₦airaland Forum

Lagos State University, LASU, Ojo is synonymous with crises and the recent one is between the institution’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof. John Obafunwa and the staff unions comprising the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Non Academic Staff Union (NASU) and National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT).

The vice-chancellor was pelted with sachets of water and forced out of the university while preparing for the convocation ceremony of the university some months ago.

The unions last week disclosed to journalists at the institution, activities according to them aims at warding off evil in LASU, which include a seven days prayer and fasting for all members of staff, joint press conference, symposium on statute and conditions of service in an ideal university, university autonomy and academic freedom as well as declaring LASU Independence Day marked with festivities and fun fair.

According to ASUU-LASU Chairman, Dr. Adekunle Idris, the seven-day activities is designed to bring to an end the administration of Prof. Obafunwa, stressing that his four-year-tenure is that of pains and anguish for students and members of staff.

He described the period as deeply rooted in fundamental problems of gross incompetence, disregard for rules, acts of impunity and perversion of justice among others.

“Worst of all is the orchestrated plan to clinically exterminate our great union and implement the obnoxious UNILORIN model in our university- a model that makes members of staff not only voiceless but also intimidated and subdued.

The union leader however appreciated the efforts made by the Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Akiwunmi Ambode for his readiness to halt festering leadership crisis in the university as expressed in recent inauguration of the 10th Governing Council.

Idris said the appointment of a serving renowned erudite scholar and Professor Bayo Ninalowo and many academics on the governing council is a laudable step in the right direction.

He equally described as silver-lining in the horizon, the on-going effort of the state House of Assembly in reviewing the university’s extant laws to accommodate Vice-Chancellors for one term of five years, saying these are commendable efforts that would engender peace and harmony in the university.

He however urged the state government on a number of urgent steps to be taken in order to insulate the university of ill-luck which include, adoption and implementation of the Universities Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 2012, 70 years retirement age for academic staff on the professorial cadre and 65 years for nonacademic staff.

Others include payment of the 45 percent balance of the increment in salary arrears, due since 2009, immediate reissuance of the maliciously withdrawn PhD certificate of the ASUU-LASU Chairman, Dr. Adekunle Idris, Promotion of all members who are due since the promotion exercise of 2011/2012 and 2012/2013 sessions among others.

On the appointment of the new Vice-Chancellor, which post has been advertised earlier, Idris said the ideal Vice Chancellor for LASU must possess the following attributes: God fearing, a scholar of international repute that has wide experience within the academic community.

“Such a person must have human feelings, someone that understands human capital development, high emotional intelligence and not just academic scholar, creative enough to generate internal revenue”, he said.

The ASUU-LASU chair also urged the Lagos State government to follow due process in the selection of new Vice-Chancellor for the university by inviting the first three candidates to address staff which would expose their true character through body language.

Idris said staff would do everything in their capability to launder the image of LASU particularly using sports, emphasis to be placed on acquiring best stars in each sport via scholarships and concessional admission policy, government and private sponso

Federal Government has assured of its continuous support to ensure effective basic education delivery at the grassroots in the country.

It also noted the need to de-politicise appointment to the office of Education Secretary to ensure better basic education service delivery in the nation, which he said does not augur well for the sector.

Director, Basic Secondary Department in the Ministry, Mrs. Anne Okonkwo, at a three-day workshop organised for education secretaries across the 774 local governments in the country, said today the basic education sector is facing fundamental challenges, especially inadequate funding that requires urgent attention.

Okonkwo, who was represented by Assistant Director in the ministry, Achede Owolicho, also advocated the professionalisation of the office in order to keep away quacks.

Against this backdrop, she charged participants at the workshop to critically examine and review the legal framework for education secretaries with a view to empowering them to perform their vital roles in the education sector.

Niger State governor, Dr. Abubakar Sani Bello, who spoke through the Head of Service, Mohammed Muade, said the importance of education cannot be over emphasised, hence on assumption of office, various measures were taken to overhaul the basic education sector in the state.

This, he explained, included the provision of basic facilities, free basic education policy for every child including adults that could not go to school during their youthful years, payment of counterpart funds so as to attract more funding from other organisations for better service delivery for every child in the state, among others.

Earlier, the President, National Association of Education Secretaries of Nigeria, NAESN, Dr. Hassan Sule, said the annual conference is an opportunity to brainstorm, particularly on issues that may impede on the performance of its members.

