Education

No Response From Federal Govt, Says ASUU

Ultimatum: No response from Federal Govt, says ASUU

The Academic Staff Union of Universities on Tuesday said the ultimatum it issued in July did not elicit any response from the Federal Government.

The National President of ASUU, Professor Emmanuel Oshodeke, in an interview with one of our correspondents, stated that government had not implemented the agreement it reached with the union nor responded to the ultimatum.

The union had on July 19 issued a fresh ultimatum to the Federal Government to pay the outstanding 10-month arrears of its members’ salaries or be prepared for another industrial action.

The union gave government till August 31 to meet its demands including the resolution of issues relating to the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System platform.

Between September 10 and September, 2021, all ASUU zones across the country held press conferences calling on the government to implement their demands.

They also asked Nigerians to hold the Federal Government responsible if the university lecturers embarked on another strike.

Responding to enquiries on Tuesday, ASUU president said, “Nothing yet, not a single response from the government. For now, we are in Abuja we are meeting soon. No single response from the government. We are meeting this weekend in Abuja. We want to see what we can do between now and Friday to see them. Despite the letter we wrote to them and the press conferences, they are not bothered because nothing is at stake for them.”

The union had accused the government of not implementing the agreement it signed with lecturers in December 2020.

In March 2020, ASUU embarked on a strike action following its disagreement with the Federal Government over the funding of the universities, the IPPIS, implementation of the University Transparency Accountability Solution, funding and revitalisation of public universities, earned academic allowances, promotion arrears and renegotiation of 2009 ASUU-FGN Agreement

ASUU had several meetings with government over UTAS and all the above issues were approved with a promise of prompt implementation.

The Federal Government’s assurance of implementation, which was accompanied with the signing of a Memorandum of Action led to the call off of the strike on December 24, 2020 after government also agreed to exclude ASUU from IPPIS.

Speaking at the ASUU-Lagos zone press conference, zonal coordinator, Dr Adelaja Odukoya, said the arrogance with which government had continued to wish away the collective sacrifice of their members, students and parents on the struggles was frustrating.

Odukoya said government’s failure to ensure prompt renegotiation of the 2009 Agreement had consciously “sentenced” ASUU members “to agonising poverty, encouraged brain drain and criminally promoted falling standard of education in the country.”

FG not shunning ASUU, says minister
But in his response, the Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, denied claims by ASUU that the Federal Government had been shunning its leadership.

The minister, in an interview with one of our correspondents, said there was no way ASUU leaders would reach out the government and nobody would attend to them.

On some of the demands made by ASUU in its ultimatum issued to the government which has elapsed, Nwajiuba insisted that the National Universities Commission was working on them and announcement would be made once the assignment had been completed.

He said, “No one is shunning ASUU. Ask them who they reached out to. I picked your call, didn’t I?

“We have already said the NUC is working on the issues with the universities, once they are done, they will issue a statement.

“There is no way ASUU will reach out and nobody will attend to them.

“The message is simple. The NUC is working on the issues raised, the moment they are done, a statement will be issued to let everybody be aware of the situation on the ground.

Education

NECO releases 2025 BECE results, set resit exams for July 23-24

The National Examinations Council, NECO, on Wednesday, announced the release of Results of the 2025 Basic Education Certificate Examination, BECE.

A statement by Azeez Sani, Ag. Director, Information and Public Relations of NECO, noted that one hundred and seventy nine thousand, two hundred and one, 179,201, candidates registered for the examination in 12 subjects.

Although the statement did not reveal the performance of the candidates, it indicated that the examination commenced on 12th May, 2025, and was successfully concluded on 23rd May, 2025.

Azeez said the results of the examination was released following the successful conclusion of the 2025 BECE Award Committee Meeting held at the Council’s Headquarters in Minna.

He explained that during the meeting, the chairperson of the Award Committee, Dr Folake Olatunji David, Director, Basic Education, Federal Ministry of Education expressed satisfaction with the processes leading to the successful release of the results.

The NECO spokesman also indicated that the Award committee meeting was attended by some Secondary School Principals from across the Country as well as NECO Management.

He said the Award Committee has approved the Date and Timetable for the 2025 BECE Re-sit examination.

