Prof. Mubuoghare stated that ASUU and the Federal Government have been on negotiating table for two and half years, saying that during the period, both parties presented their positions on issues at stake.He said about six months ago, the Federal Government set up a team, led by renowned economist, Deacon Gamaliel Onosode, to negotiate with ASUU, where an agreement was reached.

Governor Chibuike Amaechi, who disclosed the new academic arrangement at a special thanksgiving service for Bishop Chinasa Nwosui in Port Harcourt yesterday, said inadequate staffing of quality teachers in secondary schools in the state was having effect on children in tertiary institutions, stressing it was necessary to check the drift.

The youths, who were reacting to a publication by Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) in Vanguard that it had affirmed Idehen’s nomination, distanced Bini youths from the publication, asserting that as “far as the exalted office of the representative of Niger Delta Development Commission is concerned, no strangers or visitors either based in Edo or Ondo State can decide for the Binis.

Ihonbvere, who commended the South-South governors for their decision, told Vanguard in Benin City that “the issues they (governors) raised were very critical and could not be ignored. The issue of down-grading PTI and then voting over 14 billion Naira for another university in Kaduna, to me, is provocative. Any person from the South-South must see it that way. The PTI was already moving towards establishing itself as a full university.

The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Dr. Rilwanu Lukman, defended the assault on the sensibilities of the hurting peoples of the Niger Delta. He said upgrading the PTI to a university was unnecessary, but justified the same status for the Kaduna College. What insensitivity, what double standards!