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The website of the Federal Ministry of
Education, www.fme.gov.ng, is down.
Although it could not be ascertained how
long it has been down, newsmen, who
visited the website on Monday, had
stumbled on the message, “This account
has been suspended.’’
No information was placed on the site to tell
visitors that it has moved to another domain
and no link was provided to redirect those in
search of information about the educational
system to a new one.
Besides, another website attributed to the
ministry online, fmegovng.org, is also “ailing’’
as the message on the site read, “This domain
name will be on Godaddy Auctions soon.”
Visitors to any of the two portals in search of
reports related to the ongoing industrial
action by university teachers may be
disappointed as the ministry literally has no
official website to inform interested members
of the public.
A check on some education parastatals in the
country shows that some of them are fast
taking a cue from the supervisory ministry
that is saddled with the responsibility for
defining and shaping the structure of the
education system in Nigeria.
For instance, a visit to the website of the
National Commission for Colleges of
Education, www.ncceonline.org, showed that
the information on the site was far from
being rich. The “About Us’’ is the only section
that the website has, while the welcome page
contains two articles which only informed
visitors on how to go about securing loan to
study in higher institutions of learning
abroad.
No mention was made of its activities,
pertaining to the regulation of colleges of
education in the country, as well as the
issuance of the National Certificate of
Education – the minimum certificate that
qualifies one to teach in the country.
The National Educational Research and
Development Council’s website,
www.nerdc.gov.ng, which prides itself as the
“think-tank of Nigerian education’’ is only a
little better than that of the NCCE.
The first information that caught the
attention of newsmen on the welcome page of
the website on Monday was the date on it.
The date on the site simply read Thursday,
September 05, 2013.
A click on the “Achievement’’ section of the
site, which was expected to give the track
record of the council from 2005 to 2012,
showed it was empty. The message on it read,
“This page is awaiting update.” A similarly
information was posted on the “Press
Release” section.
Besides, the website managers did not deem
it fit to input the contact person and phone
number of the designatedofficial at its area
office on 8, Orlu Street, Garki, Abuja as they
simply left the spaces meant for it blank.



http://www.informationng.com/2013/09/education-ministry-website-suspended-amid-ASUU-strike.html

AS the ongoing strike enters its 10th week next
Monday, five universities in the Niger Delta
region, have vowed to heavily fall on any
university found truncating the ongoing strike
by the Academic Staff Union of Universities
(ASUU), insisting that the action must be
pursued to its logical conclusion.
This stance was taken after a crucial meeting
of the Benin Zone, at the Delta State
University (DELSU) Abraka, Delta State, last
Wednesday.
Zonal co-ordinator of the body, Dr Sunny
Ighaho, while addressing journalists after the
crucial meeting, said the zone would not
tolerate any university that will scuttle the
industrial strike that is rounding off it’s ninety
week.
The universities represented atthe meeting
were the University of Benin, Delta
StateUniversity, Abraka and Ambrose Alli
University, Ekpoma. Others were the
NigerDelta University and the Federal
University of Petroleum Resources , Bayelsa
and Effurun respectively.
Dr Ighalo, who explained that the ASUU
struggle is not only about money but to
liberate the university system from the hands
and enemies of the educational sector,
reiterated that “The union is struggling to have
a better future for our children. Nigeria is
richly blessed with human and abundant
resources, sadly, the elite are sending their
children abroad, even to lesser countries.”
According to him, the strike has reached a
critical phase where government is now
applying the instrument of intimidation and
blackmail as well as other gimmicks to
undermine and whittle down the struggle.
While calling for the implementation of the
2009 ASUU/Federal Government agreement, Dr
Ighalo condemned government’s ployto break
the resolve on the struggle by forcing the
union to end the strike through a meeting
attended by the committees of pro-chancellors
and vice-chancellors.
“Our union has no intention torenegotiate the
said agreement until it is fully implemented.
What makes a person or organisation is
honouring an agreement freely made. The
government should honour the agreement
freely entered into with the union since 2009,”
remarked the union zonal co-ordinator.
Dr Ighalo with whom were other members of
the body, called on well-meaning Nigerians to
prevail on government to demonstrate
integrity and good faith by respecting and
honouring the said agreement.: www.liveschoolnews.com/fg-attempting-to-break-our-ranks-ASUU/

