₦airaland Forum

“I don’t care about ASUU strike since I can sponsor my children to study abroad” If this is how you think, read the consequences of so doing from NASIR AHMAD EL-RUFAI’S thought about his children:

“Sending them abroad is not only horrendously expensive but that also means depriving them the LOCAL NETWORKS they would have built by going to the same schools as other Nigerians, with access to Nigerian alumni networks, which are potentially quite powerful. I got A LOT OF HELP in my life and career because I went to Barewa College. The Ahmadu Bello University alumni network is very wide and QUITE BENEFICIAL as well. My children have been deprived of access to these kinds of networks, which are important in business as well as politics

A second issue with this scenario is the RISK that one’s children become EXCESSIVELY WESTERNISED and have great difficulty settling back into the society they came from to contribute to nation-building. We have seen MANY EXAMPLES of our friends who stayed too long abroad during those formative years and they have never really quite come back to face the on-the-ground realities of Nigeria. Many who returned left Nigeria frustrated and went back to the UK and US where they felt more at home!”

……….Culled from El- Rufai’s The Accidental Public Servant, Page 43.

ASUU strike is YOUR business as it is MINE and EVERYBODY’s. Join ASUU in calling on FG to provide necessary funding for revitalising the nation’s university education. It simply takes respecting the 2009 Agreement and 2012 MoU that FG WILLINGLY entered and signed with ASUU to achieve this.

petrov 10: he can go to hell...who needs him ..stewpd aboki

U coward Jonah need him more than u can ever imagine cuz he is d governor of d most populated state in d country. His state is worth more dan half of SS in terms of population

Who is jaybee? I think thos trade is useless

FOOD 4 THOUGHTS!!!!!
Anenih, celebrated his 80th birthday yesterday (reliable sources says he is in his 90's) at Abuja not in his village or Uromi. But when common thieves like Babangida, Obasanjo,Igbinedion or agbero Gbenga Daniel does, they celebrate in their homes but not for Anenih who in the minds of his clueless supporters is a do it and fix it kind of guy.You may be wondering where this poser is leading us the readers.Anenih, don't have a home to showcase because there are no good roads, water, hotels and steady supply of light in his village for the type of comfort that he craves .These basic needs are the issues confronting our people and polity that men who are vested with powers for the well being of others have criminally abrogated these same powers for personal greed. There is no light, water, security nor good roads leading to Anenih's village yet he has been in the corridors of power all is life. Inquiring minds wants to know if celebrating Anenih in his home would have exposed his inadequacies as a failure because his comrades in crimes would have seen that Anenih is a failure whose conquest in the polity of our chequered nations politics has not trickled down to the people whom he claim to represent. I know that his gullible foot soldiers will say but Oshiomole celebrated in government house ,yes he did but Obama don't have to go to Chicago for his birthday because he is a sitting president. You can fool some people sometimes but you can't fool all the people all the time. Now you may have seen/read the truth!!!!!!!!

How can a governor invite the president to come & launch a primary school? Where are we heading 4? If d governor is serious, those are kind of projects he will do without counting them as achievements because they are necessities

The strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) may be prolonged as the union has rejected the offer made by the Federal Government to re-negotiate their 2009 agreement.

The Chairman of UNN-ASUU, Dr. Ifeanyi Abada, made this known during a press briefing after the congress attended by some national and zonal officers.

He explained that the offer was rejected by the union because the government did not sign the agreement under duress.

PM News reports:

 Dr Ifeanyi Abada said UNN-ASUU and other chapters of the union nationwide were determined to withdraw their services until the federal government implemented the agreement.

“ASUU cannot be cajoled by any unbridled campaign or blackmail as being paddled by some federal government’s officials.

“The union is worried by the insincerity of government and condemns this perfidy in its entirety’’, he said.

Abada said ASUU was also demanding the removal of Prof. Julius Okogie, the NUC Secretary, for fanning the embers of hatred against members of the union.