Telecoms subscribers in Nigeria currently spend an estimated N238 billion on purchase of airtime on their phones on a monthly basis, latest investigations by New Telegraph have shown. The estimate is based on the current average revenue per user (ARPU) benchmark of $8 (N1,593) and the current active subscriber base in the country.
According to the latest report from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the country’s telecoms market recorded 150 million active lines as at the end of September. New Telegraph’s conservative analysis thus revealed that by multiplying the ARPU with the monthly subscriber base of 150 million, telecoms subscribers on different mobile networks in the country spend an estimated N238 billion.
Meanwhile, telecoms companies in Nigeria lost a total of 357,997 active lines on their various networks in September. From 151,018,624 active telephone lines in August, the number of active telephone lines on mostly GSM operators including MTN, Globacom, Airtel and Etisalat declined to 150,660,631 phone lines. This represents a fall of 357,997 lines, according to the latest industry status report in subscriber base.
Analysts say the reduction in subscriber base might not be unconnected with the directive by the regulator mandating telecoms networks to deactivate unregistered or poorly registered subscriber identity module (SIM) lines on the networks. In the same vein, teledensity plunged from 107.87 per cent in August to 107.61 per cent in September, representing a fall of 0.26 per cent. Telephone density or teledensity is the number of telephone connections for every hundred individuals living within an area.
It varies widely across the nations and also between urban and rural areas within a country. Telephone density has significant correlation with the per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the area. It is also used as an indicator of the purchasing power of the middle class of the country or specific region. From January this year, active subscribers have consistently increased from 140.8 million in January to 151 million in August.
However, the August subscriber data is the first time the operators witnessed a decrease in subscriber base, ostensibly because of the SIM deactivation saga. Month-on-month subscriber data moved up to 142.5 million in February. Of the 151 million active subscriber base, GSM operators including MTN, Globacom, Airtel and Etisalat, control 148.7 million; the CDMA segment predominantly controlled by Visafone has 2.1 million while fixed wired/wireless networks have 189, 523 lines.
President, National Association of TelecomsSubscribers (NATCOMS), Mr. Deolu Ogunbanjo, said for as long as more Nigerians continue to take up and rely on telecoms services for their daily business and personal activities, telcos would continue to increase their revenues.
Ogunbanjo explained that telecoms industry has become a critical sector, not only to the individual telecoms consumer, but also to the economy as a whole. He stated that Nigeria had recorded an astronomical uptake in telephone subscriptions, both in the urban and rural areas in the last 14 years of telecoms deregulation.
He said: “This is revealing. However, your findings may be plus or minus, but I think it provides us with an idea of how much telecoms subscribers in Nigeria spend on their respective service providers monthly.” “The expenditure by subscribers has even reduced drastically in the last 14 years of telecoms regulation,” said President, Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators(ALTON), Mr. Gbenga Adebayo.
“You will recall that, in this country, we have made calls for close to N100 and today, we are witnessing a decrease in tariffs where we make calls for just about N10 or below per minute.”

PunkyVeer:
I wonder what you told her in those "intimacy conversations" y'all had She's may be looking forward to some bada bing bada boom, only to be met by 26 years worth of dust & spiderwebs

Just tell her the truth & IF you plan on having sex with her on that day, better start practising, boyo. Grab a pillow & hump, hump, hump, yanno, just to get your strokes right

Bernoulli01:
can't wait to partake in this forthcoming debate.

menzo4u:
Please I want to partake too

tIce:
online aro

flightz:
part 4

Krixeminaj:
choi.....I pray our resumption date x not postponed o.....cos I'm criously homesick.....anyways! iz dia any1 in d faculty of arts hia?

flightz:
guy hafa, u fit squat me? I need space badly

Adex097:
Hehehe.. I gat to feel maself o. How, you dey na

Aminat508:
Happy new month



I pray may God keep you away from harm and sadness in upcoming month. May you have no problems and tensions this month. Have a peaceful new month.

unispark:
Semester break don finish be dat? Kai....awo again? Block 3 again? Room 109 again? Lectures again? Garri again? Kai...omg

Highcuerayte:
Any chance of resuming March 27?

Adex097:
Lol... all my mates wey we write JAMB together still dey 200lvl for OAU while me don dey plan for my final year

debolly:
Hmmmmnnn!!! Fynestboi.

Timmytimmy:
After making us relax unnecessarily in the expectation that had we had one more week, they're just telling us this. I have one question though. Did the lecturers eventually agree to this or it's the school management that is just saying it's own?

Oga Fynestboi, any idea?

IamDavid:
Make we use one week more abeg... Una wan kill person?

chisombenedicta:
Thank God at least we may resume March 27

tIce:
ise omo awo re ooo

Aminat508:

Aminat508:

---