ZION B-BC NEWSLETTER. [ A Publication of the Zion Faith Bible-Believing Church, Kpeyegyi, Abuja Nigeria. ] { VOL. 2. NO 46. 29-06-14.} ASUP MUST RESCUE POLYTECHNIC EDUCATION IN NIGERIA FROM EXTINCTION! There is a dearth of ideologies in Nigerian politics. Today, what dominates the public domain is the discordance between ill-conceived political thoughts and bureaucratic verbiage of fake manifestoes, no wonder, Groucho Max says, “Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.” Contemporary Nigerian politicians need character reformation, re-orientation and ethical renaissance to appreciate the bitter truth, that positions of authority and power, just like LIFE, are temporary and transient! The present administration has displayed incomprehensibility and ineptitude as a group with misplaced priority in respect of the sterling role which EDUCATION plays in the developmental processes of a nation, in spite of the fact that government’s obligation in this regard, is imperative according to Chapter II, Section18 (2) and (3) of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution, which states that, “Government shall promote Science and Technology…. and shall strive to eradicate illiteracy; and to this end Government shall as and when practicable provide- free, compulsory and universal primary education, free secondary/ university education and adult literacy programme.” All the Nigerian Polytechnics and Colleges of Education Students who voted massively for President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2011 general elections have been forcefully rusticated by his administration, for upwards of 11 and 6 months, respectively because of the lingering Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics [ASUP] and Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union [COEASU] lecturers strike, which government deliberately failed to recognize! International and local political observers cannot be surprised at Federal Government’s attitude on education because it is in their character to ‘disenfranchise’ Nigerian Youths from that inalienable right, which most politicians lacked! Education is not made up of certificates, honors degrees and ‘honoris causa’ awards, used for offices and living room decorations; education is a deliberate, well-calculated and scientific process of learning and teaching, which, in a gradual manner, deposits knowledge, intuition and the ability to perform new and acceptable behavioural social patterns! The United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization [UNESCO], Charter, of which, Nigeria is a signatory, specifically advised that, at least, 26 per cent of every nation’s annual budget, should be appropriated to EDUCATION, but the best that has ever happened to Nigerian Youths, who are the greater beneficiaries of education was 13 per cent, in a recent budget proposal! It used to be between 3-6 per cent since Independence! Over 70 per cent of the Nigerian population of about 170million citizens is made up of youths who cannot be sidelined or brushed aside by any administration! Nigerian youths are, intelligent, brilliant, articulate, computer literate and technologically compliant! They know exactly what they want and how to go about getting them legitimately and have this far supported their Lecturers because they appreciate the superior arguments of their Lecturers for a better deal in view of the glaring loop-sided educational alignment which favours their University counterparts! *We all know that there is dichotomy which has created a class distinction between tertiary educational systems that terminate in Higher National Diploma [HND] and Bachelor of Science [BSc.] certificates and which places the latter above the former in the Civil Service Commission’s remunerations and promotional elevation, since inception. *Now, the lecturers say, there was urgent need for the constitution of the Governing Councils of Federal Polytechnics like their University counterparts, to appreciate and plead their cause with government as at when due. *They demand for migration of the lower cadres on the Consolidated Tertiary Institutions Salary Structure [CONTISS] 15 Salary Scale; *Release of the White Paper on the visitations to Federal Polytechnics. COEASU, has come up with similar demands which, with the intervention of the House of Representatives, government made concrete promises which were not implemented to date! From the ‘body languages’ of members of the government team to the dispute, it is certain that, the Ministers of Education, Labour and Secretary to the Government are playing out a script written for them by their principal! Political desperadoes would need idle hands as thugs in the fast-approaching 2015 General Elections to carry out their dirty jobs of rigging and they believe they could lure the youths into their bait with filthy blood money! Enough is enough! This ‘divide and rule’ practice of every successive government must come to an end now. Would the education system collapse if both levels of tertiary education are at par through the upgrading of their curricula to meet the best international practice? Why should youths from Nigerian parents become enemies because of bad government policies? Is this government attitude, a part of the Transformation Agenda of Mr. President? At a meeting of 27th May, 2014, between ASUP and Government delegation, led by the Supervising Minister of Education and facilitated by the House of Representatives, the Minister stated that, the major remaining contention which was the lecturers salary arrears, could not be addressed, since