Amosun sacks permsec, 5 others over ‘offensive’ exam question

ABEOKUTA — Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State, yesterday ordered the sack of six officials of the Ministry of Education, including an acting Permanent Secretary, Mrs Folashade Oresegun, three directors and an examiner over an ‘offensive’ Senior School English language summary passage.

An examiner, Adegbenro Joel had prepared English language exams questions for the third term academic session of the state’s Unified Examination in Public Secondary Schools, which had a summary passage that took a critical look at the alleged negligence of the education sector by the government.

The governor reportedly got infuriated over the development and allegedly ordered the sack of the officials of the ministry that were directly in charge of the examination.

Gov Ibikunle Amosun Those affected were; an acting Permanent Secretary, who was a level 17 officer, Folashade Oresegun; Director of curriculum, Mr. Ganiu Odunsi and a deputy director, curriculum and evaluation simply identified as Mr Majekodunmi.

Others were; the examiner who also taught at Mayflower School, two desk officers whose identity were not known as at press time.

Vanguard gathered that, Oresegun and Odunsi’s sack was converted to compulsory retirement while the four others were summarily dismissed.

Vanguard however, obtained the question paper with the ‘offensive passage’ which in essence examined the situation of the sector in the country.

The passage read; “There is no arguing about the fact that the government is merely paying lip service to the
development of the education. It is true that a lot of money is being spent on education sector but, with little or no impact felt by the people, except where we want to deceive ourselves.

“Many schools run by the government, which were formerly known for academic excellence have suddenly lost their prestige and are living on past glory. No wonder many parents and guardians are left with only one option, to withdraw their wards from these schools to other ones that are better managed.”

When asked to comment on the development, the Secretary to the State Government, Taiwo Adeoluwa told Vanguard on phone that he could not.

Adeoluwa said; “The issue is a civil service matter. The best person to comment is the Head of Service. Please call Head of Service”.

While confirming the sack, Adeoluwa said, “I heard it
yesterday the way you did and I asked them what happened.

It is a civil service matter, and I cannot react to it.”
Attempts to get a reaction from the Head of Service was however unsuccessful as she did not pick her call nor respond to the text message sent to her mobile phone.

1,805‎ intending lawyers fail bar examson august 07,

ABUJA – The Council of Legal Education, yesterday, released the results of the Bar final examinations it conducted in April and May, 2015 which a total of 1805 candidates failed out of 5588 that sat for the exams.

The Council, in a statement it issued in Abuja yesterday, disclosed that whereas only four candidates made First Class, a total number of 109 candidates made Second Class Upper.

The two exams participated by a total number of 5588 law school students, recorded 64.8% failure‎.
Giving a breakdown of the results, the Director General of the Nigerian ‎Law School, Mr. O. A. Onadeko, revealed that a total number of 2,736 students participated in the Bar final resit examinations for the 2014/2015 school year.

Out of a total number ‎of 1,648 students that were declared successful at the exams, 98 students secured conditional pass, while a total of 990 students failed.

‎The April results according to the law school DG translates to 60% pass, 3.6% conditional pass and 36.2% failure.

Similarly, the May 2015 Bar Final examinations for Regular Students which had a total of 2, 852 candidates, recorded 815 failure, with four candidates graded in First Class.

Names of the four First Class candidates ‎were given as Sani Fatima Bombom from the Abuja campus of the law school, Mbonu Genevieve Chinyeaka (Lagos Campus), Olowu Adetutu Abisoye (‎Lagos) and Abajuo Reason Emma from the Enugu Campus.

A total of 109 candidates made Second Class Upper, 418 were graded in Second Class Lower category, 1,422 got Pass, while 83 others secured Conditional Pass.

Onadeko said the May 2015 Bar Final Examinations results translated to 68.5% Pass, ‎2.9% Conditional Pass and 28.6% failure.

“The call to the Bar ceremonies for the successful candidates will hold from October 20 to 22 , 2015, in Abuja‎”, he added.

