Unemployment remains one of the most teething problems in the World. Although, it affects all age groups, its impact on the youth population is particularly vicious. In the past, most young people in Nigeria had easy access to white-collar jobs after their education but it is no longer the case today as the high level of graduate unemployment shows that education is no longer an immunity to unemployment in Nigeria.

GRADUATE UNEMPLOYMENT IN NIGERIA.

Graduate unemployment has assumed an unfortunate dimension in recent times as more graduates are being churned out of our tertiary institutions without having access to jobs. In 2011, the composite unemployment rate for graduates of tertiary institutions stood at 24.6% for first degree graduates, 13.7% for Master’s Degree holders and 17.8% for doctoral graduates (National Planning Commission, 2011). Taking cognizance of the fact that most of the so-called employed graduates are actually under-employed makes the whole picture of graduate unemployment in Nigeria more pathetic.

NIGERIAN GRADUATES AND EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS.

Many people have argued that the high rate of graduate unemployment in Nigeria is not only as a result of the unavailability of jobs but also the fact that most of our graduates lack basic employability skills and are therefore not employable. The unemployability of Nigerian graduates has been blamed on several factors. Chief among these factors is our poor curriculum system which has been criticized for not only lacking in content and quality, but is largely theoretical, stagnant and not tailored to market needs. Other factors usually mentioned include the poor learning environment in our educational institutions, the poorly trained teachers and the poor commitment of students to developing themselves. All these lead to poor learning outcomes amongst graduates and employers are usually very reluctant to commit resources to training and re-training such graduates since they might switch services to a competitor any day.

THE COST OF GRADUATE UNEMPLOYMENT.

The unemployability of Nigerian graduates effectively drains the reputation capital of our economy in general and our educational system in particular. As a matter of fact, the mere notion that our graduates are unemployable puts a question mark on the efficiency of our national expenditure on education and training and the actual benefit of schooling.

Moreover, not only does the problem of graduate unemployability retard the competitiveness of our graduates in the 21^st century global knowledge market, we are incurring very high national productivity losses as a result of the near ‘vegetative’ state of what should actually serve as our high-level manpower.

In the same vein, as the unemployability problem increases the rate of graduate unemployment; it poses a risk to the stability of society when these graduates resort to anti-social and criminal behavior to ‘help’ themselves. 

     

     IMPROVING ON THE EMPLOYABILITY OF NIGERIAN GRADUATES

The high cost associated with graduate unemployability makes it imperative for measures to be taken   to improve the employability of our graduates. There should not only be increased funding of             education across all levels to improve the learning environment and the quality of teachers (by way of training and re-training), measures should be put in place to overhaul our curriculum system  to not only reflect dynamism but focus on market needs and emphasize entrepreneurship

The Students Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) in our tertiary institutions should be overhauled to work better and should be extended to all fields of study to enable all students have a first-hand experience of how their industry works and know what skills are required to function effectively in such industries. The SURE-P Graduate Internship Scheme (GIS), a scheme which is like a stop-gap measure to improve the employability skills of existing graduates should be expanded to cover more grounds. Most importantly, students themselves should be committed to personal development by expending their resources on commercial and marketable skills and not on frivolities and a lot needs to be done to enlighten them in this regard.

Since the unemployability of Nigerian graduates effectively drains the reputation capital     of our economy in general and our educational system in particular, all hands must therefore be on deck to work towards repositioning our educational system to produce graduates that can compete effectively in the 21^st century global knowledge market.

Daniel Chimezie is a Research and Financial Analyst, Author and Social Commentator.

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Columnist: Iyeomoan Emmanuel

At a time like this when it seems like “the center can no longer hold” as the glue that bonds us together as a people is loosing its grip and “things are falling apart”, many a political thinkers believe that a National Conference is never too late a time like this.  History is rich with meetings of this magnitude, not in the caliber of prominent public figures that acted on the stage, but in the errors and blunders of past conglomeration of ideas on the national table.

In this first edition of the series on the National Confab, Polity Police observe with clarity of purpose, some salient issues to be addressed; challenges to be faced and anticipated credits to be gained from a national conference of this nature. For content’s sake, let’s concentrate our energies on the salient issues that will draw the collective attention of Nigerians, in the course of the national conference.

SALIENT ISSUES ON THE NATIONAL TABLE

It’ll be nonchalance on our paths to shut our eyes to realities, and negate the wind of change that is about to blow the Nation to its near-eldorado. Before we envision reaping the fruits of a national get-together, conscience-searching questions geared towards placing us on the right direction of change must be asked. Progressively, answers to these questions must be offered with respect to: where we were before; where we are now; and where we intend to be after the conference? Having conducted an online poll on the social media, Facebook to be precise, the afore-stated “conscience-searching questions” are presented in no particular order here-under as follows:

• What were the results of past conferences of this nature?
• What were the demands of citizens of the country at those times and what are their demands now?
• Would a national conference procure curative measures to the maladies eating the nation’s health? Has it ever resolved issues in the past?
• What are the costs and benefits to society of this national conference?
• Why should it be a national conference, and not a sovereign national conference?
• What happens to Nigeria if a breakdown occurs in the process of national conferencing?

