Principals now to answer for students failure in WAEC, NECO

The Governor of Kogi, Capt. Idris Wada, said on Wednesday that school principals would henceforth be held responsible for the poor performance of their students in examinations.

Wada, who disclosed this in Lokoja at the opening of a three-day workshop on the implementation of the new Senior Secondary School curriculum, said that the move was to arrest the poor standard of education in the state.

He said that the government had been embarrassed enough by the mass failure of students in public examinations.

He noted that the students poor performances in WAEC and NECO examinations in the last five years did not justify the government's huge investment in education.

The governor warned the principals and teachers in public schools to sit up or face the wrath of the government, saying that the era of business as usual in the education sector was over.

Wada urged parents and guardians to complement the government's efforts by making sure that their wards reported to school promptly and asked the students to take their studies seriously.

He said that the education sector would soon be reorganised, saying that the re-organisation was to check the lapses of the past with a view to taking the sector to the next level.

According to the governor, NECO will continue to handle the Junior Secondary School Certificate (JSSCE) examination in the state as part of efforts to ensure qualitative education.

The governor explained that the new curriculum was designed to inculcate practical and vocational training in students and explained that the objective was to make the students self-reliant after their secondary education.

In his remarks, the Commissioner for Education, Chief Sylvester Onoja, said that the workshop was organised to ensure quality education at the secondary school level.

He thanked the governor for according education top priority since his assumption of office.

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Attempt To Bomb University Of Nigeria Nnsukka by Boko haram

An attempt to bomb the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, by members of the Boko Haram sect has been foiled by police and the neighbourhood watch, in Udenu local government area of Enugu State. 

On the eve of Christmas, an alleged member of the Boko Haram was arrested between Imilike Agu and Ogboduaba communities in Udenu LGA, Enugu State, allegedly on a mission to bomb University of Nigeria, Nsukka and one other higher institution of learning in Enugu State capital. 

 A source who pleaded anonymity, said the neighbourhood watch cited a man with strange movement and alien dressing, accosted him for clarification, explaining that he confessed his membership of the Boko Haram sect on a mission to bomb the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. 

 The alleged Boko Haram member came out of a forest where he and his accomplices had stayed for several days to buy cigarette but could not locate his way back to the forest before his arrest. 

 “When he was searched, some explosives were discovered on him, while he was later handed over to Obollo-Afor police division for further interrogation,” the source said. He further said that the apprehended member of the sect also took them to their hide-out in the forest only for others to flee on sensing danger.

It would be recalled that earlier this year, the Boko Haram issued stern threat to bomb the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and other universities in the South East zone. Contacted for comment, Enugu State Police Public Relations Officers, PPRO, Mr. Ebere Amarizu, confirmed the report, saying the alleged Boko Haram member who hailed from Kano State, behaved as though he was insane. 

 The PPRO, noted that there were no explosives recovered from him as widely rumoured, explained that the suspect was currently in police custody while investigation was ongoing.

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Yet another ASUU strike

University teachers under the aegis of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) have embarked on another round of strike following the Federal Government’s failure to implement the agreement it signed with the union in 2009.
Despite overtures by government, including holding talks with the leadership of the union, its National President, Professor Ukachukwu Awuzie, had maintained that the indefinite industrial action embarked upon by its members would not be called off until the contentious issues involved are resolved.

Among ASUU’s demands, two major issues stand out. They are increased funding for the universities and the implementation of the 70 years retirement age for university professors. ASUU is dismayed that government has failed to honour the agreement it reached with it two years ago. In the thinking of ASUU leadership represented by Awuzie, government has deliberately refused to honour the agreement.

But in a recent meeting with Senate Committee on Education chaired by Senator Uche Chukwumerije, the Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufa’i, explained that nine of the 19 items agreed upon by government and the union had been fully implemented.

The minister, who recognized retirement age as one of the major concerns in the demand said that a Bill to implement it is before the National Assembly.

She said that affected staff who may retire before the passage of the bill will be offered contract appointments which would be regularized when the bill takes effect.

While academic activities have been grounded in the nation’s universities as a result of the strike, non-teaching staff of these institutions have also given notice of a nationwide strike by their unions. They are the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU), and the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT).

Like ASUU, they too are demanding, amongst others, the immediate implementation of the 65 years retirement age for non-teaching staff and increased funding of the universities. If they make good their threat, our universities will be the worse for it.

Frequent strike in the nation’s universities, whether instigated by ASUU or any other union, does not augur well for serious teaching and research, expected in these citadels of learning. Strikes have disrupted the academic calendars of these institutions and equally contributed to the lowering of academic standards and production of poor quality graduates.

These problems will further be compounded if the government does not do anything positive to stem the tide of strike in the universities. Let government wade into the matter with the seriousness it deserves and address the concerns of the affected university workers.

Government can begin by showing demonstrable will that it wants to implement the 2009 agreement it freely entered into with ASUU and other sister unions in the universities so that industrial peace can reign on the campuses.

While we expect that from government, university teachers and their non-teaching counterparts must realise that strike has been overused in Nigerian universities that it is beginning to lose its relevance as a tool of negotiation and settling of industrial dispute.

Being researchers, let the striking workers come up with other creative and pragmatic ways of dealing with trade disputes rather than resorting to strike every time.

Therefore, we urge all the parties to the trade dispute to dialogue and iron out their differences and amicably settle the matter once and for all for peace to reign on our campuses.

Government need not wait until trade unions rattle it to action. When a government enters into an agreement, the onus is for it to fulfill such agreement to the letter without being coerced or arm-twisted to do so.

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