MOBBDEEP:

Good day Prof
You hardly comment here anymore on this platform Sir!
I missed you Sir

Sorry, I’ve given up on the Nigerian educational system. I can no longer justify spending time online typing anything about Nigerian universities. Sorry, but that’s the reality.

sinkhole:
Bros, better decline the offer o, because you're about to enter a slavery market
Do you realize that technologists collect more than lecturers, that Chief Technologist earn more than a professor?

Ahem. This is incorrect, even assuming that their N30,000 hazard allowance remains in place.

Chris525:

You only reply someone who referred to you in the first place.

This is a public forum; anyone can respond to your misinformation. The post from Annie001 you responded to wasn't meant for you either. And if you're splitting semantic hairs with me, that can't work either. The dictionary meaning of "reply" is "say something in response to something someone has said".
So I have no idea what your objection is about.

Meanwhile You still haven’t said anything.

Yeah, about that...I already said enough. If you're going to comment, first get the facts right.

Chris525:

Its been well over 10 years I graduated from a popular federal university. At the time, no lecturer in my department didn’t have a car. A lot of them had more than one. Some had drivers even. So I really don’t know what you’re talking about.

If a professor has bad fashion taste or doesn’t fancy cars that’s on him, not the govt.

These days go to colleges of education and see what lecturers are pushing talk more of professors, most of whom are awarded official cars and drivers anyway. I strongly believe you are on the band wagon that likes to criticize anything Nigeria. You don’t know what you’re saying.

I shouldn't reply someone who says most professors are awarded official cars and drivers. That statement alone shows how out of touch with reality you are. Anyway, I just want to say that if you must comment on this topic, do yourself a favor and find out the facts.

FOLYKAZE:


Show us the invoice.

DCP said the cost out of factory is ₦2,500. Deal with middlemen and retailers if cement is sold at ₦4,000 in Owerri. It is ₦3,000 in Ondo state

This is patently untrue. Where in Ondo State is cement sold at ₦ 3000 ? Perhaps you're joking.
Abeg contribute honestly or not at all.

VirginFinder:
...Despite the increase in the number of cases, the number of deaths has remained low to the glory of God.
So what's all the fuss about

Till recently,I refused to believe that deaths are being under-reported.
However, just in the last couple weeks, I have seen multiple individuals who died following a surprisingly similar sequence: they had "malaria" rapidly followed by a stubborn cough, and then breathing difficulties that meant that at least two of them were on oxygen by the time they died. They died one or two weeks after their "malaria" started.

Most shocking of all? As far as I know, none of the cases were tested for covid. INCREDIBLE.

Those 4 or so deaths are missing from the NCDC reports, and I'm willing to bet that at least some of them had covid.

I don't support imposing a new lockdown, mind you.

Grayoso:
Lol. Nonentities Igbos, can you see how it is done? Yorubas sneeze Nigeria catches a cold.

Igbos chestbeat emptily and Pythons immediately visits the SE to twerk and bite. Meanwhile Kanu picks race to abandon his Dog and parents. Lol.

Yorubas no be una mate in Nigeria. First repair your tenth class status before coming online daily to try and shade Yorubas.

Please leave out the Igbos from this and face your problems alone.
As a Yoruba man myself, I do not understand what you're crowing about here. You speak as if we have won some great victory.
Yoruba ronu, please.

kilonshele101:
Our sadyeastan brothers won't be happy about this news.

The want military intervention in Yorubaland

You don't have to bring the East into this.

topsamjo:
Good evening house, This snake was killed in my brothers room at about 1am this morning. Took so long before we could kill it . I'm just wondering how a snake as lomg as this managed to enter the room.

There's an interesting app called SnakeSnap on Google Play. Install it and upload the pic. They'll (usually) id it within 24 hours.

Most countries employ either a socialist-leaning or capitalist leaning model to fund qualitative education. In the former, provision of high-quality education is treated as a responsibility of government. The funds for this have to come from somewhere, hence taxes tends to be higher in such countries (the aforementioned tax-to-GDP ratio is a sort of objective metric to gauge how much revenue is generated by a government versus the country's productivity). In other countries, the burden of funding education falls more directly on students/their sponsors. Tax-to-GDP may be lower because individuals pay more.

