FG’s N100bn Will Be Shared Among 61 Varsities - SSANU "FG vs SSNANU"

The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) has said the N100 billion to be released by the federal government following the report of the Needs Assessment Committee will be shared among 61 universities in the country.
National President of SSANU Comrade Samson Ugwoke revealed this while addressing union members at its National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting held at the University of Abuja at the weekend.
The union leader, who briefed members on activities of the Governor Gabriel Suswam-led Needs Assessment Implementation Committee also said in pursuance of its resolve to transform Nigerian universities to international standard within the next four years, the federal government had  approved a sum of N400 billion to be expended in infrastructural development of Nigeria universities and provision of basic needs.
He said the document to this effect was expected to be made available today at the meeting of the Presidential Committee on Implementation of the Needs Assessment in the universities with the leaders of the four university-based unions - SSANU, the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT), the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
Ugwoke said the N400 billion is different from the N100 billion the Suswam committee has raised from donor agencies and big companies to tackle the problems of Nigerian Universities in the year 2013.
He said, “Let me give you a tip on what the NEED Assessment Committee is doing. The President has approved that within the next four years, N400 billion would be expended in infrastructural development of Nigeria Universities, to transform the universities to international standard.
“N100 billion has been raised by Suswam Committee, he has done that already. 61 universities have been pencilled down as contained in the NEEDS Assessment Committee. These 61 universities will share the N100 billion in various categories which include refurbishing and renovation of lecture theatres and lecture halls, refurbishing and renovation of laboratory/library and the renovation of hostels.
“The second category is building of new hostels of international standard, self-contain room, the latest model in the world. That is the standard to be build in every university, and also the state of the earth laboratories as well as classrooms, lecture theatres and the halls.”
The SSANU president pointed out that the money has been shared among the universities. He also said out of the N100 billion, N96 billion has been sent to universities.
He added: “The committee is meeting again on Monday, and by Monday, the document will be out. This time around, it is not only by giving university money, but it will be monitored to ensure that the money is used to transform the universities, to bail universities out of the present situation and developed to an international recognised university standard.”

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION vs FG

COEASU issues 14-day

strike ultimatum The Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union, (COEASU) which had earlier issued a 21-day notice last Friday, has served a fresh strike notice on the Federal Government. In an August 15 letter to the Minister of Education,Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufai, the union issued a 14 day ultimatum to meet its demands.In the letter signed by its president, Asagha Nkoro, and the General Secretary, Nuhu Ogirima, COEASU expressed worry about the attitude of the government to the crisis which has be deviled the education sector over poor working conditions. It reads In part: “Given the apparent unwillingness of the Federal Government to meaningfully address the issues of grave concern to the survival of the College of education system within 21 days, a senunciated in the letter,the union hereby states that should the Federal Government maintain its lackadaisical posture by the next two weeks, it would be compelled to embark on a nation wide strike action in the colleges of education. “In other words, the entire academic staff of the nation’s colleges of education would, indeed,cease all responsibilities and functions dischargeable under the law and statute if by 29th August, 2013, the Federal Government refuses to take practically meaningful steps towards addressing the union’s demands. ”The union is protesting against infrastructural decay, poor funding, non-implementation of the2010 FG-COEASU Agreement, poor conditions of service, brain drain and illegal imposition of the IPPIS. -THE NATION NEWS

ASUU President vs Students

ASUU boss, Comrade Issa Fagee appealed to Nigerian to understand that their agitations is for the collective good of the country. He said this while being interviewed on a radio programme this morning in Abuja.

“The citizens, please we need to understand that ASUU members are also parents, they are also Students. For this strike action is also hitting us very very strongly at the base. But it is part of the sacrifice that we have to make to turn around the plight of our beautiful country Nigeria”

This means students are to wait till FG gets money …

ASUU Will Wait Till FG Gets Money"FG vs ASUU"