The Polity Police as well as other public affairs analysts anticipate probable success on this matter that has, and is still trailing the polity (National Confab). We expect partial success outcomes on the basis of a negation of salient issues of national interests. These issues must, and should be tackled headlong before the ship of a successful national conference is set to sail. They include, and yet are not limited to:

• Deteriorated state of the education sector
• Heated polity ahead of a pregnant 2015 general election
• Poverty in the midst of resource-surplus
• Unemployment in the presence of massive capital flight
• Population issues and its surrounding problems

Deteriorated state of the education sector: Aggrieved quarters (undergraduate and lecturers) sneer at the drama of a proposed national conference by the Jonathan-led administration, tagging it a “dance of shame”. If we are objective enough in our judgments, we can’t but agree that the education sector has reached its boiling point. Our institutions of higher learning which were initially set-up for research and development, have been reduced to a state akin to livestock-pens; laboratories are as empty as caskets, without basic facilities and chemicals necessary for experiments; lecture theaters are like town-halls, that you could count the few available seats; students hang on windows like bus-conductors, just to receive lectures that sometimes span for hours. Furthermore, our libraries are archaic and hive a crop of outdated intellectual properties; hostels are unavailable or insufficient, and where they are available, are worse than Nigerian prisons (you know how our prisons look). Ultimately and most painfully, the academic calendar is stylishly truncated by incessant and concurrent seizures in the form of labour strikes- courtesy of government insincerity in meeting up her obligations.

Heated polity ahead of a pregnant 2015 general election: Many wonder why the polity is unnecessarily heated by power-hungry and greedy politicians, when the 2015 general election is still pregnant; though, we can predict what the outcomes will be.  It is unsurprising to expect that most of our elder statesmen who are expected too act as glue to uniting the diverse interests of Nigerians, are at the forefront of this shameful act. Isn’t it needful to repair these broken edges of our walls before thinking of a national conference? Why don’t we organize a conference of elder statesmen to settle their differences before lowering this boat called “National Confab”?

Poverty in the midst of resource-surplus: How can we be talking of a national conference when the stomach of the common man is empty? Are they going to seat on the national table of resolution with hungry-looking eyes? Or, probably, they will be cut out of the scheme of things by inequitable representation. Their interests will be represented, or better still, misrepresented by the over-satisfied few, who do not know how it feels to be hungry. It’s an irony that the gap between the haves and have-nots widens with successive increase in the GDP- this is not funny at all!

Unemployment in the presence of massive capital flight: Many employers of labour argue that the problem of unemployment in the country isn’t unavailability of jobs, but unemployability of job seekers. I fail to accept that cheap claim owing to the fact that present day youths and prospective job-seekers are more intelligent than those of the 60s, 70s and 80s (the youthful times of our fathers) respectively. It amazes me that most of the big government employees, who preach “unemployability of this generation” are half baked intellectuals. The media can support my claim with many incidences of multiple errors in communication and lack-lustre presentation of ideas by the so-called government big-boys (the public servants). For instance, the “oga at the top saga” on Channels TV is still fresh on our minds; the grammatical blunders of the president’s wife, who was at one time the controversial head of service of Bayelsa State; the most recent is the Anambra governorship debates aired by African Independent Television (AIT) on 31^st October 2013, and the Abia national conference forum, where working-class citizens couldn’t communicate their ideas to the public without reading unending manuscripts, even when time was allotted to them on that regard. Or is it in Edo state, where a government employed head-teacher couldn’t spell her name in the presence of the Comrade-Governor? Let’s tell ourselves the truth and stop living in deceit. With this revelation, what are the reasons for high unemployment statistics, if not bad government policies as well as capital flight? Money that would have been invested here in the country are transported to foreign lands and imprisoned in their banks. Our leaders should tell themselves the truth- that they are the cause of our problems and not the harmless youths who are out there to better their lots. We complain of unemployment, yet public officials buy private jets, armored cars, and build sophisticated houses. Come to think of it, majority of the masses have no rooftops to hide their baldness, yet all governors have private lodges in Abuja; they are virtually 35 governors lodge in the FCT. What message are they sending to the youths? Why won’t they (the frustrated youths) take to crime to better their lot, when our fathers (the politicians) disappoint them with their reckless spending? Much is left for another day.

Population issues and other surrounding problems: Last month, the NPC’s boss resigned from service after some months of his appointment without any important reason. It was a true test of integrity and is rather un-nigerian to remove one’s tongue from a honey-pot, but he did and posterity must remember Francis Odimegwu for that. After analyzing the circumstances surrounding is resignation, I gathered that population issues are more political than I envisaged. The 2006 national census was marred by irregularities in the figures, which alone was enough to break the country. Many states had their figures over-stated, with expectation of higher shares from the national treasury. How can we grow in the midst of these insincerities?

