Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele has denied ever having any altercation with the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.

This was contained in a statement issued by his media office noting that:

“Our attention has been drawn to fake news currently being circulated on the X handle of one Jackson Ude, a known serial blackmailer and cash-and-carry journalist.

“The post is about an alleged altercation and physical fight between Leader of the Senate, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele and President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio on Wednesday.

“For the record, it is a verifiable fact that Senator Bamidele has never been involved in physical assault in over two decades of his political trajectory, not even when he was a young man leading the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) as President.

“It is surprising that the purveyor of this misleading information in his selfish agenda and unprofessional conduct threw ethos of Journalism into waste bin and decided to feast on roadside gists to tarnish the image of the Senate Leader.

“We are aware that the fake news is meant to cause disaffection within the Senate and by extension; heating up the political system.

“To think that the Senate Leader, President of the Senate and other principal officers of the Senate together received the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. YU Dunhai and his delegation few minutes after leaving the plenary on Wednesday is a significant testimony against Ude’s imagination.

“Further to this, photographs of the Chinese envoys with the leadership of the Senate were widely published in today’s major national newspapers. It is equally verifiable that the Senate Leader and the Senate President both drove out of the National Assembly premises in the same vehicle yesterday.

“This time again, the Senate Leader is sounding a note of warning to all attention seekers in the ilk of Ude to be careful and not take the Leader’s gentlemanliness for granted.

“Henceforth, the Leader will be forced to use the instrumentality of the law to protect himself and his office as enshrined in the CyberCrime Act 2015.

” We, therefore, urge the public to disregard this misinformation and treat it with the disrespect it entirely deserves.

By Francesca Hangeior.

The Executive Secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission, Hamid Bobboyi, has revealed that 34 states and the Federal Capital Territory are yet to access the 2024 Universal Basic Education matching grant.

Bobboyi disclosed this on Monday in Abuja during the Senate Committee on Education’s (Basic and Secondary) oversight visit to the commission.

He noted that only Katsina and Kaduna states had accessed their first and second quarters of the 2024 matching grant.

Providing details of matching grants accessed between 2020 and 2024, Bobboyi said unaccessed UBE grants remain a significant challenge for basic and junior secondary education.

“For the 2020 UBE matching grant, 34 states and the FCT have accessed it, while two states—Abia and Ogun—have not. For 2021, 33 states and the FCT have accessed it, leaving Abia, Imo, and Ogun yet to do so.

“In 2022, 29 states and the FCT accessed the grants, with Abia, Adamawa, Anambra, Ebonyi, Imo, Ogun, and Oyo yet to access theirs. For 2023, 25 states accessed the grants for the first to fourth quarters,” he said.

Bobboyi further stated that N263.04 billion and N103.29 billion, representing 2 per cent of the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF), were allocated to the commission under the 2024 and 2023 Appropriation Acts, respectively.

He added that N103.29 billion was fully released for 2023, while N219.20 billion had been released for 2024, representing 83.33 per cent of the year’s allocation.

Ranking state performances in accessing the UBE grants by geopolitical zones as of October 31, Bobboyi commended the North West zone for achieving 100 per cent.

The South-South zone followed with 97.92 per cent, North Central with 97.76 per cent, North East with 97.57 per cent, South West with 92.28 per cent, and South East with 85.37 per cent.

He identified key challenges facing the commission, including a lack of political will and commitment by some state governments, low budgetary allocations to basic education at state and local government levels, and poor teacher quality.

Bobboyi added, “Non-compliance with the Federal Government’s directive on teaching history in basic schools and the high number of out-of-school children are also major issues.”

Members of the Senate Committee on Education expressed concerns over the challenges. Senator Victor Umeh lamented the high number of out-of-school children in northern states despite higher allocations.

Senator Sunday Katung called for the reintroduction of history into the basic education curriculum, citing its importance for the younger generation.

Earlier, the committee chairman, Senator Lawal Usman, commended UBEC’s efforts but urged the commission to implement the committee’s recommendations and improve its operational framework.

The Federal Ministry of Education has declared as null and void the recent appointment of Bernard Odoh as the Vice-Chancellor of Nnamdi Azikiwe University in Awka, Anambra State.

The Governing Council of the University recently appointed Odoh as the school’s 7th substantive vice-chancellor.

Odoh was appointed on Tuesday, October 29, 2024 by the University’s Governing Council led by the Pro- Chancellor and Chairman of Council, Amb. Greg Mbadiwe, during an interview with the candidates shortlisted for the position of the vice chancellor.

In a letter addressed to the Pro-Chancellor/Chairman of Council by Mrs. R. G. Ilyasu for the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, and dated November 1, the ministry said it had been agreed that there would be no appointments without reconciliation with the aggrieved parties of the school.

The letter reads, “Sequel to your meeting with the Honourable Minister of State for Education, (HMSE) held on Friday, 25th October, 2024, it was formally agreed that no appointments should be carried out by your Council without reconciling with the aggrieved parties in the University Community.

“It has come to the attention of the Ministry that your Council had gone ahead to appoint a Vice Chancellor for the University without the Representative of the Ministry, the internal council members and other Stakeholders on Tuesday, 29th October, 2024. This is a gross disregard to constituted Authority and is not in line with Extant provisions.

“Against this backdrop: I am directed to inform you that all appointments made so far are null and void. You are therefore requested put on hold all other appointments in the University pending the assumption on duty of the new Honourable Minister of Education,” it added.

The letter was copied to the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission.