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BIG STORY

ASUU Strike: FG Insists On “No-Work, No-Pay” Rule For Varsity Workers

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The Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU yesterday shed light on why their Tuesday meeting to end the over six-month strike ended in a deadlock.

While the government claimed that ASUU’s insistence on the payment of the backlog of its members’ salaries was prolonging the strike, the union blamed the deadlock on the “provocative indifference” of the government.

Minister of Education Adamu Adamu, who spoke for the government at the weekly Ministerial Briefing organised by the Presidential Communication Team in Abuja, said President Muhammadu Buhari “flatly rejected” the payment of the salary backlog.

“All contentious issues between the government and ASUU had been settled, except the quest for members’ salaries for the period of the strike to be paid, a demand that President Buhari has flatly rejected,” Adamu said.

The minister advised ASUU to see the no-work, no-salary stance of the government as its members’ compensation to students for the period they had stayed at home.

Although the minister stressed that the government was doing “everything humanly possible to end the strike”, he said students were free to “take ASUU to court” to claim damages.

The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) welcomed the advice of the minister, saying he and the government would be joined in the suit.

Adamu disclosed that the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian University (SSANU), the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities and Allied Institutions (NASU), the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT), Academic Staff Union Polytechnics (ASUP) and Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU), have all agreed with the government’s terms.

He said the five unions, except ASUU, would call off their strikes within a week.

The minister also spoke on the payment platforms for university workers and the government’s efforts in the past 10 years to revamp the education sector.

He said the government had in the past 10 years spent N2.5 trillion on university education and over N6 trillion of capital and recurrent projects through TEFFUND and UBEC on the entire education sector in seven years.

Adamu said: “The stand the government has taken now is not to pay the months in which no work was done. I think there should be a penalty for some behaviour like this.

“I believe teachers will think twice before they join a strike. The government is not acting arbitrarily. There is a law which says if there is no work, there will be no pay.

“Unions in tertiary institutions in the country, especially ASUU, have been engaged in recurring and avoidable strikes that have crippled the university system.

“This is despite the huge investments of over N2.5 trillion in tertiary institutions in the last 10 years from TETFUND alone.

“Many Nigerians may not know that the government is paying the salaries of every staff in its tertiary institutions, academic and non-academic staff, while these institutions are also in full control of their Internally Generated Revenues (IGR).

“The government of President Muhammadu Buhari has expended a total of N6,003,947,848,237 in capital and recurrent expenditure in the education sector in the last seven years.

“This is in addition to interventions from TETFUND and UBEC amounting to N2.5trillion and N553,134,967,498 respectively in capital investment.

“We must also note and appreciate the huge investments from states and the private sector at all levels of our educational system.

“We will continue to improve on the implementation of the Ministerial Strategic Plan (MSP) all through to 2023 for the overall development of the education sector and the Nigerian nation.

“We will continue to create the necessary enabling environment to attract more and more private sector investment. We shall hand over a better education sector than we met it.

“Just recently, we inaugurated a committee to renegotiate the 2009 agreement with ASUU and related unions in tertiary institutions. We are doing everything humanly possible to conclude the negotiations.

“We hope that the outcome of the renegotiations will bring lasting industrial peace to our campuses.

“In the main time, I am sure that the current efforts would yield the desired results and return our children to school.”

On payment platforms, he said: “The University Peculiar Personnel and Payroll System (U3PS) and the University Transparency Accountability Solution (UTAS) outscored the Integrated Personnel Payroll and Information System (IPPIS) during the integrity tests conducted by NITDA (National Information Technology Development Agency), affirming that ASUU ‘s peculiarities will be accommodated in whatever platform that may be adopted.”

Adamu debunked reports that UTAS had been approved by the government as the payment platform for university teachers and that President Buhari gave him a two-week deadline to end the ASUU strike.

He also stated that Nigeria currently has 215 universities, including 50 private ones.

FG insincere, ASUU insists

But in a statement by its President, Emmanuel Osodeke, ASUU said the government “imposed the ongoing strike and encouraged it to linger.”

It lamented that “no serious country in the world treats its scholars” the way Nigeria’s government has done to university teachers.

The union listed what it termed unilateral award of salaries to university workers by the National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission and untenable excuses of lack of funds as ways the government has shown “bad faith”.

Osodeke said these in a statement titled: “Why ASUU Rejects Government’s Award of Salary,” the union claimed: “Government imposed the ongoing strike action on ASUU and it has encouraged it to linger because of its provocative indifference.”

ASUU said the “award salary” by the wages commission was “against the principle of collective bargaining”.

