LAUTECH bans students from bringing cars to campus

Students of Ladoke Akintola University, Ogbomoso in Oyo State, have been barred from driving or bringing cars to the campus.

The management of the institution also banned the use of tinted vehicles by staff members and students, adding that learner permits must be placed on the vehicles of beginner drivers.

Unauthorized vehicles parked at various locations in the university are to be taken out with immediate effect.

Registrar of the institution, Kayode Ogunleye said the decision was reached at a management meeting held on Wednesday, April 19.

He said;

“The University management at its regular meeting held, on Wednesday, March 22, 2023, deliberated on the occurrence of traffic on the campus and decided as follows:

“Vehicles owned by students are hereby banned from entering the university campus. Vehicles with no registration numbers are no longer allowed on campus. Roadside parking of vehicles should stop forthwith.

“Any unauthorized vehicles parked at various positions in the university should be taken out with immediate effect, failing which the university security will take appropriate action on such vehicles.

“Tinted vehicles being used by some staff and students are hereby prohibited. Learner permits must be placed on the vehicles of beginner drivers.

“The acting vice chancellor, bursar, university Liberian, provosts and deans, directors, heads of departments/units and acting head of security unit were copied in the memo.”

Final year students result withheld in UniMaid over unpaid salary

Lecturers at the University of Maiduguri (UniMaid) have threatened to withhold results of students until the federal government resolves the issue of pro-rata payment of salary and nonpayment of their 8 months’ salaries.

Dr Abubakar Mshelia, Chairman of Unimaid’s branch of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) made the announcement on Tuesday, November 22.

He said;

“Members of ASUU will not mark the current examination scripts; they will also not submit the results of both the first and second semesters of the 2020/2021 academic session.

“There will be no computation of academic status by coordinators of parts 1-4, 5 or 6, as applicable. “Government said ‘no-work, no-pay; we say ‘no-pay, no-work.”

ASUU must compensate students for wasted time – Minister of Education says as he asks students to sue the union

Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu has said that the Academic Staff Union of Universities should be compensating students for the time wasted during the six-month strike, and not the Federal Government.

Punch reported that the Minister who said government will not concede to the union’s demand to pay lecturers their emoluments for the six months of no academic activities in his speech at the 47th Session of the State House Ministerial Briefing organised by the Presidential Communications Team at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja, further asked affected students to “take ASUU to court” to claim damages incurred over the strike period.

Adamu insisted that the federal government bears no liability to compensate millions of students grounded for six months over lost time.

He also said if the students are determined to get compensated, they should take ASUU to court.

It’s been hell, students lament four-month ASUU strike

The Academic Staff Union of Universities declared a comprehensive and total strike four months ago in order to compel the Federal Government to act on a variety of issues that have lingered between both parties for years.

Since the strike was declared in February, there has been little progress in the deliberations.

Instead, meetings continue to end in deadlocks; banquets, fanfare, party conventions, primary elections, and political campaigns are the order of the day, while the crumbling education sector continues to receive sparse attention.

The PUNCH spoke to some of these students who expressed their frustration with the Federal Government’s lackadaisical attitude to their plight.

A final year student of Bayero University, Kano, Zainab Olayinka, revealed that she has “locked away the student” in herself in order to avoid feeling depressed.

“I have been coping by not letting the thought of it cross my mind too often. It is like I have just locked away the student in me just so I don’t slip into depression,” she said.

Zainab has also taken to interning in an organisation that keeps her connected to her school studies. Additionally, she has ventured into ghostwriting in order to keep herself busy.

“The strike keeps making you alter several life plans. While I know plans are not static, the strike mostly puts me in a bad place in terms of missing out on opportunities just because there is a particular requirement and it is connected with my academic certificate.

It makes you grow older, and then when you are finally out of school they tell you, you need certain years of experience after delaying so much. It is so unfair,” she said.

Chinedu Chisom Uzochukwu a 300 Level student of University of Nigeria, Nsukka, said he has “not been coping” well with the protracted strike which has also left him drained.

“It’s been hell in a way,” he said. “I mean, aside from missing school life, it’s been draining. I don’t even know if I’ve been coping mentally.”

Like Zainab, Chinedu has also started his interning with a law firm after boredom got the best of him while staying at home.

Speaking on the effects of the strike as regards his future plans, Chinedu confessed that while the consequences are not pressing in the short term, he feels a diversion of his interests in education to entrepreneurship is imminent.

