Deep Thought

 EndASUUStrike: Presidential Committee on IPPS, GIFMIS, and TSA and Matters Arising By Prof. MK Othman Ultimately, the government has eaten a humble pie and accepted to look into lapses, errors, and inadequacies of the Treasury Single Account (TSA), Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS), and Integrated Payroll and Personnel information system (IPPIS) after several months of protests, strike and 6-month of imposed starvation to members of ASUU and university-based unions. A Presidential Technical Committee was set up to ensure the review of the strengths, weaknesses, and challenges of these systems while advising the President on the best methods to improve them. At the inauguration, the government noted the detection of errors in IPPIS processes when NITDA subjected it to reviews. A clear confession of IPPIS imperfection.  Six or so years ago, I attended a stakeholders sensitization workshop on IPPIS, GIFMIS, and TSA at Bayero University Kano, ...

 Re: Nigeria-2023: Ekweremadu’s Palaver, Misgovernance and Way out By Prof. MK Othman   Chief Ike Ekweremadu needs no introduction, he is a sitting senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria who has been representing Enugu West Senatorial District in the National Assembly since 2003, a former Deputy Senate President for 12 consecutive years until he lost the seat to the current Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege in a keenly contested election. He represents Today’s political class in Nigeria whose actions and inactions are majorly responsible for the current state of Nigeria. Unfortunately. Ekweremadu is still languishing in prison in the United Kingdom as discussed in this column a few weeks ago. Readers responded to my write-up on the issue and I feel obliged to share their views because of the lessons therein. Happy reading    You have captured it all Prof. Ekweremadu as Deputy Senate President for three terms had ample opportunity to contribute to fi...

 Re: #EndASUUStrike: Case of Biased Conciliator, Embarrassed Negotiators, and Disappointed Nigerians By Prof. MK Othman My esteemed readers, I crave your indulgence to recall my first sentence on the above topic last week, I wrote “Except for insecurity, the ASUU strike is the most burning issue of the moment”. The strike is still ongoing, and there seems no hope in sight as Minister for State, Labour, and Employment, Festus Keyamo, perhaps woke up from slumber and joined Dr. Ngige to further scuttle efforts in resolving the ASUU-FGN imbroglio. As of this time, five months into the strike, the government has not made any offer to ASUU for consideration except requesting parents to “beg” ASUU to call off the strike. There are several comments on this issue, all the comments appealed to the government to do the needful so that normalcy can be returned on our campuses. I am sharing a few of such comments with the hope that government can give the matter the much-needed attention as a ...

#EndASUUStrike: Case of Biased Conciliator, Embarrassed Negotiators and Disappointed Nigerians By Prof. MK Othman Except for insecurity, the ASUU strike is the most burning issue of the moment. From 1999 when the 4th republic and the current democratic dispensation commenced, to date ASUU had gone on strike 15 times amounting to 52 months with 34 months under the PDP regime while the APC accounts for 19 months, with more days still being counted. All along, some people have been blaming ASUU because of government propaganda using half-truths, half-lie, insincerity, and deceit. That did not only victimize ASUU but made the ASUU members vanquished while the public university system continued to deteriorate, and private universities flourish and blossom. However, this time around, ASUU was well prepared before embarking on the strike. instead of the usual “total and indefinite strike”, the strike started as a 4-week warning, an 8-week rollover, and a 12-week continuous rollover with a cav...