₦airaland Forum

f "*ukin ghana ha

Author: Yaa Nkosuo
Date: 2009-04-05 19:47:40

I think Ben Tawia is entitled to express his views about certain issues. The comparison he made might not be what we would expect to hear, but hey, good luck to him. Its an interesting piece of writing, a Legonite proud of his alma mater and why not?

I do not agree with his assertion about the Ngozis and Nkechis and Chinyeres' "snatching" WHAT? Give me the "filla" on that one too!!!!They know what to bring with them when they leave home bound for Accra! LOL
If not to promote ECOWAS unity I do not know what else is!!!

Author: K Proper
Date: 2009-04-05 03:43:36

You attended Legon but know that products of Cape Vars have won major honours in Europe and America. University of Dakar is also top. I attended both Universities and know what I am talking about. All are top univerities. Nigerians are in Ghana and I only pray that the students are not armed robbers in disguise as it turned out to be at All Nations University at Koforidua where the police raided a criminal hide-out and all those dangerous criminals arrested happened to be students of that university. God bless Ghana.

Author: Richardo, China
Date: 2009-04-05 17:01:35

Dont be deceived bro. You dont know why these nigerians are coming to Ghana.

The reason is their passport is useless now and the only solution is to stay in Ghana and get our passport.

They are not there to study but they are using Ghana as a transit point. Ghana must be very careful.


Author: J. B. Danquah
Date: 2009-04-05 04:06:02

Yes, looks like Tawiah makes some untenable points. Ok, since he is writing in a very literary style, I will take some of his comparisons as hyperboles in that style. All the same, it will be misleading to compare the universities in Ghana (Legon and UCC in particular) with those of the west. Tawiah forgot that there is nothing like the very topmost institutions in Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard (ok, he didn't mention that)in Ghana. These countries have different systems where they take both the very weak students alongside very very bright students and make things of the bright ones Legon can never make of them.

But I really wish Tawiah would have this piece published on an equivalent "Nigerian Homepage" site or in some other Nigerian paper. I will really like to read their comments. If he does, I will advise him to tone down the literary references a bit. We all know he always has his literary giants at the front of his mind when he writes, but oftentimes, he overdoes the whole thing. Yesterday, he gave us a Thomas Hardy, today, he is graving through the entire Greek literary pantheon. Hmmmm , and it is the Nigerian writers who have won all the literary prizes Ghanaians have failed to win, even though we started educating them from time "immemorial", as one contributor puts it.

Author: Okra
Date: 2009-04-05 17:09:46

I’m surprise that anyone would ignorantly argue that University of Ghana is better than Oxford, Harvard, Cambridge, Princeton etc.
Are those kokonte Lawyers we are producing from Makolar in recent years what you are proud of? You should well mention where you took your LLM because the Ghanaian Lawyers are not better educated than the western lawyers.
Please wake up to the reality that universities are offering something called long distance education. It did not start today but long before you were born. In the colonial time there were students from Adisadel college and Achimota who got their University of London degrees through long distance study. For your brothers and sister in UK who cannot afford 7000 pounds a year and have decided to do a long distance studies through colleges like city banking and Holbon give them a break, for it is far better than remaining with their basic education from Ghana. City Banking, FTC, Holbon college etc are there to provide long distance studies and professional tuitions and do not issue any degree to any student. In Ghana we have central university plus so many other private ones that are not better than those in UK. Let us face the fact that our standard has fallen, the JSS/SSS is producing nothing better. Our teachers' training schools are going down. The Nigerians are coming to Ghana because their leaders are corrupt, useless bunch who have failed to build more university and invest more in Education to handle the population they have there. Their case is worse than ours but we would get there if we don’t do something today. This is the first time they have university graduate for president. If you doubt it, look at what our O level president for 19 years has done to our education. Ghanaian student (most) cannot even express themselves well any language be it local or English.