The problem in Nigeria is that we do not pay high taxes yet we want the government to provide all amenities including qualitative tertiary education. Ko le werk. We have to be one, or the other.

emorse:
...Besides, we're not asking for free education. Just for it to not be unaffordable.

Let me paint a picture. Let's say fees are raised to 500k - 1m(way above the minimum wage) per session. How many people can afford that? Does this not mean that the number of enrolled students will drop? Will there be any significant increase in revenue then?

How many people can afford 500k? Well, arguably about the same as the number who can afford it in the USA or South Africa. You probably think the tuition in the US/SA is within the reach of the majority of students. Not so. Most students need loans or scholarships to survive. Obama famously got over $40k and finished paying his student loans shortly before he became president. No real reason why that can't work here.

Qualitative education isn't cheap or really free anywhere. People pay for it, either centrally through significantly higher taxes, or individually either out-of pocket or via loans. Saying government should fund it when we're not paying the taxes is akin to -as a wise man noted - paying for a bicycle and demanding for a Ferrari.

Slackerpenguin2:

Okay, then you have to axcept the universities as they are.
Because that is what Nigeria can afford for now.

I don't know who you are, but you have my Educator of the Day award .
Well done.

emorse:

No. That's where I don't agree with you. Africa's largest economy can afford much more than we currently have. We have to demand for accountability and good governance in general .
Nigerians are already paying dearly for our leaders' profligacy. We shouldn't have to pay more.

I have to give it to Slackerpenguin2. The point he's making is one I have made on this forum multiple times, but he seems to be a far more patient man than I. I'm surprised at your post above even after he obliged you by providing the explanation you asked for (high tax-to-GDP ratio allows some nations to provide "free" education, but we have a very low ratio).

The answers you seek have been provided. Accepting them or sticking with preconceptions is a matter of choice.

Cheers.

Chisaedhor:
Really don't know the section to post this.

My 3 year old son loves cartoon especially PJ Mask so much to the extend he could watch it from 7pm to 3a.m in the morning

If you take him to the bed room he won't sleep, he cries and if not this cartoon no body watches any other program anymore.

He use to be very very intelligent before now, its seem this PJ Mask has entered his head.

Please help me, how can I stop him or distract him from this??

This is extremely harmful to the boy. Most authorities recommend strict limits on screen time before age 3. As others have suggested, you have to stop it. There is relatively strong evidence that too much TV time at a young age causes real neurological damage.

I think you should treat this like an addiction and get him off gradually, rather than cold-turkey. Cold-turkey is likely to lead to confrontation and possible trauma. Never beat him just to correct a habit you were complicit in his forming. Despite your good intentions, this can result in psychological scarring.

A trick I used with some success in the past is to get the kid to commit to the idea *long before* you implement it. Hence, "junior, from next week, should we switch off the TV at 9 pm ?" asked while he is enjoying his favorite food could get him to start preparing for the "evil" day. Repeat the suggestion (sometimes as a question, sometimes as an announcement) multiple times (always while he's happy). This won't stop him from crying when you implement the curb, but in my experience, he'll spend a shorter time crying if he has had the chance to prepare his mind.

Introduce the curbs in stages, so that over, say, one month, you take him down to approx 1 hour TV time per day. While you're doing this, introduce a new set of enjoyable activities to replace the TV. My strong recommendation is that you introduce him to very good kiddies books with colorful illustrations. Get the "analogue" print copies rather than tablets, else, you will realize that addiction to tablets could be just as bad...

candidtalk:


You're missing the point. In fact your point actually shores up Gate's astoundment. Most intelligent analyst know Africa is massively undertested meaning actual covid-19 transmission is likely much higher than reported.

Even with that, Africa is not devastated. If Gate's and co are not trying to complicate what should be simple, they would know the immunology quality of vitamin D that most Africans get more than enough of from natural sunlight. Also Influenza viruses, regardless of what anyone says, are less potent in very hot climate.

Without complicating the science involved, Covid-19 is a flu variant which becomes dangerous because of lower chest involvement, i.e lungs, whereas most influenza virus will attack the upper chest i.e above the lungs.

I would actually posit that as many as millions have had covid-19 virus in Nigeria rather than the under 90k cases officially reported. Symptoms in most folks are probably so mild, with even many of us asymptomatic, that no test was sought by most Nigerians.

