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BREAKING: NAAT Suspends Strike, Rejects ‘No Work, No Pay’ Policy

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The National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) has suspended its nationwide strike for three months.

This action follows the earlier suspension of strike by the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities SSANU and the Non-Academic Staff Union of University and Allied Institutions NASU.

National President of NAAT, Comrade Ibeji Nwokoma, made this known while addressing newsmen after the National Executive Council meeting of the union in Abuja on Thursday.

Nwokoma said NAAT had embarked on the strike on 21 March 2022 to press home its demands which include non-implementation of FGN/NAAT 2009 agreement, refusal to release enabling circular for the implementation of CONTISS 14 and 15 for academic technologists, non-payment of the arrears of Earned Academic Allowances to members, among others.

The NAAT President revealed that the union following a robust engagement with the government was able to secure commitments and resolutions on some of its demands, even as it rejected the ‘No work, No pay’ policy of the Federal Government.

He listed commitments secured from the Federal Government to include the release of enabling circulars on CONTISS 14 and 15, agreements on payment of arrears of minimum wage/consequential adjustments, payment of occupational hazard allowance, and implementation of responsibility allowance, among others.

“Following this understanding with Government, NAAT as a democratic union directed all her branches to conduct a referendum on whether to suspend or continue the strike action. The National Executive Council of NAAT met and considered the results from branches today Thursday 25th August 2022.

“The result of the referendum from branches showed that 80.56% voted in favour of a suspension of the strike while 19.44% voted for the continuation of the strike action.

” Subsequently, NEC came to the conclusion that the demands of NAAT were substantially being addressed.
Consequent upon the above result, calls and appeals by well-meaning Nigerians, students, parents and other critical stakeholders, NEC in session, in the interest of the Nation unanimously resolved to suspend the ongoing strike action for three (3) months to enable the government to address all the issues at stake, effective from midnight of Friday, 26th August, 2022.

“By this development, all NAAT members in tertiary institutions are directed to resume work with effect from the date stated above. NAAT, therefore requests that students especially final year project students/researchers with ongoing research activities and other unfinished practical works can come over and would be attended to.

“On the Federal Government of Nigeria’s position to invoke the No work, No pay rule, NAAT totally reject this in its entirety as we are not the architect of the prolonged strike action but rather FGN’s failure to address all the contending issues promptly. It should be noted that NAAT complied with all laid-down procedures before embarking on the industrial action.

“Therefore, NAAT demands in strong terms the payment of our withheld salaries without delay.

“It is important to state that at the expiration of the three months window period, NAAT will not hesitate to resume the suspended strike action without notice if all the issues agreed upon with the Honourable Minister of Education, on behalf of government are not holistically addressed,” Nwokoma said

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Tinubu commissions TETFund projects in Ebonyi, reiterates commitment to education

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President Bola Tinubu has reiterated his administration’s commitment to the development of the country’s education sector.

The president also pledged continued support to the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) so that it would continue to play its role in the development of Tertiary Education in the country.

He stated this while commissioning some TETFund-sponsored projects at Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki.

Tinubu represented by the minister of works, David Umahi, noted that his administration has demonstrated commitment towards the development of education since the commencement of his administration on May 29, 2023.

He listed some actions and policies of his administration in this regard including the introduction of the students’ loan initiative to ease access to tertiary education for indigent students, and meeting personally with the leadership of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) to discuss the welfare of Nigerian students.

His administration, he said, also approved a waiver of the No Work, No Pay order on the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), which would pave the way for members of the union to receive part of their withheld salaries.

He said: “These are part of conscious efforts being made by his administration to address challenges and create industrial harmony between staff unions and Government.”

He lauded TETfund led by the Executive Secretary Arc Sonny S.T. Echono for their efforts at effectively discharging the mandate of the Fund for the continuous development of public tertiary education in Nigeria.

He stated: “As we all know, education plays a critical role in the socio-economic development of nations. I wish to reiterate that education forms an integral part of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration’s Renewed Hope agenda, hence the Federal Government would continue to provide necessary support towards making our educational institutions globally competitive for economic and technological development.

“It is on record that over the years, TETFund through the support of the Federal Government has performed exceptionally in the provision of physical infrastructure, support for academic staff training and development, book publication, ICT, Research and Development amongst others in public tertiary educational institutions across the country.

“I wish to assure you that the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu remains committed to providing greater support and the enabling environment to enable the Fund to improve on its performance.”

Executive Secretary of TETFund, Arc Sonny Echono said the institutions have so far enjoyed allocations of over N10bn for infrastructure-related interventions cutting across the Annual, Special, Special High Impact, and Zonal interventions amongst others.

He noted that about 88.24% of these funds have been accessed and deployed to address infrastructural deficiencies in the university.

He commended the Management of the University for assiduously monitoring and ensuring the successful delivery of the various intervention projects executed from inception.

He added: “We do not doubt that the projects undertaken with these funds have remarkably impacted the mandate of the university in facilitating teaching, learning, and research.”

“We are optimistic that these projects will strengthen the efforts of the university to become a global player in the tertiary education subsector and significantly contribute to research and development.

“Our resolve as a Fund is to ensure that our interventions are sustained and improved upon as much as possible to enable our institutions to undertake bigger, and more laudable and impactful projects that will make them become globally competitive and situate them in enviable positions among their peers both nationally and globally.”

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Photostory: Tinubu Meets Bloomberg At COP28 Summit

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President Bola Tinubu on Friday met with American politician, Michael Bloomberg, on the sidelines of the COP28 Climate Summit in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.

Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Chief Ajuri Ngelale, shared a photo of the meeting on his Facebook page on Friday, December 1.

Bloomberg served as the mayor of New York City for three terms from 2002 to 2013 and was a candidate for the 2020 Democratic nomination for president of the United States.

The caption read, “H.E. President Bola Tinubu chats with Billionaire tycoon, climate activist and philanthropist, Michael Bloomberg, on the sidelines of the Opening Plenary of the World Climate Action Summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates”.

Credit: Facebook | Ajuri Ngelale

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Makinde to present staff of office to Aseyin, Soun inaugurates coronation committee

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Oyo State Government has formally announced the presentation of staff of office and coronation of the new Aseyin of Iseyin, Oba Sefiu Olawale Oyebola, Adeyeri III, Ajirotutu I and the Soun of Ogbomoso, Oba Afolabi Ghandi Laoye, Orumogege III.

According to a statement by the Commissioner for information and Civic Orientation, Prince Dotun Oyelade, the Aseyin coronation will hold on December 14, 2023 while that of Soun will be on December 19, 2023.

The state government had set up a coronation committee headed by the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Otunba Segun Ogunwuyi, including the commissioners: Mr Segun Olayiwola (Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters), Dr. Wasiu Olatunbosun (Culture and Tourism), Prince Dotun Oyelade (Information and Civic Orientation) and the Executive Assistant to the Governor on Security, Commissioner of Police (retired) Sunday Odukoya as members of the committee.

The committee has been holding meetings with coronation committees from the two palaces over the past few weeks and have undertaken inspections of the venues for the events.“All is now set for the big events. The state government hereby seizes this opportunity to enjoin the public to show full support for the success of the events”, the statement added

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