The union demanded that “the Federal Government, through the Ministry of Education, should return to the New Draft Agreement of the 2009 FGN/ASUU Renegotiation Committee whose work spanned a total of five and half years as a demonstration of good faith.”

It added that the “award salary” presented by the Nimi Briggs-led team came across in a manner of take-it-or-leave-it on a sheet of paper.”

The statement partly reads: “The Munzali Jibril-led renegotiation committee submitted the first Draft Agreement in May 2021 but the government’s official response did not come until about one year later!

“Again, the ‘award’ presented by the Nimi Briggs-led Team came across in a manner of take-it-or-leave-it on a sheet of paper. No serious country in the world treats their scholars this way.

“Over the years, particularly since 1992, the union has always argued for and negotiated a separate salary structure for academics for obvious reasons.

“ASUU does not accept any awarded salary as was the case in the administration of General Abdulsalam Abubakar. The separate salary structures in all FGN/ASUU agreements were usually the outcome of collective bargaining processes.

“The major reason given by the Federal Government for the miserly offer, paucity of revenue, is not tenable.

“This is because of several reasons, chief of which is poor management of the economy. This has given rise to leakages in the revenue of governments at all levels.

“Government’s surreptitious move to set aside the principle of collective bargaining, which is globally in practice, has the potential of damaging lecturers’ psyche and destroying commitment to the university system.

“This is, no doubt, injurious to Nigeria’s aspiration to become an active player in the global knowledge industry.

“Federal Government’s repudiation of collective bargaining is in bad faith. It is a retrogressive step for a democratic government to abrogate the collective bargaining principle after more than 40 years of its introduction into the Nigerian university system.

“The Federal Government, through the Ministry of Education, should return to the new draft agreement of the 2009 FGN/ASUU Renegotiation Committee whose work spanned a total of five and half years as a demonstration of good faith.”

BIG STORY

Court Remands Woman For Allegedly Stabbing Husband To Death In Ibadan

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An Iyaganku Chief Magistrates’ Court yesterday ordered the remand of a housewife, Olajumoke Olalere, 33, at Agodi Correctional facility, Ibadan, for allegedly stabbing her husband to death.

The Chief Magistrate, Mrs Olabisi Ogunkanmi, who did not take the defendant’s plea for lack of jurisdiction, ordered her remand pending the legal advice from the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP).

She, thereafter, adjourned the case until March 5, 2025 for mention.

According to The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the police charged Olalere with a count of murder.

The prosecutor, Cpl. Akeem Akinloye, had told the court that the defendant on October 30, at 9.00 p.m. allegedly caused the death of her 39-year-old husband, Oluwasegun Tinubu.

Akinloye said the defendant allegedly stabbed her husband with a knife during a disagreement at their house, at Zone 5, Gbelu, Iyana – Agbala, Ibadan.

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BIG STORY

UPDATE: EFCC Grants Former Delta Governor Okowa Bail Over Alleged N1.3trn Fraud

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The Port Harcourt zonal command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has granted administrative bail to Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, a former governor of Delta State, over allegations of diverting N1.3 trillion in 13% derivation funds from the federation account between 2015 and 2023.

Okowa was arrested on Monday, November 4, 2024, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, after reporting to the Port Harcourt Directorate of the EFCC at the invitation of investigators handling his case.

Sources confirmed that the former governor left the EFCC facility around 9 pm on Wednesday night.

A source under anonymity stated: “He left the facility at about 9 pm yesterday (Wednesday).”

“Okowa is expected to return soon to provide documents and answer more questions before the matter will be charged to court.”

The former governor is accused of failing to account for the 13% derivation funds, as well as an additional N40 billion, which he allegedly claimed to have used to acquire shares in UTM Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).

Specifically, Okowa is said to have purchased N40 billion worth of shares in one of the country’s major banks, representing an 8% equity stake in the offshore LNG venture.

The funds are also alleged to have been diverted for other purposes, including acquiring properties in Abuja and Asaba, Delta State.

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BIG STORY

Oil Marketers Respond To Dangote Refinery Claims, Say SON, NMDPRA Certify Imported Petrol

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The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) certify the imported Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, that is imported into Nigeria, oil marketers have said.

They disclosed this on Thursday in response to claims by the Dangote Petroleum Refinery that off-spec petroleum products were imported into the country by dealers.

On Tuesday, the refinery informed Pinnacle Oil and Gas Limited and other oil marketers that the deregulation of the downstream oil sector should not be used as a justification for the importation of off-spec petroleum products or the undermining of Nigeria’s national interests.

Oil marketers denied this claim on Thursday, with the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Pinnacle Oil and Gas Limited, Robert Dickerman, revealing that his firm signed a 13-year agreement with the Dangote refinery to distribute the refinery’s petroleum products through pipelines.

