I just realized I can't find my vfs biometrics receipts. What option do I have for passport submission? Anybody with a similar experience?

I'm a silent observer on the group. Got PPR on 12th September
AOR 3RD MARCH 2019
BIOMETRICS 26TH APRIL
MEP 31ST MAY
1ST GHOST 4TH SEPTEMBER
2ND GHOST 12TH SEPTEMBER
PPR 12TH September
Family of 3
Country of Residence. Nigeria
The group has been quite enlightening.

Let us take a look at examples of these inconclusive elections.

Case Number (1)
IMO GUBER ELECTIONS 2015
Okorocha( APGA) —-385,671
Ihedioha( PDP) ——-306,142
Margin———79,529
Cancelled votes——-144,715

Case Number (2)
ANAMBRA SENATORIAL ELECTION 2011
Dora Akunyili( APGA) ——-66,273
Chris Ngige ( ACN) ——65,576
Margin —697
INEC declared the elections inconclusive because elections did not take place in some wards with a voting population that was higher than the margin of victory.

Case Number (3)
KOGI GUBER ELECTION 2015
Abubakar Audu( APC) —-240,867
Wada Idris ( PDP) —199,514
Margin —————41,353
Cancelled votes ———49,953
Again, the margin here was less than the cancellations and was rightly declared inconclusive by Professor Mahmood Yakubu led INEC.

CASE NUMBER (4)
BAYELSA GUBER ELECTIONS 2015
Dickson ( PDP) ——-105,748
Sylva ( APC)——72,594
Margin ——-33,154
In the case of Bayelsa, a contraption of an election had taken place in Southern Ijaw which had Sylva winning the entire 120,000 votes in that area,

CASE NUMBER (5)
ANAMBRA GUBER ELECTION 2013
Obiano ( APGA) —174,710
Tony Nwoye ( PDP) —-94,956
Margin——-79,754
Cancelled votes——-113,113
Again the Commission under Jega declared it inconclusive and the PDP celebrated it as a bold move

PMB....anyday anytime anywhere. Short speech that hits the nail on the head

They went for the ritual of stoning the devil and over 700 people died. E dey like devil don really vex on top their head o. Abeg if you no strong no dey try stone devil o.
Rest in peace to the dead but I can't help thinking about why Africans just can't get off religion and rituals

Dominic Iorfa...he was at King Fahd Cup in 1995

President Goodluck Jonathans PHD thesis is on the topic "Behavioural Predictions Peculiar to West African Dwarf Goat (Carpa Hircus) when Placed in Close Proximity with Juicy Fat White Yams (Discorea Rotundata) in an Unsupervised Environment

BackDatAssUp:
www.nairaland.com/attachments/2056002_buharicertificateforged_jpeg2382ff4842bffe1a8208a471a266a1bf

stick to the topic

Mogidi:
Friend of the Igbos indeed.

I think you are being sentimental. Where is your evidence that over 70 projects were in the North. People say things, we dont verify and then we swallow hook line and sinker. Show us a source of that information based on data not on a politician's opinion

Post-Jonathan S/East politics: Why Buhari is Igbos’ best bet 

BY OUR REPORTER ON JANUARY 22, 2015

BY RICHARD ANYAMELE

President Goodluck Jonathan and General Mahummadu Buhari will soon know their fate, but the truth is that Jonathan’s (South-south) rule is as good as over. In 2011, Igbos voted Jonathan en masse and many were deluded to believe that after him, it would be the turn of Ndigbo. How some Igbos bought the cheap ploy beats imagination but even now, many still hold that after Jonathan, an Igbo man would move in.

In 2003, when Buhari first made his appearance for the presidency, some of us argued that the future of Igbo politics was on hand and that Igbo leaders should discuss with the PDP and ANPP on power rota­tion. Others argued that such was anachronistic, that qualifications (whatever that means) should de­cide who rules. But, only greed and sycophancy spoke thus. More than less, Nigerian politics is balancing ethnic, religious and class inter­ests. No one needs recall the MKO Abiola/Kingibe Moslem/Moslem ticket because it did not test the cause/effect equilibrium.

When we argued in 2003 that 2007/2011 had come, Ohaneze dis­missed it off hand and so President Jonathan/PDP coasted home with­out any commitment on the future of Igbo presidency. Even now, the 2015 presidential election in partic­ular is lost and won without Ndigbo as crown prince but this high place of honour can still be protected as the fair due.

Sixteen years since the return of partisan politics in Nigeria, the highest post Igbos have held is Senate president; i.e., Number Three. The South-West has held President, Speaker (Number Four) and now poised for Num­ber Two. The South-south has Number One; the North-East Number One and now enters the North-West.

Ohaneze talks about cargo air­port in Enugu and Federal roads that Jonathan failed to build and believing that if he assures them now, they would endorse him shows the level of political imma­turity and culture of quick profits dominant in the region.

As 2015 is playing out, Yoruba leaders are thinking of 2019 and beyond. Ohaneze leaders seem short-sighted and lack political strategies that look far ahead. Politics is give and take but Igbo politicians are ever caught in nar­row interests so that the big pic­ture eludes them completely.

Among Nigerian politicians, Buhari is one man that consid­ers others more than average. Since 2003, he has maintained he would run one term only. Many may say he is a politician and would change his mind at the end of one term but one thing I can say for sure is that Buhari is one politician who would support a Nigerian president of Igbo ex­traction on the basis of equity.

After Obasanjo’s eight years and Jonathan’s current six years and another four years if he can, it will be difficult to persuade the North to relinquish power to the South (East) after just one term.

Buhari’s sense of fairness is incomparable. While other for­mer heads of states collect N300 million yearly allowance, Buhari requested and gets N30 million in­stead. I make bold to say that 2019 and beyond is now and the best bet for the Igbo in the national power equation is Buhari. If the matter is presented to him now; not after the elections, he will give it fair hear­ing.

Injustice rules the nations be­cause it is tit for tat everywhere. There is no way Igbos will push Jonathan now as in 2011 and ex­pect support from the North in future national political contests. Politics is mathematics and strat­egy rolled into one. If one miscal­culates, that is it!

Dr. Ekwueme midwifed geo-politics and rotation. Obasanjo killed the idea and Jonathan now oversees the final burial. Yet, the loser is the Igbo nation more than Ijaw or the Niger Delta, for, at the end of the day, both zones will be marginalized after the marriage of the North and the South-west. And while the South-south has been there, same cannot be said of the Igbo nation. And, what a pity for a people that used to be at the commanding heights of Nigerian politics!

It is not enough for Ohaneze to withhold endorsing Jonathan. That will not give Ndigbo a fighting chance in the future power game.

