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Winners of 3rd Edition of The Carnival Calabar Essay Competition Emerge
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Edu, Eval Sylvester, a third year student of the Department of Geology, University of Calabar has emerged the overall winner of the 2010 Carnival Calabar Essay Competition for the tertiary category. He scored 64% to cart home a HP laptop, Printer, Plaque and a scholarship worth seventy thousand Naira, while Shiyam, Shiyam Christopher, of the University of Calabar International Secondary School, scored 76% to win the First Prize for the Secondary Schools’ Category. He was also given a laptop, plaque and fifty thousand Naira scholarship. Also in the tertiary category, second position went to Miss. Edet, Glory Henry of the Department of Business Management, University of Calabar. She scored 62%, to win a laptop, plaque and thirty thousand Naira scholarship, while Edet, Ekpo Okon, Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Calabar, came third with 54%, and went home with a laptop, plaque and thirty thousand Naira worth of scholarship. Second position for the Secondary Schools’ category, went to Edet, David Edet of Hope Waddell Training Institution Calabar, who scored a total of 72% to win a laptop, plaque, and thirty thousand Naira, while Ina, Hene Afona, of Zenith High School Calabar, came third and was given a laptop, a plaque and twenty thousand Naira.
Duke Town Secondary School, Calabar, Mary Slessor Academy Calabar, University of Calabar International Secondary School, Calabar, Hope Waddell Training Institute, Calabar and Zenith High School, Calabar, were adjudged five best Schools and Desktops, text books and exercise books worth seven hundred and fifty thousand Naira were donated to their libraries, while the Department of Geology, Business Management, Medicine and surgery, Department of Banking and Finance all of the University of Calabar, as well as the Department of Maths/Statistics, Cross River State University of Technology, were the best top five Departments. Text books and desktops were donated to these Departments. While congratulating the winners, the Wife of the Governor, Mrs. Obioma Liyel Imoke, reiterated Government’s commitment to giving education top priority. She enjoined students to key into the Carnival Calabar Essay Competition so as to reap the benefits, saying it would avail them the opportunity to research. She opines that constant reading also helps to open brains and widen the horizon of the younger ones.
Mrs. Liyel Imoke, called on the Commissioner for Education to assist in publishing the award winning Essays to encourage other students to participate next time. She also suggested that the essay competition should be organized earlier in the year to enable the carnival bands build their themes around it thereby giving the winners more confidence. The commissioner for education, Professor Offiong Bassey Offiong, thanked the Governor’s wife for her interest in education, child development and in ensuring that the future of the children was built on a sound and fruitful note. He also commended the governor, Senator, Liyel Imoke, for all his aggressive reforms in education sector which he said has strengthened the quality of education delivery in the State. “It is through competitions of this nature that one can mirror the quality of education that is given to our children” he said. While promising to partner with Carnival Commission in institutionalizing the competition, Prof. Offiong disclosed that a new curriculum on tourism would be introduced in the State next year.
In her address, the Executive Secretary Carnival Commission, Mrs. Elenda Osima Dokubo, recalled with nostalgia how the Carnival Commission decided to collaborate, with asFac ( a State Fit For a Child) an initiative of Mrs. Obioma Liyel Imoke, two years ago to initiate the competition, with the desire of entrenching a responsible carnival with a clear development outcome and to inculcate reading and research writing culture in the youths. Mrs. Dokubo, who noted that tourism is a flagship of the present administration tasked people of the State to publish more books on tourism to boost the governor’s drive on tourism. She commended all crossriverians who sponsored this year’s event and enabled it to be a success.. In his report, the chairman of the adjudication panel, Mr. Liwhu Betiang, of the Department of theatre Arts said the 2010 competition was based on the theme “Our Strength and Resilience the Bedrock of Our Future“ which is also the theme for the 2010 Carnival. Mr. Betiang, disclosed that this year’s competition was keenly contested by both secondary and Tertiary Institutions and had unprecedented high number of entries with 142 entries for secondary schools’ and 135 for tertiary institutions. The chairman of the adjudication panel explained further, that expression, mechanical accuracy and organization, were part of criteria used for scoring. He however recommended that adequate publicity should be given to subsequent competitions and that enough time should be allocated to planning and emphasized the need to reorganized the administration and that this will ensure the originality and also prevent rampant cases of plagiarism.
