Engage in research, Okigbo, others advise scholars

Notable Nigerian scholars, including the Vice-Chancellor, Kwara State University, Malete, Prof. Abdulrasheed Na’Allah, have urged tertiary institutions in the country to engage in more researches that are relevant to the society.

Others, who gave the advice, are a Mass Communication lecturer at the North Dakata State University, United States, Prof. Charles Okigbo; and the Provost, College of Information and Communication Technology, KWASU, Prof. Innocent Okoye.

The academics, who called for better academic alliance among scholars, students, government, business sector and non-governmental organisations, said the collaboration was vital to addressing Nigeria’s developmental problems.

They spoke at a conference on “Content Analysis and Communication Audits’ organised by the Department of Mass Communication of the Kwara State University.

Okigbo urged academics to engage in serious researches, noting that their findings could be of value to their host communities and humanity.

According to him, for greater results and maximum findings, various stakeholders, including students, government, business sector and non-governmental organisations must collaborate in the enterprise.

Na’Allah said the conference was about promoting the art and science of research in order to develop scholars in the nation’s universities, especially on communication research.

The VC, who stressed the need for communication, regretted that the country was not faring well because its leaders, industries and universities had failed to communicate.

According to him, the university is developing its Mass Communication department to empower it to liaise with industries and government as well as to produce researches that will solve national problems. Okoye, who is also the university’s Head of Mass Communication, said the conference afforded the participants the opportunity to benefit from the research experience of Okigbo.

He noted particularly that Okigbo exposed them to the latest research strategies in communication and content analysis.
Calling for more academic findings in the country Okoye said, “Research is important to national development because we recycle mostly researches done in other parts of the world.

“There is not enough research coming out of Nigeria and Africa. It is only when we have enough research findings from our own local environment that we can solve our problems meaningfully.”

Engage in research, Okigbo, others advise scholars

Notable Nigerian scholars, including the Vice-Chancellor, Kwara State University, Malete, Prof. Abdulrasheed Na’Allah, have urged tertiary institutions in the country to engage in more researches that are relevant to the society.

Others, who gave the advice, are a Mass Communication lecturer at the North Dakata State University, United States, Prof. Charles Okigbo; and the Provost, College of Information and Communication Technology, KWASU, Prof. Innocent Okoye.

The academics, who called for better academic alliance among scholars, students, government, business sector and non-governmental organisations, said the collaboration was vital to addressing Nigeria’s developmental problems.

They spoke at a conference on “Content Analysis and Communication Audits’ organised by the Department of Mass Communication of the Kwara State University.

Okigbo urged academics to engage in serious researches, noting that their findings could be of value to their host communities and humanity.

According to him, for greater results and maximum findings, various stakeholders, including students, government, business sector and non-governmental organisations must collaborate in the enterprise.

Na’Allah said the conference was about promoting the art and science of research in order to develop scholars in the nation’s universities, especially on communication research.

The VC, who stressed the need for communication, regretted that the country was not faring well because its leaders, industries and universities had failed to communicate.

According to him, the university is developing its Mass Communication department to empower it to liaise with industries and government as well as to produce researches that will solve national problems. Okoye, who is also the university’s Head of Mass Communication, said the conference afforded the participants the opportunity to benefit from the research experience of Okigbo.

He noted particularly that Okigbo exposed them to the latest research strategies in communication and content analysis.
Calling for more academic findings in the country Okoye said, “Research is important to national development because we recycle mostly researches done in other parts of the world.

“There is not enough research coming out of Nigeria and Africa. It is only when we have enough research findings from our own local environment that we can solve our problems meaningfully.”

We won’t accept ‘stranger’ as rector, ASUP warns Wike

Source: punch

THE Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics has called on the Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike, to look inward in appointing a new rector for the Rivers State Polytechnic, Bori.
The appeal came as the union, said it would not accept the appointment of a rector from outside the institution.
Speaking with newsmen in the Khana Local Government Area, the Chairman of ASUP, Rivpoly Chapter, Mr. Barineka Gberegbe, explained that the union would not be able to operate under a rector who may be unfamiliar with the polytechnic.
Gberegbe, who asked the governor to follow due process, urged him to put in place a statutory process of selecting a rector for the school as stipulated in section 31(3) of the State Polytechnic Law of 1999 as amended.
“Recent information concerning the activities of the Rivers State Polytechnic, Bori in the media, necessitates our call for this press conference to demonstrate that we want to suggest the possible areas of improvement.
“With this press conference, we will be able to give clarity on many issues on which we have received several calls. Just as all politicians like to rise to the highest political office in the land, academic staff in the polytechnic sector desire to rise to become rector.
“We don’t have any space for strangers and learners but experienced polytechnic members of staff that understand the intrigues of the polytechnic system,” Gberegbe said.
He explained that while the tenure of the current rector, Obianko Wolu-Elechi, would end next year, it was imperative to remind the government of the needful.
“We assure the governor that we have many capable hands that can manage the affairs of our institution. There is nobody that can understand our problems better than somebody from within. In fact, the issue of an internal rector is sacrosanct to all the unions on campus, he added.
The ASUP boss, however, commended the governor for clearing the backlog of salaries owed the workers in the state between April and June, 2015.
Gberegbe added, “The wind of payment of salary arrears has blown through the length and breadth of many states in Nigeria. Workers in the state will not forget easily the pains of the accumulated salaries.
“As a union, we sincerely appreciate the governor for clearing the backlog of salaries.”
He described as a welcome development the renaming of the polytechnic as Ken Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic.
“We are aware that the past administration released over N3bn for infrastructural development. Such magnanimity was not extended to Rivpoly, Bori. A budgetary allocation of between N90m and N150m was appropriated, but has largely remained on papers.”

