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Academic Activities in Full Swing Despite ASUU Strike- VC

By
Rhoda Onuzulike
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The Vice Chancellor (V-C) of state-owned Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma, Prof. Sonnie Adagbonyin, said academic activities in the institution are in full swing despite the ongoing national strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU.

Adagbonyin spoke while dismissing claim that that though AAU has resumed as ordered by the Edo State Government, academic activities are not going on in the institution.

He added that lecturers and students of AAU have returned to the classroom following the order by government.

He said examinations are ongoing in many faculties to bring the 2020/2021 academic session to an end.

The V-C added that by Aug. 7, the University will commence 2021/2022 academic session and students are already coming to resume.

He said, “We are happy that academic activities at AAU are in full swing and students are writing their examinations while lecturers are going about the supervision of students.

“Yet many others are engaged in the typical responsibility which academics are known for, which is research. As we speak, a large number of staff have returned to work. And very many more will be joining us in the days ahead.

“I’m saying this because there is the propaganda in the air that even though AAU has resumed, that activities are not in full swing. That is not true.

“As you have also noticed, while examinations are ongoing, many faculties have concluded theirs, bringing to an end the 2020/2021 academic session.’’

“Since we have had a head start, there won’t be any backlog of academic calendar. We have only one set of UMTE candidates which session will begin on Aug. 7’’.

Adagbonyin explained that many lecturers, who quickly realised they had a duty to fulfill to their students, returned to work and to salvage the university system.

“Many lecturers have come to realise that grandstanding and holding on to values that are recklessly irrelevant at this point would not take them too far.

“So, you can see that in AAU, after so many months, is in full swing of academic activities and to emphasise that resumption is total.’’

The V-C noted that the students had to be commended for the decision by government to announce resumption, saying their resilience to go back to school to conclude their studies is commendable.

“We also need to praise the resilience of our students whose actions showed their readiness to want to continue with their studies and the reason we are back to school.

“That resilience paid off and now the school is in full swing and the lecturers have also realized their commitment towards their academic development and growth,’’ he said.

He also clarified that government has not proscribed activities of the ASUU in the institution.

Adagbonyin said the government only suspended activities of staff unions on campus as they were inhibiting the smooth running of academic activities in the institution.

“In AAU, we must get it clear that government did not proscribe the unions. I need to empasise that as there has to be a law that can take that out.

“And I don’t think that has happened in AAU. Rather, what happened in AAU is a decision taken by government to curtail the excess activities of the staff unions.

“What we have is a suspension of the activities of staff unions within the university. I need to state it clearly because in the past, certain persons in their attempt at propaganda, have taken the narrative beyond the frontiers of reality.”

Varsity Promises Candidate With Below 200 UTME Admission

By
Rhoda Onuzulike
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The University of Ibadan has promised to admit students who scored less than 200 marks in the recently concluded Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination.

The Director of the UI Distance Learning Centre, Prof. Emmanuel Omobowale, said this on Tuesday at a press conference held at the university in Ibadan.

Omobowale said students with low marks in the last UTME and those who did not sit the last UTME could be admitted to the university via its Open Distance e-Learning programme, saying the opportunities to get the same degrees as others were now available.

The Director said “prospective students would need to register with JAMB and sit an examination for the school, after which they would be issued the same certificates as the university and be mobilised for the National Youth Service Corps like their colleagues who were admitted for the regular programmes of the university.”

He noted the only requirement they must meet was to pass relevant subjects at the O’Level, saying the UIODeL was put together to give opportunities to thousands of qualified students who are denied admissions each year because of a lack of space in universities.

Omobowale also stressed that “the university could admit 100,000 students and even more through the programme, which he said would not be affected by frequent strikes by the Academic Staff Union of Universities.”

According to him, the special window of admission into UI, which he described as an innovative way of increasing the number of students who secure admission under the leadership of the Vice Chancellor of UI, Prof. Kayode Adebowale, will address the problem of low carrying capacity universities.