The Answers That Elude Nigeria
By Stalwart
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The symposium organized by the McCarthy foundation on September 23, 2010 to talk about Nigerian Universities compelled me to visit Waldoff Astoria, a hotel that I needed to check out because it is featured in my favorite movie----------‘Coming to America’.
In that movie Eddy Murphy played the role of an African Prince who to chagrins of his majestic father dared to abandon the luxury of his palace only to become a destitute in America.
The hotel did not disappoint in its legend. Its Gothic architecture displays high swaying pyramidal chandeliers. Also the McCarthy foundation event was bold in its concept and goals. I learned how committed in resource and money the foundation is to Nigerian Universities. For once in a long time I found something to be proud of as a Nigerian.
However my good time quickly evaporated when a moderator made this announcement. ‘I will be introducing his Excellency the Governor of Anambra State, Nigeria, but I must warn you that his Excellency would not be answering any questions’. His Excellency, the announcer continued has agreed to spend only few minutes with the audience before rushing out to other engagements. He listed the Governor’s itineraries: His Excellency has to scurry back out because he has a hot date waiting in the wings for him. His Excellency has to hasten out because he has to hold hand with another ‘no-show’ Excellency the President of the federal republic of Nigeria. In that fashion the moderator smeared the audience with dung after dung while Governor Peter Obi sat and played dumb.
After the on-behalf excuses Peter went on to deliver one of the most boring monologue I ever heard. When I think back I could not recollect any part of his speech. His speech sucked in all its paragraphs and irked at every inflection points. Then the Governor got up and ran out of the auditorium. A couple of attendees' chased him down the long descending stair of Waldoff but he managed to elude them.
The only memories I have about the Governor are some tortuous veins that ran across, from his neck to the bottom of his chin. They inflated like balloons whenever he leaned forward to speak. For a minute I thought the veins were going to pop and squirt.
All I wanted to do was to ask the Governor a question or two. Why couldn’t his Excellency answer questions about the kidnappings in the Eastern part of Nigeria? How could his Excellency talk about education and interstate commerce when citizens are scared to walk, drive around most Eastern states of the federation? For Havens’ sake these are not mean questions. It beats me why the event organizers wouldn’t let the audience ask this fellow a few questions? It is disrespectful to just dump your crap on the best of Nigerians in America and runaway. Where in hell was he running to? He needed to be held accountable on the perimeters of his speech. I could feel the audience wanting to winnow him down to commonsense and reality. People flew from all corners of the United State of America to find out what the matter is with Nigeria and not to be smeared with sputtering speech. The Governor will never again meet so much Nigerian talent packed in one room.
The erstwhile Nigerian finance minister, Doctor Ngozi Okonjo Iweala also gave a speech on the Nigerian economy. She dropped a bombshell-----------In 2010 90% of Nigerian GDP is generated from oil as compared to the seventies when oil generates only 40% of Nigerian GDP. But she also got off from answering only one or two questions on the ruse of ‘other engagement’. I say thank you, but next time do not bother coming. I think what the audience needed was to interact with her and not just to listen to her lecture. The question in everybody’s lip is this: Will Nigeria implode when one or two oil wells dry up? Her insight would have been valuable and appreciated.
While waiting for his turn the royalty, the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe was generous with his time and availability. He hung around, shook hands and talked with the general audience. That is the way it ought to be. During his speech the majesty mentioned some oil companies that aid Nigeria Universities. Shell petroleum he noted, supports department of geology, engineering etc of some Nigerian University. Even though the Igwe came across as someone who wouldn’t mind answering some questions there was hardly any opportunity to exhaust him with questions based on his presentations.
Through meaningful dialogue and questions it would have dawned on the Royalty how 'Shells' seeming philanthropy pales when compared to the environmental degradation, social disintegration, morbidity and posterity damnation that they create in Nigeria.
The other chancellors were equally graceful and impressively honest. They came to talk from their heart. I had the feeling that they were also ready to answer questions had the moderators given them the opportunities to do so. Failure to give the chancellors ample time to answer questions cost them valuable input from the audience.
