Month: October 2022

Frontline human rights lawyer cum activist , Mr Femi Falana, (SAN), yesterday, faulted the claim by the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr Chris Ngige, that the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, disobeyed the order of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, NICN, Abuja, by not asking its members to resume duties after the court’s recent ruling in the matter between the union and the Federal Government.

In a statement, Falana noted that the minister got it wrong as far as the issue is concerned.

The statement reads: “We wish to point out to the minister that ASUU is a law-abiding organisation whose activities are conducted within the ambit of the rule of law.

“Although the minister rushed to the National Industrial Court without referring the trade dispute between ASUU and the Federal Government to the Industrial Arbitration Panel and thereby abused the process of the court. The minister is unaware that the National Industrial Court lacks the jurisdictional competence to intervene in the resolution of a trade dispute that has not been determined by the Industrial Arbitration Panel.

“However, contrary to the claim of the minister that ASUU has not filed an appeal, the application for the leave of the Court of Appeal to appeal against the interlocutory order of injunction is deemed to be an appeal under the Rules of the Court of Appeal.

“The application is equally accompanied by a motion for stay of execution of the said order. To that extent, the members of the ASUU cannot be accused of engaging in contempt of the order of the National Industrial Court in so far as they are seeking to appeal and stay the execution of the said order.

“Trial and appellate courts have always had jurisdiction to grant a stay of execution of judgment pending appeal. The exercise of the right to apply for a stay of execution by an unsuccessful litigant pending his appeal has not been treated as disobedience to the judgment he is appealing against.”

Punch Newspaper

The Court of Appeal in Abuja will on Tuesday (today) hear the appeal of the Academic Staff Union of Universities against the ruling by the National Industrial Court, The PUNCH has learnt.

This is as negotiations and talks have continued between the House of Representatives led by the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila and the union.

The PUNCH had reported that the Gbajabiamila-led delegation would meet with the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) today.

A source familiar with the matter made this known in a chat with our correspondent on Sunday.

“The court will hear the appeal on Tuesday,” the source said in a text message sent to our correspondent.

Our correspondent could not immediately get a response to inquiries sent to the counsel for ASUU, Femi Falana, as he had yet to reply to texts sent to his telephone line.

ASUU had on September 23, 2022, filed 14 grounds for appeal against the ruling of Justice Hamman Polycarp of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, which ordered that the striking lecturers go back to work pending the determination of a suit the Federal Government filed to query the legality of their strike.

The interim injunction directing ASUU members to resume work followed an application the Federal Government filed through its lawyer, Mr James Igwe.

Justice Polycarp held that the order was both in the national interest and for the sake of undergraduates in the country that had been at home since February 14. He held that the strike action was detrimental to public university students that couldn’t afford to attend private tertiary institutions.

However, ASUU, in its appeal, maintained that Justice Polycarp “erred in law and occasioned a miscarriage of justice when he decided to hear and determine the respondents’ motion for an interlocutory injunction when he knew or ought to have known that the substantive suit was not initiated by due process of law.”

ASUU further told the appellate court that it showed “uncontroverted and irrefutable evidence” that the Federal Government waited for about seven months before approaching the NIC for the order of interlocutory injunction.”

The union insisted that by sections 17 and 18 of the TDA, the NIC could only entertain appeals arising from the decision of the Industrial Arbitration Panel, IAP, concerning issues arising from trade disputes.

ASUU said it was totally “dissatisfied with the decision” of the trial court which it said should not only be stayed from being executed, but also set aside in its entirety.”

The federal government has invited applications from suitably qualified students studying Education courses in Universities and Colleges of Education.

Recall that the during the commemoration of the World Teachers Day in Abuja last year, the Federal Government said students undergoing degree programmes in Education in public universities will get N75,000 stipend per semester, while their counterparts undergoing the Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE) will get N50,000 per semester.

In a press statement issued on Monday by the Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Education, Andrew David Adejo, the government said application forms are now available online at www.education.gov.ng while the deadline for submission of application is October 21, 2022.

He said the eligibility criteria for the Bursary award includes applicants studying Education in Nigerian Colleges of Education and Universities and applicants must be full-time students.

On the method of application, he urged students to complete the application form online, submit and print a copy, attach photocopies of letter of admission and current school’s identity card.

He said, “Eligible candidates are advised to make only one entry as multiple entries will disqualify the applicants.

“All applicants (physically challenged inclusive) must be in their first year or above.