He, however, noted that the admission requirement is the same standard as the conventional mode, and as stipulated on the university’s website.

United Kingdom Licenses 266 Nigerian Doctors in Two Months

By
Rhoda Onuzulike
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The General Medical Council which licenses and maintains the official register of medical practitioners in the United Kingdom licensed at least 266 Nigerian doctors in June and July, 2022.

The implication is that at least three Nigerian doctors were licensed per day in June and July 2022 despite the moves by the Federal Government to stop the exodus of doctors and health workers in the country amidst worsening brain drain of the professionals in the country.

The number of Nigeria-trained doctors in the UK currently stands at 9,976.

The figure does not include other doctors of Nigerian origin who did not undergo medical training in Nigeria.

Presently, Nigeria who currently suffers a shortage of doctors has the third highest number of foreign doctors working in the UK after India and Pakistan.

The Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria noted that Nigeria now has over 100,000 doctors who have registered with the council.

Worryingly, Nigeria with a population of over 200 million citizens, indicate the percentage ratio of doctors to patients still falls below the World Health Organisation’s recommendation of 1:600.

A poll by NOI in 2018 also showed that 88% of Nigerian doctors are considering work opportunities abroad, but experts say the figure may be higher due to the rising insecurity and economic crunch.

Other popular destinations for Nigeria-trained doctors include United States, Canada, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Australia.

The Nigerian Medical Association has continued to call on the Federal Government to provide a thriving environment for doctors and health workers to curb the massive brain drain.

Currently, doctors in Nigeria under the aegis of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors have issued a two-week ultimatum to the government over poor welfare and failure to implement the new hazard allowance rate that was signed in December 2021.

The doctors had gone on strike for close to 60 days in 2021.

In a recent interview, the Publicity Secretary of NARD, Alfa Yusuf, said, “Government should declare a state of emergency on the health care sector, address the challenges, improve remuneration and good working conditions and address security issues.”

When asked about the causes of brain drain, Yusuf said, “Poor remuneration, poor working facilities, insecurities including assault on doctors and burn out from over work, among others.”

Also, the immediate past President of the Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria, Prof. Ken Ozoilo, said, “It is unfortunate that the government has once again failed to live up to expectations, but this is typical.

“This kind of attitude on the part of government and its agents feeds the notion that the government does not listen to workers unless they are on strike.

“Predictably, we are going into another round of NARD strike at a most difficult time and the government is squarely to blame.

“Brain drain will sadly continue and will get worse. There is no measure put in place by the country yet that is capable of stemming the tide. Even the new hazard allowance fails miserably in this wise as it is a far cry from the demand of health workers.

“The NARD strike is not inevitable, but it is unlikely that agents of government responsible will act on time to avert it.”

Student Body Demands Sack Of Education Minister Over ASUU Strike

By
Rhoda Onuzulike
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The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has called for the immediate sack of Minister of education, Adamu Adamu following the expiration of the two-week ultimatum given to proffer solution to the lingering Academic Staff Union Of Universities (ASUU) strike.

Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari had on July 19, 2022 gave Adamu a two wee-ultimatum to resolve the ASUU strike and ensure students return to classes.


While the ultimatum elapsed without any positive result, ASUU also extended the strike by another four weeks.

But, reacting to the development in a press statement on Wednesday, NANS president, Sunday Asefon, said it was abundantly clear that the Minister of Education lacked the capacity required to manage such an important ministry as the Ministry of Education.

“He has shown over the years his lack of capacity, know-how, and adequate understanding of the complexity of educational management.

“This development calls to question his qualification to be appointed as minister of education in the first place. His total lack of compassion and empathy for the plight of Nigerian students speak volumes.

“Since he became minister ASUU has gone on strike for almost 18 months cumulatively and the entire educational structure of our tertiary education system is in total shamble under his watch.

