Education
Court declines FG’s request to direct ASUU to resume
The National Industrial Court (NIC) sitting in Abuja yesterday refused the prayers of the Federal Government to direct the striking Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU) to resume classes pending the determination of a suit challenging the strike.
This was even as President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday met with the Chairman and select members of Pro-Chancellors of Federal Universities, promising to engage in further consultations with relevant stakeholders towards ending the protracted strike by the university teachers.
At the resumed sitting, Counsel to the Federal Government, James Igwe (SAN) requested the court to direct ASUU to resume work pending the determination of the suit.
However, the defendant’s counsel, Femi Falana (SAN), opposed the request, stating that it would amount to determining the substantive suit.
Justice P. l. Hammam, who agreed with Falana, said it was the issue for determination and therefore could not be resolved before hearing.
Meanwhile, the application brought by SERAP seeking to be joined as an interested party in the suit was not heard as the counsel filed another application, which was only served yesterday on the party.
SERAP’s counsel prayed the court to withdraw the earlier application and substitute same with the current one. The court subsequently struck out the earlier application.
The lawyer also argued that for the sake of justice, his application should be heard before entertaining other matters related to the suit.
On his part, counsel to the defendant, Falana, agreed that in the interest of justice and clarity, it would be proper to hear the application brought by SERAP pertaining to the same matter before the determination of other issues.
He, however, added that the defendant (ASUU) was making moves to meet with stakeholders to ensure that the matter was resolved and asked for adjournment for completion of the process of filing that has commenced.
In response, counsel to the Federal Government asked the court to give the substantive suit brought before the court accelerated hearing because of the urgency of the matter to enable students to return to their schools.
He also contended that SERAP’s application was not ripe for hearing because it had not been served to him.
The court, in its ruling, agreed that SERAP’s application was not yet ripe for hearing since it was only served yesterday to the party through the Ministry of Justice.
The judge consequently adjourned the suit to Monday, September 19, for hearing.
President Buhari, who met with the Pro-Chancellors at the State House, Abuja, said without necessarily going back on what was already an established policy, “I will make further consultations, and I’ll get back to you.”
The Pro-Chancellors were led to the meeting by Prof. Nimi Briggs, who said they came to meet the President “as President and Commander-in-Chief, as father of the nation and as Visitor to the federal universities.”
He added that despite the pall cast on the nation by the over seven months industrial action, “the future of university system in the country is good,” citing as example the recent listing of the University of Ibadan among the first 1,000 universities in the world, a development occurring for the first time.
Briggs commended the Federal Government for concessions already made to the striking lecturers, including the offer to raise salaries by 23.5 per cent across board and 35 per cent for professors.
He, however, asked for “further inching up of the salary in view of the economic situation of the country,” according to a statement signed by Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, and made available to newsmen.
The Pro-Chancellors also asked for a reconsideration of the No-Work, No-Pay stance of the government, promising that lecturers would make up for time lost as soon as an amicable situation was reached and schools reopened.
Minister of State for Education, Goodluck Nana Opiah, said all the concessions made by the Federal Government were meant to ensure that the industrial action comes to an end, lamenting that ASUU has remained adamant.
The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has commenced the disbursement of upkeep payments to students who successfully updated their bank account details from digital wallets to commercial bank accounts.
This was announced in a statement released on Friday in Abuja by the Director of Strategic Communications of the Fund, Mrs. Oseyemi Oluwatuyi.
Oluwatuyi described the development as a significant breakthrough in addressing earlier disbursement delays.
“Over 3,600 students, who previously registered with digital-only banking platforms, have now successfully received their backlog of upkeep payments after updating their details to conventional commercial bank accounts on the NELFUND portal,” she stated.
“We appreciate the patience and understanding of all affected students during this period. Your resilience and cooperation have made this progress possible,” she added.
The NELFUND spokesperson advised students who have yet to update their bank details to raise a support ticket via the official NELFUND portal to request access for the update.
She further urged affected students to report through the IT office of their respective institutions, which would compile and forward all related cases to NELFUND for prompt resolution.
“NELFUND remains committed to ensuring that no eligible student is left behind. This resolution process is part of our broader effort to enhance the efficiency, transparency, and student-centered delivery of our support services,” she said.
Oluwatuyi encouraged students to continue engaging only through official NELFUND channels and to assist their peers who may need help navigating the update process.
She also provided contact options for inquiries, stating that the fund can be reached via email at info@nelf.gov.ng or through its official social media handles: X (formerly Twitter) @nelfund; Instagram @nelfund; and Facebook & LinkedIn: Nigerian Education Loan Fund – NELFUND.
The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has issued a directive to all accredited tertiary institutions to verify and upload their students’ data on the newly digitised Student Loan Application System (SLAS).
This was disclosed in a statement released in Abuja on Wednesday by the Director of Strategic Communications at NELFUND, Mrs Oseyemi Oluwatuyi.
According to Oluwatuyi, the SLAS platform has been fully digitised to streamline and accelerate the student loan processing experience for both institutions and applicants.
“With this upgrade, all accredited institutions are now required to request access to SLAS to verify and upload student data related to loan applications,” she said.
She described the move as “a critical step that ensures the timely processing and disbursement of approved student loans.”
Institutions that have not yet been onboarded onto the system, she said, are advised to send an access request to registration@nelf.gov.ng without delay.
“Once granted access, institutions will be able to view a real-time dashboard of their students’ loan applications, verify submitted data, and track the status of each application,” Oluwatuyi explained.
She called on all institutions to take immediate action in the interest of their students, stressing that verification and data upload by institutions are mandatory steps before final approval and disbursement of loans can be completed.
On the students’ side, Oluwatuyi noted that if an application status currently shows “Verified,” it means the application has passed initial checks. However, final approval and disbursement depend on the institutions’ confirmation and data upload.
“Once this process is completed, your status will be updated to ‘Disbursed’ when the payment of your fees has been processed,” she added.
She also encouraged students to reach out to the fund for assistance via email at info@nelf.gov.ng.
Other official communication channels include:
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X (formerly Twitter): @nelfund
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Instagram: @nelfund
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Facebook & LinkedIn: Nigerian Education Loan Fund – NELFUND
The National Universities Commission, (NUC), has given full accreditation to the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), for her Law programme.
According to the Public Relations Officer of ESUT, Mr Ikechukwu Ani, this is contained in a letter addressed to the institution’s Vice Chancellor, Prof. Aloysius Okolie, on Wednesday in Enugu by the NUC.
Ani said that in the letter, the Executive Secretary of NUC, Prof. Abdullahi Ribadu said the report was contained in the result of the October/November 2024 accreditation of academic programmes in Nigerian universities.
Ani disclosed that other programmes in the institution accredited by the NUC include Master of Science in Business Management; Education Computer Science; Education Physics and Agricultural Engineering.
Other accredited programmes he said were Quantity Surveying; Urban and Regional Planning; and Applied Microbiology.
He said that the letter quoted Section 10 (1) of the Education National Minimum Standard and Establishment of Institutions, Act CAP E3, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 as empowering the NUC to lay down minimum academic standards for all academic programmes taught in Nigerian universities.
He said the session also empowers the NUC to accredit such programmes.
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