The Academic Staff Union of Universities will sustain its ongoing strike until the Federal Government gets the money to meet its demands, an ex-officio member has said.The immediate past chairman of the union at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Prof. Aloysius Okolie, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Nsukka, Enugu State that the government should not allow a total collapse of tertiary education in the country.Okolie said that no country had attained enviable height economically and technologically without adequate funds for the education sector. He said the sector remained the engine room of national development.“The National Assembly and some executive members are paid jumbo salaries but when it comes to education funding the government has no money. “How will the country be able to achieve its vision 20:2020 of being among the 20 leading economies if the education sector is not well-funded,’’ he asked. The former chairman solicited the understanding of the students and their parents, saying the union’s demand was to ensure quality teaching and learning in the universities. “It is unreliable that in some universities student receive lectures under the trees and in stadium.“Books, laboratory equipment in our libraries and laboratories are out-dated while some politicians and government officials are wasting money in building houses in every state capital and buying fleets of exotic cars. “The demands will enable the universities to produce quality graduates employable in any part ofthe world,’’ he said.

ASUU Strike: Activists Ask Jonathan To Sack Okonjo-Iweala "ASUU vs OKONJO"

A group of activists under the aegis of Anti-Corruption Network have called on President Goodluck Jonathan to sack the minister of Finance and coordinating minister of the Economy, Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, without further delay.
The group, which spoke through its  director of outreach services, Mr Timi Frank,  during a press conference in Abuja yesterday ,  also threatened to mobilise students and youth against the federal and state governments if they refuse to take urgent steps to end the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
Reacting to media reports credited to Okonjo -Iweala that the federal government does not have the N92billion demanded by ASUU, the activists gave an ultimatum to the federal and states’ ministries of Education to release the said money or face the wrath  of youths and students across the states who will  take over premises of the education ministries.

FG OFFERS ASUU N30BN, ASKS LECTURERS TO MAKE SACRIFICES AND RESUME WORK "ASUU EPISODE 2"

An end may be in sight for the strike of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, as the FG is said to be offering N30 billion as earned allowances to the striking university lecturers.  According to the report, due to the reserve revenue base of the government, it was ready to offer N30 billion for lecturers to end the strike.  All the demands of the striking lecturers had been resolved except one, the issue of ‘earned allowances’,which they have put at N87 billion.  The N30 billion, which the federal government was offering, according to the source, was in the conviction that considering the nation’s current revenue base, ASUU would make some sacrifices and go back to work in the interest of the students and the country at large.  The source added that the government was desirous of a holistic and sustainable solution to the problems bedeviling the entire education sectors and infrastural development.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE "New BUKites"

STEP 1:   At the homepage of the Bayero University website,www.buk.edu.ng, click 2013 POST-UTME REGISTRATION

STEP 2:    Login using your UTME Number and UTME Aggregate(total score), then upload your passport-sized photograph.

STEP 3:     Fill-in the Applicant’s Particulars Form.

STEP 4:     Print your personalized Payment Invoice and use the invoice to make the payment of N2,300 (Two Thousand Three Hundred Naira Only) at any branch of Banks Listed on your Invoice nationwide.

STEP 5:    After making the payment, return to the website,www.buk.edu.ng, login again. Your payment will be validated after which you can print your personalized Examination Card.

NOTE: No Applicant will be allowed to sit for the Post-UTME test without a valid Examination Card.

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS

•  Prospective candidates must have sat for the 2013 UTMEExaminations, chose BUK as her/his first choice, and must have scored an aggregate of 180 or higher in the relevant subjects as advertised in the UME Brochure.

• Prospective candidates are required to have a minimum of Five (5) relevant passes at Credit level in the Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSCE) conducted by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) or the National Examinations Council (NECO) in not more than two (2) sittings, including a pass at credit level in English.

SCREENING EXERCISE AND POST – UTME TEST

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POST UTME CLOSES AUGUST 18 "Bayero University Kano"

This is to notify the general public that the ongoing Post UTME registration will close on the 18th of August 2013. All potential applicant should endevour to complete their registration before the closing date.
Current & past BUK bulletins are online@ www.buk.edu.ng/bulletin_list

Students Protest in Lagos "ASUU"

PLANS may be underway by some Nigerian students to organise from Tuesday, a mass protest aimed at highlighting the woes bedeviling public education in the country.

Organised by the Joint Action Front (JAF), the protesting students in the South-West zone may block all roads leading to Lagos State tomorrow.