The polity police have sufficiently touched some of the salient issues that must be put before the cart, for an effective national conference. We continue this series next time by treating challenges to be faced. Watch out for part 2!

© IYEOMOAN EMMANUEL,

UNIVERSITY OF BENIN, NIGERIA.

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As much as we begin to see the need for a change, a critical success factor for lasting growth and development would be how healthy our societies are.  This is so critical and has been an aspect Africans and most people who preach change, have neglected. Our minds in this part of the world have been contaminated strongly with religious beliefs, traditions and culture, family and social backgrounds, etc. which have shaped our behavioural traits, sense of value, drive for excellence and ultimately, our perception towards relationship, marriage, parenting and economic renaissance.

We see no connection with how our backgrounds, lives and personalities shape our minds, attitudes and the change we want to see. We could be more likened to be a clean glass of water at birth and over time as we grew, we gave ourselves to various religious beliefs, family and social influence. We got our water stained and mixed with sand. We have grown overtime becoming unconscious of ourselves and carried away with the need for change that we forget to solve our own problems, challenges in our families and those around us.

“Leadership and change in the 21^st century is most effective, when we triumph in the place of personal leadership”                                                                                                                            -OBELE GOSPEL

We need to revisit our childhood, background, temperament and behavioural traits, how they came about and genuinely decide what future we want in order to reposition ourselves appropriately.

 Simply put, we need PERSONAL TRANSFORMATION.

“There can only be a new Nigeria when we have new Nigerians”                                                                                             - Sam Adeyemi

Please ponder on these things;

1.    What traits have we picked from our parents (trans-generational heart transfer), families and societies that have shaped us and how truly have these perceptions impacted on our parental skills (in the 21st century) and ability to be award winning spouses?

2.    How well do we understand our roles and as men and women in Nation building?

3.    How ready are we to help secure our generation?

4.    How true and intense is our passion for change?

Life in the 21^st century and its demands have redefined the roles of the male and the female respectively, in order to have more functional adults, stronger families, healthier societies and greater economies.

 “A dysfunctional child cannot become a functional adult”.                                                                                                      - Kay Akhigbe II

“There exists a nexus between functional adult, stronger families, healthier societies and sustainable economic renaissance”                                                                                                         - Obele Gospel

As an organisational and economic development strategist, I have realized, we must embrace this “shift” for sustained impact. It’s first within and then without. Personal transformation precedes national and continental transformation. We need individuals who will take up the responsibility in ensuring that we are healthy physically, mentally, emotionally, and psychologically and spiritually to become functional adults, acquire skills for parenting in order to secure our generation, build strong families and healthier societies which would add up incredibly to sustain growth and development.  

Have a great week ahead. You will succeed!

Obele Gospel is the CRO- Project Change Initiative (PCI), A 21^st Century Organisational and Economic Development Strategist.                                               

For comments, visit OBELE Jesuite on facebook or @OBELEObele on twitter and contact him at Gospel_obele@yahoo.com and 08130070991.                                                    

             

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Mrs. Ayodele Jaiyesimi, Head, Human Capital Management and Development, First Bank

The First Bank of Nigeria has emerged the winner of the 2013 Human Resource Best Practice Award of the Chartered Institute of personnel Management of Nigeria (CIPMN). The award instituted about two years ago by CIPM is aimed at rewarding excellence in human resource management and promoting best practices in human resource management in firms and organisations.

The award was presented at the 45th Annual Conference of CIPM holding at the International Conference Centre, Abuja. This is the second time Mrs. Ayodele Jaiyesimi, the Head, Human Capital Management and Development, First Bank would be receiving the award on behalf of the bank. The ongoing 45th annual conference of CIPM has the theme " Evolve and Excel" and is aimed at providing the platform for Human Resource Practitioners to understand the dynamics of the profession, adapt and achieve personal and organisational excellence.  

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Last week, we examined briefly the challenge facing the African student in an ever changing world. Before I start up, it is important to note that:

• The expected budgetary allocation by developing countries for education is a minimum of 26% as prescribed by UNESCO but countries in Africa  e.g. Cote D’Ivoire currently allocate 14% while Nigeria still struggles to attain 8.7% annually.

• In the 1970s and 1980s, the classroom used to be at par with the workplace. That is, academic curricula were enough to meet workplace demands.  This was before the fall of the Berlin wall, but currently the workplace stands far above what the classroom offers.

• 93% of girls in the north do not have access to secondary education.