Author: don gido
Date: 2009-04-06 07:34:59

most middle and upper class nigerians send their kids to ghana because of the upsurge in ocultic practices and security issues over the last seven years, this we were told.
nigerian degrees also tend to be fake and has lost the shine on it. only if they could straighten up. but alas education is the third largest foreign exchange earner for great britain, why not ghana? lets transform getfund into making our universities more iconic and top league, for there will we amass more foreign exchange than cocoa. don't say i am crazy just ask ahiawodor (my akonta)of akuafo hall and they will tell u the petrol dollars from naija and guinea are oiling the wheels of the new annexes. a word to the wise is in ghana

Author: ABU
Date: 2009-04-05 01:47:20

There are more lessons to be learnt from these Nigerian predicaments as a nation gearing towards oil exporting status.Secondly what is the meaning of "service providers" to us as a nation?.Won't we capitalise on this windfall to upgrade our un learning institutions to be the best in Africa or among the world's best and rake in more foreign currencies for the betterment of our country and at the sametime build and develop our human capacity in the same vain?.

Comment: Fallacy!!
Author: Utchman Johnson
Date: 2009-04-05 02:16:40

Hello Mr.Journalist, I've seen your article, well written, I'd excuse your ignorance because you are not a Nigerian. The truth is that there are so many Nigerians who could not be admitted into the universities because of the carrying capacity. As you rightly said, we are more than 140 million people with less than 200 universities. Nigerian students are found everywhere in the globe and they are very very well. That Nigerians come to Ghana to study does not mean the quality of education there is better. 15 years ago while i was in the university in Nigeria, we had many students of Ghanaian origin other West African countries. So stop this illusion of yours and do more research. On the basis of your fallacy of argumentum ad ignorancia, I pardon you.

[size=14pt]How Did University of Ghana Become Nigeria’s Deus Ex Machina?
By: Tawiah, Benjamin, (2009-04-05) source ghanaweb
More from this columnist
The Deus Ex Machina (god from the machine) is not a particularly desirable thing in the development of any plot. Even in ancient Greek tragedies, where its most notorious user, Euripides, was alleged to have employed the device in nearly half of his plays, it was not seen as the most effective way to resolve the conflict in any dramatic action. Aristotle and Nietzsche criticized Euripides’s rampant engagement of a plot device that seemed to arise from outside the action. When Shakespeare made use of the device in Hamlet, Pericles and The Winters Tale, some of the critics in the renaissance era viewed it as a rough way to tie the pieces together. The Deus Ex Machina is a device that playwrights employ to bail out a desperate situation when all possible means have been exhausted. It is the last resort. For instance, if any playwright decided to write a play about the drama surrounding the use of an office by Ex-president Kufour, the Deus Ex Machina could be used to invoke the spirit of Dr K.A Busia, instructing a tomato farmer to build the former president a beautiful office. That settles the issue. Case closed. If this is the picture the editorial of the Independent, a Nigerian daily newspaper, sought to portray in its April Fool edition, then the oil rich country is in a desperate situation indeed. Yet the editorial, which bemoaned the practice where Nigerian parents are sending their children to schools in Ghana, was emphatic: “Rather than the parents looking out for or examining where they missed the mark, they seek a quick fix or a deux ex machina by abandoning their country to look for solutions in other lands.”

In the publication, the paper sought to examine the effects of the trend and question why ECOWAS ally Ghana, has become the solution to the problem. The Ibadan and Abeokuta neighbours are determined not to short-change their wards, so they are willing to pay any amount in foreign currency, in excess of $6000 to give them quality education. The Lagos based daily opens the report with a very explosive statement: The Nigerian educational system has collapsed. It blames the situation on “…successive military adventures into political offices, and the legendary emphasis on the rule of force over the rule of intellect…” It also criticises otherwise knowledgeable professionals who prefer to make financially rewarding careers in banking, politics and in the oil sectors instead of helping develop talent and build scholarship in Nigeria’s educational institutions. The result is that weaker minds who would not get jobs in other sectors of the economy are those who settle for the classroom. And because a filter will always leave an imprint on that which it filters, the quality of the poor teachers tells on the products that come out from these institutions. With the education centre not holding, things are really falling apart, as their Achebe would say. The situation is as intriguing as the Trial of Brother Jero or even more ironic than Femi Osofisan’s Midnight Hotel. In the end, Nigerians have conceded that The Gods Are Not To Blame; instead the Nigerian system of education is due the blame. So, a Deus Ex Machina is needed to fill the void, this time not from Greece, but from the Republic of Ghana in West Africa.

