Connect with us

Education

NANS vows critical assets shutdown over ASUU strike threat

Published

on

The National Association of Nigerian Students has threatened to shut down critical infrastructure nationwide if the Federal Government fails to meet the demands of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, which has again warned of a possible nationwide strike.

NANS Assistant General Secretary, Emmanuel Adejuwon, in an interview expressed deep concern over ASUU’s latest threat, vowing that the union would “mobilise Nigerian students for massive nationwide protests that will shut down roads, airports, government offices, and critical infrastructure.”

“Let it be on record: if this strike is not averted, we will bring the country to a standstill until the future of Nigerian students is secured. The time for games is over. The Federal Government must act now. ASUU must act responsibly. And Nigerian students will not sit idle while our future is wasted,” the NANS leader said.

Adejuwon stressed that only the children of the masses are negatively impacted by ASUU strike, saying, “This strike must not be allowed to happen.”

“It is obvious that strike actions only inflict pain and suffering on the children of ordinary Nigerians, the masses who struggle day and night to keep their children in school. The politicians and government officials whose failures created this crisis are not affected; their children are comfortably schooling abroad or in expensive private universities. If the children of these politicians were in our public institutions, this issue would have been resolved immediately.”

He accused the Federal Government of endless promises and insincerity, saying students had grown weary of “being victims of leadership irresponsibility.”

“We demand that the Federal Government, without delay, meet its obligations to ASUU and resolve all outstanding issues. Enough of the endless promises, excuses, and insincerity. Nigerian students are tired of being victims of leadership irresponsibility,” he declared.

While demanding government action, Adejuwon also called on ASUU to rethink its tactics.

“At the same time, we call on ASUU leadership to reconsider the weaponisation of strike as the only tool of engagement. Every strike action destroys our academic calendar, elongates our years in school, and diminishes the quality of our education. The lecturers must understand that their struggle, no matter how just, should not become a weapon against the same students they claim to fight for,” he said.

ASUU presses demands

Meanwhile, ASUU branches across the country, on Monday, stressed their demands, threatening that another strike was imminent if the Federal Government failed to act.

In Ibadan, ASUU’s Zonal Coordinator, Prof. Biodun Olaniran, speaking at a news conference on Monday, urged the Federal Government to implement the recommendations of the Yayale Ahmed report submitted in February to avert another strike.

He said the report captured all contentious issues between the union and government and represented a consensus after years of negotiations, but had been left unimplemented.

“The true test of government’s sincerity lies in how it handles the Yayale Ahmed report,” Olaniran said. “Our members are frustrated with delay tactics and are no longer willing to be dragged along endlessly. Implementing this report is the surest way to restore confidence and industrial peace.”

Olaniran listed concerns including the 2009 ASUU-FGN Agreement on sustainable funding of universities, victimisation of union members in LASU, KSU and FUTO, outstanding 25–35 per cent salary awards, unpaid third-party deductions, and over four years of unpaid promotion arrears.

He faulted the continued use of the IPPIS platform for payment of members, which the union had long rejected, and lamented the non-payment of earned academic allowances.

“Many of our members cannot provide education for their wards and have turned to borrowing to meet obligations,” he said. “Poor funding, withheld salaries, non-payment of promotion arrears, and failure to mainstream earned academic allowances have worsened our plight and contributed to brain drain.”

On autonomy, Olaniran decried “the persistent erosion of university autonomy by the government with alarming impunity.”

“ASUU has strongly opposed the unlawful dissolution of Governing Councils in public universities, even where no misconduct has been reported and the councils had not completed their statutory tenure,” he added.

Chairpersons of ASUU branches from UI, UNILORIN, LAUTECH, UNIOSUN, KWASU and Emmanuel Alayande University of Education attended the briefing.

Also in Abuja, the ASUU Zonal Coordinator, Prof. Al-Amin Abdullahi, reiterated the union’s demand for the implementation of the 2009 Agreement and the release of three and a half months of withheld salaries.

“There is a crisis affecting universities in Nigeria, and it is not just a problem for ASUU; it is a problem for the entire country,” Abdullahi said. “The purposeful mortgage of a nation’s future and the endangerment of generations yet to be born is the result of a nation’s disregard of education.”

He listed the union’s demands to include payment of promotion arrears, release of third-party deductions, one year arrears of the 25/35 per cent salary award, and adoption of UTAS as the university payment system.

“It is impossible for a nation to advance beyond the standard of its university system. Yet successive governments have systematically underfunded universities, leaving overcrowded classrooms, inadequately equipped laboratories, and inhabitable hostels. This neglect has created unconducive learning environments and a decline in global ranking of Nigerian universities,” Abdullahi warned.

He said that in line with UNESCO’s convention, both federal and state governments must prioritise education through increased annual budgetary allocations.

In Uyo, the Calabar Zone of ASUU rejected the recently launched Tertiary Institution Staff Loan Scheme, describing it as “an insult to the sensibilities of tertiary workers and the height of mockery of the Nigerian university system.”

Zonal Coordinator, Dr. Ikechukwu Igwenyi of Ebonyi State University, said the government was using the scheme as a distraction from its failure to implement a new salary structure and honour agreements.

“It insults our sensibilities that a government that pays its workforce with an outdated salary structure adopted 17 years ago will refuse to renegotiate the same salary since 2012, refuse to pay third-party deductions for almost a year, and refuse to pay arrears of promotion—yet it comes up with an impossible and slavish loan in a depressed economy,” Igwenyi said.

He accused government of “puerile duplicity and infantile cunning,” dragging the union and public into believing in dialogues whose outcomes were never implemented.