In a symposium such as this, questions and answers session is indispensable to both parties. It cuts the chase right to the bone. Dialogue exposes weaknesses and irons out wrinkles in thought and understanding. As we host dignitaries from Nigeria, questions and answers ought to be baked in the negotiations. There is no need to kowtow to the extent of docility when working out an invitation deal with Nigerian politicians.
The host must be vigilante at all times. They must be ready to cut the guests off when they slobber or rigmarole on answers in other to run out the clock. Time and money spent to come to these shows are valuable and should not be squandered.
Nobody expects any one person to know it all, however people do expect an honest attempt to respond to their questions and concerns.
It is time that the organizers of similar events man-up and stop setting up the Diasporas as whetstone for political chicanery and propaganda.
Enjoy the holidays and keep an open mind.
Stalwart
Trouble in Ikole-Ekiti Over Alleged Plan to Relocate Federal Varsity
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Trouble returned to Ekiti State in the early hours of Thursday when irate protesters stormed the streets of Ikole-Ekiti in Ikole Local Government Area of the state over alleged plan by the state government to move a federal university allocated to the state and earlier slated for the community to Oye-Ekiti in Oye Local Government Area of the state.
But the state government has accused leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state of being behind the spreading of the “falsehood” that precipitated the protest.
Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Alhaji Ganiyu Owolabi, who spoke with the Nigerian Tribune on telephone over the matter, said the government had not made any such pronouncement, adding that some PDP leaders from the state, operating from Abuja, spread a rumour that the university would be sited in Oye and not Ikole where the state governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, in his power over the Land Use Act, had promised to site the university.
The protesters, made bonfires in strategic places in the town and displayed placards of various inscriptions, condemned the alleged plan to move the proposed university.
The Ekiti State government, however, assured the people of the state that the decision to site the university in Ikole-Ekiti remained unchanged despite the subversive activities of “a few cabal.”
According to a statement issued by the Special Adviser to the governor on media, Alhaji Mojeed Jamiu, following deep consultations with relevant stakeholders, including officials of the Federal Government, state government, traditional rulers and community leaders, Governor Fayemi chose Ikole-Ekiti as site of the new university.
He said, “before the decision to site the university in Ikole was made public, the governor had also consulted with President Goodluck Jonathan, the Federal Ministry of Education and the National Universities Commission (NUC).”
“The decision to site the university in Ikole-Ekiti was informed by the need to avoid unnecessary acrimony among communities at a time we are still grappling with self-inflicted crisis, borne out of indiscriminate and self-serving siting of tertiary institutions in the state.
Minister Expresses Confidence in Nigerian Scientists
Nigerian Tribune Reports
Minister expresses confidence in Nigerian scientists
Written by Bello Gusau, Sokoto
Wednesday, 08 December 2010
THE Minister of Science and Technology, Professor Moha-mmed Ka’oje Abubakar, has expressed confidence in the ability of Nigerian scientists in meeting the standards of their counterparts across the world.
The minister said this, on Tuesday, while declaring open a summit on climate change and desertification, at Sokoto Energy Research Center, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS).
He called on Nigerian inventors to market products by the scientists for consumer use in the country.
He said they should ensure that their products were made available made it to pass quality control test.
He said concerted efforts should be made to protect the environment so as to guarantee health of the citizenry.
Osun polls: Aregbesola in Oyinlola out
To Be Sworn In By 12 Noon Tomorrow.
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The Federal Appeal Court, Ibadan have declared the candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Rauf Aregbesola, winner of the 2007 governorship election in Osun State and ordered that he should be sworn in by 12 noon tomorrow.
The judgment brings to end the Peoples Democratic Party's government headed by Olagunsoye Oyinlola, whom the judges said has been governing the state illegally since 2007.
Mr Aregbesola had gone to court to challenge the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC following the declaration of Mr Oyinlola as the winner of the 2007 election.
Prior to the judgement, the two sides had argued their briefs at the last sitting of the court in November 1 when the five-member appeal panel, led by Clara Ogunbiyi reserved judgement on the matter.
There is a wild jubilation across Osun State and civil servants were seen closing their offices to go home for the weekend.
Recall that the court has since overturned PDP victory in Edo, Ondo, Ekiti, and ordered re-run election in Delta state.
Meanwhile, the national chair of an opposition party, Citizens Popular Party (CPP) Maxi Okwu has said that the verdict is high life, rap music, samba, and reggae to all lovers of democracy in Nigeria.