When I wrote years ago that University of Ghana is a better university than Oxford and Cambridge, folks thought I was employing my own version of the Deus Ex Machina, to paint true a monstrous lie that would not be believed by Tartuffe, or even Iago. However, those same people had no difficulty believing that it was possible for Coriolanus to single-handedly conquer the city of Corioli or even that the tragedy of Hamlet was not possible without the Prince of Denmark. Yet, the commentaries were bitter. And perhaps, it was because Ghanaians often lament their falling standards of education, preferring the universities in the west to ours, without making assurance double sure. The truth, as I pointed out in that article, is that our universities, especially the University of Ghana, prepares students better than the sausage education that is the fetish of the popular universities in England and America. My argument was that most of the universities in the west are interested in developing their infrastructure and maintaining their quality on the profits made from exorbitant fees paid by international students. They don’t care very much about the quality of learning and tuition. I also commented in a recent feature on education that some authorities in the English educational establishment were expressing great concern that the commercialisation of education, a venture targeted at milking the international student, was affecting the quality of the respected English education.

For the umpteenth time, I am putting it on record that my first degree in English, which was presented to me by Prof Ivan Addai-Mensah, prepared me better than the Master of Laws I wasted my brains on in England. And may my head grow like onions in the ground if I ever fail to acknowledge Prof Martin Owusu of The Story Ananse Told fame and Aloysious Denkabe of the University of Ghana’s English Department, whenever I am able to compose a sentence. Of course, Michael Agyemang (Agyengo) of St James Seminary, Sunyani, had earlier sowed the seed when we sat at the banks of the River Wye, recollecting spontaneous emotions in tranquility, as if Tintern Abbey was no Wordsworth’s business. I am unashamed to say that I didn’t have to write an exam to get my LLM. Three assignments and two group presentations were enough to get me the qualification. The dissertation is always a joke. Folks travel to their home countries to fetch somebody’s work and present it after making sure they have changed the names in the acknowledgement. Those who do two related degrees present the same dissertation to two universities. You will not get past the reception of the School of Communication Studies of the University of Ghana with such rapacious intellectual armed robbery.

I have on occasion without number lambasted the MBA degrees awarded by private universities in the UK, particularly the City Banking College, which as the gods will have it, gave affordable diplomas to many African immigrants, especially Ghanaians. Instead, I highly recommend Stephen Adei’s GIMPA as a fantastic place of learning. Now, it seems what to Ghanaians sounded like a parliamentary debate to Agya Koo, rings in the ears of Nigerian as news of the resurrection of the Christ to Mary Magdalene. They believe in our educational system and are coming for it with full Anago force. Soon they will replace our Kenkey and Shito with their Eba and Edikanko, and dress us in Eshiago, instead of Kente. That will also be when our English nosedived into something phonetically sinful and syntactically laughable. After all, Nyame will be better known as Chineke. The good thing, however, is that our women will benefit from expensive shopping, but the most greedy of our Akosuas will have the shopping snatched from their hands by their Ngozis and Nkechis after the Wedlock of The Gods had been completed.

Before that happens, let’s ask: What exactly is the reason why Nigerians are trooping into Ghana lately? Well, that question need not be asked because many of Nigeria’s good schools and universities are staffed by Ghanaian teachers and lecturers. If they can have our teachers, why can’t we have their students? Besides, the Alhajis and the Chiefs are willing to pay dollars to enrich our educational institutions. The paper also laments “Nigerian entrepreneurs have found a safe and stable haven in Ghana. Since the factors of production, especially power, are stable, he can have a safe conjecture on how his business would thrive and so can plan accordingly. In the same vein, petty traders, who have to buy and sell seasonal goods, especially during Easter and Christmas times, have had to go to Ghana to buy them at wholesale to retail in Nigeria since most of the manufacturing companies that had closed shops in Nigeria now find a home in Ghana.”

Like the people of every country, Nigerians are peculiar. They are incredibly entrepreneurial, especially their Ibos. They seem to have a native nosiness for quality and natural curiosity for plenty, especially in the area of money. And they will do anything for it, including selling the Deus Ex Machina itself to the Greece, and pretending that Tafawa Belewa was indeed the inventor of that device. Don’t wait for explanation, because they could well dress a self-made chief with the original robes of Euripides, to come and convince you how he wrote Medea or indeed Sophocles’s Oedipus. They are very creative people. They are about 140 million, and even the dullest among them appears businesslike and venturesome. They have many of the continents most important scholars. Their Wole Soyinka ever won a Nobel Prize in Literature. Achebe’s works have a place in our hearts. They have good universities and many rich people. Some of their pastors own private jets. Mercedes Benz cars are very common. They have good taste. You would ask: Why is a country full of talent making a mess of her education? Is it not interesting that they have had to rely on the 22Million population of Ghana to fill important holes in their educational institutions? Don’t they have quality human resource?