It is not Rocket science and our leaders always await direction from the West. Otherwise we should have hinged our own fight on covid-19 with an acceptance of the protective qualities our hot climate and vitamin D assimilation from sunlight affords us.

This way we could have cashed in with fully active economies that run parallel with our own covid-19 reality instead of panicking and shutting down when the West does when they actually have a totally different disease load and potency to that Africa is experiencing. African solutions to African problems is still a concept very alien to many Africans and their leaders.


https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/02/study-confirms-vitamin-d-protects-against-cold-and-flu/

Very well said. Two thumbs up.

[quote author=Bar1941 post=97363971]

...many a time some of their demands are outrageous

ASUU doesn't make outrageous demands. I understand why some demands might appear outrageous to those not fully informed about the enormity of the problems.

they stayed away from work with many of them engaging in personal businesses yet expect pay from the government...

If you mean that they do the above during strikes, then I should remind you that teaching is a relatively small part of our responsibilities. The most important part is research. Don't let the "total and indefinite" part of ASUU strike declarations fool you. Most serious lecturers are usually hard at work during strikes...doing research. Speaking personally, 2020 has been by far my most productive year in God-knows-how-long, strike or no strike.

If you mean lecturers who have other business concerns distracting them during normal academic sessions, first, they are relatively few (at least in my neck of the woods). Second, every single profession has a spectrum of professionals spanning most dedicated to least committed. Lecturing is no different.

...IT'S THESAME PROBLEM EVERY SECTORS OF THE ECONOMY IS FACING, WE NEED TO GET IT RIGHT FROM THE ROOT (bad leadership) BEFORE WE CAN FORGE AHEAD AND THIS MUST BE A GRADUAL PROCESS NOT ALL AT ONCE AS ASUU ALWAYS WANTED.

It looks to me like you're blaming ASUU for other union's imability to handle the FG. There is "peace" in the secondary schools because FG tamed NUT. You know as well as I do that public secondary schools are almost useless. But NUT can no longer fight. Ditto for many other sectors (Hello, NLC...). Other groups that have the FG by the balls are PENGASSAN and the NMA. However, strikes in their respective sectors can't last long because their effects are more catastrophic in the immediate. The bad press would kill the FG. On the other hand, the government finds it easier to ignore ASUU till students start getting restless. So, please don't blame ASUU for successfully tackling the FG just because unions in other sectors can't.

THE FUTURE OF THE STUDENTS ARE ALWAYS BEING DISTORTED EVERY SECONDS ASSU EMBARKS ON A STRIKE.

There is some truth to this, but it isn't ASUU's fault. Your assertion however hints at something I have become more sensitive to: the public usually blames ASUU for the effects of strike actions. We should allow tuition to go up the way FG has always wanted it, and stop going on strike. If the students and their parents don't like the new tuition regime, they should fight the FG themselves. Enough of us taking the blame for fighting government on their behalf.

MAY GOD HELP OUR NATION.

Amin. We need am.

Bar1941:
Between Baba dollard and ASUU executive members, I don't know who is more useless.

These lectures are damn selfish, they will lie they are fighting for provision of infrastructures in our tertiary institutions but the underlying reason behind whatever strike they embarked upon is their personal welfare.

And you think it is wrong for a trade union to fight for the welfare of its members?
How is it ASUU's fault that government reneges on agreements? That all entreaties to stakeholders to hold government accountable prove useless? That government fails to respond after multiple warnings? That government fails to show any seriousness in tackling the issues until X months after the commencement of strike actions? If only you followed the news more attentively, you'd realize that the FG has promised to pay N30 billion specifically for infrastructure before Dec 31st.

Since almost three decades to the best of my knowledge, this people have been using thesame unproductive tactic called strike to demand for their right (as they always claimed) yet the result is always thesame,

Unproductive This is incorrect. ASUU strikes have yielded massive dividends over the years. The easiest example I always cite is TETFUND, but over the years, every single strike has led to the injection of more funds into the universities for "revitalization".

can't they do away with this archaic method and use a modern way that can guarantee a better outcome? No University union in Africa (except where their is war) locked the gates to learning this days for a year not to talk of Universities around the world, what is wrong with our lecturers?