“It came nearly four years late, however as is said in the cliche 'better late than never.' We in PAN congratulate and celebrate with Gov-Elect Engr Rauf Aregbesala whose doggedness was Titanic.”
The Voice of Jacob and the Hands of Esau
By Prof. Femi Ajayi - SOBEF650@aol.com
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THAT VOICE IS THAT OF JACOB WHILE THE HAND IS THAT OF ESAU
Having satisfied the constitutional requirements as duly elected governor of Ekiti State, Fayemi is hereby declared as the duly elected governor and should be sworn in immediately," declared Justice Salami. The Ekiti State leadership has changed gear.
With those words PDP lost another State in the South West. O pari o o o. E don finish!
The States left for PDP now (October 2010) in South West are Oyo, Osun and Ogun. What an irony of life as Oni lost to Fayemi on his wife's birthday.
I could imagine Bola Tinubu laughing from his mouth to his ears as the announcement was made, that his investment finally yielded some dividends. Tinubu is a dirty fighter. He fought the PDP in Lagos State, now in Ekiti State, eyeing some other States in the South West, where he is going to meet the fight of his life.
All the macabre dances and the naked women's hex on the election riggers have come to pass. I had wished the beautiful Deputy Governor, Mrs. Funmi Olayimika, took off as a participant in that naked parade that day. I hope they would not do that publicly again. They should keep their God given apples safe for their Darlings, not featuring on the pages of Play Boy magazine.
At the celebration with Governor Mimiko of Ondo State, the Deputy Governor opened her full-size mouth again at the celebration with Fayemi like a hungry Crocodile ready to swallow an elephant.
Adebayo, Deputy Governor & Dr Fayemi with wife
In his swift reaction Dr. Kayode Fayemi stated that "This is a good day for Nigeria, this is a big victory for democracy. It shows that democracy is worth fighting for and is worth waiting for."
This could be a borrowed statement from Fayemi to the people that have been dispossessed of their freedom through their votes across Nigeria. People should be allowed to control their votes after considering their options as to who would represent their interests not their pockets.
Meanwhile, it has become clear that the 42 month-administration of the immediate past governor of Ekiti State, Mr Segun Oni, will be brought under close scrutiny, if the repeated threats by Dr Fayemi are carried out eventually.
According to Fayemi "we will ask questions. We will carry out forensic investigation of what has happened in the last 42 months. We will conduct on-the-spot assessment of the situation on the ground, but we won't witch-hunt anybody. We won't be running after anyone, because he is on the other side. No, we are all one in Ekiti."
Fayemi should focus on the challenges in Ekiti State and face it squarely, not hassling on what goes on in his neighboring States. He may not be sure if he has to stay for four years, if he is lucky. The bulala for the first wife is hanging in the ceiling for the new wife after the honey moon.
Fayemi should be careful not to start a war he could not cease by demoting the Permanent Secretaries in Ekiti State, or messing with the civil servants. Although Public Service in Nigeria needs a complete overhaul, but should not be done with prejudice, or any political victimization. Otherwise he would end up fighting while climbing a slippery hill.
We hope he swallowed that decision for PS to revert to their positions held as at May 28, 2007. Fayemi could have been defectively advised and could be dangerous for his administration. Even if he has to make some corrections he should be done with impunity, and decency. He should focus on his agenda not wasting much time on digging or witch-hunting the past. Most Nigerians' attention span is very limited.
Fayemi's welfare package includes free education at primary and secondary levels; social security for the indigenes of the state that are above age 65; free medical services to pregnant women and physically challenged as well as children under the age of 5. These are lofty programs that are definitely filling the anxiety level of the new Governor as he might be chewing more than he can swallow, based on his shadow knowledge of the public service landscape while making such promises.
Among other new package for Ekiti State are building bridges across all party divides, give the State the best governance in the area of infrastructural development, qualitative education, rural development, tourism, which he regarded as the aesthetic value of the state, gender equality and women empowerment.
As for the election riggers he is joining decent Nigerians to fight the 'voice of Jacob and the hands of Esau' syndrome in Nigeria politics.
As part of what Nigerians want to see happening across the country is the practice of accountability and transparency where fiscal issues would be handled according to the will of the people and not what any leaders want.