Well, perhaps, the best way to answer this question is to look at the background of their modern politicians. Maybe with the exception of their current president, none of their other presidents ever had a university degree. Well, so we were told. Their last election was a complete sham, something international observers could not immediately summon the vocabulary to describe. Ours was a generational success, the continent’s pride. Or could it be that Ghanaians are ‘slow but sure’ gems who would have done much better for themselves if they had the numbers the Nigerians are dealing with? Both countries are poor in spite of their abundant natural resources. One is blessed with abundant oil and should be a middle income country by now; the other has cocoa and Gold, and found oil in bigger quantities only recently. The relative peace and comfort in Ghana, and indeed the prospects of the new found oil, seem to be the attraction for the Nigerians.

What do all these mean to us? They pose a challenge. We need to stop lamenting the fallen standards of education in Ghana, and concentrate on effective capacity building in our universities. If the standards were that bad, folks from Ikeja and Port Harcourt will not cross borders to tap our scholarship. We need to introduce a rather broad range of academic programmes that will answer to the needs of globalisation. And yes, the University of Ghana should by now have a good student newspaper. As for the Nigerians, they are always welcome to borrow from us, but they would do well to develop a good plot for their story, because the Deus Ex machina is not a very effective device.

Benjamin Tawiah is a journalist; he lives in Ottawa.

Email: btawiah@hotmail.com, quesiquesi@hotmail.co.uk[/size]

[size=22pt]"We prefer going to Ghana seeking admission because the country has one of the best university systems in West Africa," declared Patience Uka, 17. "Sierra Leone and Liberia have just come out of a bloody civil war. Thus some of their universities are yet to recover. And Gambia is very far from Nigeria." [/size]

still on it!

for those wishin yarafool death, the man dey kampe, he aint gona die, u watch and see

however, his kinmen are masquradin for replacement abi, sad

nonetheless the nigerians constitution meant that the vp should take over in such event

then what did the north said on that

u see mr man i not here to fool round like some people from church or mosque runin around with knife, killin and swearin on their gadamn gods

^^^^

listen my friend

my post aint just about north, and nl knows that!

u see for so long now, i ve been wondering the reason nl dnt have enough members from the north, me glad things are changin

i blast, south east west so north shouldnt be exempted me afraid

u seen becomerich galvanising for seperation, u watched me spit it out that biafara is dead long ago, u watch the fight going on in delta under ur guise

like i also say, who doesnt like 1 nigeria, but beyound that, i think there are issues to address here

and the north must, i repeat wake up and stop foolin around

me dnt care if ur sultan dnt like what he read here, na una gworo slowpoke sabi

general zooman

post ur pic

the stuburn north oh yes are on the verge to do it again, do as it suit them

breakin 10 yrs cbn rules; to let the forigners get their credit crunch hand on our banks

just wonderin

oh yes, i dnt see the reason anyone should worrri

but u will be the first to cry murder when the niger-delta spit fire

idddddddddddddddddddddddotttttttttttttttttts!!

gayigaskia

nl arent meant for zooman like u

gaylord hmm

listen man

it either u speak for sango or not

cuz that make oduduwa what it is, abi

oh no u are an oyibo man of god now right, interesting init

well the question u should be askin is how do we remove the agreed yoruba inclusively from naija, simple

i can bet u kwara and others arent having it

the truth is most nl are jealous, and that just that

check every post i made, than watch the barrage, aboki can u read at all

zooman, hahhaha zoo slowpoke wetin naw

ikeyman aka superman, u must be jokin all yall fake gworo chewer foolin and masquradin under koran, god be my judge odes

there was even a time Sealgal said in her post that she never ever see anyone as patriotic as ikeyman;can u picture that

the time of sleepin in the mat and roamin around with cattle has come and gone and the north must know that

zoo man get that

buhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahha

hangerman

post ur pic

im waitin

and hey are u monkielady tpia's boyfrd

just wondering

so hangerman u got less than 24 hrs walahi

u smelly gay cant

hangerman

post ur pic

im waitin

and hey are u monkielady tpia's boyfrd

just wondering

so hangerman u got less than 24 hrs walahi

real truth

no problemanioooooooo!! stay tuned

u are real hanger!! ^^^ haha for real

NIGERIA: Nearly 300,000 denied university places
Tunde Fatunde
20 July 2008
Issue: 0009