We have always requested for smart people like you to propose alternatives that can force successive irresponsible Nigerian governments to fund education, but they always disappear into the woodwork with excuses. I hope you will prove me wrong: please suggest one alternative mechanism that anyone has used to successfully compel Nigerian governments to do anything.

After collecting the salary now, they are thinking of calling off the strike, however, the reasons they said brought about the strike is still intact

Wrong. Ridiculously so. You would do well to familiarize yourself with the list of ASUU's demands and to what extent they have been addressed by government.

am sure after a year or two they will give thesame foolish reason to embark on another strike.

Possible but unlikely. There are elements within ASUU working to chart a new course of action to improve the system. If successful, that new course will reduce strikes. Before you (or students) cheer, I should warn that the new course will be even more unpopular than strikes (hint: y'all will find yourselves paying considerably more tuition. But, hey, there won't be any more strikes...).

Cheers.

Boye33:


Good afternoon prof.

I have been following you on this forum for a while now and I must admit to your level of knowledge and experience not to talk of your dedication to your students. More grease to your elbow sir.

Sir, I'm currently on the verge of making a life decision of which I need professional and an elder's advice. I believe you are in a very good position to give me such advice.

I plead for a little of your time and permission if I can contact you via email to better explain the cross road I am to you.

Thanks for your anticipated response.

Hello Boye33. Thanks for your nice words. Sure, I'll be happy to help.
I've sent you a pm.

ProphetM0hammad:
Do you also have any evidence that lecturers have not stopped researching and publishing?

Yes, I do. You could also try a Google Scholar search if you wish.

I think that's your personal situation, and the more appropriate one should be some or few of you. Biodun has come out to cry several times that Lecturers can't go back to class on empty stomachs. Looking at the situation of things in the country, it's certain that withholding salaries will affect majority of the lecturers one way or another.

Nobody is saying that withheld salaries are not affecting lecturers. I'm just letting you know that this is not a group of people that the government can threaten with hunger. Most lecturers are resourceful enough to find effective coping strategies. Those who are not will be helped by colleagues.

Have a good day.

ProphetM0hammad:

When they were working nobody held back their salaries.
If they want salaries, they should go back to work. Even the Bible supports it that whoever doesn't work must not eat.

You need to be mindful that teaching is just 10% - 40% (my estimates based on a medium sample size) of an academic's work.
While lecturers leave the classrooms and boardrooms during strike actions, their researches still continue. So, yeah, unless you have evidence that lecturers have stopped doing research or publishing in 2020, I'd say they've been working.

Mind you, this is just to set the records straight. We aren't necessarily begging for salaries. Other than pitying my students, I wouldn't be bothered if the FG decided to sit on my salaries for one more year. Many of us are above such threats.

1stNumeroUno:
Imagine o, the man is even a Professor. What a shame.

Yes indeed, what a shame.
In a saner country, his university (and perhaps, even his union) would have taken action following his shameful display, but this is Nigeria, where we all contribute to the mess but blame the president.

Enjoy your day joo.

It takes much more than being a sperm donor to be a father.
Someone should explain this to the buffoon.

sujexy:

Don't get me wrong Prof, ASUU members are legitimately fighting for their Right which FG has refused to be positive about. My only annoyance was that students are the ones at the receiving end. I am sorry if my first response sounded Insensitive...

Thanks, I am happy that our views are actually aligned.
I have never liked students having to bear the brunt of ASUU-FG face-offs. Believe it or not, a part of me is happy that most lecturers (including me) have not been paid for months because at least, it isn't just the students suffering this time.

We can only hope our country gets it right, because guys like me are finally giving serious thoughts to just leaving the whole mess and emigrating.

sujexy:
If ASUU wasn't forced to enroll into IPPIS this year, there wouldn't have been a strike, atleast not yet.
This Present strike is all about IPPIS, and all ASUU wants is a compromise from FG and they will rush back to school.

How can you defend the above assertions? Are you a member of ASUU? Well, I am. And as a member, I have provided the relevant info. Take it or leave it.

But no wahala. No need to argue with you. I believe we both want the same thing, namely peace in the universities, ba? It is on its way. When it comes, the identity of the real victims in this matter will become clear.

sujexy:
...You are fighting for your welfare legit (We all know that the whole revitalization song is a smokescreen, the real issue has always been IPPIS) ...