A research showed that four hundred hiring executives of major Corporations were asked “Are students graduating from school ready for work?”. The executives collectively answered – “Not Really”

The study showed that students graduating from Secondary Schools, Technical Colleges and Universities are solely lacking in some basic skills and a large number of applied skills such as;

- Oral and written Communication -      Applying technology

- Critical thinking and problem -      Leadership and project management

- Professionalism and work ethics

- Teamwork and collaboration

- Working in diverse teams

These reports confirm that the “21st Century Skill Gap” is costing businesses a great deal of money. Some estimate that well over $200 billion a year is spent worldwide in funding and hiring scarce, highly skilled talent, and in bringing new employees up to required skilled levels through costly training programs. As budgets tighten further in tough economic times, companies need high competent employees, ready to hit the ground running without extra training and development costs.

The competitiveness and wealth of corporation and countries is completely dependent on having a well-educated workforce. Improving a country’s literacy rate by a small amount can have huge positive economic impact.

Educating the girl child, is a major solution to most developmental problems faced by third world countries.

- United Nations.

Education and human Capital development primarily play important roles on Society’s’ evolving stage.

• It empowers us to develop or personal characters, talents and skills.

• To build stronger families, healthier societies, which add up incredibly to sustained growth and development.

• Contribute to work and fulfillment of civic responsibilities.

• Carry our moral and cultural values forward.

As much as we are critically challenged with the African Educational System and the emotional and mental well being of most students, we must kick the change we desire for the sake our future families, society, work life and economy.

African Youths (students) must rise above this current state of mediocrity around us, above what lecturers, ministers, and the world at large has called us. Please take the bull by the horn, because our generation must pay the sacrifice for change. We must grow beyond the restrictive walls of the University system, develop ourselves with the requisite skills and tool sets for change and invest aggressively in our up growth to become globally competitive.

Education starts outside the classrooms.

Let’s get back to the drawing board and change the game plan.

You will succeed!!!

Obele Gospel Jesuite is the Chief Responsibility Officer- Project Change Initiative (PCI), and a proud 21st century development economist. He can be reached at 08130070991, Gospel_obele@yahoo.com

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Primate of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh

Primate of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh, has called for the disbandment of the national body of the Academic Staff Union of University.

He described the methods adopted by ASUU as immoral and self-enrichment.

Okoh spoke in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, on Thursday, during the Standing Committee Meeting of the Bishops Conference of the church.

He   said, “The government should find a way either to privatise the universities or get ASUU to be limited to individual universities such that there will be no national ASUU body mandating even institutions without grievances to go on strike.

“There is no such body anywhere in the world. Challenges facing any institution should be treated locally without involving others.

“While the ASUU strike lasts, university lecturers are busy teaching in private universities (most of which lack lecturers) and earning money and when the strike is over, they will still be paid for the period of the strike.

“This is highly immoral and must be discouraged.”

He commended the strides of President Goodluck Jonathan in the areas of road network, turn around maintenance of airports, railways and power supply.

As a short term measure, Okoh urged government to accede to the demands of ASUU, describing the academic, moral and social implications of the strike as enormous.

He cautioned politicians about working for external detractors who had earlier predicted the disintegration of Nigeria in 2015.

He urged the Independent National Electoral Commission to ensure honesty and transparency while discharging its responsibility to the nation.

“INEC should rise above regional, ethnic, religious partisanship and deliver to Nigerians, the truth, the whole truth and nothing short of that,” Okoh said.

The cleric insisted that despite the ongoing power-play, leaders must maintain the unity of the country.

He appealed to the youths to avoid violence and other political vices while taking part in politics ahead of 2015.

Okoh said, “We make a sincere appeal to politicians as they plan, disagree, challenge one another and engage in high political maneuvering, to ensure that the entity called Nigeria is spared from harm.

“We should not walk into the traps of our external detractors who had already predicted a break-up of the country in 2015.”

“We appeal to our youths to take part in politics but steer clear of political thuggery. You should not allow yourselves to be used for assassination, arson, kidnapping, maiming, looting, intimidation of opponents.

“Don’t die for any political party or any candidate because Nigeria needs you tomorrow.”

- The Punch

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President Goodluck Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan has reshuffled his cabinet, dropping nine ministers.
The ministers affected are Ruqayat Rufai (Education); Zainab Kunchi (Power, [state]); Buka Tijani (Agriculture [state]), Shamsudeen Usman (National Planning; Ita Okon (Science and Technology);  Olugbenga Ashiru (Foreign Affairs); Ama Pepple (Lands) and Hadiza Mailafia (Environment).

Nigerians had long expected President Jonathan to rejig his lackluster cabinet which has largely failed to deliver services to the Nigerian people.
But while the expectation mounted, Mr. Jonathan repeatedly  dispelled speculation that he had plans to fire non-performing ministers.
Last August, he unveiled a rating procedure known as Performance Contract Agreement for ministers but said he would not use the result of the assessment in considering who to fire.
Mr. Jonathan said the assessment would only appraise his administration’s performance and delivery of targets to Nigerians.
“I read all kinds of thing in the media, that the president wants to assess the ministers so that he would know who would go and who would stay. That is not the purpose of this.
“We would have done it probably in the first week when we came on board, but the key thing is that we have given ourselves points that we think we will get at, we believe that if we get at those points or even if we achieve 70 per cent of that, at least it will be better off for our own country,” the president said.
According to the president, the exercise was to ensure enhanced performance, transparency and accountability in governance, adding that it is not a witch-hunting exercise.
“I want to assure every one of you who has taken part in the exercise that this is not a witch-hunt targeted at anybody,” the president said in his remarks after the signing ceremony.
- Premiumtimes