We owe food vendors, LAUTECH lecturers lament

Workers of the Ladoke Akintola University, Ogbomoso, owned by Oyo and Osun states, are facing hard times due to unpaid salaries, FEMI MAKINDE and FEMI ATOYEBI report
This is not the best of times for the 25-year-old Ladoke Akintola University, Ogbomoso. While the workers – academic and non-academic – are lamenting the non-payment of the salaries, the ivory tower is also suffering from the dearth of capital projects.
Why does this ugly situation obtain in the university? The owners of the institution, Oyo and Osun State governments, the workers say, have not been fulfilling their financial obligations to the university in the last 13 months.

The LAUTECH Academic Staff Union of Universities Chairman, Dr. Oyebamiji Oyegoke, while confirming this, says workers of the school are suffering in silence and living at the mercy of the university’s Internally Generated Revenue. The development, he adds, has resulted in the non-payment of their salaries for some months now.
Adegoke notes, “The situation is pathetic and it is now beyond endurance. The school managed to pay us until May 2015 from its IGR after the two states that own the university stopped funding it. It puts a lot of pressure on the school management and its finances as it could not afford to close the school. The states stopped paying monthly subvention to the school 13 months ago. Logically, we have not received our salaries from the states in the last 13 months.
“Because of the position we find ourselves, an industrial action looks inevitable. The workers are suffering; many of us are indebted to food sellers. Many of us cannot even pay our children school fees. At the ASUU level, we come to the aid of the members whenever they approach us for financial assistance.”
For another member of staff of the school, Alhaji Lawal Ambali, the challenge occasioned by the non-payment of salaries has forced him to withdraw one of his children from school. According to Ambali, who works in the Maintenance Department of the university, his eldest son had to abandon his master’s programme when the wherewithal to finance the programme was not forthcoming.

Ambali adds, “I thought after his first degree, I would be relieved but after two years at home without a job, I encouraged him to start his master’s programme. My three other children are still in school and when I weighed the options based on my income, I had to ask him to stop the programme until I am buoyant enough to support him. I live in a rented apartment. Above all, I have a wife, who currently has a health challenge. She stopped her trade more than a year ago.
“Meanwhile, the school said it could no longer pay since the states had abandoned it. But some of us are still managing to go to work because without the maintenance department, the school will find it difficult to run its programmes.”
Even as lecturers and other workers complain of hard times, the Senior Staff Association of Universities in the school, has warned that its members will embark on strike by August 11 to pressure the authorities to attend to their needs.
The SSANU Chairman, Mr. Muraina Aleshinloye, says the leadership of Governors Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo) and Rauf Aregbesola (Osun) have abandoned the university.
Aleshinloye adds, “We are suffering and you can imagine what our members are passing through without the governments paying their salaries for over a year, precisely 14 months.
“Is this how we will continue to work and not be paid? We are hungry and that is the truth. We do not have other businesses. There seems to be no life in us any longer as people easily see deprivation written on our faces and, I tell you, you cannot give your best under this kind of situation.
“Besides, there is no capital project embarked on by the two governors in the university since 2011. But through the ingenuity of the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Niyi Gbadegesin, and the support of the university Governing Council, which has Prof. Wale Omole as the pro-chancellor, the school has been managing to pay workers’ salaries in the past 13 months with the IGR.
“Because of the nonchalant attitude of the two governors, our pensioners could not be paid while the payment of gratuity has been postponed indefinitely. The university is in comatose and anarchy is imminent.
“The union is battle-ready for the mother of all strikes. I, therefore, appeal to parents, guardians and other stakeholders in the university to call on the governors to do the needful. The union shall not respond to any call when the die is cast.”
The SSANU Public Relations Officer, Mr. Samson Alabi, also paints a pitiable picture of what workers are going through.
He says, “Our members are not happy. They have been denied their salaries and it is very difficult coping with this kind of situation. There is no one to run to for help. Many of our members cannot access loan from any bank and there is no money anywhere.
“We are waiting to see how the two states would react to the strike notice which our union issued last week. But, I can tell you, the position of the majority of the members is that we should declare an indefinite strike. We cannot continue to work without pay.”
For another lecturer, who craved anonymity, it appears the two governors are no longer interested in funding the university.

