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Withheld salaries: Be patient… interventions have been made, Gbajabiamila tells ASUU

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Femi Gbajabiamila, speaker of the house of representatives, says interventions are being made to resolve the issue of payment of salaries of lecturers.

The speaker said this in a statement on Monday.

The development comes after members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) had tackled the federal government for not paying them full salaries.

ASUU had embarked on strike on February 14 to press home the demand for improved funding for universities, review of salaries for lecturers, among other issues.

Amid the back-and-forth over the union’s demands, the federal government had threatened not to pay the lecturers for the strike period, but a review of the decision was said to be under consideration.

On October 14, the union suspended its strike and directed members to resume work immediately.

However, the federal government had recently paid the lecturers “half” of one month pay.

“When the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) called off their industrial action three weeks ago, it meant that academic activities could resume in our nation’s public universities, and students could return to their academic pursuits after the prolonged interruption,” the statement by Gbajabiamila reads.

“Since then, the Executive and the House of Representatives have worked to address the issues that led to the strike.

“We are currently working on the 2023 Appropriations Bill, which includes the sum of one hundred and seventy billion naira (N170,000,000,000.00) to provide a level of increment in the welfare package of university lecturers.

“The Bill also includes additional three hundred billion naira (N300,000,000,000.00) in revitalisation funds to improve the infrastructure and operations of federal universities.

“Furthermore, the House of Representatives has convened the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), the Academic Staff
Union of Universities (ASUU) and other stakeholders to facilitate the Federal Republic of Nigeria adoption of elements of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) into the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).

“The Executive position that it is not obligated to pay salaries to lecturers for the time spent on strike is premised on the law and the
government’s legitimate interest in preventing moral hazard and discouraging disruptive industrial actions.

“Nonetheless, interventions have been made to explore the possibility of partial payments to the lecturers. We look forward to a favourable consideration by His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR who has manifested his desire to what is prudent and necessary to resolve all outstanding issues.”

Gbajabiamila also urged the union not to consider disrupting the academic calender of universites.

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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