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“Nigerian graduates are unemployable”                                                                                                                            - Okonjo iweala

“In as much as the Nigerian education system has not been wired to meet the demands of the 21^st century students (Undergraduates and Graduates) to foster youth and economic productivity, I believe not all graduates are unemployable. Infact, Unemployability in itself is a mindset phenomenon.”                                                                                                                                                                - Obele Gospel Jesuite

Life in the 21^st century as has been discussed previously, has a commitment to the social and economic renaissance of Africa.

The average undergraduate is committed with a view of coming out to make a meaning for themselves in a firstly competitive world. You must understand that the relevance of our tomorrow families, institutions, businesses, Nation and continent as a whole is frankly dependent on the sanity and balance of individuals in the institutions. The call is for them to tackle the responsibility that will inevitably fall upon them whether they are ready or not.

As a student you must know that what is coming will come, but its who you are that makes the difference. Definitely, all undergraduates and students would leave the system someday to meet the challenges of the outside world. The challenge basically is how ready are we to meet the odds that confront us.

As a 21^st century Nigerian or African student, you must realise and understand you are a decade or more behind the developed world, and as globalization eases the free-flow of goods, persons and services, you would no doubt be compelled to compete eventually with your counterpart in developed and advanced nations. It’s quite unfortunate for us that the universities which are instituted to arm you with the requisite tools to live an effective and productive life is ill equipped to do so. The growing disparity between academic school curricular and the needs and challenges of an ever changing global economy are making the undergraduate less relevant in today world. Our institutions are out-modelled, our universities are like teachers trying to teach students the use of modern day computer with the mainframe. Taking a visit to our science laboratories, you would understand how disadvantaged we are in an age where science and technology is a key determinant of success and significance. Nigeria currently ranks one of the least literate nations in science and math in the world. Only less than one third of our university graduates today are in anyway ready of the challenges of work.

The problems inherent in our society today are suppose to be platforms for new innovations and opportunities for advancement, but we have been incapacitated so far, trained to cram academic theory postulated ages ago and never worked in the Nigerian/African economy.

“Education in Nigeria is neither an end nor a means to an end”                                                                           - Uzoigwe Daniel Chimezie.

The average university environment in this part of the world has become a platform for tussle for grades, certificates, political nuisance, whoredom, depreciating character of students, teaching methodology, unskilled lecturers etc. we have lost the value of mentorship, coaching, skill acquisition, freedom to explore your given potentials. To me, it’s a complete world of illusion in all facets.

Every student is a product of a teacher and all the system has to offer, if you say your future leaders (undergraduates and graduates) are unskilled and incapacitated, then it questions the capacity of teachers and the system as a whole.                                                                                                                             

We need to step up our game with the right skills and toolset to make ourselves globally competitive and more importantly, for a productive future.

Join me next Monday as we explore the way out of this, and fix this puzzle ourselves. Remember only Africans can save Africa. Have a great week Ahead!

Obele Gospel Jesuite is the Chief Responsibility Officer- Project Change Initiative (PCI), and a proud 21st century development economist. He can be reached at 08130070991, Gospel_obele@yahoo.com

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NLC president, Comrade Abduwaheed Omar

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) yesterday said it will ask the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to resume negotiation with the Federal Government for the resolution of their differences.

NLC President, comrade Abdulwahed Omar, spoke after the union’s National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja.

He said there were reports that the union had issued a statement to withdraw from the negotiations with the Federal Government.

Omar said: “Congress resolved at the meeting that we are also going to make consultations to ensure that the negotiations resume immediately. We want to ensure that they are resumed to resolve the issues, not to resume and continue to dangle around without making any headway. We are also going to study the situation and make some proposals.

“But we, at the meeting, also did deliberate on one or two other issues, particularly on the issue of strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

“We are all aware that ASUU has issued a statement saying it will withdraw from the negotiation with the Federal Government following the government’s failure to make a headway in the negotiation.

“According to the paper I read, it was also due to the lack of seriousness on the part of government concerning the negotiation. I think it is a very serious situation we are facing today, that we allow the lecturers to remain on strike for upward of two months without resolving the issues. I think it is a very serious issue.”

Interior Minister Abba Moro yesterday urged ASUU to reduce its demands. .

He said university students should also advise their teachers to review downwards their demands and yield to government’s position.

The minister spoke in Abuja when he received officials of the National Union of Benue State Student (NUBSS).

He said: “I assure you that the ongoing strike is one that the Federal Government is tackling headlong. In spite of the problems that have hindered further discussions, the government will continue to explore all avenues that are aimed at resolving the crisis in our universities, especially now that the government has given money to tackling all the problems in our universities for infrastructure.