“It is therefore imperative to call on the President to immediately relieve him of his duty in the ministry and bring in a more competent hand, educated, experienced, physically fit, and willing enough to begin the process of salvaging the debris of the collapse of education system in Nigeria with the hope of rebuilding it,” he said.

The students body further
said it will leave no stone unturned to ensure that their demands are acceded to.

“We will do all that is required to reawaken the spirit of the Ali-Must-Go to ensure that Adamu-Must Go.

“The nation and well-meaning Nigerians must prevail on the government to fire the minister as this will serve as the only good radiance to the bad rubbish we have witnessed under his leadership of the ministry,” the statement added.

ASUU Strike: Ngige Shares Why He Adopted Voluntary Conciliation

By
Rhoda Onuzulike
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The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, yesterday explained that his ministry adopted voluntary conciliation for the resolution of the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, instead of arbitration, in order not to delay the resolution process.

Ngige disclosed this while answering questions from journalists at the Joint Workshop on International Labour Standards and Dispute Resolutions, Organised by the Industrial Arbitration Panel, IAP, in collaboration with the International Labour Organisation, ILO, in Abuja.

The minister said he could have transmitted the matter to the IAP or the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, NICN, but used his discretion to weigh the situation to know if it would cause more delay in the resolution of the dispute in a court process.

He recalled that ASUU embarked on strike on February 14, adding that he started voluntary conciliation on February 22 and subsequently, on March 1.

According to him, by the second meeting, most of the issues arising from the 2020 Memorandum of Action, MoA, signed between ASUU and the Ministry of Education with other government agencies involved, were conciliated, leaving out only two.

Ngige said:  “The two outstanding issues were the conditions of service which, according to the 2009 agreement, would be reviewed every four years. The last review was in 2013 and we started the review in 2018 under Wale Babalakin SAN as the chairman of the renegotiation committee. We could not conclude because Babalakin left.

“A new committee, headed by Munzali came. Munzali finished his work and put in his report at the Federal Ministry of Education. All these committees, including the previous Onosode committee, were all internal committees of the Ministry of Education.

‘’They discussed with the unions and gave them offers and counter-offers vis-a-vis what they have said. Once the committees finished, their products are sent up.
.
“The major issue here is salary and wage review. That is where they were before ASUU embarked on strike.”

Ngige explained that once a strike occurred, it triggers the content of the Trade Dispute Act, TDA, on how to resolve the industrial action.

He said the Ministry Education was still handling the matter because he transmitted it back to them.

“If a party wants us to transmit a matter back to them to have a second look, you assist them. That is what you call voluntary conciliation.  It is voluntary because if I apprehend and bring all the parties to the negotiation table and a party requests that I should take the matter to NICN, I will do so,’’ he said.

Earlier in a keynote address, Ngige described the workshop as one of the reforms ongoing in his ministry as hitherto, some arbitrators had not fully understood the tenets of the panel (IAP) and were handicapped in discharging their duties.

He also described arbitration as one of the statutory stages in trade dispute resolution, commencing with internal mechanisms where they exist in any organisation, proceeding to mediation, conciliation, arbitration and adjudication by the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, with the Appeal Court as the final arbiter.

Experts Kick As National Assembly Proposes 63 New Varsities, Others

By
Rhoda Onuzulike
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No fewer than 63 bills have been tabled before the Senate and the House of Representatives for the creation of new universities, polytechnics, colleges of education since the beginning of shutdown of activities in public tertiary institutions in the country in February 2022.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities, Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics and Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union have, however, warned the government against the establishment of new institutions while failing to fund the existing ones.

The official data from the National Universities Commission, revealed that Nigeria has a total of 49 federal universities, 59 state universities and 111 private universities.

The National Board for Technical Education also puts the number of Federal Polytechnics at 40, state owned at 49 and private at 76.

While a total of Federal and state owned colleges of health is 70, Nigeria currently has 17 private colleges of health.