“A beneficiary of any scholarship is not eligible.”

For further enquiries, he urged students to visit www.education.gov.ng or call 08035937427, 09124516750, while adding that the application does not attract any processing fee.

“This is in fulfillment of Mr. President’s commitment to reform the Education sector, the Minister of Education (HME), Mallam Adamu Adamu hereby invites applications from qualified education students in Nigerian Colleges of Education and Universities to participate in the 2022 Bursary Awards.

“Please note that relevant information has been submitted to the Federal Ministry of Education by the Nigerian University Commission (NUC) and the National Commission of Colleges of Education (NCCE),” the statement stated.

Punch Newspaper

The Speaker of the House of Representatives will discuss the continuing Academic Staff Union of Universities strike with President Major General Muhammadu Buhari (ret.) on Tuesday.

The lawmakers are set to convey to Buhari their recommendations from talks they had with stakeholders on the strike, according to a high Presidency source who did not want his name in print because he was not authorized to speak to press on the subject.

Punch reports that the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, has reportedly stated that the House would write a report on its involvement in the continuing strike and meet with the President to discuss it.

Speaking at the last meeting of the House Leadership with stakeholders comprising members of ASUU and representatives of the Federal Government, the lawmaker said the report will reflect their interactions on the FG-ASUU face-off and provide recommendations to enable the President to assess the situation from an informed second option.

Gbajabiamila, however, did not disclose when his team will meet the President.

“We will put together our recommendations and our thoughts and take it to Mr President, that is why we are here to interface and look for solutions,” he had said.

However, the Presidency source, in an interview with one of the Punch correspondents, said, “The leaders of the House of Representatives are scheduled to see the President in the coming week. They are on the programme. The President will receive them at 3pm on Tuesday.

The Federal Government has advised the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, to cease taking laws into its hands by directing its members to continue with the eight months old strike in defiance of the interlocutory injunction by the National Industrial Court NICN, which restrained the union from further action.

In a statement in Abuja, Sunday, the Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige said a new directive by ASUU, exhorting its members to continue with action is an unwarranted lawlessness, noting that “the Federal Government strongly frowns at this.”

The Minister in a statement by Olajide Oshundun, Deputy Director Press and Public Relations, Ministry of Labour and Empliyment accused the leadership of the union of misinforming and misleading its members and warned of consequences of contempt of court order.

According to him, “The union is dishonest and misleading its members and the general public, that it has filed an appeal as well has a stay of execution of the order of National Industrial Court on September 21, 2022, though it has none of this.

“Rather, ASUU only filed an application for a permission to appeal the order. It also attached to the application, a proposed notice of appeal which it intends to file if the leave to appeal is granted. The application for a stay of execution as of this moment, has not even been listed for hearing.Where then is ASUU coming from?

“It is therefore contemptuous, dishonest and misleading for the union to tell its members that it has not only appealed the interlocutory injunction by the National Industrial Court, directing it to call off strike and return to work, but that it also has a stay of execution.”

The Minister once again called on the union to respect the court order and return to work while negotiations are concluded on the remaining issues in contention.

The statement also denied reports that the Minister walked out on the meeting between the House of Representatives and ASUU last Thursday, 29th September, 2022. It said the Minister left the meeting to attend to other pressing matters with the permission of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila after making his presentation.

It stated that the Secretary to the Government of the Federation was earlier granted such permission by the Speaker.

The statement further recalled that at that meeting, Senator Ngige addressed the two major issues over which ASUU is still on strike.

“On renegotiation of salaries and wages of lecturers, I sympathize with ASUU just like other Nigerian workers. The economy is bad and hard time, biting hard on everybody. ASUU deserves no blame. They know that many times during reconciliation, I said that left to me, this is what lecturers will get. I know the enormity of the work they do and have brothers who are also lecturers.

“The Briggs Committee was the product of reconciliation of my ministry,which had to move to the ASUU’s direct employers, Ministry of Education for a Collective Bargaining Agreement, so we can arrive on what is good to be paid to ASUU, subject to approval by the President

“The President has a Presidential Committee on Salaries and Wages chaired by the Minister of Finance, with myself as co-chair and other members – National Salaries Income and Wages Commission, Budget Office etc. Every MDA whether drawing from the treasury or not, must pass through this committee on any issue concerning salaries for approval, before transmission to the President. The report of the Briggs Committee did not unfortunately pass this route.”