“Since you are children, I expect that some of your teachers are also parents. The government is making efforts to let ASUU see things from the position of the government, expect that you too have a role to play as students.

“You must be in the position to advise and sometimes plead with teachers to take into consideration the future of the youth as leaders of tomorrow and mellow down on some of their demands…”

House of Representatives member Farouk Lawan has urged the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to explore other means to resolve its differences with the Federal Government other than the ongoing strike.

The lawmaker said incessant strikes are detrimental to the country’s educational system and standard.

Lawan spoke yesterday in Abuja on the lingering ASUU action, which he said has dire consequences on the nation’s education sector.
- The Nation

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Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufa’i

Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufa’I, said on Thursday in Abuja that French language would be part of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination as from 2014 for interested candidates, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.

Rufai said this at  a reception held in honour of the French Language Project Manager, Mr. Jean-Phillipe Roy.

She said that being multi-lingual in the 21st Century was essential as it helps individuals to operate more effectively in the international community.

“For Nigeria, the study of French language is quite key, considering the fact that our neighbouring countries are French-speaking. Apart from the English language, French language is one of the major international languages,” she said.

She said Roy came to Nigeria in 2009 under the second Bilateral Agreement between Nigeria and French.

The minister noted that the French had worked hard to ensure that various components of the project received due attention.

Rufa’i lauded his contributions to the reform of the UTME for 2014 in addition to the scholarships awarded to 16 teachers of French language to study in France for one month.

She said the project manager’s contributions included supply of books to schools, award of Master’s degree in French as a foreign language and supply of DVD and CD player to the project office.

The minister lauded the support of the French Government to the Nigerian French Language Village, Badagry, Lagos; and the Regional Network of French Language centres in Africa.

She also commended the Association of French Language Teachers, and noted  the proposed handing over of the project vehicle to the ministry for the monitoring of the teaching and learning of the language.

“Nigeria and France have come a long way in their relationship. It is a relationship built on mutual respect, cooperation and interest. I wish to assure you that the ministry will continue to be committed to the teaching and learning of French Language in Nigeria and sustenance of the cordial relationship,’’ she said.

Roy praised the collaboration between the Federal Government and the French Government.

“Since I have been here, you have shown a lot of interest in what we have been trying to do in terms of decision-making in critical issues and, with your help, we have been able to keep the project on the right track,” he said.
- NAN

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Dr. Nasir Fagge, ASUU President

The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, yesterday said the threat to implement a ‘No-work-No- Pay’ policy by the Federal Government would not stop the ongoing strike embarked upon by university teachers throughout the country.

The union in a press release titled; “ASUU on government threat of No- Work, No-Pay,” signed by the University of Ibadan branch Chairman, Dr. Olusegun Ajiboye and made available to journalists in Ibadan, described such as an ‘obsolete familiar threat.’

He said members of the union have resolved to pursue the ongoing strike to a logical conclusion to revitalise public universities with or without strike.

He said ASUU members have resolved and are convinced that the current struggle embarked upon by the union is a just one to defend the integrity of the university system in Nigeria and save it from universal mockery.

Ajiboye added that the minimum funding requirement to public universities as at 2013 is N500 billion and not N100 billion as being touted by the Federal Government, adding that anything short of that is unacceptable to the union.

He described Federal Government’s N100 billion offer as one that appears that the government ‘is just begging the matter’ on ground as the money is like a drop in the ocean, insisting that no blackmail or ordering of academic staff will break the ongoing strike.

He said: “The academic members remained resolute to pursue this struggle to its logical conclusion.”

On the N100 billion released as funding to the universities by the Federal Government, Ajiboye noted that this was just the beginning.

He continued: “Going by the ASUU agreement of 2009 and the MoU signed by the Federal Government in January 2012, the minimum funding requirement for the universities as at 2013 is N500 billion and not N100 billion.

“Only the provision of this sum will meet the immediate needs of addressing the rot and decay in public universities in the country. Anything short of this is not acceptable to the union.

“Therefore, rather than engaging in cheap blackmail and unworkable threat, the government should address the issues on the table. That is appropriate funding of the universities, payment of arrears of earned allowances to university workers and other allied matters.

“Anything short of full implementation of the agreement and the MoU remained unacceptable to the union.”
- National Mirror

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Dr. Nasir Faggae, ASUU President

After 10 unsuccessful meetings with the Federal Government, the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, yesterday said government was not ready to end the 8-week-old strike, lamenting that government displayed dishonesty and lack of integrity during negotiations.

At a briefing in Lagos, ASUU’s President, Dr. Isa Faggae, claimed that government had declared it would not implement the agreed injection of funds to revitalise the public universities, but was only making a dubious statement of supporting some universities with N100 billion.