It does not lie with Obasanjo to help Igbo presidency, or with Jonathan, because the south is one when it comes to that. There is no law that says the three southern zones must share rotational power equally or one after the other. It is same for the North. Northern zones will broker deals with the south and vice versa. If Buhari wins and later steps down, there is no law that says the south-west should not push for the presidency and they will and which is already playing out.

From Zik’s time to now, Ndigbo have paid their dues and practised statesmanship at its best.But, no one gives you power and no one gives up power like that. Jonathan will not give up power unless he must, that is, his time expires. All over the country, the roads and the faces tell their stories. For one oiled face you see, 100 wrinkled faces are fixed at you; for two per­sons that speak well, twenty speak ill. In fact, for one PDP member that praises him, two are bitter with President Jonathan.

If Ekwueme says Jonathan took Igbo nation for granted, Obasanjo says the man bit the hand that fed him and Babangida tells us that Jonathan’s government is report­edly more corrupt than his, no one can dismiss the charges as ranting of ants or conspiracy borne of in­jured vanities. Incidentally, the three Nigerian former leaders are PDP fathers. So, we see disillu­sionment coming from within and without.

General Gowon said in 1970 that there was no victor, no vanquished. The world held its breath to see if Nigeria would survive the peace. We have, but Igbos have paid unfair political price. Today, the North has Gowon, Shagari, Bu­hari, Babangida and Abdulsalam as living former heads of state. The South-west has Obasanjo and Shonekan. The South-south has Jonathan while the Igbo nation, one of the three main pillars of Ni­gerian nation and nationalism, has no one to stand for the race at the highest political level. Does this not call for urgent reprieve?

National power game is no sentimental affair. Whether the South-south returns South-east goodwill tomorrow or not is a mat­ter of conjecture but what is not in doubt is that Igbos will need the South-west and the North to oc­cupy Aso Rock in the future if the race thinks seriously in that direc­tion and the time to start cultivat­ing cross border goodwill is now.

Ohaneze is too compromised to rise to this challenge. It is left to Ekwueme to invite two Igbo lead­ers from each of the five states and take Governor Rochas Okorocha and Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu to present Buhari the Igbo declaration: Igbos did not survive Biafra to become seventh class citizens in Nigeria. We want equity. Have our votes now and promise us our chance next.

The North is not going to stay out of power for twenty years, and retired generals are not going to watch their own beaten a fourth time. The 2015 presidential race is over and the next contest is being negotiated. Today, not tomorrow is time to start building the bridges – for many bridges must be crossed to get there!

.Anyamele writes from Lagos.

http://sunnewsonline.com/new/?p=101301

iterator24:
ode! read this

m.allafrica.com/stories/201501050682.html/?secid=10195

You want me to believe Olukayode that said the army had rescued the chibok girls or announced a useless ceasefire. Nonsense...i will rather belive anybody else than Olukayode

DEATHMACHINE:
lies from the pit if hell

How is Lies from the Pit of hell..bY the way what is pit of hell? You are sounding like the retardeen and his clueless followers already

Mutual mistrust between US and Nigeria at heart of failed cooperation on Boko Haram

A revealing report by the New York Times on the faltering relationship between Nigeria and the United States of America has shown that when the Pentagon came up with what it called “actionable intelligence” from drone flights on information that might have indicated the location of some of the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls and turned it over to the Nigerian military commanders to pursue, they did nothing with the information.
Soon after the Islamist group Boko Haram kidnapped nearly 300 teenage girls in Nigeria in April, the United States sent surveillance drones and about 30 intelligence and security experts to help the Nigerian military try to rescue them. General David Rodriguez, the top general for US missions in Africa, rushed from his headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany, to help the commanders in the crisis.
Seven months later, the drone flights have dwindled, many of the advisers have gone home and not one of the kidnapped girls has been found. Many are believed to have been married off to Boko Haram fighters, who in the past six months have seized hundreds more civilians, including children, planted bombs in Nigerian cities and captured entire towns.
In Washington, that fleeting moment of co-operation between Nigeria and the United States in May has now devolved into finger-pointing and stoked the distrust between the two countries' militaries. Nigeria's ambassador to the United States has accused the Obama administration of failing to support the fight against Boko Haram, prompting the State Department to fire back with condemnations of the Nigerian military's dismal human rights record.
"Tensions in the US-Nigeria relationship are probably at their highest level in the past decade," Johnnie Carson, the State Department's former top diplomat for Africa, said in an interview. "There is a high degree of frustration on both sides. But this frustration should not be allowed to spin out of control."
In Stuttgart, officials at the headquarters of US Africa Command offered their own bleak assessment of a corruption-plagued, poorly equipped Nigerian military that is "in tatters" as it confronts an enemy that now controls about 20 per cent of the country.
"Ounce for ounce, Boko Haram is equal to if not better than the Nigerian military," said one US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss operational reports.
The violence is, in the meantime, spilling into neighbouring countries like Cameroon, which carried out its first airstrikes against Boko Haram this week, after militants overran a military base and attacked five villages there. Despite Boko Haram's advances, US embassy officials in Nigeria's capital city, Abuja, said the country had cancelled the last stage of US training of a newly created Nigerian army battalion.
The United States' original effort to help locate and rescue the girls produced scant results, US and Nigerian officials said, in part because of distrust. Although the United States reached an agreement with Nigeria last spring to share some intelligence, American officials did not include raw intelligence data because they believe that Boko Haram has infiltrated the Nigerian security services.
The United States has flown several hundred surveillance drone flights over the vast, densely forested regions in the northeast where the girls were seized, but officials in Stuttgart said that with few tips to guide the missions, the flights yielded little information, while diverting drones from other missions in war zones like Iraq and Syria.
When the Pentagon did come up with what it calls "actionable intelligence" from the drone flights – for example, information that might have indicated the location of some of the girls – and turned it over to the Nigerian commanders to pursue, they did nothing with the information, Africa Command officials said
In addition, US security assistance to Nigeria has been sharply limited by American legal prohibitions against close dealings with foreign militaries that have engaged in human rights abuses.
Last summer, the United States blocked the sale of American-made Cobra attack helicopters to Nigeria from Israel, amid concerns in Washington about Nigeria's ability to use and maintain that type of helicopter in its effort against Boko Haram, and continuing worries about Nigeria's protection of civilians when conducting military operations.
Those restrictions have drawn sharp criticism from Nigerian officials. In a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York in November, Nigeria's ambassador to the United States, Adebowale Ibidapo Adefuye, said his government was dissatisfied with the "scope, nature and content" of US support in the fight against Boko Haram. He also disputed allegations of human rights violations committed by Nigerian soldiers.
"We find it difficult to understand how and why in spite of the US presence in Nigeria with their sophisticated military technology, Boko Haram should be expanding and becoming more deadly," he said.
Adefuye accused Washington of failing to provide the lethal weapons needed to defeat Boko Haram. In June, the Pentagon gave Nigeria some Toyota trucks, communications equipment and body armour. "There is no use giving us the type of support that enables us to deliver light jabs to the terrorists when what we need to give them is the killer punch," the ambassador said.
Adefuye's speech prompted a strong response from the State Department the next day. "We continue to urge Nigeria to investigate allegations of abuses perpetrated by Nigerian security forces, as well as offer Nigeria assistance in developing the doctrine and training needed to improve the military's effectiveness," Jen Psaki, the State Department spokeswoman, told reporters in Washington. "We wouldn't be raising that concern if we didn't feel and others didn't feel that they were warranted."
Groups like Human Rights Watch say the Nigerian military has at times burned hundreds of homes and committed other abuses as it battled Boko Haram and its presumed supporters.
By this time, co-operation on the ground was also wearing thin. When Maj. Gen. James B. Linder, the head of US special operations forces in Africa, visited Nigeria in late October, he was barred from visiting the base where US trainers were instructing the new Nigerian army battalion created to help fight Boko Haram. Linder was left waiting at the gate in what some US officials viewed as another dig at the Pentagon. Africa Command officials insisted it was a "co-ordination issue that was remedied with a meeting later in the day".
"We continue to engage with Nigeria on a broad range of training, equipping, and information-sharing projects across all of the military services," Benjamin Benson, an Africa Command spokesman, said in an email.
Secretary of State John Kerry called Nigeria's president, Goodluck Jonathan, on Tuesday in part to discuss Boko Haram.
The strains between the two militaries are not new, and with Nigeria preparing for national elections in February, US officials fear that earlier assessments may overtake their cautious optimism from the spring.
Testifying before House and Senate hearings, administration officials in May offered an unusually candid criticism of the Nigerian military. "We're now looking at a military force that's, quite frankly, becoming afraid to even engage," said Alice Friend, the Pentagon's principal director for African affairs at the time.
Sarah Sewall, the undersecretary of state for civilian security, democracy and human rights, said at a separate hearing that despite Nigeria's $5.8 billion security budget for 2014, "corruption prevents supplies as basic as bullets and transport vehicles from reaching the front lines of the struggle against Boko Haram".