the Salaries Wages and Income Commission was opposed to the idea for not being consulted before the 2009 CONTISS 15 agreement between government and lecturers was reached! However, he disclosed that the SGF had set up a technical committee to review the crisis! What is the blame of ASUP, COEASU and their STUDENTS in all of this CRISIS OF THE GOVERNMENT, BY THE GOVERNMENT AND FOR THE GOVERNMENT? The Boko Haram group which has become a familiar name in Nigeria, is majorly made up of Nigerian youths, groomed and nurtured in similar circumstances that we are witnessing today! They were deprived of EDUCATION AND ALL BASIC AMENITIES OF LIFE, they were unemployed and the attendant poverty situation which set in, made them willing tools in the hands of desperate politicians, who hired, armed, used and eventually dumped them! The Word of God says. “Train a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” [Proverbs.22:6]. There can be no better time than now for parents and guardians to counsel their children and wards to move closer to God for spiritual support and divine protection from demon-possessed politicians who lack political ideology and principles, internal party democracy, decorum and are so greedy and so selfish! It is time to tell these politicians to engage their own children and members of their families as thugs and hoodlums. Nigerian indigent youths have been involved in political thuggery in every election from 1999 to date and the implication of their attitude on our collective psyche and the social economic sector cannot be quantified. It is our fervent belief that the present crop of all students from primary to tertiary, will never fall into the trap of these unscrupulous politicians, who have already dug their own graves after, “ the order of KORAH, DATHAN AND ABIRAM”, of the Old Testament Bible who challenged, the ordained plan of God for His people![ Numbers.16:1-35]. It is instructive here to applaud the COEASU Chairman, who has also called on government to release without further delay, the White Paper of the NEEDS assessment carried out on Colleges of Education and full implementation of Consolidation of Tertiary Education Institutions [CONTEDISS] Salary Structure, and the establishment of a committee to address other issues, even after the strike is eventually called off. The National Association of Polytechnic Students [NAPS] on 24th June, 2014, issued a two-week ultimatum to the Federal Government to accede to all ASUP legitimate demands for the STUDENTS sakes, “or face a total shut down of the entire system”! He lamented that the 11-month old strike has disrupted the school calendar and that the unresolved strike had portrayed polytechnic education as a less attractive option to secondary school leavers. While commending the National Assembly [NASS] for its intervention in bridging the discrimination between HND and BSc. Certification, he appealed to the Head of Service [HOS], to commence implementation of the recommendations for CAREER PROGRESSION for holders of the HND in the Civil Service. He also urged NASS to raise supplementary budget to meet their lecturers’ demands! It is our belief that ASUP AND COEASU demands and agitations are germane and legitimate and the solidarity between lecturers and students is very commendable and therefore deserves the urgent attention of Mr. President, on whose table the BUCK STOPS, just as he did in the case of the Academic Staff Union of Universities [ASUU]! There should be no discrimination whatsoever in respect of youth education in a third world country dreaming to be classed among the World’s 20 most developed economy, in the year 2020. Even though it is a TALL DREAM, IF THE YOUTHS CONTINUE TO ENJOY UNINTERRUPTED QUALITATIVE EDUCATION AT ALL LEVELS AND ALL PENCHANT FOR CORRUPTION IS REMOVED AND ERADICATED, IT IS REALIZABLE! WHATEVER IS GOOD FOR THE GOOSE, IS ALSO GOOD FOR THE GANDER, SHIKE’ENA! Poor, innocent and ignorant TARABA YOUTHS, on 25th June, 2014, held a musical concert at Jalingo to EXTOL the achievements of the Transformation Agenda especially in the areas of YOU WIN AND THE SURE-P GRADUATE SCHEME, urged Mr. President to declare for a second term in office and also assured him of massive Taraba Youths votes in the 2015 general elections! We did not see NAPS and College of Education Students at Jalingo Stadium! Mr Thomas Jefferson, the third United States of America President, once said, and we quote, “I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot be hid forever.” WE ALSO TREMBLE FOR NIGERIA AND PRAY THAT THIS ADMINISTRATION WILL NOT REMAIN BLIND TO TRUTH AND DEAF TO SOUND REASONS! AMEN! If you have not accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour, don’t miss this great opportunity as you pray this prayer: Lord Jesus; I confess that I am a sinner who needs to be saved through the grace of the New Testament of your Blood, shed on the Cross at Calvary; I renounce every sin in my life and accept you as my Lord and Saviour. Please forgive me and write my name in the Book of Life. Amen. If you prayed this prayer, you have been admitted into the family of sons and daughters of God, who are born-again. Congratulations. Please look forward to more divine revelation in the next edition of Zion B-BC Newsletter as you share this with friends and remain blessed in the Lord. [For weekly access,to this newsletter, log on to: facebook.com/zionfaithbible.believingchurch & Zfbbc1.blogspot.com] I am, Yours sincerely,Dr. David B.A. Olufon, Resident Pastor and Editor.08058436756 08098194390.g-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com .