He said: “Government had also declared that it will not pay university academics their earned allowances which accumulated from 2009 to 2013. Rather, it is talking about providing N30 billion to assist various Governing Councils of Federal Universities to defray the arrears of N92 billion owed to all categories of staff in the university system.”

Narrating the union’s experience at the last meeting with the Government held on Monday, Faggae said: ASUU was shocked by the level of deceit, dishonesty, and lack of integrity displayed by the Government. Never in the history of ASUU-Government relations have we, as a union, ever experienced the kind of volte-face exhibited by Government. At one stage in the interaction, the Secretary to the Government of the  Federation ridiculed the agreement, the MoU and the Needs Assessment Report, mocking the Minister of Education to “go and give them N400 billion,” at which members of the government scornfully laughed.”

He argued that the Governor Gabriel Suswan-led Implementation Committee was being used as smokescreen to “deceive ASUU, Nigerian students and their parents, as well as other unsuspecting members of the public on the purportedly released N100 billion for the implementation of the Needs Assessment Report.

First, he said, government plans to divert the regular yearly allocations to universities by Tertiary Education Trust, TETFund, to make at least 70% of the N100 billion. This is unacceptable to ASUU. It is like robbing Peter to pay Paul, since the idea of revitalization took full cognizance of the intervention role of TETFund ab-initio.

“Again, contrary to subsisting operational procedures, about 75% of the money meant for revitalizing universities would not be released to them as the Suswan Committee plans to hand over construction of the hostel projects to the Federal Ministry of Education and/or the National Universities Commission, for implementation. This is illegal; neither the ministry nor NUC is backed by laws of Nigerian Public Universities to divert monies meant for the development of these institutions into centrally executed projects.”

Dr. Faggae questioned the committee’s motives for proposing to commit N1.6 million to a bed space, instead of N200, 000 to N400, 000, saying, “We see a continuation of outrageous contract regimes in the plan to centrally co-ordinate the construction of student hostels as done in the case of the 12 newly established Federal Universities with TETFund resources. The NUC has transmuted itself into a “Tenders’ board” which awarded contracts for the construction of 560 bed spaces hostel for each university at a whooping sum of 1.2 bn. This contract sum translates into N2.143 million per bed space.”

- Vanguard

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ASUU President, Nasir Fagge

The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, yesterday, said that the only thing that would make its striking members go back to the classrooms is the full implementation of the 2009 agreement and not any new offer or palliatives from the Federal Government.

President of ASUU, Dr. Nasir Fagge, who stated this in a telephone interview with Vanguard in Abuja, said it was better to get it right once and for all instead of palliative measures that would not help the system compete with other universities in the world.

Fagge said that government had established the attitude of making promises without fulfilling them and that until the 2009 agreement was implemented, universities will remain closed.

Beyond offers

He said: “The problem is that we have gone beyond the point of making offers now. We have a comprehensive agreement, which was arrived at after three years of negotiation from 2006.

“We had demands from both sides— ASUU and government— and like I said earlier, we reduced those two demands into an agreement within three years of negotiations.

“And at this point, we are talking of the implementation of the agreement. So, at this point, government should not be talking or making offers. If government wasn’t ready to implement the agreement, government shouldn’t have signed the agreement.

‘Government's antics’

“What is becoming clear to us is that government is still going back to its usual antics. We signed an agreement.

“Government will just single out what affects the staff directly to implement and then expect them to go back and continue the deception in the system.

“Without good research, teaching and effective delivery of production of knowledge, universities cannot move and this is why the nation has been blaming us for the kind of students we are graduating in our universities.

“So what we are saying is that we are also tired of this. What we want is let the agreement be implemented and then we look at the impact of the implementation.

“Then if there is the need for us to review the situation, we will do it through another round of negotiations. But at this point, we are not talking about making offers. Government made offers on negotiation table between 2006 and 2009.”

Gov Aliyu denies report

Meanwhile, Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State, yesterday, denied a media report that quoted him as saying that the team of negotiators on the side of the Federal Government in the ongoing talks with ASUU was incompetent.

A national daily (not Vanguard) had in a report, yesterday, quoted Aliyu as “doubting the abilities of the negotiators on the side of the Federal Government to achieve any breakthrough in the ongoing dialogue with the lecturers”

Governor Aliyu’s spokesman, Danladi Ndayebo, described the story as untrue, urging the reading public to disregard the report.

He said the report was misleading and did not reflect Governor Aliyu’s comments at the National Universities Commission, NUC, in Abuja, where the governor addressed a continental workshop on the 3rd Regional Centre of Expertise, RCE.

‘What he said’

Ndayebo said: “What Governor Aliyu said is that Federal Government can afford to offer free basic and senior secondary education, while heavily subsidising tertiary education if government officials cut down on spending public funds unnecessarily.

“Governor Aliyu then encouraged constant dialogue between labour unions and government, stressing that strikes were unheard of in other West African countries because there was constant dialogue between the unions and government.”
- Vanguard

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Dr. Nasir Fagge, ASUU President

    No agreement was reached at the meeting as ASUU president says no retreat, no surrender.
The Monday meeting between striking university lecturers and the federal government ended without a resolution of the crisis.