More than a million Nigerian youngsters wrote qualifying tests conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, hoping to clinch a university place. But universities can accept only 153,000 out of 448,000 successful candidates, meaning that 295,000 qualified would-be students will be denied admission to higher education when the 2008-09 academic year begins in October.

Three accredited agencies formulate policies regarding admission to Nigeria's 93 public and private universities. They are the National Universities Commission (NUC), the Committee of Vice-Chancellors in Ni gerian Universities (CVCNU) and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).

According to JAMB Registrar, Professor Adedibu Ojerinde, last year's qualifying minimum score - 160 points out of the maximum 400 - has been raised to 170. Ojerinde said examination candidates had "demonstrated a great deal of improvement" - but to no avail for most in terms of accessing university. Of the more than 1 million people who sat the qualifying tests, only 153,000 will be admitted to university.

Under the current admission criteria, universities must admit students using the following formula: 45% of slots are awarded on merit alone, 35% are allocated to students in the university's catchment area, and 20% to what is known as "educationally disadvantaged states".

Despite "positive discrimination" in the admission policy, some states in the Nigerian Federation cannot fill their quota. "Even if we bring the cut-off point to 150, some states cannot fill their quota because the candidates are just not there," Ojerinde lamented.

He believes that "educationally disadvantaged states" should do more to promote higher education among their citizens. "We need to encourage the states that are behind to find a way of catching up, and I don't think it is all about poverty. It is more of a carefree attitude, poor appreciation of the value of education and also parents' attitude to education," he said.




The Nigerian public and higher education policy makers are worried that only a third of youngsters who scored marks above the cut-off point of 170 points will gain admission to university.

"Not even 50% of qualified candidates can enter the four walls of the university this coming academic session. This is unacceptable," declared Margaret Effiong, a primary school teacher in Abuja, Nigeria's capital.

Professor Osilesi Odutola, Vice-chancellor of Olabisi Adebanjo University in Ago-Iwoye in south-west Nigeria, is of the opinion that drastic steps should be taken to reverse the trend of qualified candidates being denied admission for lack of space.

"More private universities should be given operational licences, while existing universities should be strengthened to admit more students," he suggested.

The same view was recently expressed by Professor Adebayo Odebiyi, Vice-chancellor of Achievers' University in Owo, also in south-west Nigeria: "Government alone cannot solve the country's education problems therefore it is essential that private institutions and individuals should be allowed to establish more universities in line with NUC guidelines," he said.

Immediate past Executive Secretary of the NUC, Professor Peter Okebukola, proffered the following solution: the Higher School Certificate should be the minimum entry qualification into universities; selected polytechnics and colleges should be given degree-awarding status; and the Open University of Nigeria should be strengthened to accommodate more undergraduates.

Meanwhile, many young Nigerians armed with ordinary and higher school certificates are travelling to other West African countries in search of admission into a university. They can easily undertake such trips because of the free movement of people, goods and services enshrined in the treaty of the Economic Community of West African States.

These Nigerian youths can be categorised into two groups: the first is made up of those who want to obtain higher education in English-speaking countries such as Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Gambia - with Ghana the most popular destination.

"We prefer going to Ghana seeking admission because the country has one of the best university systems in West Africa," declared Patience Uka, 17. "Sierra Leone and Liberia have just come out of a bloody civil war. Thus some of their universities are yet to recover. And Gambia is very far from Nigeria."

Uka plans to travel by road from Lagos to Accra with a group of friends, seeking admission to a university in Ghana.

The second group consists of would-be students who want to obtain a degree in French. They have sent applications to universities in Francophone countries in West Africa.

