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Tag: Education

  • Children’s Day: Speaker decries COVID-19 adverse effect children’s education

    Children’s Day: Speaker decries COVID-19 adverse effect children’s education

    The Speaker, Plateau House of Assembly, Mr Abok Ayuba, says the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is adversely affecting children’s education.

    Ayuba, in statement by his Press Secretary, Mr Bulus Atang, felicitated with the children on the Day and called for prayers for an end to the pandemic.

    “All what the nation needs now is prayers against the COVID-19 pandemic which is affecting educational growth of the younger generation.

    “The task of leaving good foundation for the upcoming generation is an uphill one if this pandemic persists with prolong closure of schools.

    “Parents and guardians should take the education of their children and wards seriously; engage them in acquiring other skills that will sustain their future living conditions,” he added.

    The speaker applauded the youth programmes of the Federal and Plateau Governments which had given hope to upcoming generations of the country.

    Ayuba stated that as youth, he was proud to identify with the children and called on them to be obedient, work hard and concentrate on the positive things of life.

    He described children as the pride of any nation and assured that the ninth State Assembly would continue to play its legislative roles in ensuring that the child was well protected.

  • Education Minister speaks on reopening of schools

    Education Minister speaks on reopening of schools

    Mr Emeka Nwajiuba, the Minister of State for Education, says the Federal Ministry of Education will not take any risk over reopening of schools in the face of COVID-19.

    Nwajiuba said this at the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 daily news conference on Wednesday in Abuja.

    He said that the schools would not reopen until government was sure that the children could go to school safe and not infected with the deadly coronavirus or got infect by others.

    He said that it would work in conjunction with the World Health Organisation (WHO) before the reopening of schools.

    The minister added that the ministry would publish what must be done before schools could be reopened by either private or public school.

    He also said that the children must go to school safe.

    “We want all our children to go to school by the time the schools would have been able to achieve physical distancing,’’ he said.

    Nwajiuba explained that for tertiary institutions, there would be need to have a semester within a semester for the students.

    He added that while some courses would do their semester first, others would follow suit in a bid to maintain social distancing measure.

    He urged lecturers in tertiary institutions to use the period to upgrade themselves.

    “Period like this should not be wasted and tertiary institutions must be functioning.’’

    For secondary school students, the minister said that those in senior secondary might resume before their junior counterparts.

    He said the plan was that the children should resume by the time schools had achieved the physical distancing measure.

    “We may have classes in the morning and afternoon at the moment for the purpose of social distancing and all the infrastructure within the school will be used to achieve this,’’ the minister said.

    He said that the ministry would also look at the sanitary condition of the schools before reopening, noting that schools must be ready to display manually-made hand sanitisers’ machine.

    He said that the only condition for reopening of schools would be that they must be ready to receive the students by providing all the needed materials to stop the spread of COVID-19.

  • We will continue to give children quality education – Gbajabiamila

    We will continue to give children quality education – Gbajabiamila

    The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has said that the House will stop at nothing to ensure the provision of quality education to Nigerian children.

    He also stated that all efforts would be made to reduce the number of Out-of-school children in the country.

    The Speaker was quoted to have said this in a statement issued on Tuesday by his spokesman, Lanre Lasisi, ahead of the 2020 Children’s Day Celebration.

    “Nigerian children must be given all the necessary care and attention, especially quality education, that they require to attain their goals in life,” the Speaker said.

    He also noted that in support of the age-long maxim that children are the leaders of tomorrow, concerted efforts must be done by all well-meaning Nigerians to achieve a better tomorrow for Nigerian children.

    While celebrating them, he said he would always champion the cause of the Nigerian child both in Parliament and outside, to ensure that their potentials are carefully harnessed through good education and training.

    According to him, the country cannot set aside May 27 every year to celebrate her children without taking decisive action to better their lives.

    Consequently, the Speaker said all policies, including legislative framework, must be put in place to give qualitative education to the Nigerian child and ultimately, reduce the number of out-of-school children.

    The Speaker also called on governments at all levels to come up with programmes and policies that would promote the rights of children.

    Meanwhile, he called on parents to be responsible and responsive in training and taking good care of their children so that the country would be better for it in future.

  • Breeding and nurturing underdevelopment – Dele Sobowale

    Breeding and nurturing underdevelopment – Dele Sobowale

    North Has Already Destroyed Itself, It Remains South To Demolish – Dele Sobowale

    Out-of-school children constitute security risk in Nigeria.” – Senator Lawan, Senate President, VANGUARD, March 11, p 44.

    I did not know whether to laugh or cry about that news report. Lawan, Ph.D, well-educated in any country on earth, and a leader in the North for some time, is suddenly discovering, like other Northerners, what ordinary commonsense should have told all of them more than half a century ago. A society cannot go about multiplying the number of people with nothing to lose indefinitely without reaching a breaking point.