Fayemi is now talking like the Ekiti compatriots that fought during the Kiriji War of 1877 to 1886. He speaks European in the Heart of Africa, where dirty politics heralds any development. Nigerians are waiting for his miracle wands.
Fayemi has been challenged by his people to turn things around. There is no doubt why Ekiti, or any other States for that matter, could not be like Lagos under a very peaceful atmosphere.
Some Ekiti citizens commented that 'We voted for Fayemi to uplift Ekiti to Lagos 'status'. Another echoed, 'Fayemi is my hero'. Who does not want to add Goodluck to his or her life?
What a huge challenge for Fayemi as Nigerians could be impatient. They wanted to see the crumbling of many years to start yielding dividends almost immediately. Very soon there would be another song of crucifixion if he does not perform like Fashola of Lagos State.
Very decent Nigerians would like to be associated with something good, just like Christians would sing 'I want to be like Jesus….' Some would stop at that as they could not match what comes after; in my good work, humility, love, peace, understanding while no one ever hears anything ugly from Jesus Christ.
Lagos State has proved to the entire world that, if the City and the State could make a turn-around, led by a Nigerian, there is no one that could not duplicate whatever has been accomplished in Lagos, given the circumstances that prevailed in Lagos State.
When Nigerian factor wanted to destabilize Lagos State, citizens of the State rose against the macabre dancers and they retreated from the retrogressive moves echoed 'Eko o ni ba je o'.
Nigerians should not consider Oni as a bad person. He is a victim of circumstance. Oni is a fine gentleman of unsullied character. Ironically he was on the wrong side of the road when a drunk driver swerved to his side and crushed his legs. Oni does not have what it takes to govern a State.
Based on his ill-prepared mandate to manage Ekiti State, he found himself in the midst of the hungry fowls that consumed him and could not get out from the grubby water. Ekiti people are reasonably stubborn to the core, based on principles. Imposing someone not their choice would be constrained to the core.
Oni is loved by the people; when it comes into politics, don't mess with Ekiti blood. They would resist such nuisance with the last drop of blood in their vein. Ekiti do not suffer fools quietly and they always stand by what they believe in.
This might be what Jonathan need to watch out for in his administration. He must surrounds himself with top notch technocrats after the 2011 election.
As patriotic as Ekiti people are, they still love Oni, who has tried his best which was not good enough for the State. He did not just have the antecedent to lead the state out of the woods; they would forgive him for his shortcomings which were not his making.
Nigerians are appealing to those that play politics of bitterness to desist as that would not take Ekiti State or any other State to anywhere. All that is needed now is to come together, forgive Oni, pray for the successes of Fayemi, and everyone should work together for the success of the new government. Turning around the fortune of the State for good should be the goal.
However, for Oni to say that he would go to court if Fayemi fails to probe him is like getting caught on top of his landlord's wife, stark naked. While his line of defense was to tell his neighbors that his landlord sent him out because of his failure to pay his 'water rate' on time. The problem might not be Oni, but how he got to the office through the back door.
Ironically the election challenges might have prevented Oni from concentrating on some of his projects. Unlike in Ogun State, despite the humongous challenges which Otunba Gbenga Daniel has faced for the past three solid years, he continues with his programs. Oni does not have the iron heart like that of Otunba Gbenga Daniel, the man of heavy metal heart, who continues to sustain the daily bickering in the State.
Now that the dire is cast, Chief Oni should get down to his engineering profession instead of suing Fayemi. Lawyers are waiting to make their money from Oni whenever he is ready to go to court.
Resolving within him, the PDP purchased candidate Oni, was pushed into the terrain he was not familiar with. He has decided not to vie for governorship again. What a good statesman.
According to him,
"Some people worked for me and with me. Now, I have assumed a figure in Ekiti politics that I should be thinking of how such people would be able to serve in their chosen positions. I don't think I want to come back as governor; I prefer one of those who had worked for me to be supported for such a position and I know that after this, we in the PDP are forming the next government."
You could tell from the beginning that Oni was not a fighter, but only a toothless bull dog. Since Obasanjo could not tolerate Fayose, he reached out to Oni and continued with abuses of his fellow human beings just in the name of politics. He publicly labelled Mimiko as a rogue during a campaign in Ondo State in 2007. He called Fayose jaguda, just to score some fake political points. Now it is yielding some dividends for PDP.