More and more secondary school leavers will obtain the minimum qualification to enter universities - and the inability of existing universities to absorb them will continue to be a nightmare for the Nigerian Government
http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20080717163852504

buhahaaa

in this thread

^^^^^^^
[size=28pt]70% morons and losers [/size]

who will ever take this man serious

who !! not even his mother, nawooo

wasnt u that said few weeks ago emm that fg got days left to let go becomerich family yorobos to affiliate with benin else earth will let lose

those days has come and gone, still u are sitting there like some pussi hahhhaha

abeg dnt take your wasted years out on nigeria

stop acting like a slowpoke

bashali u are joke for real, just like ur illeterate northern bro lamidobi; one of then foolish gworo dug out fellow

adexfem
and whats your cost of clearing

honda accord 2000 salon

thanks

the north has to know that the world in the cattle-rearing days has come and gone. U cannot continue sleeping in the mat in the name of happy living. the world is poluted and the north has to recognise that; the world is a global village and u got to protect your exsitence and substainance as well

U cannot continue to kill your fellow nigerians and burning properties in the name of allah??

we all know that the koran is agaisnt that?? and shouldnt be masqurading under the shadow for so long, the north need to know that! Yall seen how people of iran stood up agaisnt the arabs yall love to look up and imitates!! wonder if yall ever learn anything from that

just wondering!!

it high time yall say no to the likes of sultan, ibb and co

Nevertheless north cannot continue fooling themselves to externity

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/06/22/article-1194641-056D352F000005DC-417_468x286.jpg
Iranian men desperately try to help her, applying pressure to stop the bleeding

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/06/22/article-1194641-056CC9B5000005DC-612_468x345.jpg
But there is little they can do as she has been shot through the heart

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/06/22/article-1194641-056EC86D000005DC-228_468x349.jpg
Seconds later, it is clear Neda has lost her brief fight for life

for how long will the north continue foooling themselves. As we all know they always look up to the fate-wanabees bredens in the middle east. We all see the sad event going on in Iran as we speak on television.

we saw series of protest going on, we watch them saying no to the so called islamic dictatorship, we are watching protest for days in the street

So far the sad part of it is the death of Neda agha Soltani, who was shot by the militia!! what has an average mallam learn, are they busy roasting suya, or are they too occupied with the mosque thing

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/06/22/article-1194641-056EC924000005DC-500_468x343.jpg
Gunned down: Neda collapses on the floor after being shot

Varsity teachers go on indefinite strike; guardian; 23 jun 09
From Niyi Bello (Akure), Ifedayo Sayo (Ado-Ekiti), Iyabo Lawal (Ibadan), Alemma-Ozioruva Aliu (Benin City) and Emmanuel Badejo (Lagos)

ANOTHER crisis has hit the Nigerian public university system as the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) yesterday in Akure, Ondo State capital, after a National Executive Council (NEC) meeting at the Federal University of Technology (FUTA) declared "a total and indefinite strike" over what the union called "the continued negligence, failure and refusal of government to sign an agreement" reached with the ASUU team since December 2008.

At a press briefing to signal the take-off of the industrial action, National President of ASUU, Prof. Ukachukwu Awuzie, said the union was "constrained to take the painful decision to declare a total and indefinite strike to compel the government to take the path of honour for once and sign the agreement reached after more than two years of painstaking and scientific negotiations."

The union blamed its recourse to the "avoidable option of strike action" on the Federal Government which it said must be made to bear full responsibility while urging "the public, our students, patriotic groups and individuals to appeal to government to sign and implement the agreement reached by the negotiating teams."

In 2006, in a bid to review the workability of the 2001 agreement reached by ASUU and the Federal Government, former President Olusegun Obasanjo set up the Gamaliel Onosode team to negotiate with the union on how to resolve all the issues raised by the university teachers in the agitation for improvement in the country's university system.

ASUU had approached the team led by Onosode on the government side with the assistance of technical advisers from the Judiciary, Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Allocation Commission (RMFAC) and other important stakeholders with a four-point agenda on university funding, improved conditions of service, university autonomy and academic freedom as well as other miscellaneous demands that included alternative funding and assurance that more Nigerians get access to quality university education.

After a two-year period, during which the union leadership said it continually persuaded members to avoid a major crisis, meeting points were arrived at on the various issues raised at the negotiation table and everything was set for the signing of the agreement to precede implementation.