    Readings in Sociology and Criminology have already established that those with nothing to lose, e.g almajiris, always account for most of the crimes in society and they never quit. Northern leaders had been contented to breed them, exploit them during elections and then discard them after the dubious votes were counted. We watched under-age children on television voting for President, Governors, Senators etc – people who did not give a damn about them before and after the elections. Nobody thought very much about the long term consequences or the possibility that a judgment day will come.

    In a manner of speaking, the judgment day is here for the North. Unfortunately, it is wealth created in the South that will be used to pay for the rehabilitation of those kids fathered by lunatic parents — if the South is stupid enough to continue in this untenable federation. There must be an expiry date to this economic rape.

    If Nigeria ranks as the poverty capital of the world today, the North makes it so. Draw a straight line across the North and South and computation of per capita income of the Southern States will never place them among the poorest in the world. More likely they will rank among the top half. Southerners are now treated with the contempt visited on poor people universally and at all times on account of our association with the North. It would have been bad enough if this is a temporary discomfort. One can counsel patience and prayer. But, the truth, which sends the chills down the spine, is more terrifying.

    All the indices which generally account for positive and sustainable economic growth and social progress, and which can reverse the headlong dive into deeper poverty point to a bleak future for the North. The best estimate for Northern recovery is twenty or more years as a matter of fact. Given the precarious situation at the moment, that is also sufficient time to turn the region literally into a desert. The deeper it sinks the more of the wealth generated by the South will be siphoned to help save a place which is now almost beyond redemption.

    “If gold rusts, what then will iron do?” Geoffrey Chaucer, 1342-1400. VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, VBQ, p 78.

    Federal and State Governments as well as traditional and religious leaders in the region had been slow, they are always very slow, to understand the inevitable impact of the globalisation of information and the consequences for social transformation. The recent muddle concerning the dethronement of the Emir of Kano is symptomatic of the barbarism, covered by immaculate babanrigas still lurking in the hearts and mind of the leaders in the new millennium. The main author of the Kano atrocity also holds a Ph.D – or so we were told.

    The ex-Governor of Zamfara State virtually abandoned his state to bandits. He spent more time out than in Zamfara. Nobody called him to account. He returned to arm-wrestle the rubber stamp State House of Assembly to sign a bill granting him a stupendous pension package for a “job well done.” The money for that monkey business will come mostly from the South. Zamfara has nothing and can never pay the pension without oil and VAT money.

    “You cannot stop terror with appeasement. You fight terror with terror.” Adolf Hitler, 1899-1945.

    Hitler, one of the greatest terrorists of the last century had a word of advice for Nigerians – especially Southerners. This is very important because this is our destination with this article. Let us examine what appeasement had purchased.

    Kaduna offers a perfect and last example, among several ways the North had annihilated itself and wasted money. Regarded as one of the most intelligent Northerners, very erudite El-Rufai, Governor of Kaduna State will qualify as somebody to be described as “intelligent but not wise.” When bandits commingled with Fulani herdsmen first invaded mostly Christian communities in Zonkwa and Kafanchan area of the state and the people abandoned to self-help managed to kill some of the invaders and destroyed their cattle, Rufai, by his own admission compensated the herdsmen but not the people in the Christian communities. I was in Zonkwa area after one of those attacks.

    If you ask El-Rufai why, he would probably justify the one-sided payout by asserting that it was done with good intentions. He must have forgotten what he learnt in Barewa College, Zaria. “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” It was akin to feeding a dragon with goats in the vain hope that it would become as docile as your house pet. In reality, appetite grows with eating good food. The bandits received the hand-outs and learnt only one lesson. There is more where that came from. They went hunting on their own when the free issue from Rufai stopped. Kaduna is now a No-Go area for those who want to see tomorrow. Appeasement failed. Kaduna which should have been the flagship state for Northern recovery is now leading the region back into the Dark Age.

    The reason for pessimism about any Northern recovery in the next twenty years is not hard to discover. There is no leader to bring it about. Cast a glance across the Northern landscape and tears of despair must come to your eyes. I don’t want to publish the names of individuals known to us only to demolish them. Better to make a blanket condemnation and challenge whoever thinks he has an answer to the region’s myriad challenges to step forward.

    “Nothing in this world is more powerful than an idea whose time has come.” Victor Hugo, 1802-1885, VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, VBQ p 96.