Also, the National Commission for Colleges of Education put the total number of colleges of education in Nigeria at 219.

An analysis of the 63 bills on creation of new institutions being considered by both the Senate and the House of Representatives revealed that 26 bills are for federal universities, 33 bills for federal colleges of education; agriculture; health; technology; and forestry among other specialised colleges.

The lawmakers also proposed 4 bills for the creation of new polytechnics.

The National President of ASUP, Anderson Ezeibe, said the move showed a clear lack of direction.

“We have continued to maintain that government should fund existing institutions to enable them meet their mandates.

“Passing bills for new institutions at this time is for political convenience and not in the public interest,” he argued.

The General Secretary, COEASU, Ahmed Bazza, also faulted the development.

He said, “There is shortage of lecturers in all tertiary institutions because the system has made it so harsh that there is high level of brain drain in the system. We are trying to cope with that and also trying to cope with the funding and facilities.

“Then someone will just wake up for political reasons and say he is proposing a bill to establish a new university. That is not fair to the system honestly.

The Programme Director, Reform Education Nigeria, Ayodamola Oluwatoyin, also accused the lawmakers of trying to score political goals.

Oluwatoyin said, “It is so unfortunate that we live in a country where lawmakers use matters like education to score cheap political goals, this is unheard of in any part of the world.

“How will you propose new bills for new institutions when the existing ones are on shutdown? Who advises these individuals?”

Asuu Breakaway Blasts Union Over Stance On IPPIS

By
Rhoda Onuzulike
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The Congress of University Academics, CONUA, has accused the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, of condemning the use of the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System, IPPIS, as the payment system in the universities publicly and romancing same in private.


Speaking in a recent interview, the National President, Dr Niyi Sunmonu, also said his members in various universities were working even when ASUU started its strike on February 14, until the authorities shut down the institutions.

On the claim that ASUU members did not enrol in IPPIS, he said, “Those who come to the public to condemn IPPIS, and every other person in the system were paid our salaries through the platform up until March this year before government stopped paying.”

The discontinuation of IPPIS as university payment platform is one of the demands of ASUU whose strike is almost six months now.

Asked whether his union has made any representation to the government to get them paid since they did not call for any strike, the CONUA boss said a memo to that effect was sent to the authorities some months ago, but nothing has been heard from the other side.

Sunmonu added that though his union did not call out members on strike, a number of variables have since set in.

“The variables include the closure of the universities and the stoppage of salaries. We were not the ones who shut down the universities or who stopped the payment of salaries,” he stated.


On the strength of his union, Sunmonu said it started in 2019 in six universities but has extended to 17 campuses now.

“From the members in Obafemi Awolowo University, Ambrose Alli University, Federal University, Lokoja, Federal University, Oye-Ekiti and Kwara State University, we are now in 12 other campuses. We are growing in leaps and bounds,” he said.

CONUA is a rival academic staff union to ASUU though it has not got the membership strength of the latter

Kaduna University Defies ASUU Strike, Resumes 2020/2021 2nd Semester

By
Rhoda Onuzulike
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The management of Kaduna State University (KASU) has resumed the second semester of the 2020/2021 academic session for its undergraduate and post-graduate students, more than five months after the strike action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

The resumption is for the continuation of the second semester examination which was suspended due to the ASUU strike which commenced in February this year.

The acting Vice Chancellor of Kaduna state University, Professor Abdullahi Ashafa explained that the school does not have any industrial dispute with the local branch of ASUU, hence there is no need to continue keeping the student at home.

He warned that there will be severe consequences for students and lecturers who fail to resume for classes as directed by the university management.

Nigerian Government Approves $2.59bn For Badagry Deep Seaport Project, To Generate $53.6bn In Revenue

By
Angel Gimalo
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The Federal Government, on Wednesday, approved the sum of $2.59bn for the development of the Badagry Deep Seaport project under a Private-Public Partnership.

The Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Sambo, disclosed this to State House Correspondents shortly after the Federal Executive Council meeting chaired by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.

Sambo explained that, under a Build-Own-Operate-Transfer delivery system, the port will be operated by the private sector for 45 years after which it will be reverted to the government.

He noted that the project will generate $53.6bn in revenue and create about 250,000 jobs; while making Nigeria a maritime hub in West Africa.

The minister said, “I presented a memo today at council with respect to the development of the Badagry Deep Seaport under the public-private partnership arrangement, where the private sector will inject money for the development of the port and at the end of the concessionary period, the port reverts to the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Nigerian Ports Authority.

“The project cost as contained and approved in council based on the final business case as approved by the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission in line with extant laws stood at $2.59bn.

It has to be developed in four phases with milestones and a concessional period of 45 years. Reversion is, like I said, to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

“This is to further the government’s goal of making Nigeria the maritime hub of the West and Central Africa sub-region.

This project, it may interest you to know, will also generate total revenue of over $53.6bn over the concession period. It will create about one quarter million jobs and also attract foreign direct investments to the country and help in improving Nigeria’s economy in general and the wellbeing of Nigerians.”

Dietitian Recommends Ways to Stop Sugar Cravings Before They Start

By
Olasunbo Okoromi
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No, there is no magic pill to take to stop your sugar cravings. However, sugar cravings are easier to handle when you know what’s causing them in the first place, according to Lisa Moskovitz, RD, CEO.

While sometimes a craving for sugar is a sign that your body needs more energy and carbs, it can also be prompted by stress and strong emotions,” says Moskovitz. “That said, the first step to managing sugar cravings is to learn more about the why behind them.”

Here are the methods Moskovitz recommends for eliminating a sugar craving before it takes over.

“Journaling can be an effective modality to explore why you’re making certain food choices and if you’re lacking anything from your diet that can trigger strong cravings,” says Moskovitz. “If you can pinpoint the cause, or even if you can’t, it may still be hard to shut it off.”

If you’ve seen some health guru tell you to drink water in order to suppress your food cravings…well, they aren’t completely wrong. One study published in Physiology & Behavior found that hydration status does alter one’s desire for food. While the study participants ate similar amounts of food, their cravings for food did change when properly hydrated. Researchers also found that water can help with feelings of satiety, which helps with managing sugar cravings for the longer term.

Yes—your blood sugar and your food cravings are certainly linked. Data published in Nutrients in 2020 concluded that those who followed a lower-carbohydrate diet (which won’t cause massive spikes and dips in blood sugar) had a greater reduction in sugar cravings. A healthier diet high in protein, fiber, and healthy fats will help with controlling blood sugar spikes, which in turn helps with sugar cravings during blood sugar dips.

It may seem counter intuitive, but if you’re truly looking to stop a craving in its tracks, many dietitians would say simply eating a portioned size of the food you are craving will help with feeling satisfied, instead of trying to satisfy the craving with a healthier alternative.

“Some people may take the road of complete sugar avoidance. While this may work for some, it can backfire for others,” says Moskovitz. “In that case, going for the real deal might be the only way to indulge your craving so you can move on. As long as your sweet treat doesn’t replace other nutritious foods in your diet, it’s perfectly healthy to incorporate desserts or anything sugary-tasting into your diet. Having that after-dinner dessert to look forward to can often be a helpful habit to regularly consume a more balanced, nutritious diet.”

Another nifty trick for eliminating a sugar craving is to pair that sweet treat with something nutritious and filling.

“If you notice that allowing any type of added sugar tends to lead to more sugar cravings, combine what you’re craving with foods that are nutritious and filling, says Moskovitz. “For example, instead of just eating chocolate or just eating an apple, combine the two. Instead of only opting for ice cream or nuts, top your ice cream with fiber and protein-rich almonds or walnuts.”

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