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/revealed-actionable-intelligence-from-us-on-chibok-girls-was-ignored-by-military/198212/

http://www.smh.com.au/world/with-schoolgirls-still-missing-fragile-usnigeria-ties-falter-20150103-12gn73.html

Shocking, outrageous. ?

Hi could you help me check for this vin Pls
1HGCM56496A037934
1HGCM56496AO37934
You can send it to my email: kb80atmp@yahoo.com
thanks

pictures pls

Do u cargo from Glasgow

You mess for church na so statue of jesus remove hand from cross cover nose

Hybee2493: 1. He doesn't care about grooming.
If a guy doesn't care about the way he looks , hair clothes bla bla. Na so girls go just they pass no even the occasional staring like okada light.

2. He doesn't touch or hold girls
He is too uptight Nd too careful about his personal, he doesn't like to move near women or he is scared to do so, girls like to b touched,held Nd cuddled Nd if u dnt do so well.

3. He has a dirty room or apartment
He doesn't care about his apartment being neat, just lives like a squirrel in a tree

4. His friends has no female friends
If a guys friends doesn't av female friends chances are he too is in the same predicament, show me ur friend Nd I will tell u who u are. Birds of d same feathers flock together

5. The guy has no packaging or branding
I dnt tink I nid to stress on this one just forget it if u d guy doesn't av

6. He can't put his ego down sometimes
Girls like too prove, if u can't put ur ego down sometimes Nd just agree with her or do sometins dat u shouldn't do in d first place.

7.he is too serious about girls Nd doesn't check them out
One tin is girls like playing, all of them

8. He is too shy Nd scared of talking to girls

9. He doesn't av that one tin dat differentiate him from oda guys

10. His kitchen or toilet is always dirty
Agreed u may nt cook but gals like to check out guys kitchens, I dnt knw wy but they do

This na for naija girls wey no dey look pass surface things..clothes, cars and looks...na so una go continue the miss road..when you are deep..you will look beyond the outside and then personality will shine through..grooming can always come later but when the personality..the real man within is correct u are halfway through..no wonder lots of people end up with heartbreaks because with the right packaging you fall for crap

Union signs MoU with FG

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) will suspend the five months strike next week after the union signed a Memorandum of Understanding to that effect with Federal Government on Wednesday

ASUU President, Dr. Nasir Fagge, who signed the agreement on behalf of the union, confirmed to journalists that the strike would be called off next week following agreement signed by both parties.

Fagge said the MoU contained all the demands presented by the union.
http://thenationonlineng.net/new/strike-fg-ASUU-sign-mou/

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (CON), Governor, Central Bank Of Nigeria, alarmed at the unbridled theft of crude oil earnings by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and cronies of President Goodluck Jonathan wrote and hand delivered the letter reproduced below to the president on September, 25 2013.

H.E. Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan

President and Commander-in-Chief

Federal Republic of Nigeria

State House

Abuja



Your Excellency,



Subjects:

Non-Repatriation to the Federation Account by Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) of $49.8 Billion representing 76% of the value of crude oil liftings in 2012 and 2013
Failure of NNPC to pay N22billion Nigerian Export Supervision Scheme (NESS) Levy
Other Related matters



I am constrained to formally write your Excellency, documenting serious concerns of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the continued failure of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to repatriate significant proportions of the proceeds of crude oil shipments it made in gross violation of the law. Sources of Federation Account Revenues include proceeds from Export of Nigeria’s crude oil by the NNPC, Petroleum Profits Taxes, and Penalties for gas flaring, oil exploration licenses and concession block allocations, etc.

Our analysis of the value of crude oil export proceeds based on the documentation received from pre-shipment inspectors shows that between January 2012 and July 2014 NNPC lifted 594,024,107 barrels of crude valued at $65,332,350,514.57. Out of this amount, NNPC repatriated only $15,528,410,098.77 representing 24% of the value. This means the NNPC is yet to account for, and repatriate to the Federation Account, an amount in excess of $49.804 billion or 76% of the value of oil lifted in the same period.

Your Excellency, I have attached as an appendix, a table giving the analysis of the crude oil lifting and repatriations as prepared by staff of Trade & Exchange and Banking & Payments System Departments of the CBN based on the firm documentation in their possession. The failure of NNPC to repatriate these amounts constitutes not only a violation of constitutional provisions but also of both the Foreign Exchange (Monitoring and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act No. 17 of 1995 and the Pre-Shipment Inspection of Exports Act No. 10 of 1996 which stipulates that “An exporter of goods, including petroleum products, shall open, maintain and operate a foreign currency domiciliary account in Nigeria into which shall be paid all exports proceeds corresponding to the entire proceeds of the exports concerned”.