Former Director-General of the school, Chief Kayode Jegede, SAN, who was the longest serving DG had at a point raised an alarm over the falling standard of legal education in the country.

Successive DGs of the institution had expressed similar concern over the declining standard and high failure rates being recorded in the bar exams.

However, a further breakdown of the results revealed that the candidates who had earlier failed the exams in the 2014-2015 session recorded the higher number of failure after resit.

The poor performance of candidates in this category in past bars exams has been attributed to their failure to attend tutorial classes preparatory to their resist exams.Instead, some of the affected students preferred to read on their own rather than attend the school’s organised compulsory tutorials for resit candidates.

America honours NAPTIP boss as 2014 trafficking in person hero

Appointed Executive Secretary of NAPTIP in 2011, Mrs. Jedy-Agba leads Nigeria’s effort to eradicate human trafficking, as well as ensure justice for trafficked persons.

The Executive Secretary of Nigeria’s National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons [NAPTIP], Beatrice Jefy-Agba, has been named a 2014 trafficking in persons hero.

The award was conferred on her by the United States Secretary of State, John Kerry, in the Benjamin Franklin Room of the State department, Wednesday.

According to a statement made available to PREMIUM TIMES by NAPTIP’s media director, Arinze Orakwue, the award is in recognition of her tireless efforts in fighting human trafficking and her passionate commitment to end modern day slavery.

The U.S. government said Mrs. Jedy-Agba is one of the 10 notable persons globally, who despite resistance, opposition and even threats to their lives protect victims, punish offenders and raise awareness of ongoing criminal practices in their countries and beyond.

During the award ceremony, Mr. Kerry said “the crime of human trafficking affects all parts of the world and no government is doing enough to combat it”.

He lauded the efforts of NAPTIP, noting that Mrs. Jedy-Agba has transformed the anti-human trafficking landscape by incorporating anti trafficking issues into national development discourse, planning and policy.

He also called on all the awardees to form a global network of action and actors to combat the scourge.

The Secretary of State said “it takes a global village working together to combat a global crime”.

Apparently delighted by the recognition, Mrs. Jedy-Agba said the award would spur NAPTIP further towards more effective initiative in the fight against human trafficking.

The NAPTIP boss said “in the fact of justice and equality, all humanity are connected and criminals thrive when we disconnect”.

Other activities lined up for the awardees include a two-week programme of meetings.

During the period, the awardees will meet with officials from the U.S. Department of State, NGO representatives, some U.S. government agencies, and professionals.

The meetings are for sharing ideas in a continued effort to further end modern slavery.

Mrs. Jedy-Agba was appointed Executive Secretary of NAPTIP in 2011. She has since then taken the lead in Nigeria’s effort to eradicate human trafficking, as well as ensure justice for trafficked persons.

The 2014 trafficking in persons report placed Nigeria on tier 2 ranking which means the country needed to increase its efforts in all areas including but not limited to justice for victims, prosecution for traffickers, and increasing prevention efforts through awareness creation.

The report called on NIgerian legislators to urgently amend the draft of the anti- trafficking bill to increase penalties to traffickers and ensure that the activities of the agency receive adequate funding as a national priority. .

82 students bag 1st Class degree at Covenant University

He said the institution had received recognitions nationally and internationally.

Eighty two students of the Covenant University, Ota, Ogun, on Friday bagged first class degrees at its 2013/12014 convocation.

The Chancellor of the University, David Oyedepo, disclosed this at the 9th convocation and the conferment of honorary doctorate degrees and presentation of prizes to deserving students and eminent citizens.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that 1,429 students comprising 1,334 undergraduates and 95 post graduates received various degrees during the convocation.

In addition to the 82 students that bagged first class honours, 594 bagged second class upper division honours, 531 bagged second class lower division honours while 127 bagged third class honours.

Mr. Oyedepo said that the institution in its 12 years of existence had maintained a culture of excellence in education and this had produced significant results.

He said the institution had received recognitions nationally and internationally.