    The most important thing is for all Southerners to boldly confront the questions which lurks in all our hearts. One, should we continue in this broken “shot-gun marriage” which Lugard forced on us in 1914? If not what should we do as the South about it? Who will lead the effort to re-write our history? When do we start the irreversible movement leading to a new political and social contract? These are difficult issues to determine; but not impossible to achieve. We can all hang together or die separately. The Northern knives are already held at our necks. As you are reading this, there is no single Southern terrorists operating anywhere in the North. There are several groups of terrorist herdsmen occupying large areas of land in several Southern States — kidnapping, raping, robbing with impunity – with the nearest Army Garrison Commander, state’s Commissioner of Police and the Directorate of State Services, DSS, apparently unconcerned or helpless because one of the Life Patrons of the terrorists is in Abuja sending condolence messages to relatives of victims. Obviously, only a bloody fool Southerner or a slave to the Northern power bloc can deny that the Federal Government, FG, is either incapable or unwilling to help us. More likely, elements at the top level of the FG are not only impotent, or unwilling to stop the carnage in the South, they are accomplices. Some are collaborators because the flocks of cattle being used to seize our ancestral lands in the South belong to them. Shocking as most of us might find it, one of the Life Presidents of the mass murderers of our people is ex-Emir of Kano. I rose to Sanusi’s defence last week because of Christian charity (“Do good to those that persecute you”).

    Three things the south must do to save itself from annihilation.

    “Any man who wants to be a cowardly slave can have no honour.” Adolf Hitler, 1899-1945, VBQ p 95.

    Southerners are allowing themselves to be treated as slaves by some of the Northerners. Only a slave can have his wife and daughter raped, his farm destroyed, his land occupied and his farm produce eaten and rendered unfit for human consumption without being able to lift a finger. Our British overlords, being more civilised than the barbarians who have invaded our region did nothing as horrible as these. Yet, our founding fathers confronted them asking: “Let my people go.” A new generation of Southern fathers must now summon the courage to tell our Northern brothers and sisters, who have become parasites in this Federation the same thing. “Let my people go.”

    “The man who eats in idleness, what he does not produc,e is a thief.”

    Jean Jacques Rousseau, VBQ p 97.

    Engineer Galadima, former close associate of Buhari, last year disclosed that a lot of new palatial mansions have sprung up in Daura in the last five years by people with no visible means of income. Meanwhile millions of Southerners are working themselves to death and still cannot eat two meals a day. Southerners account for almost seventy per cent of the revenue derived from Value Added Tax, VAT, on alcohol. Several Northern states discourage alcohol consumption and even destroy them eg Kano’s Hisbah. Yet, the hypocritical North collects the lion’s share of all VAT – including those on alcohol which they claim to abhor. We drink; they collect the proceeds of VAT and share them.

    There is no need to list seriatim all the ways by which Southerners have made themselves indentured slaves to Northerners. We were in many respects our own worst enemies. As Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of late US President, once said, “Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent.” We partly allowed inferiority complex to creep into our relationships. Already, we notice how those infected with “2023 Virus” worship their god in Abuja. Those who, for years, espoused True Federalism are now asking us to define it. Those who wrote restructuring into their manifesto in 2013 are now suffering from amnesia. They cannot remember discussing it. We the people of the South are now on our own. In our march to freedom, we must leave the North with its mental slaves – those who are scheming to be President in 2023 in a Nigeria just as it is at the moment. We know some of them. They remind me of a small boy, years ago in the U.S., who after being rescued from fire ran back inside the inferno. He wanted his favourite toy. There are political leaders who will be nothing without politics in Nigeria as it is. We must discard them and march to our destiny as free people.

    That still leaves the question: what is to be done? The answer remains the same for all time.

    “Hereditary bondsmen, know ye not who would be free must strike the first blow?” Lord Byron, 1788-1824, VBQ p 67.

    Most of the South missed the first boat. We did not act fast enough. We failed to notice when Fulani herdsmen moved to the Next Level. They have had three things since 2015 – a strategy to invade the South, lots of weapons to actualise the plan and a commander in chief all their own. For its survival the South needs its own response. Amotekun is only a rehearsal of the real response we must urgently develop

  • Insecurity: Why the madness of Education Abroad for ‘Repentant Terrorists’? – Jumu’ah Abiodun

    Insecurity: Why the madness of Education Abroad for ‘Repentant Terrorists’? – Jumu’ah Abiodun

    By Jumu’ah Abiodun

    “Should the bill to grant “repentant” terrorists education abroad scale through the Nigerian Senate, US, UK, Canada, EU, Australia and selected Africa countries will unquestionably ban Nigeria from both immigrant and nonimmigrant visas in light of the fact that no sensible government will open its borders for terrorists, ‘repentant’ or not.”

    The Buhari administration in its blatant lies told the world that closure of the borders has reduced insecurity drastically due to containment of the inflow of ammunitions through the borders yet Boko Haram is executing Nigerians like chicken consistently.

    On Sunday, January 26, 2020, the Boko Haram sect killed 4, and injured many more in twin suicide bomb attacks at a mosque in Gwoza, Borno state.

    Sunday, February 9, 2020, Boko Haram killed at least 30 people while sleeping, destroyed 18 vehicles, abducted women and children in the attack which took place in Auno town on a major highway in Borno State.