Your Excellency, you will recall that as far back as late 2010, I had verbally expressed deep concern about what appeared to be huge shortfalls in remittances to the Federation Account in spite of the strong recovery in oil price. At a recent NEMT meeting in the Presidency, I also expressed a strong view that while Government needs to continue its effort to combat oil thieves, vandals and illegal refineries in the Niger-Delta, the major problem is transactions taking place under legal cover with huge revenue leakages embedded therein.

Your Excellency, it is my respectful view that a place to begin is to insist on NNPC to account fully for all proceeds that were diverted away from its accounts with the CBN and the Federation Account. There are also other lines of inquiry which your Excellency may wish to authorize and pursue. These include;

A thorough audit of activity on any domiciliary accounts held by NNPC outside of the CBN. This is because the CBN has no record of either the dollar proceeds of these diverted sales or the naira equivalent being transferred to the Federation Account.
An examination of banking records of companies involved in Oil lifting and swap deals, including audit trails of regular payments to third-parties;
An independent review of the terms and condition of Oil lifting and swap contracts for fairness and equity and transparency;
Investigation and prosecution of Bureau de change (BDC) that have purchased hundreds of millions of dollars from the inter-bank market and are unable to account for these monies. We have compiled a list of these companies with recommendations for prosecution under Anti-money Laundering Laws;
Investigation of obvious avenues for money laundering, such as companies that sell private jets to Nigerians.

The Central Bank stands ready to render full assistance and provide as much data as possible to assist these inquiries.

Your Excellency, as an indicator of how bad this situation has become, please note that in 2012 alone, the Federation Account received $28.51billion in Petroleum Profits and related taxes but only $10.13billion from crude oil proceeds. In the period January-July 2013 the corresponding figures are $16.65 billion and $5.39 billion, respectively. This means, Your Excellency, that in the first seven months of the year, taxes accounted for 76% of the total inflow from this sector, while NNPC crude oil proceeds, accounted for only 24%.

You will also note, Your Excellency, that NNPC liftings amounted to 64% of total oil liftings from Nigeria during the reference period, and yet its remittance represented only one-third of the taxes paid by the oil companies that exported the balance of 54%.

Finally, your Excellency, we would like to report that NNPC has failed to keep up with payments of its levies under Nigerian Export Supervision Scheme (NESS) in line with this law, and currently owes the Federal Government N22 billion.

As banker to the Federal Government and Economic adviser to the President, I am obliged to draw the President’s attention to these serious issues of which you have most probably never been aware in this detail.

To sumamarise, my recommendations are to respectfully advise the President to:

Require NNPC to provide evidence for disposal of all proceeds of crude sales diverted from the CBN and the Federation Account;
Investigate crude oil lifting and swap contracts, as well as the financial transactions of counter-parties for equity, fairness and transparency; and
Authorise prosecution of suspects in money-laundering transactions, including but not limited to BDCs who are unable to account for hundreds of millions of dollars.

I trust your Excellency will find the content of this letter useful and hereby reaffirm the support of Central Bank of Nigeria for your Government’s transformation agenda and effort to serve the Nigerian people.

While thanking you for your consideration, please accept, Mr. President, the renewed assurances of my highest regards.

Yours Sincerely,

Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (CON)
Governor, Central Bank Of Nigeria
http://saharareporters.com/report/dear-mr-president-nnpc-has-stolen-50-billion-crude-oil-earnings-transcript-letter-cbn-gov-pre#.UqdDp9nXfiU.twitter

What is this?

duni04:
Seriously I think the only people being deceived here are the APC heirachy and uninformed Nigerians. Haven't u found it rather odd that the 2 governors that were at the forefront of the whole npdp saga, babangida aliyu and Sule lamido have chosen to remain in d PDP? This whole merger thing is a charade. Babangida aliyu and Lamido are using the other nPDP governors to buy leverage from Jonathan. When Jonathan finally accedes to their requests, don't b shocked wen Lamido and Aliyu start telling u it was a family disagreement that has been sorted out and pull the others back to the PDP. Its very cynical to think that aliyu and Lamido are staying behind in d PDP cos they stand a better chance there. Who will support them in d primaries? PDP delegates from Bayelsa or Akwa Ibom? The idea of having belgore, abdulfatha ahmed and saraki under the same roof in Kwara or Aregbesola oyinlola and omisore under the same roof in Osun is just laughable and impractical. Same goes for the other nPDP and APC merger states. Its a leverage thing. The joke is on d APC. Sadly wen d reconciliation thing goes down and the nPDP governors return, it'll b too late for the APC to mount any opposition in 2015. The only losers here will b the APC and Amaechi whose problem with Jonathan is more personal than political. In 2007 wen obasanjo was persecuting Atiku, Atiku tried to use the victim card to coerce the northern PDP into dumping OBj. OBJ simply chased Atiku out of the party to the ACN, swept the party structure off his feet and got influential northerners to lure aggrieved Atiku loyalists back into the PDP.

We all have our bias and its obvious from my write ups...whether they are sincere or not is what we really cant say to a definate conclusion. You sound so sure of your own assumptions but i think you should leave room for what ifs....The analogy you give for atiku in 2007 is different because Yaradua was a a northerner and so it was easier for the north to vote one of theirs. Besides the masterstroke from OBJ was the YARADUA family made Atiku politically so it was always going to be difficult to fight Yaradua as he was perceived as nice and a gentleman. If you lived and understand the mind of the average northerner then you should be scared for the PDP if you are a sympathizer. 2011 was a typical example..PDP did not win in any north west or North eastern state in the presidential elections.These nPDP governors have nothing to benefit this time around from the PDP since there are in their 2nd terms. Does it make any logical sense for Kwankwaso, Wammako and others to announce a merger and then come back because they have sorted their differences? It doesnt make any logical sense...Lamido and Babangida are only bidding their time..they might still remain in PDP but they would most likely join their colleagues in APC if you understand the mind of an average northerner

duni04:
This kind of analysis is meant for an already established democracy where politics revolves around the people and service. In everything you wrote you failed to acknowledge the power of incumbency and money. Jonathan has the resources of the state at his disposal including the security agencies that are already hounding some of these npdp governors. I still maintain that all jonathan has to do is accede to whatever requests these npdp people are making or just open the treasury for them and they'll run back to the pdp before 2015. We saw drama like dis one prior to the 2003 elections where atiku and orji kalu thought they controlled the PDP and obasanjo taught them that the power of a sitting president supersedes anything else. Obasanjo settled his own house drama with Ghana must go politics on the floors of both legislative houses. Shebi its just to sack tukur, allow the npdp governors select their successors in 2015 and beg wike to leave amaechi alone. Then probably dump sambo and replace him with Lamido. Let's watch