“How can government owe its workforce and turn around to offer impoverished workers an impossible loan scheme? How can it impose loan recovery on staff unions as guarantors, as if we are employers of tertiary workers?” he asked.

“We therefore make bold to reject the Tertiary Institution Staff Support Loan and everything it represents because it has been described as a poison chalice.”

Igwenyi warned that the union’s planned meeting with the Federal Government on August 28, 2025, would be its last. “We cannot continue to spend our meagre resources attending meetings whose outcomes are not predictable,” he said.

With frustration building among both lecturers and students, ASUU and NANS have set the August 28 meeting as a decisive moment for government to act.

For NANS’ Adejuwon, the message is clear: “The time for games is over. The Federal Government must act now. ASUU must act responsibly. And Nigerian students will not sit idle while our future is wasted.”

FOLLOW US ON:

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

PINTEREST

TIKTOK

YOUTUBE

LINKEDIN

TUMBLR

INSTAGRAM

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Education

PHOTOS: 200-level Niger State varsity d!es after collapsing in her off-campus residence

Published

on

A 200 level student of Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University (IBBU), Lapai, Niger State, has d!ed after collapsing in her off-campus lodge.

The deceased, identified as Adamu Fatima Muhammad, with matriculation number U23/FNS/BCH/1093, was a student of the Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Natural Sciences.

Eye Witnesses said Fatima suddenly fell ill at her residence outside the university campus in Lapai and was rushed to the General Hospital, Lapai, where she was later confirmed d3ad.

According to the source, the deceased had earlier lost both parents and was living with her guardian in Suleja, Niger State, alongside her only surviving brother.

“She was a humble and dedicated student. Her passing is a tragedy that has thrown the entire university community into mourning,” the source said.

Fatima was buried in Lapai on Monday according to Islamic rites.

FOLLOW US ON:

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

PINTEREST

TIKTOK

YOUTUBE

LINKEDIN

TUMBLR

INSTAGRAM

Continue Reading

Education

PHOTOS: School collapse in Indonesia leaves three de@d, 38 missing

Published

on

At least three students have been k!lled and dozens are missing following the collapse of an Islamic boarding school in Indonesia’s East Java province, authorities have said.

National Search and Rescue Agency head Mohammad Syafii said as of 12.30pm (0530 GMT) on Tuesday, “the number of victims is 102 people, consisting of 99 survivors, 3 deaths”.

Rescuers are searching for 38 people believed to be trapped under the rubble following the building collapse, the National Agency for Disaster Management said.

Eleven people have been rescued from the rubble, and 91 others managed to escape, the disaster management agency said.

Seventy-seven victims were taken to several hospitals in the area for treatment for their injuries, according to the agency.

“Efforts to assess the site, monitor the remaining building structure, and prepare evacuation routes for victims are the primary focus of the teams on the ground,” the agency said in a statement on social media.

The agency added that the incident called attention to the need for the “strict implementation of construction safety standards”.

“The public and managers of multistorey buildings are urged to ensure technical supervision during construction to prevent similar occurrences in the future,” it said.

Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency, a separate body, had earlier reported that “provisional data” indicated that 100 students were caught up in the collapse, of whom all but one had been located alive.

Al-Khoziny Islamic Boarding School, in Sidoarjo, East Java, collapsed at about 3pm on Monday as students were gathering for afternoon prayers.

Authorities say the school’s foundation pillars gave way as crews were concreting the fourth floor of the building, trapping dozens of people under debris.

The incident is the second building collapse in Indonesia in less than a month.

FOLLOW US ON:

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

PINTEREST

TIKTOK

YOUTUBE

LINKEDIN

TUMBLR

INSTAGRAM

Continue Reading

Education

NELFUND closes 2024/2025 loan portal, sets timeline for next application

Published

on

The Nigerian Education Loan Fund said the application portal for the 2024/2025 academic session will officially close on Tuesday.

The Managing Director of NELFUND, Akintunde Sawyerr disclosed this at a news conference in Abuja on Monday.

Sawyerr said this was to allow the Fund to conclude processing of pending applications and upkeep payments.

He also announced timelines for the 2025/2026 academic cycle, in line with its mandate to expand access to higher education through interest-free student loans.

According to him, the loan portal will reopen in the second week of October for fresh applications and remain open until January 2026.

”NELFUND remains committed to removing financial barriers for students and working with institutions to ensure that no eligible student is left behind.

“These timelines provide clarity for students, parents, and institutions to plan and participate fully in the process,” Sawyerr said.

The managing director directed institutions to update their students’ records on the Student Verification System to enable applicants access the scheme.

He added that all unverified applications for 2024/2025 would be automatically cancelled after Oct. 8, noting that students affected would be required to reapply under the new session.

He warned that institutions that failed to verify students’ records risk being publicly listed for non-compliance.

On upkeep stipends, Sawyerr explained that the payment for the 2024/2025 session would continue until November, adding that students were expected to reapply for 2025/2026 to continue receiving payments.

On repayment terms, he reiterated that the scheme remained interest-free while repayment would begin two years after completion of the National Youth Service Corps, with employers mandated to deduct 10 per cent of beneficiaries’ salaries.

He further expressed concern over arbitrary hikes in tuition and ancillary fees by some institutions, noting that a committee set up by the Minister of Education is working with regulators to harmonise and standardise fee structures across institutions.

Responding to concerns about upkeep stipends, he said the current ₦20,000 monthly allowance would not be increased immediately.

Sawyerr said an ongoing review of cost-of-living indices across different regions could however lead to weighted adjustments in future.

punch.ng

FOLLOW US ON:

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

PINTEREST

TIKTOK

YOUTUBE

LINKEDIN

TUMBLR

INSTAGRAM

Continue Reading

Trending