The Minister revealed that when the issue of payment platform – UTAS came up on January 9, 2020, he was the one that persuaded the President to give the platform a trial in the spirit of Executive Order 3 and 4.

“The SGF supported me. That was how I took it upon myself to write to all the parties, Communication and Digital Economy, NITDA, ASUU and others. At a point, I had to spend three and half hours at the Office of the Accountant General, while UTAS was on demonstration because we must support this platform that promised to save us foreign exchange.

“If the system is good, we adopt it for the whole country but meanwhile – the hardware is not there. How do you do it? The test- the three of them – IPPIS, UTAS, U3PS have failed the test. Do you recommend something that has failed a test? So, no matter how I love ASUU, I won’t support something that failed a test.

“I had advised ASUU when the first result came, to have UTAS do a handshake with IPPIS so as to capture all the university system peculiarities. They accepted but while negotiation was going on, they went on strike.”

The Minister also narrated how the medical doctors once threatened to go on strike over IPPIS.

“But their peculiarities have now been captured by IPPIS, even those teaching in the universities with special allowances. About a year ago, NARD wrote me that they would go on strike if we don’t put them on IPPIS. This is because all their peculiarities have captured and no one is losing anything.”

Professor Christopher Imumolen has called on the federal government to reduce the stiffness surrounding the regulation of the crucial sector to allow private players to inject excellence.

Imumolen gave this advice while lamenting the lingering industrial action of the ASUU at the DBI Institute, Cappa, Oshodi Lagos, stressing that education is the fulcrum that carries national development and human capital enhancement and that it should not be shut down as Nigeria is currently doing.

Expressing delight at the fact that the JPTS and its partnering international institutions have weathered the storm reasonably through strategic involvement and digitalisation which has offered a lease to Nigerian youths who would have been totally caught in the web of govt – lecturers’ unending faceoff.

He described as worrisome a situation where students in states like Zamfara have continued to stay out of school for three years running, buttressing that such portends danger for the youths of that state and that region, a situation he juxtaposed with the ugly aftermath of the civil war after the Igbo youths could not go to school for over 3 years due to war.

Prof Imumolen pointed out that the digitalisation of the system and the involvement cum inclusion of young professionals in the sector will bring the seriously sought panacea and stability in Nigeria’s education sector.

Proceeding, he averred that getting education right would get the nation right, because an educated workforce or citizenry would definitely spearhead good leadership across facets, disclosing that when young and educated set of leaders whose cerebrum are intact and working take leadership, they will not allow such things as corruption and insecurity to take centre position in the nation just as is presently the case in Nigeria.

Professor Imumolen however urged the convocating students , even the matriculating ones to see the moment and opportunity as golden, tasking them to become, not just good ambassadors, but also the game changers who would make Nigeria, Africa and indeed the world better.

Two graduates of the Institute, Toha Ibrahim and Peter Ojogunwa both won one million naira each from Prof. Imumolen’s support system today for being quality youths and adding value to the system.

While admonishing the winners to be prudent, he implored others to always think of uniqueness and value.

Jubilant and grateful convocants, matriculants and their friends and we ‘ll-wishers littered the expansive ground of the event.

The JPTS educational opportunities are sandwiched between layers of scholarship and have been on for about two decades.

It has offered scholarships to over 500,000 Nigerians and has continued to ensure unique human capital development by offering international certifications through partnering institutions spread in three continents, Africa, North and South America, through credit transfer and evaluation.

Professor Christopher Imumolen is the Presidential candidate of Accord, the youngest in the race and arguably the most educated.

He is also the only one offering a meaningful solutions with his electioneering campaigns which will take vigorous effect from the 28th of September.

Gunmen suspected to be Kidnappers have abducted the traditional ruler of Owa-Onire in the Kwara South Senatorial District of Kwara State.

Reports from the eye witness have it that the traditional ruler was reportedly kidnapped along with his wife and driver.

The Police Public Relations Officer of the State police command, Okasanmi Ajayi, confirmed the development to DAILY POST on Saturday.

Okasanmi disclosed that two suspects are now in police custody over the matter.

He disclosed that the wife of the monarch had been rescued, while efforts were ongoing to rescue the two remaining victims.

According to Okasanmi, the State Police Commissioner, Paul Odama, has dispatched teams of investigators along with the vigilante to the scene.

The spokesman said a detailed report would be made public as soon as investigation into the matter was concluded.

It is the first kidnap case since the new police commissioner assumed office last month.