    A few hours after President Muhammadu Buhari’s condolence visit to Maiduguri on Wednesday, February 12, 2020, over the killing on Sunday of 30 people on Auno town, Boko Haram made a push for the troubled town.

    The insurgents at about 7 pm attacked Jiddari Polo, on the outskirts of Maiduguri, causing many residents to flee from the town.

    The Buhari government keeps lying over and over again, said that the Islamists sect have technically been defeated however the killings continue.

    One could remember vividly when President Buhari came to power in 2015; he pledged to more than 180 million Nigerians that he would crush the insurgents.

    The no 4 agenda of the Buhari administration manifesto on Politics and Governance is to prevent the abuse and misuse of Executive, Legislative and Public offices, through greater accountability, transparency, strict, and implementable anti-corruption laws; through the strengthening and sanitising the Economic and Financial Crime Commission, EFCC and Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, ICPC as independent entities.

    From the above paragraph alone, it is clear that President Buhari used deception to gain power in 2015; no government in Nigeria since the return of democracy has ever abused and misused the power of the Executive branch of government like Buhari. During this present administration, there has never been regard for the rule of law and a glaring example of that is illegal detention of ex-National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki, for years, despite various court rulings that granted bail to him.

    The administration also detained the publisher of Sahara Reporters and Convener of Revolution Now, Mr Omoyele Sowore and his colleagues for months, despite different courts rulings on their release, Buhari refused to order his men to release them. Dasuki, Sowore and his men were released on 2019 Christmas Eve.

    “I will push for more robust support in the Security and Economic stability of the West-African sub-region and African Continent as a whole. I will seek and maintain a close and frank relationship with all West-Africa; Special relationship with South Africa and its Sub-region, United Kingdom, United States of America, Canada, European Union, Asia, and the Middle East, “, Buhari said during electioneering campaigns.

    ‘Sai Baba’ as popularly known before he assumed office in 2015 also promised to push for support in the Security and Economic stability of our country. Instead of doing that, Buhari closed the borders which ultimately enriched his people in the north.

    His negligence on security also led to the immigrant visa ban on Nigeria by the US government.

    Either via Private member or Executive bill, a bill that will permit ‘repentant’ Boko Haram members who have killed over 35, 000 Nigerians, rendered more than two million homeless and hundreds have been abducted in the conflict to study abroad has now passed the first reading. The Islamists sects, Boko Haram means ‘Education is Forbidden’, so why the stupidity of education abroad especially for Boko Haram adherents?

    “Should the bill to grant “repentant” terrorists education abroad scale through the Nigerian Senate, US, UK, Canada, EU, Australia and selected Africa countries will unquestionably ban Nigeria from both immigrant and nonimmigrant visas in light of the fact that no sensible government will open its borders for terrorists, ‘repentant’ or not.”

    “Common sense is not common, being a professor doesn’t mean you won’t be selfish or lack knowledge of what your people want, having 109 senators at the red chamber, none of them think of the ramifications of sending terrorists abroad for education. Ostensibly after graduation, one of them could end up most likely as an Osama bin Laden.”

    This is crystal clear, we all know that average northerner cannot even write their name talk less to comprehend what education is about.

    Our “Mr Integrity” also promised to amend the Constitution to remove immunity from prosecution for elected officers criminal cases.

    A government which campaigned to fight corruption is now found to energize corruption. Under the Buhari watch, the then Secretary to the Government of Federation, Babachir Lawal, was sacked due to his role in a multimillion naira grass-cutting scam contract at the Internally Displaced Persons, IDP camps.

    His Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari was also accused of N500 million bribery allegation from MTN and another N29.9m contract scam.

    President Buhari who was known to be a poor man with many cows before he assumed office; where on earth his son Yusuf got the money to buy power-bikes worth $157, 000.00.

    In 2018, his minister of state transport (Aviation) now Minister of Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, and his team arrived in London to launch the ‘dead on arrival’ Nigeria Air. Sirika is accused of siphoning over N1.2b on a phoney Nigeria Air project, which was eventually suspended by the federal government.

    Mr Integrity nominated and appointed former Akwa Ibom state governor, Godswill Akpabio, who was charged for N108b fraud as a Minister of the Niger Delta. The EFCC is investigating allegations that the former governor, embezzled the fund during his tenure between 2007 and 2015. This led EFCC to have written to five banks demanding information on Akwa Ibom State finances under Akpabio’s administration. He’s currently enjoying immunity under the party of “saints”, All Progressives Congress (APC).

    In spite of Buhari administration acclaimed anti-corruption posture, the trended video of Gov Abdullahi Ganduje’s bribe video scandal in the last quarter of 2018 where he was caught collecting large chunk of US dollars from undisclosed associate.