According to Awuzie, who was flanked at the briefing by members of the union executive council, "the negotiating teams searched for, and arrived at minimal conditions for reversing the decay in the university system and these include an agreement that if Nigeria is to get to where it ought to be, a minimum of 26 per cent of the yearly budget of the states and the Federal Government should be allocated to education.

"With this level of funding, we can halt the growing inability of the children of the underprivileged to get education. The teams also agreed that, in line with what the Nigerian Constitution allows, the Federal Government should as appropriate, provide assistance to states in areas of higher education.

"We arrived at an agreement on conditions of service that could motivate scholars sufficiently to stay in our country and teach, do research and community service, assuming that a good degree of patriotism would make up for the differences that might obtain in African countries that raid Nigeria for academics.

"Both teams also agreed upon series of provisions that would actively protect and promote university autonomy and academic freedom. We agreed on better qualification for members of university councils and we have agreed to propose to the National Assembly as amendments of certain laws in order to give the universities more autonomy."

The ASUU leadership however said it was piqued by the insensitivity of the government signing the agreements, stressing that while the delay lasted, the rot in the system continued to go deeper "with a paltry 2.2 per cent allocated for the education sector in this year's budget even though the Abdulsalam Abubakar regime, years ago, presented a budget with 11 per cent allocation to the sector."

Describing the attitude of government as deceitful, the union said "in March, we were told that the agreement would be signed before the end of April. At the end of April, we were told that it would be signed on May 7. On May 7, we were told the Permanent Secretary, who has no role in signing the papers, was not in the country.

"On May 10, we got a text message inviting us for the signing on Tuesday, May 12 at the NUC. When we got there, there was no programme. The event turned out to be a classic case of deception. Enough is enough."

However, at the University of Benin, some faculties went ahead with their first semester examination yesterday apparently to finish the semester before they would join the strike.

But at the Edo State-owned Ambrose Ali University (AAU), Ekpoma, the strike was total as the local chapter of ASUU had embarked on an indefinite strike since almost two weeks now to protest the full implementation of 2006 federal tax laws by the state government.

The Ilorin zone of the union has said the strike would not be called off until the Federal Government signed the newly-reached FGN/ASUU agreement.

Already, the strike has stalled the first semester examination of the University of Ado-Ekiti (UNAD) billed to begin next month as the zonal co-ordinator of the Ilorin Zone of the union, Prof. Eddy Olanipekun, said no academic activity would be allowed during the duration of the strike.

And on its own, the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) of University of Ibadan yesterday began a one-week strike to press for improved welfare package, including their salaries and other allowances said to be their entitlements.

The industrial action, expected to be called off next Monday, essentially affected the second semester 2008/2009 examination of the premier university, scheduled to begin yesterday.

The union had earlier informed the university of its intention to begin the action, should it fail to address the continuous controversy over the welfare issue.

And to ensure compliance, the union members as early as 7.00 a.m. went round the university, chasing away students and porters while they were shutting the classrooms.

Although the protest was peaceful, it was gathered that NASU members went as far as spreading mats on the floor in front of the university main entrance, to prevent any vehicular movement either from or into the university.

From Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo, 06.23.2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009 this day

Osun

Eleven suspected killers of a 12-year-old girl in Ifon, Ifon Orolu Local Government area of Osun State, are now in Police net at the state Police Command ,Osogbo.

The victim, Rofiat Ojewole, was untill her untimely death a pupil of Eternal Rock Primary School, Ifon.The girl was said to have been killed for ritual purposes last Monday.

THISDAY investigation revealed that after the killing of the girl inside a church located in the heart of the town, all her vital organs were removed. It was said that on her return from school on that faithful day, her mother sent her on short errand to fetch water at the back of the church and was apprehended by her killers who allegedly slashed her throat.

Her body was later found inside the church by a relative after a frantic search for about four hours.

Meanwhile, irate youths in the town had razed down the church completely.

While confirming the urgly incident, the police image maker, ASP Olabode Akinola , said the police will get to the root of the matter soonest. He said the head of the church was alleged to have masterminded the killing of the girl.

Consequently, the traditional ruler of the town, Olufon of Ifon-Orolu , Oba Alumaru Mongbagbeola, had earlier called for calm, saying the wicked people were out to destablise the peace and serenity of the peaceful community.

femm

i guess u and u and u and ur cousin, bro nko

hey no one in my crew has

so bug off