The meeting, which held at the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, was attended by the Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; Minister of Labour, Emeka Nwogwu; Minister of Education, Rukayyatu Rufai; and the Benue State Governor and head of the government’s delegation, Gabriel Suswan.
The lecturers’ union, ASUU, was led by the President of the union, Nasir Fagge. The meeting lasted for over four hours (from 3:p.m. to about 7:15p.m).

Meanwhile, all hopes that the strike may soon be called off seem to be fading as the Union has indicated that there is no going back on the strike until the Federal government fully implements the memorandum it signed with the Union in 2012. In an interview shortly before the deadlocked Monday meeting, the National President of ASUU, Dr. Nasir Fagge  said: “Who’s talking about demands here? We presented our demands in 2006 and it took us three years to get it into an agreement.The Federal Government signed an MOU in 2012, that’s what we are asking them to honour, period. The strike action will not continue only if they implement the MOU we had last year.”


Dr. Fagge further disclosed that “If we call off the strike when the MOU has not been implemented, of what use was the strike action in the first place? We are holding on until everything is sorted out.”
The industrial action by the lecturers will be fifty days old today

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Senior Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan on Students and Youth Matters, Comr. Jude Imagwe

 ...Says 'we’re disappointed over Okonjo-Iweala’s comments’
National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, through a statement made available and signed by the National P.R.O. Comrade Victor Olaogun, has passed a vote of no confidence on President Goodluck Jonathan over what they called his “ineptitude to handle and resolve the ongoing impasse between the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU.”

While berating the lackadaisical attitude of the Nigerian President towards the development of the youth and his insensitivity and inattentiveness to the pains and demands of Nigerian students and university lecturers, the Association called for instantaneous declaration of state of emergency on Nigeria’s education sector, saying “we can no longer condone his ineffectiveness, whereupon we pass a VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE on him.

“Also we pass a VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE on the Minister for Education, for not having the interest of Nigerian students at heart. We also condemn the Senior Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan on Students and Youth Matters, Comr. Jude Imagwe over his lukewarm attitude to the plights of the Nigerian students.

“As a former president of NANS (though factional), we expect Comrade Jude Imagwe to use his good office to press for the demands of the students and even protect the interest of undergraduates who at this time are facing huge challenges as a result of the lingering strike action embarked on by the Academic Staff Union of Universities”

However the Association pleaded with ASUU to return to the classes while deliberation continues or drag FG to court. “we urge ASUU to drag the Federal Government to court since nobody is above the law. We call for immediate allocation of Special Intervention Fund to Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary education in Nigeria. We remained indifferent on ASUU strike because we thought the two parties could use pragmatic approaches to settle their rift.
- Vanguard

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Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

The Academic Staff Union of Universities has described as a misrepresentation of facts, the comment made by the Co-ordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, that the striking university lecturers  demanded N92 billion as earned allowances in the 2009 agreement.

According to the union, which spoke through the Chairman, University of Ibadan chapter, Dr. Olusegun Ajiboye, the Federal Government and the minister are not telling the truth.

In a statement, the union said: “I want Nigerians to ask the minister where she got her figure of N92 billion from. There was never a time that ASUU made a demand that is up to N92 billion. I think the 92 billion naira is just the imagination of the Minister of Finance and Co-ordinating Minister of the Economy.”

Dr. Ajiboye clarified the issue noting that the earned allowances jointly calculated with the Federal Government and ASUU in the 2009 agreement was N87 billion and it covers allowances for three and a half years for thousands of lecturers in Nigerian universities.

He stressed that the N87 billion was a compromise made by ASUU by scaling down from N127 billion to N87 billion.

The university lecturer urged Nigerians to say no to people whom he said were bent on destroying public institutions.

He said: “This is a government that signed an agreement with us on January 24, 2012 to the effect that they would inject N100 billion as funding into the universities in the first one month and that before the end of 2012, they would inject another N300 billion. The same government did not put down a kobo to any of these universities.

“So, it is a sad story that we are hearing now that the government cannot meet a demand of N87 billion whereas the government said that they would keep on putting N400 billion annually for three years consecutively to the tune of about N1.2 trillion. If the government is now saying it cannot meet N87billion, Nigerians should know that this is not a government that can be trusted for anything.

“The total amount of earned allowances for academic staff in Nigerian universities for the three and a half years computed together with the government was N87 billion. And that was agreed based on negotiations because we started from N127billion and it was reduced to N107 billion before we now got to 15 percent of salary payment of each person. It is called earned allowances and it is the sum total of the excess work which academic staff had done for the past three and a half years. You are now telling Nigerians that this is what these people are asking for as if it’s a new thing. Nigerians should know that it is what the people have worked for and not N92 billion. It is fallacy and what these people (federal government) are just pushing is propaganda.”
- Vanguard

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