    Another of his allies who is not left out on the list is a former governor of Rivers State and presently Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, who was accused of alleged misappropriation of N97bn through the sale of the state valued assets.

    These are a few among very many corruption cases of “Mr Integrity’s” allies and party chieftains.

    I think President Buhari should sit and look back at how he has ruined this country with his incompetence and his fake and lopsided anti-corruption crusade. We are certainly NOT deceived.

    Jumu’ah Abiodun is a journalist based in Lagos, Nigeria.
    Twitter.com/jumuahabiodun

  • Interrogating education – Francis Ewherido

    By Francis Ewherido

    For almost two weeks now, Professor Hope Eghagha of the Department of English, University of Lagos, has been talking to, and encouraging, youths on the importance of education, self-development and honing of innate skills… on our URS social platform.

    The responses of the youths have been divergent. Some of the responses are from very bitter hearts, youngsters who felt let down by the system.

    They went to school with high expectations, but on graduation, there are no jobs. Some have been unemployed for years now.

    Initially some of the negative responses really got me upset, but on a second thought, I sat back and felt, maybe I should interrogate education and that is what I am going to do today. A brief definition of education in an online dictionary says education is “the process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school or university.”

    Wikipedia defines education as “the process of facilitating learning, or the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, beliefs, and habits.”

    I will start my interrogation with the first definition. What kind of “systematic instruction” are our schools and universities giving? What schools currently teach is archaic and not in tune with current realities. Our “systematic instruction” is not up to date and very unhelpful to the students and the society. Big organisations currently send fresh graduate employees on six to one year training before they are absolved into the organisations. The school curricula need to be overhauled to meet up with current realities and our peculiar circumstances.

    The definition also said “receiving and giving systematic instruction.” If the “giving” is defective, the “receiving” will naturally be defective. But there is a remedy. The doors to acquiring education and knowledge have never been more wide-open than we have now, since the creation of humankind.

    Knowledge is everywhere and available at the touch of a button on your phone, laptop, iPad, etc. the younger generation will not understand what it took to acquire university education in the 70s and 80s. In the university then, you would need a book in the library for reference purposes, but someone would “colonize” it, sometimes for weeks.

    Meanwhile, you need this book for an urgent assignment. It is the same information you now get at the touch of a button in the comfort of your home. In one sentence, students now have windows to acquire more knowledge to augment what they are taught in class.

    Now, let us interrogate Wikipedia’s definition, which talks about “the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, beliefs, and habits.” What knowledge, skills, values, beliefs and habits are schools giving to our children? The answer varies from one institution to the other; from private to government-owned schools, but the popular verdict is that the educational system is not good enough.

    The question now is that since it is not good enough, what are you as a person doing to help yourself? The starting point is, who are you? I can tell you that many young people do not know who they are.

    And since they do not know who they are, they do not know what they want in life. Before you can make any meaning of life, you must find your purpose, which is already inherent. “What is purpose? Purpose is why you do something, or why something exists.

    Before you engage in any activity…there should be a good reason for doing it, which should form part of the larger picture of your purpose in life…All your actions are supposed to emanate from your vision.

    Your visions are dots, which connect to unravel your mission in life. Your mission is a product of your purpose. Purpose comes from the belief that the individual is uniquely designed to fulfill a special destiny.

    AYou have a destiny for which you were created and to which you are called. Purposeful living can, therefore, be summarized thus: you know what you want to do with your life by the way you live” (Life Lessons from Mudipapa).
    Are you purpose-driven? What informed the choice of the course you studied in the university? Did it flow from your purpose in life, innate talents or special skills, which you have and wanted to hone? Or did you study psychology, sociology, chemistry, microbiology, etc., because that was the only route available for you to get admission.

    If you studied a course, not really knowing what to do with your life after graduation, how can you be complaining about unemployment? For now, you are simply unemployable, because you do not know what you want. How do you expect any employer to find you useful! I have asked a few graduates looking for work, “What kind of job do you have in mind?” Answer: “Any job that is available.”

    I just conclude in such cases that “this one does not know what he wants.
    On the other hand, somebody studied agriculture in the university and he is looking for a bank or oil company work! This is at a time when there is a deliberate policy by government for Nigeria to be self-sufficient in food production. People are pouring into agriculture in droves and a graduate of agriculture is looking for bank job. My friend, put your head down, interrogate what is happening in the agriculture sector and find your niche.
    The truth of the matter is that there aren’t enough jobs to go round

    Two, the education sector does not prepare graduates adequately for life after graduation. Young people need to help themselves and it starts from finding their purpose in life. Three, young people must understand the essence of education. It is an avenue to acquire knowledge far beyond your course of study. A certificate is just an evidence that you have graduated from the school, not necessarily a proof that you acquired knowledge because some people acquire their certificates dubiously. Four, if what you studied in the university is not in tune with your natural gifts and talents, no problem.