He declares, “The two governors are playing hide and seek over the issue. They have been defaulting and not keeping to their promise to fund the university. I think the two states are just waiting to see who will pull out first.
“But none of the two will make this announcement because there is a caveat in their law which states any of the states which pulls out of the joint ownership will forfeit 25 per cent of the asset before they will share the assets. This will not allow any of the governors to make the first move but it is obvious that they are not committed to funding the university any longer.”

Apart from their welfare, Oyegoke explains that the development has come to a halt in the university.

He states, “There is no development in the school. The authorities of the school are using the IGR that is for developmental programmes to cater to the welfare of workers. The basic capital projects in the school today are those facilitated by TETFUND and other intervention grants from sources.”

Efforts to get Aregbesola to react to the allegation of not funding the university were unsuccessful. The Director, Bureau of Communication and Strategy, Governor’s Office, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon, did not answer his telephone calls.
He also did not respond to the text message sent to him as at 8pm.

UNICAL New Post UTME Date, Application Deadline – 2015/16

Authorities of the University of Calabar, UNICAL have rescheduled the post-UTME screening exercise test dates and application closing date. Candidates that are yet to register can now make use of this opportunity.

UNICAL post UTME form application closing date that was earlier scheduled to close on the Monday August 3, 2015 has been re-fixed to 12 midnight of 19th August, 2015. Likewise the screening exercise date. The screening exercise will now take place from the 24th of August to 25th August, 2015.

UNICAL Pegs Post UTME Cut-Off Mark to 180 for 2015/16

Good news to all the prospective candidates who made the University of Calabar (UNICAL) their institution of choice in the 2015 UTME and scored 180 but denied to register for the post UTME screening exercise due to the JAMB’s new admission policy adopted by the institution that the management has renege on their earlier stand.

University of Calabar has officially adopted a new cut off point for the Post-Utme Screening Test. Apart from Law & Med/Surg which is 200, others have been pegged at 180.

LAUTECH Notice To 2014-2015 Out Going Pre-Degree Science Students

2014/2015 pre-degree student are hereby advised to all apply for the post-UTME screening exercise coming up between Monday 17 and Thursday 20 August, 2015 .
This applies to only to 2014/2015 LAUTECH Pre-Degree Science Programme students that SCORED 180 AND ABOVE AT THE JUST CONCLUDED Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) conducted in May, 2015.
The application for the post-UTME will close on 7th August 2015.

JAMB is Anti-Student and Has To Be Scrapped - NANS President

The National Association of Nigeria Students (NANS) has called on relevant authorities to abolish the Joint Admission And Matriculation Board (JAMB); describing the board as anti-students and exploitative policies.
This was coming from the national president of the association, Comrade Tijani Usman, yesterday when he led a protest to JAMB headquarters.
According to him, the purpose for which JAMB was established has been bastardized.
In his words, “The reason why we are here is to tell the general public and the government of the day that JAMB has outlived its usefulness. Nigerian students have seen most of the draconian policies of JAMB that is exploitative
“Parents have been paying huge sums of money just for their children to get admission into various tertiary institutions, yet JAMB will not give them.” admission because JAMB cannot give admission.”

Maritime Academy Oron Invitation To The 2015/2016 Entrance Examination/Admission Interview For ND Programmes

The management of the Academy wishes to invite all the candidates who applied for the 2015/2016 admission into the Non-JAMB National Diploma Programmes offered by the Academy to attend the Entrance Examination/Admission Interview slated as follows:
1. Date for the Entrance: - Saturday, 15th August, 2015
2. Admission Interview: - 16th – 21st August, 2015
3. Examination Centre: - Maritime Academy of Nigeria
P.M.B 1089,
College Road,
Oron,
Akwa Ibom State
4. Time: - 0730 hour (each day)
Courses:
i) ND - Electrical/Electronic Engineering
ii) ND - Hydrology and Fisheries Science
iii) ND - Marine Meteorology and Oceanography
5. Requirements for the Interview:
Candidates are requested to report for the interview with the following items:
i) Original copy of credentials (including First School Leaving Certificate).
ii) Original copy of Birth Certificate/Age Declaration.
iii) Original copy of Certificate of Local Government/State of Origin.
iv) Print-out of Personal Photo-Card.
v) A pair of White Canvas and Socks.
vi) White Short and Vest.
vii) Blanket.
viii) Bucket and Drinking Cup.
ix) Toiletries.
Note: Candidates are requested to come to the interview venue with a bank draft for the sum of N20,000.00 and addressed to the Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Oron to take care of both Medical Examination and administrative costs. However, where a candidate cannot secure a bank draft, such candidate(s) can as well come to the interview venue with cash.
6. Feeding/Accommodation:
Accommodation would be provided free to all candidates, while arrangement would be made in respect of feeding on pay-as-you-eat basis.
However, candidates are expected to come with sufficient amount of money for their feeding.
This notice supersedes all other publications on this subject.
Dr. D. J. Essien, MNIM , FCAI,
For: Rector