According to NECO, “The Re-sit examination is scheduled to hold on 23rd and 24th July, 2025 for Mathematics and English Studies”

Education

2025 UTME: JAMB faults result of highest scorer

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has “suspected” foul play in the results of Chinedu Okeke, the best candidate in the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, JAMB Registrar, at the 2025 policy meeting of the board on Tuesday in Abuja, announced that Okeke, an indigene of Anambra, emerged the best candidate with 375 score, in the examinations.

Oloyede, however, said that the board made some discoveries regarding Okeke, who applied for Mechanical Engineering at the University of Lagos.

Oloyede explained that data from JAMB revealed that Okeke was admitted a year ago, in the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), in the School of Medicine.

He said that JAMB wrote UNN for clarification about the candidate, and the school revealed that Okeke is a student of the institution, and he is doing fine.

Speaking with NAN on the development, JAMB Public Communications Advisor, Dr Fabian Benjamin said the board suspected foul play.

“The law does not allow a student to matriculate twice, and as an undergraduate, he has an advantage over other candidates in the examinations.

“In his records, he claimed he is from the South-East, while the other record is reading that he is from Lagos State.

“We are suspecting that he is a mercenary in the examination,” Benjamin told NAN in a telephone interview.

The board also announced that John Ayuba from Gombe state came second in the examinations scoring 374, while Olayinka Jimoh from Kwara state scored 373.

Other top scorers are Ayibo Roberts from Rivers, Chibueze Omonugbo from Enugu state Tunmise Olawepo from Kwara and Leslie Afinotan, from Delta, all scoring 373.

Also in the list of top scorers are Chukwuemeka Azoyenime from Delta, Emmanuel Oyebode from Ogun and Cecil Omigie from Edo, all scoring 372 in the examinations.

Education

FG officially pegs university admission age at 16

The Federal Government has pegged the minimum admissible age for candidates seeking admission into tertiary institutions in Nigeria at 16 years.

Minister of Education Tunji Alausa announced this on Tuesday during the 2025 Policy Meeting on Admissions, held at the Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Conference Centre in Abuja.

The 16-year age requirement will be enforced through its Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS), with efforts made to accommodate candidates who would turn 16 by 31st August 2025.

However, JAMB expressed concern that some institutions had violated this directive by admitting underage candidates through channels outside CAPS and collecting substantial amounts from them as tuition fees.

“The Board implemented the 16-year admissible age on its CAPS platform and even bent backwards to accommodate candidates who would be 16 as of 31st August 2025.

“However, some institutions admitted candidates who were not up to the admissible age of 16 outside CAPS and even collected huge sums of money from them as tuition fees,” JAMB stated.

The Board noted that all such admissions were illegal and could not be processed through CAPS, adding that some of these cases had led to litigation against the offending institutions.

The 16-year minimum admission age comes after last year’s controversy, when former Education Minister, Prof. Tahir Mamman, faced backlash from stakeholders over his attempt to raise the benchmark to 18, a move many said was criticised.

In a related development, JAMB announced that beginning with the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), each candidate’s result slip will now include their national ranking among peers.

The initiative, according to the Board, is aimed at discouraging the celebration of high UTME scores in isolation and curbing the spread of fake scores.

“To curb the menace of celebrating top scorers of UTME, candidates’ ranking (position) will be indicated on the result slip for each candidate,” the Board explained.

JAMB stated that this measure would assist institutions in better evaluating the quality of applicants and provide a standardised reference point across cohorts.

It further questioned the logic of calls to extend the validity of UTME results, noting that such an extension would raise complications regarding the comparability of scores.

By publishing ranking information, JAMB believes that candidates parading falsified scores would also be discouraged, and institutions would gain a clearer sense of the academic standing of each applicant.

For context, the Board revealed that in the 2025 UTME, out of a total of 1,905,539 candidates, a score of 370 is ranked 16th, 320 is ranked 5,806th, 250 is ranked 107,819th, 200 is ranked 533,805th, 180 is ranked 948,025th, 140 is ranked 1,855,607th, 120 is ranked 1,900,872nd, while 100 is ranked 1,903,661st.

JAMB reiterated its commitment to equity, transparency, and merit-based admissions in Nigeria’s tertiary education system.

The ongoing policy meeting, attended by vice-chancellors, registrars, and provosts of tertiary institutions nationwide, is expected to conclude with the approval of admission cut-off marks and other regulatory guidelines for the 2025 academic session.