A Nigerian lecturer, Dr Nsikak Akpan is currently on a quest to break the Guinness World Record, GWR, for the longest lecture.

Akpan was permitted by the GWR to break the existing longest lecture currently held by an Indian Professor, Arvin Mishra who lectured for 139 hours 52 minutes 42 seconds lecture in 2014.

The Provost of Foreign Links College started the quest on Monday, September 23 inside the school campus, Moro, Ife-North local government, and as of the time of filing this report Wednesday afternoon, has lectured for 54 hours.

The Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU, alumni is delivering a lecture on, “the relationship between man’s environment and health”, with students of the school sitting as audience.

He is set to complete the task on Sunday, September 29, 2024, by 5 pm.

When completed, he would be the first Nigerian lecturer to complete such a task.

According to him, the quest is aimed at giving back to the academic environment as he attempts to tell the world about the consequences of abusing the environment on man.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has given the federal government a fresh 14-day pre-strike notice.

ASUU has long been demanding the review and signing of its renegotiated 2009 agreement with the federal government, emergency revitalisation fund for public universities, the payment of outstanding earned academic allowances, and the release of withheld salaries.

It has also been seeking the remediation of promotion arrears and third-party deductions targeted at its members.

The union is also aggrieved about what it describes as illegal recruitment, the proliferation of public universities, and the abuse of university laws.

Also sought is the removal of the universities from the Treasury Single Account and the IPPIS to aid financial autonomy for universities.

In August, ASUU issued a 21-day notice to the federal government for a nationwide strike based on these demands.

The notice was to elapse on September 8 after which the union was to decide on protests and a nationwide strike.

After failed negotiations and unimplemented agreements, the federal government reconvened a meeting with ASUU on September 9.

A joint committee comprising ASUU, the education ministry, the National Universities Commission (NUC), and the labour ministry was set up to escalate the implementation of all residual issues.

The federal government, within that time, granted public tertiary institutions the right to operate endowment funds outside the treasury single account.

ASUU was expected to provide detailed information on the unpaid salaries of university staff on sabbatical, part-time, and adjunct appointments that are due to the application of the government’s coordinated payroll software IPPIS.

It was also asked to detail outstanding third-party deductions for onward transmission to the accountant general’s office.

Punch reports that ASUU has resolved to grant the federal government a fresh 14-day ultimatum to implement these demands.

Emmanuel Osodeke, the ASUU president, was quoted as saying the ultimatum is to count from September 23.

The president warned that the union would not be held responsible if the government caused a strike by failing to seize the new window.

Applications for the Commonwealth master’s scholarship for the 2024/25 academic year are now open in Nigeria.

The education ministry’s federal scholarship board, which coordinates such government-affiliated programmes, is calling for applications.

The Commonwealth scholarship is managed by the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (CSC) in the UK and is led by international development objectives.

It is awarded to people with the potential to make a positive impact in their countries and on the global stage.

As part of the UK’s Commonwealth commitment, an estimated 700 students are annually sponsored to undertake postgraduate degrees.

To be eligible for the award, an applicant must be a citizen or permanent resident of a Commonwealth country, have an undergraduate degree of at least upper second class (2:1), and be unable to afford to study in the UK without a scholarship.

Candidates are either agency-nominated in their countries or nominated by non-governmental charitable bodies.

The federal scholarship board, while calling on Nigerians to apply for the CSC’s master’s and doctorate scholarships, said Nigerian candidates must additionally have a youth service exemption or discharge certificate.

It said applicants must have gotten at least two admissions from UK universities and print out their application form before submission.

The FSB said the applications are open from September 10 and will last until October 15, 2024.

In funding, the Commonwealth scholarship provides airfare for the scholar’s travel to and from the UK.

Their full fees are covered by an agreement between the CSC and the UK university.

To date, over 31,000 have taken up a Commonwealth scholarship or fellowship since the first group of 175 arrived in the UK in 1960.