    Now that you know, you must begin to develop your natural gifts and innate talents. The truth is, you will never find true happiness, satisfaction and success until you do those things you have an inclination for, which give you joy and satisfaction?

    I encourage you today, commence your journey of self-discovery. When you have done that, put a plan in place. You also need a team to achieve your goals, have one in place. A team does not mean people you pay, it means people, who can help and guide you in your life journey. Remember that there is nothing you want to do now that someone has not done before. Get mentors; they will guide you and help you get to your destination quicker. They will also help to make
    your mistakes fewer.

    Above all have faith in God. He is our author and finisher. But you must do your part.

  • Buhari’s new priority to education sector, By Yakubu Abolaji Isowo

    Buhari’s new priority to education sector, By Yakubu Abolaji Isowo

    By Yakubu Abolaji Isowo

    RECENTLY, President Muhammadu Buhari pledged to give a boost to the education sector. Irrefutably, the alarming crime rate in the country resulted from the neglect of the sector for decades. The leadership class patronized foreign and private universities but abandoned public schools which the majority of citizens could afford.And to make the matter worse, they’re never bothered about what goes on in public schools except pecuniary interest.

    Consequently, the quality or products are affected. All the misconducts, atrocities they without restrictions embraced and practiced in schools followed them outside the walls of the institutions after their graduation. Today, scamming, banditry, kidnapping and ritual-killings are rampant in the society, and the policymakers alongside their children they sent abroad or private schools and the general public are all the victims. It means everyone is paying the prize, and therefore points to the fact that the sector deserves critical attention.

    Discernibly, public schools over the years breed more of questionable characters that constitute menace to national security. And except checkmated, the future is bleak. By the rampant incidents of crimes involving young persons in the recent times, it is obvious the society has started paying for the neglects. Hence, President Buhari’s resolve is on track.

    Relatively, the unending frustration of law graduates of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) that have been waiting since 2013 for admission quota into the Nigerian Law School leaves much to be desired from federal government. The crisis is now in the fifth year since Buhari assumed office, and altogether seven years after their graduation. The quagmire, to say the leastreflects thriving corruption and system failure.

    From investigations, NOUN law students in 2012contested alongside other home-based universities and emerged overall winner with a great margin. Still, some folks reportedly recommend them for a strange qualifying programme. What then is the criteria to arrive at the conclusions that the star-prize winner is deficient than thebeaten counterparts? This is indeed absurd. Nigeria must not continue to enthrone selfish interests at the expense of public interest thereby ridiculing itself in the world.

    As Buhari extends premium attention to education which is commendable, ensuring that these victims are admitted into the nation’s law school without further delay is important. The law school is a government’s facility, and therefore cannot be used by some individuals to settle personal scores. This matter has lingered excessively and should be addressed forthwith. It is inane that despite Senate’s amendment of the controversial clause in NOUN Act which Buhari gave assent, the matter is still dancing.This is bizarre.

    The question is, why must officials that are evidently frustrating government’s policies and citizens’ careers be retained in the cabinet even when insecurity is alarming? In which country of the world would students that studied in a government’s institution be encumbered like this scenario? Yet, the government is voting much resources in fighting crimes. Anyway, Buhari has a duty as the President to ensure that no vulnerable citizens are oppressed by advantaged individuals.

    Perceptibly, NOUN was recommended for a strange one full-year Bar Part-1 to possibly, separate her graduates for malicious doses particularly mass failures. Or is it possible that the separation plan is to prevent them from competing with others for fear of another win? Otherwise, on what ground will they exclusively undergo a strangequalifying programme even after defeating their counterparts in a national moot-court competition?Arguably, their win sufficiently attested to their proficiency and superiority.

    The greatest danger is that to execute hidden agendas can easily succeed if they will be in secluded class which is unprecedented in the history of the Nigerian Law School. From inception, all students from various universities attend classes and sit for examinations together without any discriminations. Obviously, to settle scores is foreseeable.

    The second is; NOUN is not a foreign university that undergoes Bar Part-1 which is purposely to remedy about six home-based courses that are not offered overseas butessential for practice in the country, and NOUN offered all those courses as approved by National Universities Commission (NUC) like other home-based universities.

    Again, the Bar Part-1 in the law school is a three-monthprogramme with a tuition of N220,000:00 (two hundred and twenty thousand naira). By the absurd plan, it means NOUN law graduates will even pay more as the strange classes will run a full year, and not three months. Note this is different from the compulsory Bar Part-2 for all students; foreign and home students with a tuition of N310,000:00 (Three hundred and ten thousand naira) preceding call to bar.

    The third issue is the strange ‘fail-once-and-quit’ proviso discriminatorily for NOUN law graduates. In other words, they will possibly be victimized through mischievousmass failure in the Bar Part-1 after spending such a volume of money, and encumbered from qualifying forBar Part-2 while their counterparts can rewrite failed modules in Bar-1 & 2 for many times. This therefore is a pointer to a sinister motive to ground these citizens’ careeras alternative option. Presidency should take note.