The evidence-free way people proclaim some random idea as fact is truly unbelievable.
Revitalization is a smokescreen? IPPIS is the main issue? Really?
Daddy, ASUU has been in the trenches fighting recalcitrant governments for decades, long before anything called IPPIS existed.

But I promise you: that fight will soon stop largely because we are tired of being vilified by the very people we are defending. The truth that some ASUU members refuse to accept is that student fees are a major portion of the IGR of (capitalist) universities. This is one area where the Nigerian government is right: if we are serious about autonomy, we should be ready to stop depending on government for 95% of our funding. When that happens, each university will be able to generate something of the order of 5 to 10 billion naira per year from just student fees. Then we will stop needing to fight for "revitalization" every few months, and there will be peace in the universities.

I look forward to that day, and I am happy to say that it is coming soon.

sujexy:
...You are fighting for your welfare legit (We all know that the whole revitalization song is a smokescreen, the real issue has always been IPPIS) ...

The way people just pick and proclaim some random idea as fact is truly unbelievable.
Revitalization is a smokescreen? Really? What about all the previous times ASUU has successfully fought for this same revitalization?

Too bad the warrior angels are not registered voters. Too bad...

.

Openbusiness:


imagine the other "accidental" extra zeros added for Biden in Democrat counties. This one got caught. Trump was leading all through and then last minute, votes started appearing out of nowhere in the middle of the night when everyone was sleeping. That abracadabra magic votes will be annulled at the Supreme Court. Thank God, Justice Amy has been added to the Justices. Democrats can't escape or steal this election with FRAUD!

You need to understand how the US electoral system works. EVERYTHING can be traced, can be checked. Any contestant has the right to challenge results they don't like. This is how America has always worked. Trump has a right, even a responsibility to challenge the votes where he see's evidence of fraud.

What no responsible citizen should do is to undermine confidence in the electoral process itself or instigate violent responses. Unfortunately, this is what Trump (and by extension, people like you) are doing.

Tone down the rhetoric and let the US electoral system do its work. Specious allegations, inflammatory rhetoric: these are more likely to result in the destruction of the Republic than a more accurate vote count.

Nice day to you.

I feel compelled to drop a warning as I leave this debate:

Whether Trump or Biden wins or not, Christians should be careful not to bring their own religion into disrepute. Don't get so tied at the hips to a demagogue like Donald Trump just because you think he's some 21st century Cyrus the Great. The hit on Christianity's reputation may be irreparable if you go this route.

Openbusiness:
When the matter is at Supreme Court, you will see all the evidences you want.

So am I to take it that you are not aware of any solid evidence right now other than The Word of Trump?

Openbusiness:
The voter fraud was unprecedented. Never seen this kind of fraud in the history of America elections

Could you enlighten me please: what evidence is there of widespread fraud?

Decimus:
Lol, I spent 5 years there.

You are so ignorant, even if sincere in your ignorance. Fortunately, you attended this same OAU, and even more fortunately, you admitted it. You've obviously been assessing your “improvement” over the few years you spent here, and your very limited experience. This is why people are warned not to judge based on limited personal or anecdotal evidence, but people like you will obviously never learn.

Chief, when WE say the system has improved, it’s because we know what it was like in the “glory” days of the late 70s and early 80s. We know how bad it got in the late 80’s and early 90’s and so we can speak confidently about how it has improved slowly but steadily since that time. People like you who are comparative children in terms of their history with the system should keep quiet and listen to reason from their elders, rather than argue blindly. It is almost comical how you have selected the worst possible points to make your case.

Upload the pictures of the bathrooms or toilets and let's compare it with how they were 20 years ago.

I do not need to upload any pictures. All you need to know is that a male hostel like Angola used to OFFICIALLY allocate 9 students to a room 20 years ago. This number OFFICIALLY went up to 13 a few years later, with squatting an accepted fact. Now, the official allocation is between 4 and 6 MAXIMUM in any male room on campus. Squatting is strictly forbidden. Tell me, is that an improvement or not Interestingly, you yourself grudgingly admit this improvement below. I can only hope you are capable of appreciating irony.

Upload the pictures of white house that's not really white anymore.