Oni has already moved his properties to Lagos home ahead of the pronouncement. What a gentleman who does not fit into the Nigeria political game. We wish him well in his future undertakings.
What is Baba Iyabo looking for in that bag, with the polite notice that "Bags Not Allowed in Exam Halls".
Baba Iyabo might have commented,
"That is your own notice. If any invigilator has two heads let him challenge me for spying the answer from my bag. I will ask Jonathan to sack the VC or CLOSE this Open University - Oloshi, olori-buruku, at my age to fail again? God forbid bad tin. Dat is why my security is here".
His Excellency, Lam Adeshina, the former Governor of Oyo State has reminded us that 'the voice is the voice of Jacob but the hand is that of Esau'.
According to him,
"… they rigged me out of office, and I maintain that. I won election in 2003, neat! All the South West governors, except of Lagos lost out. Oh yes! That's what Obasanjo did to us. That's what he did to us. We won! We won! We won! All the Southwest governors won but they rigged us out by writing figures and so on and so forth. And mark me, before Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu died; he disclosed that I won the 2003 governorship election in Oyo State. He said it. Not until Obasanjo decided that we should leave, otherwise, Alhaji Adedibu would not have wanted to do anything that would push me out by rigging. But it was Obasanjo who said we should leave. Somebody described that Chief Obasanjo's attitude as an evil by a Yoruba against Yoruba. Is it right to put it that way?"
Chief General Mathew Olusegun Okikiola Aremu Obasanjo, Baba Iyabo, Balogun of Owu, Chairman PDP Board of Trustees, the voice Nigerians are hearing is that of Jacob, while the hand Nigerians are feeling is that of Esau. The failure in South West now is being measured against the impostor Oni on the people of Ekiti State. Other States should be on the look out.
Promising what Dr. Kayode Fayemi cannot deliver should not be what he should be preaching. When he gets to where he is going, he will realize that all that glitters is not gold anyway. Free Education, free Health care, free what again, are easier said than done. His experiences in London should be some pointers as to how he makes political promises in this challenging Nigeria political terrain.
PDP has a lot of work to do in the South West. PDP should look for fresh candidates outside Fayose.
Congratulations, Dr. Kayode Fayemi!
Professor Femi Ajayi is Head, Political Science and Public Administration Department, Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State
Jonathan Blames Initiators Of 6-3-3-4 On Nigerian Education Woes
Francis Nelson
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Nigerian President, Gooduck Jonathan has said that the former minister of Education who introduced the 6 -3 -3 – 4 system of education must confess to Nigerian for the education system that did not work in the country.
Jonathan said this in Abuja at the opening of the two -day National Stakeholders Summit on Reclamation, Restoration and sustenance of Quality and Ethics in Education in Nigeria.
The President noted that the country educational system needs change for better delivery of education in its entire ramification covering the basic and tertiary institutions in the country.
He lamented that in spite of the good quality of human resources in the country when Nigerians go abroad for their advance studies they are subjected to various form of tests for some period to bridge their Nigerian certificate.
“What worries me is that Nigerians are intelligent people and it pains me that when our people travel abroad for masters of PhD programmes they are asked to do a diploma examination first before doing their masters of doctorate programme.”
The president also pointed out that the issue of playing local has negatively impacted the education sector as
many people have indigenized the sector which was suppose to be the citadel of learning and national pride.
He wondered why sectional interests are being promoted by people of host communities to federal university instead of accepting qualified minds from outside that community.
While recalling that as a student in school both at secondary and tertiary levels the lecturers and students of
the schools he attended came from different parts of the country.
President Jonathan also said that education as a social service for the development of the human resources of the country must be shielded from politics because we cannot get the Nigerian of our vision without quality education.
He also said that the federal government would review the stringent guidelines of the special intervention funds like the Universal Basic Education and the Education Trust Funds ETF, to attain faster delivery of education at the basic levels.
The President hinted that the reports from the summit would be presented to the governors for action so as to make the nation meets the desired expectation.
In her speech, the Minister of Education, Professor Ruquayyatu Ahmed Rudfai decried the decadence in the
education system saying that the quality of graduates from Nigerian universities is a concern to the government.