An anonymous respondent who is currently in their penultimate year at Bayero University, Kano, agonised over the fact that their school ID card projects that they should be graduating this year.

The student said, “The fact that this (graduation) is not happening reveals how this affects every youth in a public university in Nigeria.

“The delay affects our long term future plans. It makes us sit and watch those from private universities grow and become who they want without much delay while we are being held at the mercies of ASUU and the Federal Government.”

A 300 Level Law student of the University of Ilorin who simply identifies as Subomi, said the announcement of the strike in February came at first as a welcome development.

This is because the previous school session had been rushed due to a previous strike that lasted nine months in 2020.

However, Subomi said when the present strike began to cross the thresholds of its first couple of months, she started feeling “depressed and down”

Subomi who has now ventured into trading, also empathised with her friends who neither have jobs or other things to keep them occupied, as the strike might have a worse effect on them.

She noted how it was the previous 2020 strike that ultimately drove her to start a business which now occupies most of her time.

The law student said, “The first strike we had during the pandemic affected me a lot. I was reluctant to do anything relating to school. I was just tired and I lost interest. Then I started my business around that time. I started seeing money, and consequently started seeing school as a by-the-way thing.

“With this present strike, I’m trying to make money and really focus on money. I’m not bothered about school. I know by the time we resume this will affect me a lot as I would have to try getting comfortable in the school environment again.”

To top it all, Subomi promises to ensure her child “does not attend a Federal University so that they don’t have to go through this.”

Conversely, for Oladipo, a 400 level student of the University of Lagos, the strike has been a blessing. According to him, he underwent a surgery last year and the break has given him time to properly heal.

While he has not been “feeling” empty as much, Oladipo confessed that sometimes he feels like honing his skills in Software Programming and Project Development but has not really been “gingered to do anything productive.”

Oladipo also expressed optimism about the strike saying he does not see it as a delay.

“I don’t think the strike will affect me as a youth. While people see strikes as a delay, I just see it as time to do other things that’ll be beneficial for me and my life. It gives me time to think about how life after school will be, because this is just a preview.

“If you have finished school, this is how life will be. You will just be home chilling, looking for how to break into the next stage of your life. If you can use the time allotted to you between strikes to do that, I don’t think your future will be very much affected. In my industry (Computer science), the degree honestly doesn’t mean that much, what matters more is experience,” he said.

The last development on the strike was another meeting which was held on Monday, in which negotiations by both the Federal Government and the Union led to no concrete conclusions.

ASUU has accused the Federal Government for failing to “satisfactorily” implement the Memorandum of Action it signed with the Union in December 2020, on funding for revitalisation of public universities (both Federal and states), renegotiation of the 2009 FGN/ ASUU Agreement, and the deployment of the University Transparency and Accountability Solution.

Other demands listed by the Union include Earned Academic Allowances, State Universities, promotion arrears, withheld salaries, and non-remittance of third-party deductions.

ASUU condemns harassment of students protesting strike by armed personnel

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Friday slammed the military for the harassment of protesting students of the University of Ibadan.

Students protesting the ongoing ASUU strike at the University of Ibadan’s main gate in Oyo State had clashed with a team of Nigerian Army personnel who attempted to run them over.

In a statement titled: “NEED FOR EXTREME CAUTION, DEMOCRATIC CIVILITY, AND SENSITIVITY IN HANDING STUDENT PROTESTS,” signed by its Lagos Zonal Coordinator, Adelaja Odukoya, the union condemned the military and the Nigeria Police Force’s activities thus far and urged the forces’ high command to caution their agents who have attempted attacks on students.

Odukoya said: “The army and police have constitutional responsibilities to protect and not attack, maim or brutalise protesting students across the country. There are more than enough pains, anguish, and bloodshed in the land on account of the government’s failure; to allow security indiscretion to cause the death of a single student will be unconscionable and unacceptable.

ASUU Lagos Zone wishes to use this opportunity to call on both the Nigerian Army and Police to rein in their officers with trigger happy disposition towards popular protests, particularly legitimate protests of students. This is in view of the ongoing protests forced upon students who have been out of their classrooms as a consequence of government insensitivity to the more three months old ASUU strike.”

ASUU declared its support for the students’ protests, saying it was monitoring the demonstrations across the country.

“The use of an army van to crush students at the University of Ibadan (UI) gate today is ugly, condemnable, and humiliating.

“Security personnel appear to have learned nothing beneficial from the #ENDSARS protests. It cannot be stressed enough that kids, like other people, have constitutionally protected rights to demonstrate,” the union added.