    Of course, the authorities can review academic programme in the law school if needful, however, it must be applicable to all students. It is imperative to reiteratethat NOUN as a home-based university offered the same courses approved by the regulatory body; NUC like hercounterparts in the country. Hence, there is no basis to subject them to undergo any strange programme.

    Clearly, their opponents do not have strong arguments but mere hostility. Federal government should critically note that these victims are grown-ups from families and have responsibilities. Above all, it is despicable for President Buhari’s assent to be facing such resistances from his own appointees fearlessly. To summarize, these students must be admitted into the law school they qualified foraccordingly. They shouldn’t be pushed further to take laws into their hands. Thus, let their admission quota be released.

    Isowo is a social activist and wrote this piece from Ilorin, Kwara state.

  • Bakare faults Nigeria’s education system, recommends total overhaul

    Tunde Bakare, the senior pastor of Latter Rain Assembly, says Nigeria’s education system needs a total overhaul to create productive graduates.

    Bakare made the statement on the sidelines of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Annual Goalkeepers meetings in New York, on Friday.

    He said 50% of Nigerian youths are not employed while 25% are unemployable.

    According to him, the current system has huge implications on the economic development and life outcomes of young people.

    “In the past, when you are coming out from the university, there are regular jobs, car loan and other facilities that will keep you in the country,” Bakare said.

    “Right now, because of the lack of jobs, job creation has become a major issue. Our young people are now taking to crime and are benefiting from proceeds of crime and kidnapping.

    “But with the right policy in place, we can inject new ideas that will create jobs for our people.

    “I trust God that the right leadership will come. I call them a new breed without greed that will consider others and begin to create opportunities for us within our countries.

    “About 50% of our youth are not employed and 25% of them are not employable. So, there is something fundamentally wrong with our education system that is producing semi-illiterates.”

    The pastor, therefore, called on the government to review the education curriculum saying Nigeria would need better-educated graduates to cope and compete in the world.

    Bakare had trended at the weekend after a February 2018 video recording where he said he is “number 16” after President Muhammadu Buhari, who he says is “number 15″ in the ”scheme of things” resurfaced.

    The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Goalkeeper’s report, which measures the state of performance of the SDGs across the world, had said there is inequality in almost every location in the world.

    According to the report, the quality of education people receive differs depending on the state or local government area they live in.

    The report showed that a girl born in Ado Ekiti will most likely finish her secondary education, but if the same girl were born in Garki local government in Jigawa, she will not complete primary education.

  • Wema Bank Supports Education for Children through Scholarship Awards

    Wema Bank Supports Education for Children through Scholarship Awards

    Wema Bank Plc – the inventor of Nigeria’s first fully digital bank, ALAT – has rewarded 20 of its Royal Kiddies Account holders as the financial institution announced winners of the Wema Education Awards for 2019.

    Given the earlier announcement to provide education support for its customers, a total of 20 winners emerged with six coming from the bank’s Lagos Region, five from South West and three each from South East, South-South and the Northern region.

    Speaking at the draw held at the bank’s headquarters in Lagos on Wednesday, September 25, Dotun Ifebogun, Divisional Head Retail Banking, commended the commitment shown by customers of the bank’s Royal Kiddies Account. According to him, the management of Wema Bank has discovered over the years that the annual award has carved out a niche for itself in the banking sector in Nigeria.

    He stated that the cash prize from the award has endeared itself to the hearts of many parents, who already have opened an account for their children aged 0 to 12 years. Dotun disclosed that many of those parents usually look forward with expectations of their children being among the lucky winners.

    He went on to assure customers that Wema Bank will continue the children education support scheme and charged parents who are yet to open a Wema Bank’s Royal Kiddies Account for their children to do so.

    Dotun added that the Royal Kiddies Account allows lodgement of dividend warrants and cheques in the beneficiary child’s name. As part of the benefits accruable from the account, he explained, Wema Bank charges no interest on any banker’s cheque purchased for payment of school fees for the account holder.

    Similarly, Funmilayo Falola, Head of Brand and Marketing Communications, Wema Bank, said the financial institution believes that education plays a key role in the future of every child which is the reason the bank attaches importance to Wema Education Awards.

    She described the award as a veritable window through which the bank supports the destiny of future champions.

  • Accountants’Conference asks FG to adopt education, prevention, sanctions in fight against corruption

    Accountants’Conference asks FG to adopt education, prevention, sanctions in fight against corruption

    …Wants unemployment, poverty addressed by FG through entrepreneurship programmes for youths

    The Accountants’ Conference of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) has recommended a three-way approach to the Federal Government in its fight against corruption.