You are also forgeting that this is the first time someone from a minority tribe is ruling Nigeria. You are also overestimating the intellectual capacity of GEJ. I dont think he commands the same respect OBJ had in 2003. remember that in 2011, none of these northern Governors(north east and north west) delivered their states to PDP. It is only worse right now especially in the north. There is no guarantee that even if GEJ accedes to their demands, he wont change his mind after 2015 and start hounding them into jail (GOV sylva comes to mind). The OBJ scenario also differs in 2003 because all the Governors were also looking for a 2nd term in Office. All the current G7 governors except kwara are in their second terms and therefore have nothing to loose. Money doesnt always sort it out as can be seen in 2007 Third term problem. This was also because most of the Governors were also serving their second terms in office and so still went ahead to mess the third term up. Lamido and Babangida Aliyu backtracking might actually be because they feels they stand a better chance of actualizing their ambitions in PDP instead of the APC. You can trust the average northerner...They would not be cowed by the use of force especially by a president from a minority tribe. There has never being a time when a sitting President has been this challenged and it hasnt gone unnoticed.

The beauty of what is happening right now in PDP is that balance of play is shifted to the centre. Even if the opposition does not win in 2015, the margin would not be too much which keeps any winning party on its toes. Nigeria is gradually moving to a two party state and that too is good for the country.
One of the attractions of the APC to the 5 governors is that the APC would recognise their worth and contribution as both the APC and nPDP need each other to make progress. Anyone who thinks these governors do not have a major influence in their states should think long and hard. Past governors who have started their own parties(Orji Uzo Kalu, Ladoja and Gbenga Daniel) have shown that it is still possible to upset the cart. The advantage the current defecting governors in the north have is that for the first time they would also be riding in the same party with Buhari who still has a cult following in the north. 2015 presents a very interesting challenge for Nigerian politics.
I will not be shocked if other smart governors join the ranks of the APC especially in the North as it is easier to ride with the mass movement than against.2011 comes to mind

With the deft move by the nPDP to APC Tuesday, 49 out of the 67 members of the PDP, whose governors were part of the defection have also followed suit.

A statement by the points man of the group in the House, Hon. Suleiman Abdurahman Kawu Sumaila, indicated that legislators in the lower chamber from Adamawa, Kano, Kwara, Rivers and Sokoto took cue from their governors and are now in the APC, thus swelling its rank in the House.

Of the 49 members of the nPDP, now in APC, Kano has the highest number- 14, followed by Rivers with 13 while Sokoto has 11. Adamawa and Kwara has 6 and 5 respectively.

Before the crack that greeted the merger of the two parties Tuesday, the number of lawmakers in the House who were close to the nPDP was 67. With the new development, the coalition may have been deprived of the support of 18 members from Jigawa and Niger.
http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/49-house-members-decamp-to-apc/165278/

FESTUS IYAYI: A TRIBUTE by Salihu Lukman @smlukman November 14, 2013
Posted by seunfakze in Uncategorized.
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Festus Iyayi: A Tribute

Salihu Moh. Lukman

The name Festus Iyayi symbolizes struggle for academic freedom, democratization of our educational system, national development and socialism. He was the President of Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU) in the 1980s and in 1987, under his leadership; the Babangida administration banned ASUU, terminated the employment of Prof. Iyayi from University of Benin and subsequently arrested, detained and tortured him.

It is to the credit of Prof. Iyayi and ASUU leadership that ASUU survived those repressive measures and is operating based on its founding principles. Most organizations, even when they survive hardly are able to make any claims to values.

No doubt, the 1980s was a defining period for popular organizations in Nigeria. It was a period that the Federal Government under the military virtually declared a war against freedom to organize and to that extent declared leaders of organizations as subversives.

In the circumstance, organizations like ASUU, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) faced direct attacks especially under military rule between1984 and 1999. During this period, these organizations were banned severallyand the leadership persecuted, victimized, arrested and detained without trials for months.

Laws were promulgated by government to justify these and in some cases, these laws besides coming with ouster clauses that disqualify our courts from entertaining cases bordering on enforcement of fundamental rights of victims (most of whom are leaders of these organizations), they in some cases even face charges of life and death sentences.

Without any questions, the capacity of organizations to survive those dark periods was challenged and leaders likelate Dr. Mahmud Tukur, Prof. Iyayi, Prof. Attahiru Jega, Alh. Hassan Sumonu,Alh. Ali Ciroma, Comrades Wahab Goodluck, Dapo Fatogun, late Chris Abashi, Lanre Arogundade, Hilkiya Bubajoda, Emma Ezeazu and many others were illustrious in their contributions.

ASUU provided the intellectual foundation for the radical orientation of these organizations to resist and outlive military rule. Sadly, NANS is way distant from its radical nationalist orientation of the 1980s. NLC live in virtually its old glory. Both for NANS and NLC, values may just be limited to bearing a “Comrade” title with hardly any meaning.

More than any organization, ASUU has remained consistent and was able to grow a community of leaders with organic links to wider society. Unlike NLC and NANS, the community of leaders in ASUU have till today sustained ASUU’s organizational focus, orientation and commitment to broader values of national development, which has underpinned its demands and struggles over the years. In the Nigerian context, ASUU is one of the few nongovernmental organizations that has been consistent and in many respect still linked to all its leadership since it was founded.

It was this link that explains Prof. Iyayi’s role and why he was traveling for ASUU NEC meeting on the fateful day, Tuesday, November 12 and lost his life. The pain of Iyayi’s loss has made many of us to ask questions that are at best immaterial. Of course, for many whoonly know Prof. Iyayi remotely, their response reflect a confusion of what may happen to the expected suspension of the three months old ASUU strike.

For those us who were privileged to know Prof. Iyayi, I am not sure any word can convey our feeling. It is a feeling that border on admiration, respect and obedience. I was privileged to serve as NANS President 1988/89 at a time when Students’ Unions were banned in almost all tertiary institutions in the country.

In July 1988 when we were elected, our primary mandate was the re-activation of Students’ Union structures in the country. In the face of repressive measures, a team of more than 20 students leaders from all over the country was basically reduced to a team of four. The first person that resigned from that Exco was the NANS Secretary whose father being a Deputy Commissioner of Police was threatened.

For many of us, it was a period that exposed us to the fact that there are Nigerians that have broken all barriers and risen above all primordial sentiments. These Nigerians related with us in very special ways. Although not older than their children, they discussed every issue with us with respect, treated us like their peers, which in many respects challenged our intellect. In the process, we had good access to academic literature.