Nigerian Education Minister Sends Daughter To University In Ghana
Daughter Refuses To School in Nigeria Over Deplorable Condition
Amidst pessimistic views held by Nigerians concerning the nation’s university system in the last 50 years, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Education, Barr. Kenneth Gbagi, on Monday revealed that uncertainties in the education system compelled him to send his daughter to a university in neighbouring West Africa country, Ghana for tertiary education.
While trying to provide justifications for his action, he said despite being a Minister of Education in Nigeria other notable persons desirous of quality education for their children send them to Ghana and other foreign universities for schooling due to their managerial ability.
Gbagi who recently got appointed into President Goodluck Jonathan’s cabinet as Minister of State for Education had in a separate forum in Abuja advocated the need for increment in tuition fees for students to boost graduate output, saying the Federal Government ought to have no business in controlling the affairs of university education.
The Minister said Nigeria had not really faired well educationally after over five decades of the establishment of the first indigenous Nigerian university.
He stated this in Abuja yesterday at a public presentation of a biography on Nigeria ’s University system in the last 50 years written by Association of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities.
Gbagi also took a swipe on Nigerian professors over the last five decades, saying they ought to be pro-active in their approach to unravel the problems in the system if the sector must forge ahead.
His words: “I was discussing with a friend recently and I told him I have a daughter who is studying medicine in Ghana, so when I was made minister of education I tried to pressure her to come back and school here, but she said if I come back to the country what guarantee do I have that I would graduate at the stipulated time.
As professors what have we done as a people to resolve this problem of education, what are doing to make sure that the issue of education is taken out from the realms of government”.
“Education as we are all aware is the bedrock of any nation, its high time VCs of universities come out to fashion out a long term plan as to how they want university education to be. Personally I think we could achieve this by going back to the drawing board”, he added.
Francis Nelson
Crisis looms as NUC Shuts down Nigerian ministry of health’s illegal Varsity
Police Avert Showdown Between Angry Dean and NUC Officials
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It took a timely intervention of men of the Nigeria Police for officials of the National Universities Commission (NUC) who were assigned the duty of closing illegal universities otherwise known as ‘degree mills’ across the country to escape from the hands of irate students of Federal College of Complementary and Alternative Medicine of Nigeria, an illegal university allegedly being operated by the Federal Ministry of health.
The NUC team led by the Chairman of its Committee on Closure of Illegal Universities, Professor Ebenezer Adebisi Adebowale was attacked by the Dean Academics of the College, Professor Osmond Onyeka who insisted that the NUC has no power to close down the college.
Apparently angered by what he described as an unlawful invasion of the College Campus located on Plot 505, Wushishi Crescent , Utako District Abuja, the livid Professor Onyeka lambasted the NUC team as well as the country itself.
The illegal Federal College of Complementary and Alternative Medicine has its National Headquarters in 4, Bujumbura Street, Off Aminu Kano Crescent, Wuse 11 where it has its administrative block as well as Bursary department.
The distraught Dean of Academics however mobilised his students to attack the NUC officials and journalists who came to cover the closure of the school instructing them to come down from the three storey building to make sure that their invaders didn’t get out of the campus premises.
But the presence of three police men attached to the team prevented the situation from degenerating from a chaotic one as the college authorities mobilised more hands who sought audience with the NUC team but were rebuffed.
When confronted with facts that the college has been running degree, masters and Phd programmes, the College’s Dean of Academics denied such saying that the college only runs professional and certificate programmes.
Responding to these, Professor Onyeka insisted that those information were mistakes on the forms and the handbills .However, the admission forms and handbills circulated by the college indicate that the College offers courses in Alternative Medicine and awards Certificate, Diploma, Advanced Diploma, Bachelor, Masters and Doctor of Philosophy in Alternative Medicine.
His words: “First of all we are not running a degree programme there was mistake on this (handbill). If you remember, this is not
the first time NUC will be coming here. Actually this problem happened two years ago and NUC …I just took over as the head of this particular department. I’m Dr. Onyeka, I’m 01 in America , I’m a registered Doctor of Alternative Medicine in District of Columbia . I will not come from what is legal and do what is unlawful here. That’s why I said you are just invading my privacy but since this is how you want it you are not going to change anything with this drama you are doing.