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Nigerian universities will soon experience
total closure as the three remaining trade
unions in the university system have
threatened to commence indefinite and total
strike following government’s failure to fully
implement the 2009 agreement it signed with
varsity workers.
Barely three weeks into the strike embarked
on by the Academic Staff Union of
Universities (ASUU), the Senior Staff
Association of Nigeria Universities (SSANU),
the National Association of Academic
Technologists (NAAT), and the Non-Academic
Staff Union of Educational and Associated
Institutions (NASU) declared at a conference
in Abuja on Friday that they were getting set
for a showdown with the government.
Under the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of
SSANU, NAAT and NASU, the unions lamented
the failure of the Federal Government to
begin full implementation of an agreement it
enteredwith them since 2009, stating that
they would resume the strike they suspended
in March this year.
The threat came just as their teaching
counterpart, ASUU also rejected all appeals
made to it to call off its strike and allow for
negotiation to continue. Rather, ASUU delared
that the strike would go on as planned.
NASU President, Comrade Ladi Iliya, who read
a joint press statement by the unions, listed
the main issues in contention as the funding
ofuniversity education, the Earned Allowance
and the NEEDS assessment report, which was
targetted at mass sack of the non-teaching
staff working in the universities.
According to Iliya, since 2009, several
representations had been made to the
government and the implementation
committee set up by the government itself
without results.
“It appears as if government is taking our
understanding for granted thereby putting us
under unbearable pressure from our
members whose patience is fast running out.
“It is in light of this that JAC is calling on
Nigerians to prevail on government to
address all burning issues within the shortest
possible time, failure of which we may not be
able to continue to hold our members back
from resuming our earlier suspended strike
action without notice,” Iliya said.
According to her, the Federal Government
has consistently failed to honour agreements,
particularly on a systemic increase in the
funding of the universities by releasing N100
billion yearly to federal universities
consecutively for four years effective from
January, 2012.
But more than a year that the circular on it
was released, government had not made
available a kobo in respect of the
undertaking, she stated.
On the Earned allowances which include
“occupational hazard allowance,
responsibility allowance and head section/
unit allowance,” the NASU president said the
government has also not made any effort to
include it in the national budget, even though
it has accumulated to huge arrears.
Also, the three non-teaching unions faulted
thereport of a Needs Assessment Committee
of Nigerian public universities headed by
Professor Mahmud Yakubu in 2012.
Iliya stated that such important committee
wasinstituted without the inclusion of
members of the non-teaching staff of
Nigerian public universities, and most
especially the students who are the major
stakeholders.
Iliya said: “As expected, the report of the
committee was full of misrepresentation of
facts, inflated figures and badly skewed data
against the non-teaching staff in the
universitysystem, thereby misinforming both
the public and the government.”
Iliya called on well-meaning Nigerians to
prevail on the government to implement the
agreement it freely enter into with the
workers to avoid plunging the nation’s
universities intoanother round of needless
crisis.
She noted that the non-teaching unions had
exercise serious restraints to embark on
strikesin the interest of the students,
government and in protection of good
academic standard.
She said: “As responsible unions who are
sensitive to public opinions and have interest
of students and the national interest at heart,
we have been weary of strike actions in the
past and have done everything humanly
possible to sustain industrial peace in our
universities even in the face of government
insensitivity and pressure from our
members.”

Strike: ASUU walks out on
Fed Govt, National Assembly
team.