Prof. Iyayi, the community of intellectuals in ASUU, patriotic leaders of NLC and other Nigerians really made us who we are today. Without the support of these people, many of us who grow through the ranks of the student movement would have simply evaporated into the confused Nigerian society that recognizes no skill or talent.

Unfortunately, some of us who are privileged to find themselves in the corridors of power forget this fact. Agood example was the way Labaran Maku, current Minister of Information, described Dr. Dipo Fashina as a “character” during the January 2012 fuel subsidy strike. This was to say the least an uncharitable statement coming from Labaran who was a product of the sacrifices of people like Iyayi and Dipo. As brothers and comrades, we have a responsibility to be brutally frank to each other.

Part of the calamity that has befallen us is the fact that we made very stupid mistakes on account of which some of our best are today serving one of the worst governments produced in this country. I am certain this will be contested largely on opportunistic grounds. However, I can accept that at the end of it all the basis of all justifications is simply our stupid mistakes of not engaging the Abdulsalami transition programme in1998 in an organized way. On account of this mistake, people like Labaran have taken individual decisions and may have forgotten their own history.

This highlight a strong disconnect between those of us who have passed through the mentorship of people like Iyayi. One cannot but salute the capacity of that old community of leaders that include Prof. Iyayi, Dr. Fashina, Prof. Olorode, Alh. Sumonu, etc. Somehow,these leaders must be going through traumatizing experiences of having to absorb all these shocks and continue to provide unwavering leadership in the struggles for Nigeria’s development.

Part of the criticism against ASUU is the fact that it has only one weapon of fighting bad governance and dictatorship. That weapon is STRIKE. Under democracy, there are other weapons, which include lobbying National Assembly. Of course, given the realities facing us, it islegitimate to have low confidence with respect to outcomes of engagement with National Assembly. There is also the fact that strikes have worked very well for ASUU. Since the early 1990s, all ASUU strikes have succeeded in terms of winning demands. In some ways therefore, ASUU and its leadership are only responding instinctively.

Perhaps, we need to find ways of engaging some of our leaders and mentors such that they are challenged to act more logically and scientifically. I have no direct answers with respect to this but I believe that strike, especially the current one, may not be the best logical and scientific answer to the problem of breach of contractual agreement. There are certainly other solutions. The best tribute we can give to Prof. Iyayi is for us all as a nation to commit ourselves to finding all the options at our disposal to address the problem of irresponsible conducts of our governments and leaders.

Prof. Iyayi would have been very much alive with us today but for the irresponsible conduct of our federal government to breach the agreement it willfully entered into with ASUU. On account of that breach, unquantifiable amount of resources have been wasted, including loss of lives. The loss of Prof. Iyayi is the high point. May it be the turning point such that as a people we are able to commit ourselves to rescuing this country? May the death of Prof. Iyayi awaken all of us to the need to discover new ways and methods of solving all our societal problems especially those created by the irresponsible conducts of our governments and leaders. Finally, may thedeath of Prof. Iyayi serve as the watershed in the struggle for higher education in the country such that strikes become the remotest of weapons and least employed?

Rest in peace Prof. Festus Iyayi!

I wonder why God would always choose Nigeria for his experiments in spite of the fact that we are so religious. . ..in other climes what needs to be done gets done and nobody gets to point to God when disasters strike. When a plane crashes in Nigeria. .somebody just didn't do his work. .end of story..LEAVE GOD OUT OF THIS ACCIDENT BUSINESS

University of Ibadan (UI)
Bugged down by outdated equipment, messy hostels
Most of the buildings on the campus of the premier university were in dire need of renovation when THISDAY visited as they looked old and worn out. For instance, a block of shops adjoining one of the hostels (Tedder Hall), which was said to have been razed by fire some months ago, was yet to be rebuilt.

Besides, the hostel infrastructure also showed glaring effects of overcrowding, thus leaving the students in poles away from decent and comfortable home. It was further gathered that the over population in the hostels coupled with the visible poor maintenance of the facilities made the halls largely over-stretched - the taps no longer run, while the sanitation facilities are in a terrible shape.

Also, the third floor of the Faculty of Arts building, housing the Department of Communications and Language Arts, which was burnt a year ago, is yet to be renovated. THISDAY learnt that as a result of the incident that affected six offices, the affected lecturers now share offices with their colleagues.

The building housing the university press is outdated and in a bad shape, as well as some of the residential buildings, especially the junior staff quarters. THISDAY gathered that the houses have deteriorated “because the houses are highly subsidised and the occupants do not pay commercial rates. The rent generated is therefore insufficient to maintain the buildings.”

Electricity is also a challenge at the institution, the hostels and offices do not enjoy uninterrupted power supply and the power generating sets do not work round the clock.

Though the buildings housing some of the laboratories are in good condition, some of the facilities in the laboratories are outdated. Electricity was identified as a major challenge in the laboratories, which prevents students from completing their work in most cases.

It was gathered that the lecture rooms are inadequate for the number of students that use them and that students stand by the windows to receive lectures because of the limited spaces in the classrooms.

At the 200 level Physics Laboratory, THISDAY learnt that the terminal board, which helps to regulate electricity, had been bad and has not been replaced, the laboratory also require a power generating set to enable students complete their work whenever there is power failure.

A lecturer in the Department of Chemistry, who preferred anonymity, said the laboratory lacks major equipment like the mass spectroscopic and the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). He said the mass spectroscopic, which is used in characterisation, is not available in the university.

According to him, Ph.D scholars conducting science-based research require the equipment to successfully complete their work, adding that most of the students are compelled to go abroad to analyse their specimens.
He said the NMR costs more than N250 million for installation alone and also expensive to maintain.

A Ph.D scholar, who was seen carrying out his research, told THISDAY that the challenges students encounter in the laboratories include shortage of basic facilities like Bunsen burner, gas, electricity, outdated equipment and shortage of chemicals.
He said some laboratories use kerosene stoves, instead of gas and that Ph.D scholars buy the chemicals they use for their research, as there is no provision for that by their respective departments.

University of Ibadan VC Speaks…
Explaining the cause of the problem, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Isaac Adewole, said all institutions are not at the same level of decay, adding that the institution’s vision is different from the visions of the others.

He said the university’s major challenge has to do with its age, adding that the federal government does not fund them based on needs. “We are just given envelopes; I think that is the concern of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). So we want to see budgeting being tailored to ‘needs.’

“Being a 65-year-old institution, the university needs a lot of maintenance. What we will like to see is to address some of our challenges due to age, our cables are old, our water pipes are outdated, the water treatment plant that was commissioned almost 30 years ago, will need to be updated.

“It was established at the time when the population was just about 12,000, now we are dealing with a university with a population of over 40,000, not to talk of dependants and so on. We need to look at power and water. In fact, my number one challenge in this university is electricity. Water is also a major challenge and then I want to retool the laboratories to make them better than what they were when I was a medical student and will rival laboratories in Europe and US,”he said.