He said that for two years running, first class graduates of the institution emerged tops in the Presidential Special Scholarship Scheme for Innovation and Development (PRESSID) in Nigeria (2013 and 2014).

“Our graduates are recognised all over the world while most of them have gained postgraduate admissions to world-class universities where they stamped their indelible footprints in the academia and the world,” Mr. Oyedepo said.

He urged the Federal Government to partner with the nation’s universities to provide solution to the security challenges in the country.

He said that the only way the Nigerian universities could be relevant in solving societal problems was to continue to carry out researches that would resolve political and cultural challenges.

Chance Ayo, the Vice Chancellor of the institution, said that the university was committed to producing quality graduates for accelerated national development.

(NAN)

Chibok Schoolgirls: Nigerian boarding schools must provide security for students – Jonathan

Presidential Fact Finding Committee on Abducted Female Students in Chibok visited Mr. Jonathan.

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Despite that Borno State has been under a state of emergency for over a year, President Goodluck Jonathan has virtually blamed the authorities of the Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State for failing to provide security thus leading to the kidnap of 276 girls from the school.

The final year teenagers were kidnapped by the Boko Haram from the school dormitory on April 14.
“If we had just five security personnel in the compound that night, although they couldn’t have stood the firepower of the invaders, they could have alerted the girls and they wouldn’t have been deceived,” Mr. Jonathan said in Abuja while receiving the report of the Presidential Fact Finding Committee on Abducted Female Students in Chibok, Borno.

Mr. Jonathan said if the school had provided security for the students, “most of them (the girls) would have been able to escape and probably the number taken would not have been up to 30.”

“But because there was no security at all, there was nobody to even warn the girls that there was danger’’, he said.

The President, therefore, urged school operators, especially those in the north east of the country, to provide basic security for their boarding students.

He said henceforth, school owners, especially in the north east, who want to keep their students in boarding houses, must be ready to make basic security provisions for their safety.

“Let me charge everybody, whether corporate bodies, federal and state governments or individuals that own schools especially in the north east, that if we must keep students in hostels, there must be some basic security that should be provided,” he said.

“On the issue of Chibok, even if we had five police officers guarding that school that night when the invaders came in, they couldn’t have been able to deceive those girls.

“The story was that they came in military camouflage and deceived the girls that they were soldiers, who came to take them on protective custody because Boko Haram was invading the community, and they followed.

“While I am not expecting school owners to put an army battalion on guard, at least basic security arrangement should be made to protect their students,” he added.

The president’s statement comes weeks after the West African Examination Council, WAEC, said it warned the Borno State government of the dangers of holding the final Year SSCE examination in Chibok.

WAEC said it only agreed to hold the examination in the school when the state government assured it of adequate security. The state government never denied the examination authority’s claim.

Analysts, however, questioned WAEC’s rational of asking a state government, whose state is under a state of emergency, and who, even before the emergency rule, had no control over security agencies, to provide security for students.

The abduction of the Chibok students and the continuous killings by the Boko Haram in Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa has made several people including the state government question the state of emergency.

The federal government has however defended it saying security officials need it to be effective in tackling the insurgents.

On Friday, Mr. Jonathan also disclosed that his administration would not limit its anti-terrorism efforts to military intervention only as it was currently looking at economic issues to improve people’s welfare.

He said in addition to government’s Almajiri school programme, his administration was strongly supporting the Safe Schools Initiative to keep children in troubled states in school.

The President said Victim Support Fund would soon be floated to cater for those affected by the insurgency, including orphaned children and those whose businesses had been destroyed.

He promised that the Federal Government would rebuild the Chibok school using army engineers.
“All buildings there will be demolished and rebuilt. That will start after the children are rescued.

“On completion, the federal government will not manage the school because it is a state school. We will hand it over to the state government to manage’’, he added.

He assured the committee members that the security council would study their report and take the necessary steps.

The Chairman of the committee, Ibrahim Sabo, said the report addressed a number of issues that were incidental to the committee’s terms of reference.