Dickerman pointed out that independent inspectors, NMDPRA, and SON, among others, “inspect our products, so we can’t bring in off-spec products into this country.”

His position was confirmed by SON, as an impeccable source at the agency told one of our correspondents that the Standards Organisation of Nigeria was involved in the testing of imported petroleum products.

The official added that the organisation operates its own laboratory facility to check if the commodities are off-spec or not.

“Yes, We are involved in the testing of petroleum products when they come into the country. We are involved in that. We have our laboratory facility where these tests are conducted. It’s to ensure if the commodities meet regulatory standards or off-spec,” the official said.

A major marketer also kicked against the claim that dealers import off-spec products into the country, particularly since the downstream oil sector was deregulated by the Federal Government.

“I once told you what we went through when we brought in our imported cargo of petrol. The product underwent a lot of laboratory tests. I know the NMDPRA carries out tests on imported products. They took a sample of our recent import when it was still in the mother vessel at Atlas Cove before it was moved to Apapa.

“At the point of discharge, they took the sample again before allowing us to put it in our tanks. The NMDPRA has certified laboratories that they use. We have our laboratory, but the NMDPRA will not allow you to do your test without them certifying the product by themselves.

“The testing is in three stages, the one in Atlas Cove when the vessel lands in Nigeria. When the product moves to your point of discharge, they will do another test before they allow it into your tanks and aside from that, the day you want to start loading they will carry another test,” the marketer, who spoke in confidence due to lack of authorisation to speak on the matter, stated.

Addressing newsmen in Lagos on Thursday, Dickerman said the clarification became necessary to debunk the statement from the Dangote refinery, which accused Pinnacle of plans to blend substandard petrol in Nigeria.

The Dangote refinery had also said the Pinnacle MD approached it, pleading with the refinery to extend pipelines to its tank farms in order to blend substandard imported petroleum products with its ‘high-quality’ ones.

Reacting, Dickerman described the statement as defamatory, inaccurate, and intentionally misleading.

The managing director said it proposed and invested in pipelines to distribute petroleum products from the Dangote Refinery, saying pipeline transfer is far less costly than distribution by ship or trucking across the country.

According to him, when the project was proposed to Dangote, it wholeheartedly agreed and signed a 13-year interconnection agreement with Pinnacle Oil.

“On November 5, Dangote issued a Press Release titled, ’Pinnacle Oil and Gas FZE: Our Stand’. It is unfortunate and deeply concerning that this release contained several statements that are defamatory, inaccurate and intentionally misleading. Further, it advocated a national policy that would cause severe economic damage to Nigerians by raising the cost of petrol above global market prices and higher than they are today.

“In our effort to further enhance distribution efficiency, we proposed and invested in pipelines to distribute petroleum products from the Dangote Refinery, as pipeline transfer is far less costly than distribution by ship or trucking across the country. When we proposed this project to Dangote, they wholeheartedly agreed and signed a 13-year interconnection agreement with us.

“In addition, Dangote facilitated our process of achieving regulatory approval by writing two Letters of No Objection to the regulator to enable our project to proceed. The agreement to allow us to interconnect our pipeline to them was agreed actually in 2022 and I think it was signed in early 2023. So it was about two years ago that we actually reached this agreement, and it was done very comprehensively, from a commercial and a legal standpoint,” Dickerman stated.

He narrated that a lot of processes had gone into the project since it was signed, including the engineering design for the pipelines, surveying, getting the right of way, and letters of no objections from anyone who could be affected by the pipeline.

“There’s a whole bunch of stages to a project. This is not unlike any other construction project. It’s a very simple and straightforward process. This was done first. There was never a hint that this was not a good deal for both parties ever. So, it’s just not true that they opposed it. It’s simply not true that they opposed it. They supported it,“ the Pinnacle boss stated.

This came as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited denied a video clip that claimed the oil firm was selling dirty fuel from an NNPC Retail outlet at Keffi Flyover.

“We have carried out spot checks at all our outlets and found this claim to be false. The product was not, and could not have been bought from any NNPC Retail outlet as the company does not dispense petroleum products into bottles or jerrycans as displayed in the video,” it said in a statement issued by its spokesperson, Olufemi Soneye.

It added, “NNPC Retail Ltd does not deal in adulterated products as it adheres to rigorous standards and quality control measures at every stage in its operations to ensure that only high quality, safe, and reliable petroleum products are available at its stations nationwide.

“Members of the public should discountenance the spurious claims made in the video and be wary of selfish and unpatriotic elements pushing such a narrative as they do not mean well for the country.”

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