FedPoly, Bauchi dismisses two lecturers, expels 30 students

Two randy lecturers of the Federal Polytechnic, Bauchi, Musa Baba Abubakar and Adebusoye Michael Sunday who allegedly harassed two female students sexually have been indicted and dismissed by the Governing Council of the Polytechnic.

The Council arising from its regular meeting held on Saturday through the early morning of Sunday approved the immediate dismissal from its services of the two lecturers of the institution who were accused of involvement in sexual harassment of two female students as reported by the School management.

The affected lecturers are Musa Baba Abubakar of the General Studies Department and Adebusoye Michael Sunday of Nutrition and Dietetics Development who were found culpable by the various investigative committees instituted by the Institution since the cases were reported.

While briefing Journalists on Sunday after the regular meeting of the Council held at the Council Conference hall on Saturday presided over by the Chairman, Barr. Isaac Abbot Ogbobula, the Rector, Arch Sunusi Waziri Gumau explained that the Council studied the reports of the various committees before arriving at the final decision on the cases.

He said that the delay in arriving at the decision was not deliberate as insinuated by a section of the media saying that, “we don’t have anything to hide, we only followed due process in accordance with the extant laws of the Institution. I wonder what the hue was all about in the media”.

Sunusi Gumau further said that, “We set up various committees as soon as we received the formal complaints from the victims to ensure that justice was done. We have presented our findings to the Governing Council which during its regular meeting, approved the immediate dismissal of the affected staff”.

He added that, “they will be served with their letters of dismissal by Monday morning, the institution will copy the relevant security agencies and other concerned authorities. With that, the matter has been put to final rest as far as the Federal Polytechnic, Bauchi is concerned, they seized to be staff of the institution forthwith”.

The Rector also said that 30 students have been expelled from the Polytechnic for various offences ranging from exams malpractices and falsification of results to gain admission into the various programs of the institution.

He explained that 16 students were expelled for falsification of their certification which were used to gain admitted into the institution saying that thorough investigation was carried out to ascertain the claims of the affected students while 14 others were found guilty of indulging in examination malpractices.

The Rector said that the affected students were tried and found guilty by the Academic Board of the Polytechnic and was presented to the Governing Council for note taking because it was purely the responsibility of the Academic Board to do that.

Jigawa police arrest six students for forcefully entering man’s house, cutting his hair

The Jigawa State Police Command has arrested six students for allegedly entering a man’s house forcefully and barbing his head against his wish.

The Command’s Public Relations Officer, ASP Lawan Shiisu, disclosed the development in a statement made available to newsmen in Dutse on Tuesday, noting that four other suspects were reportedly at large, while the police have launched a manhunt for their arrest.

According to Shiisu, the suspects, who were said to be students of the Federal University Dutse and Jigawa Polytechnic also in Dutse, forcefully entered the victim’s house on August 20, around 1 am.
He said the victim, identified as Ibrahim Sambo, who resides at Yalwawa quarters in Dutse, the state capital reported the case on August 27, saying he became sick two days after the incident.

On Aug. 27, at about 1600hrs, one Ibrahim Sambo of Yalwawa quarters of Dutse reported that on Aug. 20, at about 1000hrs, some students of Federal University Dutse and Jigawa Polytechnic, Dutse, entered his house, restrained him and forcefully barbed his hair and left. And after two days, his health started failing and he became sick,” Shiisu said.

The spokesperson added that upon receipt of the complaint, police detectives swung into action and arrested the six students aged between 18 and 19 in connection with the offence.

“The suspects, who confessed to the crime, will be charged to court upon completion of the investigation,” he added.

Sokoto varsity lecturer reportedly fails his students because of their HOD

A lecturer has stunned many with his decision to fail most of the students taking his course due to a squabble.

He is a lecturer of Genetics in the Department of Biology Sciences at the Sokoto State University, Sokoto.

It was learnt that he has a long-standing misunderstanding with the Head of Department, and due to their issues, he gave an F to most students offering his course.

A Twitter user simply known as Oku, shared the story online while posting a photo of the result sheet.

It showed that 99 percent were given an F while the remaining 1 percent shared B, C, D grades and ABS- which stands for absent.

See the result;

See how some netizens reacted below…

@Dabobelemabo; The senate of the school should sack, how can you teach without understanding….

@Haziroy; One lecturer like that did this to us that year. Just Humanities oh. The man failed 96% of the entire class.