According to JAF, the protests, which will kick off at the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) office at Yaba, Lagos at 8 a.m., will also include zonal rallies in Kano, Ibadan, Owerri, Calabar, Abuja, among others.

According to JAF, the aim is to draw attention to the bleak future that awaits Nigerian children due to the neglect of public education, “while children of top politicians and government officials are trained in private schools in Nigeria and abroad with funds looted from public coffers.”

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) had, on July 2, declared an indefinite strike over unresolved issues contained in the 2009 FG/ASUU Agreement.

The union took the decision “after exhausting all available avenues,” when the Federal Government breached a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) they both signed in
January 2011. One of the contentious issues was the non-payment of Earned Allowances.

But the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Julius Okojie, swiftly criticised ASUU’s action, describing it as unfortunate and capable of destroying the university system.

Okojie told The Guardian: “They (universities teachers) get their salaries. On the issue of allowances, why can’t they persevere? The government did not say it would not pay. What we said was that not all lecturers are entitled to earned allowances. The figure they (ASUU) came up with was huge and we said there was a need for harmonisation, because not all of them were entitled to it. We needed to determine which lecturer deserves to get the Earn Allowance.”

However, a meeting organised by the Federal Ministry of Education to resolve the issue ended in a deadlock. A senior government official was quoted as saying that it was impossible for the Federal Government to implement the MoU. The union has also vowed not to suspend the strike until its demands are met.

No money to pay ASUU says "Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala"

Minna— There ap-pears to be no end in sight to the lingering strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, in the country as Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngzi Okonjo-Iweala declared, yesterday, that the nation’s economy cannot accommodate the demands of the lecturers for now.



The minister spoke while delivering her keynote address at the opening ceremony of this year’s National Council on Finance and Economic Development, NACOFED, in Minna, Niger State, yesterday.

Okonjo-Iweala
She said that if other sectors were to be adequately and urgently developed, less emphasis should be placed on recurrent expenditure, especially salaries and allowances of workers.

According to her, “at present, ASUU wants government to pay N92 billion in extra allowances over and above their salaries. Though we are in discussion with them, the problem is that the resources to take care of the demands are simply not there.”

She said that with the present situation in the country, Nigerians need to make a choice.

She said: “People are supportive when there is agitation to increase salaries, pensions among others.

“But on the other hand, people also turn around to say the recurrent budget is too high and there is no way you can have it both ways and so we have to make specific choices in this country.”

Cause
Okonjo-Iweala noted that the country was still suffering from the impact of the wage increase in 2010, adding that by the time other demands are added, the recurrent budget will be getting higher, thus leaving virtually nothing for capital.

She said: “Do we want to get to a stage when virtually all the monies and resources we earn are being used to pay salaries and allowances for public servants, who make up a minute percentage of the country’s population?

“If we do, it means that government workers will take up the entire budget of the country with nothing left for roads, water, education and others.”

She, therefore, challenged the commissioners and other stakeholders to use the conference to find permanent solutions to the lingering financial problems in order to move the nation forward.

Challenges
The minister enumerated some of the challenges facing the country to include, over-dependence on oil revenues, the lopsidedness of the public expenditures, the budget formulation process and the need to improve the actual public financial management system.

She, however, said that despite these daunting challenges, there is progress in agriculture, housing and real estate, manufacturing and diversifying the economy away from oil and improving the non-oil tax revenue collection.

Vice President Namadi Sambo, in his speech read on his behalf by Minister of Economic Planning, Dr. Shamsudeen Usman, said some of the reforms in public financial management already taken by the present administration had started yielding results.

Reforms
He said they include reducing recurrent expenditure to sustainable levels, while increasing the fiscal space for supporting capital projects and eradicating ghost workers, among others.

Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State, who was represented by his deputy, Alhaji Ahmed Ibeto, said that the country must gradually but surely steer away from oil-dominated and global control to a liberalised agro-based economy, where government and private entrepreneurs actively participate in economic activities.

He urged the participants to use the forum to articulate issues that are germane to the realisation of a deregulation of the downstream oil sector.

Participants at the conference, with the theme Restructuring Nigeria’s Public Finances, comprised state finance commissioners and other relevant stakeholders.