Senate to transfer teachers’ salaries from recurrent to current expenditure

PHOTO: deltaanalyst.wordpress

The Senate may propose movement of teachers’ salaries from recurrent to current expenditure, with a view to ending non-payment of emoluments.

Senate President Bukola Saraki, in Ilorin, yesterday, said the current system where salaries of primary school teachers are paid by Local Government Areas (LGAs) is detrimental to educational growth.

Saraki, who was accompanied by the Chairman Senate Committee on Tertiary Education and Tertiary Education Trust Fund, Yahaya Kaura, and his counterpart on Ethics and Privileges, Bala Ibn Na’allah, bemoaned the present trend of funding education in Nigeria where focus is placed on infrastructural growth at the tertiary level, to the exclusion of primary education.

The Senate President made the disclosure during assessment of readiness of the proposed Ansaru Islam University, Ogidi Oloje, Ilorin, Kwara State, for approval by the National Universities Commission (NUC).

Stepmother, two teachers to die by hanging over death of toddler

An Edo High Court on Monday sentenced three people to death by hanging over the murder of a three-year-old girl.

The convicts, Betty Stephen, the stepmother, and the two teachers- Johnson Ogbeide and Nancy Aiwuyor, committed the offence on February 24, 2009, at Erhiborhibo village, Orhionmwon Local Government Area of Edo.

The judge, Justice Geraldine Imadegbelo, in her judgment said the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.

She said the prosecution proved that the stepmother gave the three-year-old girl to Ogbeide, who in turn handed over the baby to his colleague, Aiwuyor, to be sold for ritual purposes.

Reviewing the evidence placed before her, the judge said the child was left in the custody of her stepmother by her parents who went to farm on the day the child was killed.

“When the victim’s parents returned, they could not find the child, only for the stepmother to confess that she stole the child to the two other convicts,” she said.

The judge also said that the prosecution established that the victim was sold for N1.5 million, her nine fingers cut off, her hair shaved as directed for the ritual.

According to judge, “seven years after the victim disappeared in the hands of the convicts without being found, the court was safe to hold that the child was dead.

“The acts of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd accused persons which caused the death of the deceased were unlawful,” Mrs. Imadegbelo said.

The court also sentenced the convicts to 14-year jail term each for the offence of child stealing.

(NAN)

Oyo State Teachers Continue Strike Despite Government Orders

Striking public school teachers in Oyo State defied the State government's orders to resume work on Monday.

For the past month, teachers and students alike have been on strike in protest of the Oyo State government's plans to introduce a "public-private partnership" in its schools. The strike action was called by the Oyo State chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on June 6 following student protests against the privatization scheme.

Schools across the State were subsequently shut down due to the violent nature of some of the protests.

Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi had on Saturday directed teachers to return to their posts on Monday. However, Oyo State NLC leader Waheed Olojede encouraged teachers to defy this order, saying that they should not resume work until the State gives in to the teachers' demands.

According to Punch Newspaper, some students reported to their classes in schools in Ibadan, the State capital, but there were no teachers present.

It was gathered that some parents are prohibiting their children from returning to school until the dispute between teachers and the State government is resolved. Teachers and students were spotted in some schools in Odo-Ana, Apata, Owode, and Molete, but most left before 11:30 AM, according to one report.

In response to the strike, the Oyo State government has formed a fourteen-person committee consisting of seven representatives each from the government and the NLC towards reaching an agreement that would end the strike.

Recruitment of 500,000 Teachers Over 400,000 Nigerians apply

The Federal Government launched a portal for the recruitment of 500,000 teachers » on Sunday, June 12.
Since it's launch, the portal has successfully recorded over 403,528 registrations.

In a statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande , it was revealed that altogether, the website received over 35 million hits since Saturday midnight.

“ We’ve been very impressed by the enthusiastic response to the call for applications. As at noon on Monday June 13, only 36 hours after the launch of the portal, 403, 528 applicants had successfully registered on the site and were in the middle of completing the application process.

“We’re also very pleased that the registrations have been taking place without any hitches or system failures, considering the volume of response, ” he said.

In the statement, he also said “ The jobs scheme, known as ‘N-Power ’, is one of the five initiatives of the Social Investment Programmes of the Federal Government of Nigeria, described by President Mohammdu Buhari in his Democracy Day Speech as “by far the most ambitious social protection programme in our history.”

A total sum of N500 billion has been provided for the programme in the 2016 budget.

According to SaharaReporters , the portal crashed on Sunday, hours after it launched due to the heavy amount of traffic it garnered.