ZION B-BC NEWSLETTER. [ A Publication of the Zion Faith Bible-Believing Church, Kpeyegyi, Abuja Nigeria. ] { VOL. 2. NO 46. 29-06-14.} ASUP MUST RESCUE POLYTECHNIC EDUCATION IN NIGERIA FROM EXTINCTION! There is a dearth of ideologies in Nigerian politics. Today, what dominates the public domain is the discordance between ill-conceived political thoughts and bureaucratic verbiage of fake manifestoes, no wonder, Groucho Max says, “Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.” Contemporary Nigerian politicians need character reformation, re-orientation and ethical renaissance to appreciate the bitter truth, that positions of authority and power, just like LIFE, are temporary and transient! The present administration has displayed incomprehensibility and ineptitude as a group with misplaced priority in respect of the sterling role which EDUCATION plays in the developmental processes of a nation, in spite of the fact that government’s obligation in this regard, is imperative according to Chapter II, Section18 (2) and (3) of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution, which states that, “Government shall promote Science and Technology…. and shall strive to eradicate illiteracy; and to this end Government shall as and when practicable provide- free, compulsory and universal primary education, free secondary/ university education and adult literacy programme.” All the Nigerian Polytechnics and Colleges of Education Students who voted massively for President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2011 general elections have been forcefully rusticated by his administration, for upwards of 11 and 6 months, respectively because of the lingering Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics [ASUP] and Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union [COEASU] lecturers strike, which government deliberately failed to recognize! International and local political observers cannot be surprised at Federal Government’s attitude on education because it is in their character to ‘disenfranchise’ Nigerian Youths from that inalienable right, which most politicians lacked! Education is not made up of certificates, honors degrees and ‘honoris causa’ awards, used for offices and living room decorations; education is a deliberate, well-calculated and scientific process of learning and teaching, which, in a gradual manner, deposits knowledge, intuition and the ability to perform new and acceptable behavioural social patterns! The United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization [UNESCO], Charter, of which, Nigeria is a signatory, specifically advised that, at least, 26 per cent of every nation’s annual budget, should be appropriated to EDUCATION, but the best that has ever happened to Nigerian Youths, who are the greater beneficiaries of education was 13 per cent, in a recent budget proposal! It used to be between 3-6 per cent since Independence! Over 70 per cent of the Nigerian population of about 170million citizens is made up of youths who cannot be sidelined or brushed aside by any administration! Nigerian youths are, intelligent, brilliant, articulate, computer literate and technologically compliant! They know exactly what they want and how to go about getting them legitimately and have this far supported their Lecturers because they appreciate the superior arguments of their Lecturers for a better deal in view of the glaring loop-sided educational alignment which favours their University counterparts! *We all know that there is dichotomy which has created a class distinction between tertiary educational systems that terminate in Higher National Diploma [HND] and Bachelor of Science [BSc.] certificates and which places the latter above the former in the Civil Service Commission’s remunerations and promotional elevation, since inception. *Now, the lecturers say, there was urgent need for the constitution of the Governing Councils of Federal Polytechnics like their University counterparts, to appreciate and plead their cause with government as at when due. *They demand for migration of the lower cadres on the Consolidated Tertiary Institutions Salary Structure [CONTISS] 15 Salary Scale; *Release of the White Paper on the visitations to Federal Polytechnics. COEASU, has come up with similar demands which, with the intervention of the House of Representatives, government made concrete promises which were not implemented to date! From the ‘body languages’ of members of the government team to the dispute, it is certain that, the Ministers of Education, Labour and Secretary to the Government are playing out a script written for them by their principal! Political desperadoes would need idle hands as thugs in the fast-approaching 2015 General Elections to carry out their dirty jobs of rigging and they believe they could lure the youths into their bait with filthy blood money! Enough is enough! This ‘divide and rule’ practice of every successive government must come to an end now. Would the education system collapse if both levels of tertiary education are at par through the upgrading of their curricula to meet the best international practice? Why should youths from Nigerian parents become enemies because of bad government policies? Is this government attitude, a part of the Transformation Agenda of Mr. President? At a meeting of 27th May, 2014, between ASUP and Government delegation, led by the Supervising Minister of Education and facilitated by the House of Representatives, the Minister stated that, the major remaining contention which was the lecturers salary arrears, could not be addressed, since