certificate stating the boy was brought in by his teachers around 11 am in an unconscious state.

The report, signed by Akinwande Ajayi, on behalf of the medical director, indicated that he was brought in “on account of aspiration on meat while feeding at school”.

The hospital said upon examination, the medical team found that “the boy’s pupils were fixed and dilated with a nonreactive response to light”.

Ovoke’s peripheral pulses were said to be “impalpable, blood pressure was unrecordable, and there was no cardiopulmonary activity or respiratory excursions, silent chest”.

The medical report indicated that all efforts to resuscitate him failed while concluding that he was “brought in dead”.

The sudden nature of Ovoke’s death has, however, prompted his parents to seek justice by contacting Deji Adeyanju, a human rights lawyer.

Brickhall School is said to be owned by Joy Emodi, a member of the 5th and 6th senate. She was appointed chairman of the senate committee on education.

Emodi also served as the special adviser on national assembly matters to former President Goodluck Jonathan.

Efforts by TheCable Lifestyle to get the authorities of the school to comment did not materialise as of the time this report was filed.

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Education

Father arrested for writing UTME for son

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The Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) says cases of people having double national identification numbers (NIN) made impersonation possible in the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

The statement from the exam body came after a father and his son were arrested for alleged impersonation in the ongoing UTME.

The father, whose name has not been disclosed, was said to have impersonated his son to help the latter pass the university entrance examination.

Ishaq Oloyede, registrar of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), confirmed the development in an interview on Wednesday.

Oloyede inspected the Kaduna State University (KASU) Computer Based Test (CBT) centre after which he spoke to the press.

He said it is unfortunate that some parents have descended so low in morals to the extent of resorting to such shameful acts.

“Two of them are now in custody. I can’t understand what the father will tell his son when they are locked in the same cell,” Oloyede said.

Oloyede said the 2024 examination recorded huge success, except for a few cases of impersonation.

He said impersonation became possible because some people now have multiple NINs.

“For those who engage in cheating, they should know that it does not pay. The technology is helping us to check that. Across the country, most of the problem we have is impersonation,” he said.

“For instance now, we say we have NIN. We now have cases of people with two NINs. That has defeated the purpose of identity verification. We will take that up with NIMC; that there are people who have two NIN.”

Oloyede said a total of 1.94 million candidates sat for the 2024 UTME.

He added that those who have missed the exam for reasons not caused by JAMB should forget about it.

The registrar said the board cannot spend millions to reorganise a session for candidates who missed it due to their recklessness.

“Most of those candidates who missed the UTME are students from hostels who were made to register through schools because of the money the schools want to collect from the parents in the name of JAMB, They would now put 30 students in one bus,” he said.

“They will now be dropping them in different locations. By they get to the last student’s centre, he is already late for the exam. You will now see the principal writing to me. What business do I have with a school?

“Even a religious body wrote to me that ‘the following 100 candidates, I want them to write their exams on a particular day of the examination’. They were even deciding for me the school to post the candidates. How is that possible?”

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Education

Haruna Dlakwa appointed acting VC of Borno State University

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Babagana Zulum, the Borno governor, has approved the appointment of Haruna Dlakwa as the acting vice-chancellor (VC) of Borno State University in Maiduguri.

Bukar Tijani, secretary to the state government, confirmed Dlakwa’s appointment in a statement on Wednesday.

Tijani said the appointment followed the recommendation of the university’s governing council at its 10th meeting on April 15.

‘’Zulum extends warm congratulations to Dlakwa and expects the best until the substantive Vice-Chancellor is appointed for the university,’’ he said.

Until this appointment, Dlakwa was the deputy vice-chancellor of academics at the university.

Borno State University was only established in 2016. It has five faculties — including Sciences, Management, Arts, Social Science and Education — with over 20 departments.

The pioneer vice chancellor of the university was Umar Kyari Sandabe.

In June 2021, the university’s senate building was inaugurated by Muhammadu Buhari, former president of Nigeria.

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Bodex F. Hungbo, SPMIIM is a multiple award-winning Nigerian Digital Media Practitioner, Digital Strategist, PR consultant, Brand and Event Expert, Tv Presenter, Tier-A Blogger/Influencer, and a top cobbler in Nigeria.

She has widespread experiences across different professions and skills, which includes experiences in; Marketing, Media, Broadcasting, Brand and Event Management, Administration and Management with prior stints at MTN, NAPIMS-NNPC, GLOBAL FLEET OIL AND GAS, LTV, Silverbird and a host of others

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