He told us prior to the exam that nobody will pass his exam just because he wanted us to buy his handouts created out of an existing textbook we’d already paid for

@officialetiz; See that 386 make e collect that let me people go with his chest

@Ibrorijau; This is not possible. School Senate cannot approve such results.

@raimthepromoter replied; Didn’t you see somebody scored a Beee,for that reason, he taught something, and that’s why the result was approved

@KabassaMohawk; It’s not even about wickedness, he can’t teach!! He’s bad at his job

Students spray bundles of naira notes after writing final exam as other graduating students struggle to pick (video)

In the past, we see videos of final year students in Nigeria being poured water and drink after their final examination as a way of celebrating with them for their achievement. That is not the case anymore as students now make it rain with excess cash after writing their final paper.

There is a video which is currently going viral on social media, showing some students of Petroleum Training Institutes in Warri, Delta State, praying wads of cash after finishing their final exam as other graduating students and undergraduates struggled to pick for themselves.

One of the students who was simply identified as Destiny from the Department of Welding and Fabrication, could be seen in the video holding bundles of cash and consistently threw into the cheering crown.

See videos below;

https://naijapremiumgist.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/WhatsApp-Video-2021-04-04-at-11.30.591.mp4
https://naijapremiumgist.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/WhatsApp-Video-2021-04-04-at-11.30.58.mp4
https://naijapremiumgist.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/WhatsApp-Video-2021-04-04-at-11.30.59.mp4

Sokoto govt confirms discharge of 30 students struck by strange illness

The Sokoto State government on Thursday confirmed the discharge of 30 students of the Government Girls College (GGC) struck by a strange illness from a hospital in the state.

The state’s Director of Public Health, Dr. Abdurrahaman Dantsoho, told journalists the students who were admitted at the State Specialist Hospital on Tuesday have been treated and discharged.

He said the state’s Ministry of Health had tested water, and food samples collected from the school.

He, however, said no death has been reported at the college.

The state’s Commissioner for Science and Technology, Dr. Kulu Haruna, also confirmed the development.

She said the state government had deployed about 10 medical doctors to the school.

“The situation was brought under control due to the quick intervention of the state government. All the infected students have been isolated to curtail the spread of the disease,” the commissioner said.

NASS REPUBLIC: As Reps mull keeping students at home. Two other stories, and a quote to remember

Members of Nigeria’s House of Representatives literarily found themselves swimming against the tide last week.

This was evident in the grumbles of some NASS members in the period leading up to government announcement of school resumptions amid resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The lawmakers had expressed deep reservations over inadequate consultations by the Muhammadu Buhari administration, and its hasty reopening of educational institutions, especially the universities which had been shut for nearly a year.

This incident, among others, characterized events at NASS last week.

On January 16, the House of Representatives faulted the Federal Government for giving schools the go-ahead to reopen despite the increasing cases of COVID-19.

The lawmakers bared their minds in a statement issued by the Chairman of the House Committee on Basic Education and Services, Prof. Julius Ihonvbere, in Abuja.

“They did not consult us; at least in my committee, nobody from the ministry spoke to me. I have been in Abuja. And I am not sure that they spoke to any of my members. They just don’t see us as part of the critical stakeholders,” Ihonvbere said.

He added: “We are particularly concerned that when the infection rates hovered around 500 and under, schools were closed; but now that it hovers well above 1,000 infections daily, schools are being reopened. Why are we rushing to reopen schools without adequate verifiable and sustainable arrangements to protect and secure our children?”

Ihonvbere’s outburst adds to the long list of claims of poor synergy observed in the relationship between the executive and legislative arms of government.

Unfortunately, it also deepens the longstanding perception that the executive holds little regard for the other arms, and would rather emasculate them where it deemed necessary.

Instructively, many years after leaning on democratic principles for guidance, the institutions of state appear not to be maturing very quickly but rather what has been witnessed is the rise of strong individuals who show little respect for rules of engagement in a democracy.

But in crying out loud, the lawmakers must appreciate that they have, over the years, made themselves weeping boys by failing to assert their authority, thereby laying the foundations for a disdainful treatment by the executive.

‘Students are not required to undergo COVID-19 test,’ FG tells heads of schools

The Federal Government said on Monday students returning to schools across the country are not required to undergo COVID-19 test before they would be allowed into the premises.

Some schools particularly in Lagos had directed their students to undergo the COVID-19 test before resumption.