the Salaries Wages and Income Commission was opposed to the idea for not being consulted before the 2009 CONTISS 15 agreement between government and lecturers was reached! However, he disclosed that the SGF had set up a technical committee to review the crisis! What is the blame of ASUP, COEASU and their STUDENTS in all of this CRISIS OF THE GOVERNMENT, BY THE GOVERNMENT AND FOR THE GOVERNMENT? The Boko Haram group which has become a familiar name in Nigeria, is majorly made up of Nigerian youths, groomed and nurtured in similar circumstances that we are witnessing today! They were deprived of EDUCATION AND ALL BASIC AMENITIES OF LIFE, they were unemployed and the attendant poverty situation which set in, made them willing tools in the hands of desperate politicians, who hired, armed, used and eventually dumped them! The Word of God says. “Train a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” [Proverbs.22:6]. There can be no better time than now for parents and guardians to counsel their children and wards to move closer to God for spiritual support and divine protection from demon-possessed politicians who lack political ideology and principles, internal party democracy, decorum and are so greedy and so selfish! It is time to tell these politicians to engage their own children and members of their families as thugs and hoodlums. Nigerian indigent youths have been involved in political thuggery in every election from 1999 to date and the implication of their attitude on our collective psyche and the social economic sector cannot be quantified. It is our fervent belief that the present crop of all students from primary to tertiary, will never fall into the trap of these unscrupulous politicians, who have already dug their own graves after, “ the order of KORAH, DATHAN AND ABIRAM”, of the Old Testament Bible who challenged, the ordained plan of God for His people![ Numbers.16:1-35]. It is instructive here to applaud the COEASU Chairman, who has also called on government to release without further delay, the White Paper of the NEEDS assessment carried out on Colleges of Education and full implementation of Consolidation of Tertiary Education Institutions [CONTEDISS] Salary Structure, and the establishment of a committee to address other issues, even after the strike is eventually called off. The National Association of Polytechnic Students [NAPS] on 24th June, 2014, issued a two-week ultimatum to the Federal Government to accede to all ASUP legitimate demands for the STUDENTS sakes, “or face a total shut down of the entire system”! He lamented that the 11-month old strike has disrupted the school calendar and that the unresolved strike had portrayed polytechnic education as a less attractive option to secondary school leavers. While commending the National Assembly [NASS] for its intervention in bridging the discrimination between HND and BSc. Certification, he appealed to the Head of Service [HOS], to commence implementation of the recommendations for CAREER PROGRESSION for holders of the HND in the Civil Service. He also urged NASS to raise supplementary budget to meet their lecturers’ demands! It is our belief that ASUP AND COEASU demands and agitations are germane and legitimate and the solidarity between lecturers and students is very commendable and therefore deserves the urgent attention of Mr. President, on whose table the BUCK STOPS, just as he did in the case of the Academic Staff Union of Universities [ASUU]! There should be no discrimination whatsoever in respect of youth education in a third world country dreaming to be classed among the World’s 20 most developed economy, in the year 2020. Even though it is a TALL DREAM, IF THE YOUTHS CONTINUE TO ENJOY UNINTERRUPTED QUALITATIVE EDUCATION AT ALL LEVELS AND ALL PENCHANT FOR CORRUPTION IS REMOVED AND ERADICATED, IT IS REALIZABLE! WHATEVER IS GOOD FOR THE GOOSE, IS ALSO GOOD FOR THE GANDER, SHIKE’ENA! Poor, innocent and ignorant TARABA YOUTHS, on 25th June, 2014, held a musical concert at Jalingo to EXTOL the achievements of the Transformation Agenda especially in the areas of YOU WIN AND THE SURE-P GRADUATE SCHEME, urged Mr. President to declare for a second term in office and also assured him of massive Taraba Youths votes in the 2015 general elections! We did not see NAPS and College of Education Students at Jalingo Stadium! Mr Thomas Jefferson, the third United States of America President, once said, and we quote, “I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot be hid forever.” WE ALSO TREMBLE FOR NIGERIA AND PRAY THAT THIS ADMINISTRATION WILL NOT REMAIN BLIND TO TRUTH AND DEAF TO SOUND REASONS! AMEN! If you have not accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour, don’t miss this great opportunity as you pray this prayer: Lord Jesus; I confess that I am a sinner who needs to be saved through the grace of the New Testament of your Blood, shed on the Cross at Calvary; I renounce every sin in my life and accept you as my Lord and Saviour. Please forgive me and write my name in the Book of Life. Amen. If you prayed this prayer, you have been admitted into the family of sons and daughters of God, who are born-again. Congratulations. Please look forward to more divine revelation in the next edition of Zion B-BC Newsletter as you share this with friends and remain blessed in the Lord. [For weekly access,to this newsletter, log on to: facebook.com/zionfaithbible.believingchurch & Zfbbc1.blogspot.com] I am, Yours sincerely,Dr. David B.A. Olufon, Resident Pastor and Editor.08058436756 08098194390.g-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com .