We are not running degree programme I repeat there is nothing like Masters Degree in Medicine, it is fake, there is nothing like Phd in Medicine; no school will give you that. This school is established by the Federal Ministry of Health in the yearnings and recommendation of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria to train Alternative Medicine Doctors in the four arms of Alternative Medicine”.
He explained further “there was a Medical and Dental Council Committee when Dr. Kay was the chairman and went round the country to check Alternative Doctors who have been trained and discovered that most of the schools were sub-standard… what we are doing now is that the Medical and Dental Council has decided that we are running a professional course just like the ICAN. There is no way we will be running a degree programme without NUC approving it we are just wasting our time”
But upon insistence by the NUC team that the college was running illegally without approval or accreditation from the regulating authority, Professor Onyeka lost his temper and said “take me to your police station. Sir you are not a judge. You have to go to the Ministry of Health first you can’t just come here and give an order. I say we are not running a degree programme. Sir, I’m working here for the Ministry of Health, am I not working for the government? You can’t come here and be threatening me here”.
African Examiner gathered that NUC has done enormous research on the school before deciding to close it down.
Speaking on the issue, Professor Adebowale said “when we got your form we have to find out whether you are affiliated with any of the universities, we also try to find out whether any of your programmes is approved by the NUC. These are the things we want you to respond to.
“What we will do is that the police will be here to see that no lecture is taking place and now that the students have known that the degree they are reading for is going to a dead end because they cannot do any you corps service and they cannot use the certificate to work they too will begin to make enquiries about what we came here for.
"We also want to make sensitisation for everybody to know that this is an illegal degree mill. You cannot have a degree course being affiliated to a ministry, you can only be affiliated to a university and they are not affiliated to any university. Even if they are affiliated to the Ministry of Health where is the accreditation of their programmes? Are their degree programmes approved? But he has now said they are not running degree programmes again in an attempt to avoid that but you heard the students that they are running a degree programme.
"We have gone further to do our home work; we got their forms here they categorically tell us that they are offering a BSc, an MSc and a Phd within two or three years. Where is that done in the
country or anywhere in the world?
"We have the list of students in 100 levels, we have another list, 200 level, we have another list 400 level. These are the names of the students that are in this school and this is the list of lecturers and instructors. Therefore, with effect from now all lectures must stop”
Africa Examiner
Mass Failure: Minister Summons NECO Registrar
…says We Are Not Satisfied With The Results
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Barely 24 hours that the National Examination Council (NECO) released the result of 2010 Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSCE) in which approximately 870,305 candidates were said to have failed to get at least credit passes in English language, the Minister of State for Education, Barrister Kenneth Gbagi has summoned the Registrar of NECO, Professor Promise Okpala to Abuja for explanations.
In the result released by NECO cases examination malpractices recorded also shot up to 615,010, which also gave rise to more worries as to the continued abysmal performance in public examinations in the country.
The Minister at a media conference in Abuja yesterday to commemorate the 2010 year of Peace and Security told journalist that he was completely unsatisfied with the results so far released and wondered where things must have gone wrong in the system.
His words: “when I stepped into my office yesterday and saw the report in one of our dailies, I immediately asked the director in charge of that sector to summon the man at the helm of affairs of that parastatal. But it all makes me wonder where have the Ministry gone wrong or where have the teachers, parents and wards as the case may be gone wrong, I believe at the end of our meeting with the chief executive of the council, we shall attempt to find out”.
“Maybe at the end of the meeting also we shall come up with a strategy of e-mailing results to parents directly. I have equally come up with a policy of re-certifying teachers every three years because some of these teachers we have in our system have lost tune with present day realities, especially in terms latest teaching concepts.” He added
NECO Registrar, Professor Promise Okpala while releasing the results had revealed that 66,519 candidates that sat for English had their results cancelled while 66,260 candidates experienced similar fate in Mathematics.
On the 2010 year of peace and security, the minister noted that despite efforts aimed at restoring peace globally, many African countries were still caught in the vicious circle of conflicts, destruction and stagnation thereby making it difficult to sustain growth and development on the continent.
As at the time of filling this report, Professor Okpala was sighted rushing into the Federal Secretariat, Abuja where the Ministry of Education is located. Efforts to get him to talk on the released results failed as his was in a hurry to get to the Minister’s office.
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