He listed the issues to include matters dealing with insurgency in general and the military/political responses vital to overcoming the current security challenge.

Mr. Sabo said the committee met with four of the girls who regained freedom and their families.
The chairman, however, advised that the report should be treated with utmost confidentiality in order not to jeopardise the ongoing rescue efforts or compromise national security.

This, he said, does not preclude government from releasing information that may be useful for a better public understanding of issues surrounding the abduction saga.

Mr. Jonathan inaugurated the committee on May 6 to provide government with accurate information about the incident.

Its six terms of reference included liaising with the Borno Government and establishing the circumstances leading to the school remaining opened for boarding students when other schools were closed.

It was also mandated to liaise with relevant authorities and the parents of the missing girls to establish the actual number and identities of those abducted, among others.

(NAN)

LBS woos young scholars

Some of the nation’s brightest minds will hone their research skills and gain first-hand exposure to academic life at the forthcoming Lagos Business School (LBS) Young Talents Programme.

The one-day programmes scheduled for August 1, is aimed at building a relationship with students and young graduates. It will also offer successful candidates research scholarship opportunities and build a network of future LBS faculty.

The LBS Young Talents Programme is open to second-year undergraduates and above, including M.Sc holders and corps members (not older than 30) with first-class or second-class-upper honours degrees.

They will be exposed to the LBS culture, history and inspiration.  They will also learn about career channels in management, research and teaching, including the day-to-day activities of faculty, researchers and administrative staff.

“The programme will bring talented people in contact with a world-class institution where they will learn what it takes to begin an academic career,” explained Dr Uchenna Uzo, faculty lead on the programme.

“It is also an institutionalised way of getting good talent who can become faculty or administrative staff now and in the future,” he said.

As with other LBS activities, the relationship with participants will be maintained after the event so the benefits they derive will be sustained.

Dr Franca Ovadje, member of the faculty team, said Young Talents Programme could not have come at a better time.

“LBS strives to be a world-class business school with a significant impact on the African environment.

The Young Talents Programme (YTP) aims to develop strong academics who will transform society through their knowledge and research. YTP will prepare participants for an academic career in business management,” she said.

Muslim students condemn media clampdown

Media961, a media monitoring unit of the Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria (MSSN), Lagos State branch, has condemned clampdown on the media by the Federal Government.

In a statement, the group’s Coordinator, AbdurRasheed Abubakar, said President Goodluck Jonathan has the constitutional power to stop the military from confiscating newspapers.

“For days, we read reports of the clampdown on some selected newspapers by soldiers and the damages this has resulted into.

We have also read, through the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr Doyin Okupe, that President Jonathan was not part of the plot.

 Hence, we call on the president to, as a matter of urgency, call the military to order and allow the media to carry out their constitutional duties,” the statement read.

The group said it was undemocratic for the army to raid newspapers; adding that the action violated the Freedom of Information as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution.  It added:

“This is not a military regime. Nigeria is a democratic country, where all matters should follow judicial process.

That’s what we expect from the military in a situation like this. It’s a condemnable act and it’s high time we stopped seeing the media as enemies.”

Abubakar noted that the media played important role in the development, urging the president not to see the media as enemy of democracy.

Four bag first class at DELSU

Four students bagged First Class during the Eighth Convication of the Delta State University (DELSU) in Abraka. PHILIP OKORODUDU (Graduating student of Electrical, Electronics and Computer Engineering) and ESE OKODUWA (300-Level Home Economics Education) report.


No fewer than 10,215 graduates of the Delta State University (DELSU) in Abraka were conferred with degrees and diplomas at the institution’s eighth Convocation penultimate Saturday. The ceremony was held at the Convocation Arena of the university’s Site III.

It was for the 2011/2012 and 2012/2013 set of graduates. About 8,049 got first degree certificates; 597, Diplomas and 1,569, post-graduate degrees.

Four of the graduates had First Class, 1,372, Second Class (Upper Division), 4,819, Second Class (Lower Division), 1,684, Third Class and 170, pass.