But the Director of Press and Public Relations, Federal Ministry of Education, Ben Goong, who reacted to the development in a statement, asked school authorities to refrain from asking students or parents to undergo the COVID-19 test before they are allowed to enter the schools.

He said: “The Federal Ministry of Education says no COVID-19 test is required for returning students to be admitted into their schools.

“Only temperature checks should be carried out on students and any other person crossing any school gate.

“School authorities should therefore refrain from asking students or parents to undergo COVID-19 test before they are accepted in their schools.”

RIP! Sad Day As Two Students Engage In Deadly Fight, One Succumbs Leaving The Other Badly Injured

God Almighty is our creator and giver of our life. Since we opened schools there have been cases where students have attempted to kill their teachers.

However, we all know that death is an inevitable and unalterable event to all the living things. But we can never avoid death and we can never know when it strikes.

It is painful and sad as students of Lycee Ndolem in Douala have engaged in a deadly fight. Unfortunately, one has succumbed to death while the other has been severely injured just because of 50FCFA.

What do you think? Is it right? Should the government take action? We send our condoling messages as opera news hub writers and we hope and pray that they find strength during this trying times.

Thanks for your time. Please endeavour to like feel free to share your thoughts and opinion in the comment section and also do not forget to share with others.

ASUU: Students issue one week ultimatum to Federal govt, lecturers

The Coalition of 19 Northern States presidents of the Students Union Government, SUG, has issued a one-week ultimatum to both the Nigerian government and ASUU to resolve its problem with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) or it takes to the streets in protest.

They stated this at a press conference in Kano on Tuesday where they read the outcome of an earlier meeting of the coalition in Jigawa State.

Addressing the conference on behalf of the coalition, Sadi Garba Sa’id of the Bayero University Kano said, “The coalition has unanimously agreed on the review of the ASUU demands. The coalition is giving both parties ultimatum of one week to resolve themselves or else we the Nigerian students will move to the roads and make them our classes.”

They further stated that they will not accept any increase in registration fees while calling on the government to waive the fees because of the pandemic which has caused economic devastation.

“The coalition will not tolerate any form of hike in registration fees or the induction of tuition fees.

“The government should waive registration because of the pandemic which has seriously affected the economic status of students, parents and guardians,” they declared.

The coalition also called for a review of the National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) age limit as the lingering ASUU strike might have affected the chances of some of the students to participate in the scheme.

“NYSC age limitation should be revised owing to the fact that the lingering ASUU strike and COVID-19 pandemic may have crippled some students’ chances of participating in the scheme,” they demanded.

The coalition further condemned the alarming rate of rape and kidnapping across the country and therefore called for a prompt action by government.

They also demand that education should be given priority in the country for which they called on the government to also provide quality education in primary and secondary schools.

The coalition further called for the introduction of skill acquisition and internship programs to the students of tertiary institutions across Nigeria while they also called for transparency in respect of federal and state scholarship schemes.

17 KASU medical students test positive for COVID-19

No fewer than 17 medical students of Kaduna State University (KASU) recalled for examinations have tested positive for coronavirus.

Chairman KASU Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Comrade Tukur Abdulkadir, disclosed this to reporters on Friday.

He said the positive cases have vindicated the union’s opposition to reopening of the institution.

He said: “As you are aware, the management of Kaduna State University has opened the university and plans to conduct examination beginning from Monday, 19th of October, 2020.

“To this moment, Kaduna State Government has not officially announced the re-opening of tertiary institutions. Although the 2019/2020 academic session has been significantly affected by Covid-19 lockdown, re-opening the university at this material time is tantamount to trading the lives of students and staff for the conduct of the examination.

“The decision by the management of KASU to re-open is in gross violation of the Covid-19 Protocol as highlighted by the Presidential Task Force (PTF) and the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

“This action also violates the standard provision and regulations guiding conduct of University examinations.

“Let this be known to the general public, almost all the guidelines as stipulated by PTF/NCDC are not in existence in Kaduna State University at the moment.

“Students congregate very closely without facemask, and hostels are overcrowded. It is on record that some weeks ago, 17 out of about 50 medical students who were recalled for examination tested positive to Covid-19.”

He said the examination proposed for October 19 was not feasible because students were not given sufficient time for revision.

Besides, he alleged the institution have not been following COVID-19 protocols, hinting there were neither adequate spacing nor Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) for students and lecturers.

He warned there might be a spike in COVID-19 infection considering the institution is not residential.

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