“Okogie, who is supposed to mediate between ASUU and government, had regrettably morphed into another political valve through which universities were further demeaned and derailed.

“Okogie should be invited by government to account for over N100 billion Universities Stabilisation Fund.

“He has demonstrated that he has outlived his usefulness and bereft of innovative ideas and aptitude to turn universities around’’, he said.

He called on education stakeholders, the clergy and traditional rulers to prevail on government to respect the 2009 agreement it entered with ASUU to improve standards in tertiary institutions.

“We are not asking for government to fill our pockets with money, but that universities should be well funded.

“It is unfortunate that students in some universities take lectures in open spaces and in stadiums like in UNN.

“We are tired of producing half-baked graduates because of ill-equipped libraries, laboratories and lack of classrooms, while some politicians squander money meant to develop the country’’, he said.

Former UNN-ASUU chairman, Prof. Aloysius Okolie, decried government’s inability to allocate 26 per cent of its annual budget to education

He explained that that was the minimum percentage as recommended by UNESCO.

“This is an indication that government does not care about the quality of education in the country.

“Government should consider the future of Nigerian students and fulfill its own part of agreement it reached with ASUU.

“It is noteworthy that war torn Somalia and other smaller countries of the world who value education allocate above 26 per cent to education’’, he said.

Dr Chide Osuagwu, Zonal Coordinator, ASUU Nsukka Zone, comprising UNN, UNiZIK, ESUT, Anambra State University and Ebony State University, said ASUU had exercised enough patience since 2009.

“ASUU will not attend any re-negotiating meeting called by government. If government had known it cannot implement the agreement, why did it sign it?’’

About 200 lecturers attended the UNN-ASUU congress, which lasted for several hours.

Source:http://www.ynaija.com/strike-ASUU-rejects-new-deal-with-fg/

Universities set for total closure as NASU, SSANU join ASUU on strike

By Tobi Adeyeye on July 21, 2013

Nigerian universities will soon experience total closure as the three remaining trade unions in the university system have threatened to commence indefinite and total strike following government’s failure to fully implement the 2009 agreement it signed with varsity workers.

Barely three weeks into the strike embarked on by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities (SSANU), the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT), and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) declared at a conference in Abuja on Friday that they were getting set for a showdown with the government.

Under the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of SSANU, NAAT and NASU, the unions lamented the failure of the Federal Government to begin full implementation of an agreement it entered with them since 2009, stating that they would resume the strike they suspended in March this year.

The threat came just as their teaching counterpart, ASUU also rejected all appeals made to it to call off its strike and allow for negotiation to continue. Rather, ASUU delared that the strike would go on as planned.

NASU President, Comrade Ladi Iliya, who read a joint press statement by the unions, listed the main issues in contention as the funding of university education, the Earned Allowance and the NEEDS assessment report, which was targetted at mass sack of the non-teaching staff working in the universities.

According to Iliya, since 2009, several representations had been made to the government and the implementation committee set up by the government itself without results.

“It appears as if government is taking our understanding for granted thereby putting us under unbearable pressure from our members whose patience is fast running out.

“It is in light of this that JAC is calling on Nigerians to prevail on government to address all burning issues within the shortest possible time, failure of which we may not be able to continue to hold our members back from resuming our earlier suspended strike action without notice,” Iliya said.

According to her, the Federal Government has consistently failed to honour agreements, particularly on a systemic increase in the funding of the universities by releasing N100 billion yearly to federal universities consecutively for four years effective from January, 2012.

But more than a year that the circular on it was released, government had not made available a kobo in respect of the undertaking, she stated.

On the Earned allowances which include “occupational hazard allowance, responsibility allowance and head section/unit allowance,” the NASU president said the government has also not made any effort to include it in the national budget, even though it has accumulated to huge arrears.