The leadership of the Academic Staff Union of
Universities (ASUU) yesterday walked out on
the National Assembly’s Joint Committee on
Education and a Federal Government’s
negotiating team.
The Chairman of Senate Committee on
Education, Uche Chukwumerijie, and his House
of Representatives counterpart, Aminu
Suleiman, had invited representatives of the
Federal Government and ASUU to the National
Assembly to end ng the ongoing strike by the
university teachers.
The Minister of the Education, Prof.
Ruqquayatu Rufa’i; her Labour and Productivity
counterpart, Emeka Wogu; the Executive
Secretary of the National Universities
Commission (NUC), Prof. Julius Okojie, among
others, represented the Federal Government at
the meeting.
However, when the ASUU delegation got to the
proposed venue of the meeting, they met the
Chukwumerijie-led joint committee meeting
with representatives of the Academic Staff
Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) and the Colleges
of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU).
While the meeting with ASUP was meant to
resolve the over-two-month strike by
polytechnic teachers, that of COEASU was
meant to avert a similar action in Colleges of
Education.
Chukwumerijie, who chaired the meeting, had
sent a message to the ASUU delegation to give
him 10 minutes to round off the session. But
the university teachers walked out of the
National Assembly for allegedly being kept
waiting by the committee and the Federal
Government’s delegation.
The committee was shocked on rounding off its
meeting that the ASUU delegation did not heed
the plea of its chairman to give it time to
conclude its meeting.
Former Chairman, House Committee on
Education, Hon. Farouk Lawan urged the
Committee to discountenance the ASUU’s
action in the interest of students thrown out of
school by the strike and the country’s
education sector.
However, a member of the Committee, Hon
Jerry Alagboso described the action of ASUU as
“intellectual arrogance”.
He called on the leadership of the Committee
to formally write to warn ASUU against such
tendencies in future.
The Minister of Education, Ruqquayatu Rufa’i
and the Minister of Education, Emeka Wogu
did not comment.
Chairman House Committee on Education,
Aminu Suleiman noted that as a former, such
actions were not new in labour relations.
He called on the lawmakers to take the
treatment with maturity and in the interest of
the nation’s education sector and the students
now made to stay at home because of the
strike.
Chukwumerijie said the Committee will reach
out to ASUU with the aim of reconvening the
meeting next week.
Meanwhile, the National Assembly Joint
Committee on Education, Rufa’i and Wogu
yesterday appealed to ASUP to call off their
over two months strike.
Chukwumerijie promised that the Committee
would work to ensure that the issues that led o
the strike were resolved within the next two
weeks.
National President of ASUP, Comrade Chibuzo
Asomugha, said any decision to suspend the
strike can only be taken at the National
Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the union.
He was however not specific on when the
union would convene its NEC meeting.
The committee also pleaded with the Asagha
Emmanuel Nkoro-led COEASU to give it time to
intervene in their industrial dispute with the
Federal Government to avert the proposed
strike.

Following the indefinite strike embarked by the
Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU),
last Monday, the union, Sunday, disclosed that
it will not suspend the industrial action, unless
the Federal Government accedes to the
agreement it reached with it in 2009. This is
even as the union debunked reports on some
social and online media that it has suspended
its one-week old strike.
Speaking with Vanguard, ASUU Chairman,
University of Lagos (UNILAG), Chapter, Dr.
Karo Ogbinaka said: “The strike is still ongoing.
We have not suspended or called-off the
strike. Perhaps, before we do that, a National
Executive Council (NEC) meeting must be held,
then, the resolutions of the meeting will be
made known to all chapters of the union,”
adding, “The indefinite and total strike will
continue, except government meets our
demands.”
Meanwhile, FG through its Ministry of
Education led by Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufain will
Monday, meet with stakeholders in the
industry, which included Vice Chancellors of
Federal universities and their Governing
Councils, together with interested Vice
Chancellors of State and Private universities.
However, at the time of filing this report, full
details of agenda for the meeting was not
made known. It would recalled that the union
had last Monday, called out its members on an
indefinite industrial action over what it termed
government’s failure to honour the Academic
Earned Allowance (AEA) which formed a
component of the 2009 agreement the
government signed with the union.