The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA) chapter has frowned at the manner in which the police affairs at Owo Traffic Division, Ondo State, are handling the killing of one of its members by a trailer driver. The late Gabriel Talabi was crushed to death by a trailer driver that ran into his car on March 31,2009 at Ago-Panu, along Owo-Ikare Road.

Controvery has continued to trail the appointment of a People’s Democratic Party chieftain, Chief Abiola Morakinyo, as the Governing Council Chairman of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU). Morakinyo who hails from Ode-Omu-Gbongan district in Osun State is believed to have the backing of Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola. The National President of the OAU Alumni Association, Mr Wole Olaoye said the appointment of Morakinyo was a disservice to the country. The association protested against the appointment of the former commissioner for finance under the Bola Ige administration, saying that Morakinyo was not competent for the post. Also, the OAU chapter of ASUU threw its weight behind the alumni association, saying Nigeria possessed better hands to head the university’s council.

Multinational oil firm, Exxon Mobil, has donated the sum of =N=25 million to the University of Benin (UNIBEN), to promote the quality of training in petroleum exploration and production in Niger Delta. The Public Relations Officer of the institution, Mr Eddy Akpomera said that the oil company donated high=tech griosciences equipment valued at =N=2- million while a cheque of =N=5 million was issued to facilitate field work in geosciences.

The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) has endowed a N50 million professorial chair in Mathematics in the University of Lagos. The Professorial Chair which is in perpetuity is in honour of Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye, an alumnus of UNILAG. Pastor Adeboye, a former Lecturer in the Universities of Lagos and Ilorin, earned a Doctoral Degree in Mathematics from the University of Lagos. The N50million Cheque for the endowment was presented during the Thanksgiving Service of Excel 2009, RCCG, Apapa Family. The cheque was received by a four man delegation led by the Director, Academic Planning, Professor Cecilia Igwilo. Other members of the delegation are the Dean, Faculty of Science, Professor Wole Familoni; Head, Department of Mathematics, Professor Jerry Adepoju and Director, Advancement and Endowment Office, Mrs. Bamidele Awere. While receiving the cheque on Monday June 1, 2009, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Tolu Odugbemi, expressed gratitude to the Redeemed Christian Church of Nigeria. He also thanked God for the various achievements recorded since his assumption of office as the Chief Executive Officer of UNILAG.

The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ado-Ekiti (UNAD), Prof Dipo Kolawole has been elected the Chairman of the Peace and Security Committee of the African Union Economic, Social and Cultural Council (ECOSOCC). By his election, the Prof automatically becomes a member of the 13 standing committees of ECOSOCC and will function as special adviser on peace and security matters to African Heads of State. His election is therefore a victory for Nigeria, a triumph of merit and recognition of excellence for the African States.

Students of the Ado-Ekiti (UNAD) will pay for the vandalisation of the institution’s property during the May 8 crisis which led to the closure of the university. This was made known by the Deputy Governor of the State, Dr Sikiru Tae Lawal during his courtesy visit to the school to assess the damage done to the properties by rampaging students and cultists. The Deputy Governor, insisted that students would pay for the damage to drive home the lesson that as leaders of tommorrow, they must behave responsibly.

The authorities of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) have expelled 38 students from various faculties and departments who gained admission into the university through fraudulent means. According to the management, the students failed to authenticate their UME/IJMB/O’Level certificates which were regarded as queationable. The students were prior to their expulsion, invited to appear before the Students Disciplinary Committee to defend  the results/certificates they had presented to the university at the certificate screening exercise and none of them could prove the genuineness of their certificates. The university is presently probing the certificates of another 14 students. Officials of the university are currently at various institutions where the 14 students claimed to have obtained their IJMB.

Presently, the number one university in Nigeria according to a recent rating have finalised the strategies of reducing drastically whatever gap that exists between Unilorin and Oxford University. This plan was unfolded by the Vice-Chancellor of the institution, Prof Ishaq Oloyede during the Vice-Chancellor’s house committee meeting meeting held at the university.  The Don said there is nothing stopping the university from being the best in the world if the management, staff and students dream it, desire it and work hard towards it.

The University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) has elevated one of its lecturers to the rank of a professor. He is S.B. Agbaje, a professor of Surgery in the Department of Surgery. He is appointed upon the recommendation of the Apointments and Promotions Committee (APC).

The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has called on the Federal Government to sign an implement the agreement it reached with the Academic Staff Association of Universities (ASUU), so the body can suspend the two-week warning strike which end recently. The National Vice-President of NANS, Comrade Egbe Jerome Godwin that the call had become imperative because almost all the universities are currently engaged in examinations and the students would be most affected by the disruption of the examinations time table and the academic calendar.  Comrade Godwin expressed regret over what he described as the poor treatment of university lecturers by the Federal Government which has had a chain effect in the university communities across the country.