Adewole added that some members of staff don’t have offices, “it is not unusual to find two members of academic staff sharing the same office; the hostels are begging for renovation, the last time we renovated the hostels was about 10 years ago (painting, making sure the water runs, doing the plumbing work and so on).”

He commended the federal government for releasing the N100 billion revitalisation funds to universities, out of which N3.2 billion was allocated to our university.


“What we want to see is a situation where what the government has done now can be repeated on a yearly basis for the next five years and the story will change. What we need is sustained commitment, not just what I call burst of support, let it be continuous,” he said.

He recalled that in 2009 when the university got a special allocation, his immediate predecessor had set up a committee that looked into the needs of the university, adding that the submission from across the university then was between N13 and N15 billion.

“In other words, what we got now is nothing compared to what we needed in 2009. I think all over the world, we should see education as an investment and we should continue to put money there because it is education that will drive national development. It is education that will give us the human resource that we need to move into the 21st and 22nd century,” the VC added.

He called on the government to revisit the issue of tuition fees in higher institutions and award scholarships to indigent students.

UI ASUU Chair…
The Chairman of UI branch of ASUU, Dr. Segun Ajiboye, attributed the rot in the university to long-term neglect. He said the union had over the years, been calling on the government to increase the annual allocation to education to 26 per cent of its annual budget. “But as things are now, the government has not been able to reach that. So, long-term neglect is what has led us to this stage. Even in this year’s budget, government voted 8.4 per cent of the budget to education.

“It is really sad the level we have found ourselves in the university system. When you go round the university, you discover that being the oldest university in the country, there are a lot of things that have deteriorated, a lot of facilities have deteriorated in the system. Look at the number of hostels on campus and the student population; you will agree with me that there is a big shortfall in the number of hostels,” he said.

In the area of teaching and learning, Ajiboye said: “Most of the laboratories are old and there is nothing there, most of them are empty, no chemicals, no reagents to the extent that researchers cannot carry out effective research in the laboratories. And even when you want to publish your materials outside the country, they will ask you the laboratory you used, if you tell them that you conducted the research in Nigeria, they know that we don’t have the facilities for cutting-edge researches. So it is important that government should address this issue. The rot in our laboratories is enormous and we have reached a stage where attention should be focused on our laboratories.”

University of Ilorin (Unilorin)
An epitome of orderliness,
consistency
University of Ilorin, Kwara State, is one of the second generation universities in the country. It was established in 1975, and initially affiliated to the University of Ibadan. Originally called University College, Ilorin, the institution is about 300km from Lagos and 500km from Abuja, the Federal Capital City.

For a smooth take-off, Professor Tekena Tamuno, the then Head, Department of History at the University of Ibadan, was appointed the first principal of the University College, in September 1975. Shortly after Professor Tamuno’s assignment as Principal of the College, he was appointed Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan. As a result of this, Dr. O. O. Akinkugbe, a professor of medicine and former dean of the then Faculty of Medicine, University of Ibadan, was appointed the new principal in December, 1975.

A visit by THISDAY to the campus few days ago revealed that unlike several other similar institutions in the country, projects embarked upon by Unilorin are never abandoned.

To mention but a few, the new ring roads, laboratories, sports centre, new Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences building, the new Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and the new multi-purpose hall, among others, are some that were initiated by the school’s leadership and equally completed to the delight of all, including the students.

The University Speaks…
Speaking with THISDAY in his office in Ilorin on the infrastructure development at Unilorin, the university’s Deputy Director of Corporate Affairs, Mr. Kunle Akogun, said: “Having gone round the campus, you can testify that there is no single abandoned project at the University of Ilorin”.

According to him, “This is not a coincidence but the product of a deliberate policy of zero tolerance for abandoned projects”.

He said: “As a policy, the University of Ilorin would rather not embark on a project than abandon it mid-way. We often emphasise to our contractors that we do not condone any project delay or abandonment. That is why we ensure adequate mobilisation for any awarded contract and we pay promptly on job delivery”.
Akogun added: “No facility here is rotting away. We have a policy of maintenance culture such that all our buildings are well maintained”.

His words: “Our campus is one of the cleanest and greenest in the country, a fact often attested to by all visitors to the university. For instance, members of the Senate and House of Representatives Committees on Education spoke glowingly about the academic excellence and environmental aesthetics of the university”.

The ASUU Chair…
Corroborating the claim of the institution’s management, Chairman, Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities, Unilorin branch, Professor Wahab Egbewole, said: “For more than 10 years now, the Unilorin administration has designed a strategy to ensure that whatever project they embark on is completed”.
According to him, “The simple approach is that before the commencement of any project, the funding is already ascertained”.

Egbewole further said: “I suggest that government at all levels should adopt the approach. There is however the need to up the scale by paying more attention to aesthetic and utility values of the projects so that, it will be ensuring and be able to serve the needs of the users better”.
The Students Union…
In his view, President, Students Union Government (SUG) of Unilorin, Comrade Lawal Hammed Abiodun, said: ”As far as the University of Ilorin is concerned, there is no any abandoned projects here as the management always award contracts based on the availability of funds”.
University of Nigeria,
Nsukka (UNN)
Glittering pedigree, but delivers lectures under mango trees.As a first time visitor to the main campus of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), you are bound to be faced with the myriad of developmental challenges facing the institution. Top of this is lack of adequate hostel accommodation for its teeming students as well as paucity of classroom blocks. The institution’s foremost Zik’s Flat Hostel has almost completely dilapidated. As a result of the paucity of classrooms, the students now use the stadium as a facility for teaching.
On the dilapidated hostel block, the Dean, Students Affairs, Prof Kalu Oyeoku, said as a result of the dilapidated nature of the Zik’s Flat Hostel, the university will not accommodate students in it. He said he had already informed the university senate that the Zik’s Flat Hostel was no longer good for student’s accommodation.
He said: “Zik’s Flat Hostel buildings are dilapidated and there are many serious cracked walls; the continued using of it will amount to risking the lives of the students. It is only block ‘A’ of the Zik’s Flat Hotel that may be used as hostel accommodation by next session.”
THISDAY checks further revealed that various departments in the institution have practically taken up the Akanu Ibiam Stadium of the university as lecture hall, and, most times, take lectures under mango trees due to the shortage of classrooms in the university.
The worst affected was the Faculty of Social Sciences that holds her lectures under mango trees and the stadium. The Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, Prof. Christopher O. T. Ugwu, attributed the anomaly to an increase in student population “in the advent of the new millennium.”

But the local chapter Chairman, ASUU, Dr. Ifeanyi Abada, would not like to be drawn into commenting on the obvious structural challenges facing the institution. He would rather concentrate on the strike being prosecuted by the union.
All efforts made by THISDAY to get across to the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Bartho Okolo, did not yield any result as his phone did not go through and no other official of the university accepted to speak on his behalf.
Specifically, the Director of Physical Planning, Mr. Eze, said he would not talk to the press except he was given the approval to do so.
“I want to get across to the vice-chancellor first before talking to you,” he said.
Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU)
‘At oau, 12 students share rooms meant for 4’
So far, so bad, was the summation of a student, who pleaded anonymity on the state of the rot at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) last week. Like other public universities in the country, the OAU is also limping with heavy bruises it has suffered over the years because of infrastructural decay following the poor funding by the government.

A glossary of the challenges of the institution include near empty laboratories, workshops without modern equipment, paucity of accommodation for students, inadequate classrooms, over-population, and aged infrastructure, among others.
Commenting on the development, the local ASUU chairman, Prof. Akinola Adegbola Peter, expressed sadness that Nigerian universities are presently running far below international standard.

He said: “The OAU’s central laboratory has challenges and our junior lecturers carry out their experiments outside the country “.

He cited the chemistry laboratory, engineering workshop, mechanical and civil engineering workshops, buildings and other major structures in the institution as parts of the major rot in the institution. THISDAY reports that the institution’s chemistry laboratory, engineering, agric and mechanical/civil engineering workshops had no working equipment.
The ASUU chairman decried the state of students’ hostel where about 12 students live in a room that should contain four students.
Even as the institution battles structural decay, the students are still in quandary over what to do to get their student union government reinstated; a body that was sacked by the school authorities some four years ago.
They therefore appealed to the vice-chancellor, Prof. Bamitale Omole, to reinstate the proscribed body.
However, Omole was not in school when THISDAY visited the institution last week. So he could not be reached to speak on the myriad of challenges the school is currently facing.

Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), BAUCHI
‘Zoos better than our halls of residence’
A visibly distraught student of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi, said the condition of infrastructure in the school has so ebbed that “even animals in the zoo will reject any transfer to live there.” That position of the student vividly captures the state of decay of infrastructure in the university.
THISDAY was alarmed to find out that the institution’s old lecture theatre was not only in a rotten condition, its ceilings were dotted with leakages and when it rains, the hall is flooded; both the male and female hostels are in need of urgent attention.
THISDAY investigations further revealed that the university’s science laboratories and workshop equipment as well as consumables are either absent, inadequate or outdated while kerosene stoves are being used as Bunsen burners in some. Some of the engineering workshops operate under improvised sheds and trees, and the science-based faculties are running what is referred to as “Dry Lab,” due to lack of reagents and tools to conduct real experiments, even as there are a number of uncompleted projects found to have been abandoned while shelves in the university library were empty.
Speaking on the rot in an interview, the institution’s vice-chancellor, Professor Muhammad Hamisu Muhammad, explained that the major problem confronting the university is paucity of funds which has seriously hampered its academic and developmental activities.
He added that: “There is no gainsaying the fact that Nigerians are too familiar with the problems of the university sub-sector of the country”.
Represented by the deputy vice-chancellor (Administration), Professor Isiaka Mohammed, the vice-chancellor said: “The fate of our universities is very pathetic and what we seem to lack is the political will to address and redress the situation because the academic community, ASUU and other stakeholders in the education sector, over the years, have called on the authorities to fix some of these problems but unfortunately, successive governments have been acting in bad faith”.
He added: “We find it difficult to check the students during examinations because of their population and you know what that means. Some of the students take their lectures sitting on bare floors, some through the windows, at times, some under the shades of tree.
http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/this-is-your-university-/160277/

UNIBEN…
‘It’s decay is beyond the Nigerian Prisons’ rot’

Perhaps one of the most devastating cases of university rot is the decay in the University of Benin. “There are actually three situations. Teaching, learning and living: Teaching on the part of lecturers, learning on the part of students, and living on the part of both lecturers and students. But in all of these ramifications, the situation is terrible. It is worse than the situation in Nigerian prisons or the Police College, where the president visited unceremoniously sometime ago after a documentary by a television station,” was how the Chairman of the institution’s branch of ASUU, Dr. Anthony Monye-Emina, described the rot in the school to THISDAY last week.

UNIBEN, one of the pride of the nation, is a moving story of a university in a dire need of attention from the governments at all levels as well as from its array of alumnae.

“For instance, if you go to the libraries, the books there are old and outdated. So more or less what we teach students and what they go to read are old and out-dated materials. And in terms of sciences, especially those that require practical, there is no equipment to conduct such, and what we do is what we call alternative to practical or theory of practical by telling the students, if this is not available, this is what you do; and this is not learning.

“That is why many of them upon graduation are half-baked because when they go to the outside world, they cannot function or perform on the job which is the major reason we are on this strike,” the ASUU boss added.

Giving further insight into the state of affairs at the university, the ASUU leader painted a more gloomy picture of the institution when he said: “For instance, if you go to Faculty of Engineering, when we got there during the visit of the NEEDS assessment committee, we were told that those equipment were supplied in 1975 or thereabouts when the faculty was established. Since then, nothing new was added. Even at that, a number of the equipment have broken down. The university cannot repair or rehabilitate them. Now, it is all theory and nothing to demonstrate to the students.

“Then if you go to chemistry department, you meet an empty laboratory filled up with empty bottles. In my secondary school days if you go to the laboratory, you see bottles filled with chemicals. But the chemistry department in University of Benin is all empty bottles. There is even no Bunsen burner. What they use is kerosene stove to heat up chemical when they are conducting experiments. In the same department, there is equipment used in processing uranium for nuclear called centrifuge. I was even surprised that the university has such equipment. But today it no longer functions and has been turned to a refuse dump.

“At the physics laboratory, there is nothing on the table. It is only electric bulbs, rulers and so on. Nothing else!

“In the Faculty of Social Sciences, what you have is overcrowded classrooms and broken down chairs and tables, dilapidated board, etc. The situation is so bad that sometimes if examination enters into the night, the students will be forced to light candles or make use of the torchlight from their handsets.

“Recently, I went to Covenant University and saw that they use audio visual equipment to teach their students, large television screen. So a lecturer can be in the office and be teaching students in the classroom. That is what teaching and learning has become these days. You don’t have to be physically present in the class. But no public university can afford such teaching aid because of poor funding.

“To the student of the university, I say they are ingenious enough in my assessment that if exposed to the right teaching and learning condition, many of them when they graduate, will not want to look for white collar jobs, but to set up their own which is possible. Unfortunately, what they learn is mainly theory. Government can curb employment by making sure that students are taught with adequate teaching materials.”

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/this-is-your-university-/160277/