Also, the three non-teaching unions faulted the report of a Needs Assessment Committee of Nigerian public universities headed by Professor Mahmud Yakubu in 2012.

Iliya stated that such important committee was instituted without the inclusion of members of the non-teaching staff of Nigerian public universities, and most especially the students who are the major stakeholders.

Iliya said: “As expected, the report of the committee was full of misrepresentation of facts, inflated figures and badly skewed data against the non-teaching staff in the university system, thereby misinforming both the public and the government.”

Iliya called on well-meaning Nigerians to prevail on the government to implement the agreement it freely enter into with the workers to avoid plunging the nation’s universities into another round of needless crisis.

She noted that the non-teaching unions had exercise serious restraints to embark on strikes in the interest of the students, government and in protection of good academic standard.

She said: “As responsible unions who are sensitive to public opinions and have interest of students and the national interest at heart, we have been weary of strike actions in the past and have done everything humanly possible to sustain industrial peace in our universities even in the face of government insensitivity and pressure from our members.”

Source:http://www.theheraldng.com/universities-set-for-total-closure-as-nasu-ssanu-join-ASUU-on-strike/?utm_source=&utm_medium=twitter

Manchester United is refusing to give up on Cesc Fàbregas. The Barcelona midfielder is one of the Premier League side's main targets and the club is prepared to dig deep to sign him. According to Sky Sports, United has improved its previous bid of €30 million to €35 million, plus add-ons.

David Moyes said a few days ago that United's priority was to strengthen the midfield. Thiago was touted as a possible transfer at the start of the summer, but Mazinho's son ended up signing for Bayern. United made an initial offer for Cesc and now it seems the club has upped the ante.

Tito Vilanova stated in a press conference earlier this week that he had spoken to the player and believed that Fàbregas would stay at Barça.

Source:http://www.marca.com/2013/07/20/en/football/barcelona/1374357192.html

It has come to MARCA's attention that Barça has been in contact with Argentine coach Gerardo 'Tata' Martino with a view to him taking charge of the first team, following the news that Tito Vilanova is to step down for health reasons.

One of Barça's representatives will to fly to meet with Martino, with whom the club has already spoken, next week.

The Argentine was linked with various clubs over the summer, such as Real Sociedad and Málaga, and would be the board's first choice to take over at Barcelona. Having just severed his links to Newell's, Martino is currently on holiday with his family.

Born in Rosario, 'Tata' has spent the most part of his career in Paraguay where, having coached several clubs with considerable success, he took charge of the national team at the end of 2006. Under his management, Paraguay qualified for the South African World Cup but was eliminated by Spain (1-0) in the quarter-finals, as well as reaching the final of the 2011 Copa América, where his team was beaten by Uruguay.

Last season Martino coached the team closest to his heart, Newell's Old Boys, who became 2013 Torneo Final winners and also reached the semi-final of the Copa Libertadores, on that occasion losing to Atlético Mineiro.

Only a month ago, in an interview published in MARCA, the Argentine confessed to admiring Barcelona's tiki-taka style of play, saying the passing game was of the utmost importance.

Source: http://www.marca.com/2013/07/20/en/football/barcelona/1374332465.html

[quote author=lanrexlan]Nawafil is praying or doing extra deeds besides what is obligatory.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has commenced indefinite strike  nationwide  today,  national president of ASUU, Dr Nasir Isa Fagge has said.

He made this declaration, Monday, at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) after their NEC meeting held at Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, Ogun State.

Speaking to news men, he said: “We are embarking on indefinite strike nation wide because the Federal Government reneged in the Memorandum of Understanding MoU  signed with ASUU in 2009 to pay lecturers their earn allowance.”
According to Fagge, the Federal Government, in 2009 made a law to pay each lecturers N12,500 per month as earn allowance which it never did since 2009.

Source: http://www.urhobovanguard.com/2013/07/01/ASUU-commences-nation-wide-strike/?utm_source=&utm_medium=twitter