    The Conference urged the Government to adopt education, prevention and sanctions in its anti-corruption drive towards positioning the economy to grow in a sustainable manner.

    The accountants also called on the government to address the issue of unemployment and poverty by creating start-up entrepreneurship programmes for youths and supporting them with enabling environment and funding.

    These recommendations are contained in the communiqué issued at the end of its 49th Annual Accountants’ Conference in Abuja, which was attended by 5,653 participants from 14 countries.

    The communiqué was signed by the President and Chairman of Council of ICAN, Mazi Nnamdi A. Okwuadigbo (FCA) and Chairman of ICAN Conference Planning Committee, Queensley S. Seghosime (FCA).

    In the communiqué, the accountants’ conference emphasised the need for education through strengthening institutions such as revenue collecting agencies, the three arms of government, law enforcement agencies, regulatory agencies, political parties and electoral bodies to regularly train and retrain their employees.

    “Education should be given a pride of place as it creates awareness that enables citizens to easily identify where corruption exists,” it said.

    It also advocated the creation of the necessary environment to prevent “crimes of opportunity” by ensuring individuals and organisations operate within the shared fundamental traits that are grounded in law, particularly appropriate and prompt payments of remunerations.

    “Some of the agencies created to fight corruption appear to be overwhelmed by the enormity of the problem and have in certain instances adopted strategies that seem to infringe on the rights of citizens.

    “The sanctions to be meted out on corrupt citizens must be fair and not selective. It should not be seen to infringe on the rights of citizens. These institutions and agencies should demonstrate independence from government interference,” the ICAN’s Accountants’ Conference added.

    On public accountability, the conference advised the Federal Government to hasten the full implementation of International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) to enhance transparency in public financial management and reporting.

    “Government institutions are accountable to their people and should use their resources judiciously and not mismanage them. Transparent leadership and governance will allow citizens to identify indicators of under-performance on the part of political leadership and exert well-targeted pressure to put them back on track,” it noted.

    On tackling insecurity in the country, the conference counselled the Federal Government to create employment opportunities as a means of curbing insurgency as well as develop sustainable strategies to manage the impact of climate change in the Borno State and any other part of the nation facing security challenges.

     

    The accountants’ conference said, “Security is evidently the pillar upon which every meaningful development could be achieved and sustained. Many had hoped that the return to democratic governance in Nigeria would address insurgency and restiveness. Instead, insecurity remains one of the major obstacles to development.

    “The Conference considered the case of Borno State where insurgency and climate change had destroyed over 75 per cent of developmental infrastructure and forced about 80 per cent of livestock farmers and pastoralists to migrate from the Lake Chad Basin to the Middle Belt and other parts of the country. These have caused unfortunate clashes between herdsmen and farmers.”

    Other recommendations by the accountants’ conference include:

    · On infrastructure, the conference recommends huge investment in power lines and substations through the rehabilitation of abandoned equipment; dealing with under-performing contracts; re-conductoring of 132KV lines; vigorous pursuit of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) initiative on hydro and other sources of power; accessing and re-assessing donor-funded programmes and their management; and in general adopt a disciplined application of market rules.

    · Government should take advantage of the Nation’s young and growing population of professionals to be leaders in the area of disruptive technologies. This would require upgrading the curriculum of the entire educational system.

     

    · Accountants are advised to skill up and adapt quickly to the new changes. The accounting profession’s response to cyber risk should include focusing on business-critical data, new controls around detection, response, resilience and a dynamic externally focused approach.

     

    · Governments at all levels are advised to place high premium on Accountability by fully embracing the ICAN Accountability Index (ICAN-AI) programme.

    · As watchdogs in organizations, accountants should continue to enable practices that ensure the judicious use of resources and demonstrate honesty in the discharge of their professional duties. Accountants are enjoined to embrace the Non Compliance with Laws and Regulations (NOCLAR).

    · There is the need to attract more people of proven integrity into the political space to occupy positions of leadership based on merit. Persons who are under investigation should not be given political appointments until they are cleared by the appropriate authorities of any wrongdoing.

    · In line with the ICAN motto – Accuracy and Integrity – Chartered Accountants are encouraged to get involved in active politics so as to contribute their quota to the quality of political leadership in Nigeria.

    · The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) recently issued Letters of Substitution to commercial banks in Nigeria (“the Substitution Banks” or “SBs”), appointing them as tax collecting agents for certain listed customers (“affected companies”) maintaining bank accounts with the banks. FIRS, by the Letters of Substitution, intended to improve government’s tax revenues by increasing the base of tax-paying entities in Nigeria and thereby limiting the high incidence of tax evasion in the country. The Conference condemned tax evasion but whilst acknowledging the powers of the FIRS to recover taxes payable, advised FIRS to follow due process and respect the rights of taxpayers in its strategic drive at increasing revenue.