For your information, the whole of White House was painted TWICE within those 20 years. You’re only saying it isn’t white because, again, you are basically a child in this system. You don’t even know when it almost became gray years ago. For your information, as it stands today, White House is white by any fair Nigerian standard. Thank God you are in OAUTHC; you can either drive down or take a cab down there to solve your double vision problem.

Ask those students going for practicals, how many students per table/ apparatus.

Many departments have improved in this area, some dramatically. In Department of Physics (a convenient starting point since you mentioned White House), almost all the undergraduate laboratories now have air conditioners. They did not have this 20 years ago. Needless to say, their equipment is also generally better. I’m not saying they are adequate. But certainly better. That department now has a 100 kVA Mikano generator. Power blackouts rarely affect their labs now from what I’m told. In the same White House, Geology now also has a 250 kVA Mikano generator. Also procured in the last 20 years. In our area in Computer, there are now at least FOUR new building blocks that did not exist 20 years ago, filled with new equipment including postgraduate labs that did not exist 20 years ago. I can also confidently say that for the Faculty of Technology practical classes that still hold, the number of students per table HAS REDUCED in the last 20 years.

How many Lecture halls do Law department have?

This is a surprisingly ignorant question from an alumnus who works so close to campus. Law now has a moot court that is one of the largest single-floor structures on OAU campus. Built in the last 5 years. Needless to say, there are literally DOZENS more lecture rooms and theaters on campus built in the last 20 years, most of which the Law students have access to.

Do you know how level one students do pack themselves inside 1000 seaters like Sardine?

This still happens, but if you were not so young, you would know that it was far more rampant 20 years ago. It is quite rare these days, given the large number of huge lecture theaters built in the last 20 years. There are actually few unmanageably* huge classes on campus. That students of those few courses have to be packed inside the lecture rooms is a statement on the NUC’s aggressive push to increase the intake, and says nothing about the relative improvement in the state of facilities.

In OAU, people go to receive lectures in an open field in sport complex, even Law students.

This is so rare now, that I can call “bullshit”. Due to the aforementioned new lecture theaters, this scenario basically doesn’t happen anymore unless outdoor learning has some role in the class itself, or it was unscheduled.

It's in OAU you see law students dragging lecture halls with Medical students at HSLT.

You never learn. Still insisting on judging the world based on your limited personal experiences. Obviously you made this statement because you were confined to your small world in the biological sciences area, and used to witness lecture clashes. Unfortunately for you, we’re talking about improvements here, right? The situation has improved TREMENDOUSLY over the last 20 years. I personally used to teach at least one course in HSLTC per semester back then. Now, I do not even know when last I went near there, because we have access to at least THREE new 500 /1000-seater lecture theaters.

But OAU is one of the fastest decaying Federal universities, even though ogunbode tried to decongest the hostels and did some patch works in the name of renovation.

Again, a shockingly ignorant and sweeping statement. How many of them have you ever visited? Have you, per chance, ever stepped into UNN? Of any of at least a dozen other federal universities that OAU is night-and-day better than in terms of facilities?

The only thing that improved in OAU is security, i could go to my bank at 2am to use the ATM, from when it was behind the library before they moved it to banking area.

This again shows how young you are. ATM "behind" library and “Banking area” allows me to fix your generation quite easily, and understand your plight and limited scope. Interestingly, Security in one area where I cannot confidently argue that there has been an improvement. The new contract staff at the gates are not as well-trained or competent as the old hands. But more to the point you ignorantly raised, the real Great Ife OLD students will confidently tell you that security in OAU has ALWAYS been generally top notch (bar the Iwilade et al incident).

Look, I don’t know how to wrap this up. The little I have written above are just a tiny fraction of the improvements in OAU over the period in question. I have not mentioned the multiple research/policy centers and structures that did not exist back then. I did not mention that fact that local research grants (URC and TETFUND) amounted to between 2 and 10 mullion pa back then, but now typically reach well over N300 million.

It is of course disappointing that someone like you who has been ranting about the state of the universities has proved to be so shockingly out of touch with the state of even you own alma mater. And yet, you’ve been making so much mouth. Shameful, really.

The takeaway is this: the universities have improved over the last 20 years. This is incontrovertible. But they are still far from where they need to be, hence ASUU’s crusade. Thank you.