In attendance were the Visitor, Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, and the Pro-chancellor and chairman of the Governing Council, Mr. Tony Elumelu, among other top dignitaries.

The Vice-Chancellor (VC), Prof Eric Arubayi, said the ceremony was an opportunity for the Visitor and stakeholders an opportunity to meet the graduands.

The event, he added, ended the students’ struggle to get a degree. He urged the graduands to take stock of their achievements, saying they must reflect on the challenges they faced before they got their degrees.

Prof Arubayi expressed gratitude to the state government, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) and other organisations for their support, especially in providing infrastructure.

The VC praised staff and students for joining him to make the campus conducive for learning.
Uduaghan urged the graduands not to give up hope on the future of the country, noting that the objective of Delta Beyond Oil, his pet project, is to open up the state’s economy and provide jobs for indigenes.

Highlight of the event was the presentation of gifts to the best graduating students – Efe Igbagbon of Mechanical and Metellurgical Engineering, who had a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 4.64 and Joy Onyemaechi  of Economics department, who made a CGPA of 4.67.

Joy advised her colleagues to be ready for the challenges of life outside the ivory tower.

Efe gave all the glory to God, saying: “When I was admitted, so many people told me that getting a First Class in this university was like trying to make a Carmel pass through the eyes of a needle.

 But, I set forth to do my best and I am glad that today, my best was good enough.”

UPDATE: Why we shut OAU indefinitely – Management

The students protested a hike in their tuition fees.

The Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU, has been closed down indefinitely and students ordered to vacate the school premises.

The school’s management took the decision to shut down the school following three days of continuous protest by the students.

The school’s Public Relation Officer, PRO, Abiodun Olanrewaju, told PREMIUM TIMES that the school was shut down because of the continuous protest by the students of the University.

“The university administration has decided to shut down the school because of the persistent student demonstration which led to the breakdown of law and order,” he said. “We have decided not to allow further break down of law and order and to protect the sanctity of lives and
property.”

Mr. Olanrewaju said the students were directed to vacate the university premises and hostels by Thursday.

The students, since Monday, have been protesting to demand a reversal of the hike in school fees as announced by the management.

For several hours on Wednesday, several administrative staff of the school were held up in the Senate building, as students barricaded it seeking audience with Bamitale Omole, the Vice Chancellor, VC.

It is not clear if Mr. Omole, was inside the building; but he had earlier on defended the fee hike.
“The charges being paid by the OAU students were not only the lowest in the entire Nigerian University system but also the most ridiculous in the entire tertiary educational system in Africa,” he said at a press conference.

Also standing by the decision to hike the tuition fees, the PRO, Mr. Abiodun, said the decision is not negotiable at the moment, hence, students should go home to be with their parents.

“Well the school fees in not a negotiable issue at the moment. The governing council of the university has given the go ahead that the student in science, art, physical and pharmacy should pay N19,700, N30,700 and N33,700 respectively,” he said.

Mr. Olanrewaju said the university administration does not consider the sums exorbitant and lamented that the students insist on paying the old fees
“The university says no. If the kids will be doing this, then they should go and meet their parents at home,” he said.

PREMIUM TIMES learnt that the school management has brought armed police officers to the school gate, perhaps to bring them in on Thursday to force the students to leave the school.

The use of armed security operatives to quell students protests is common in Nigerian higher institutions sometimes leading to the death of students including in OAU in 2004.

Mr. Abiodun did not comment on the armed security officials but said the university’s Senate will re-open the only when it sees calm return.

“The closure is indefinite,” he said.

Emefiele urges education on GDP rebasing gains

The Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, has urged media practitioners to educate the people on the gains of the nation’s rebased Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Emefiele made the call at the opening of the 19th seminar for Finance Correspondents and Business Editors yesterday in Kaduna.

The theme of the seminar is “Rebasing of Nigeria’s Economy and Implication for Financial System Strategy 2020″.

He said: “I urge our business editors and financial correspondents to inform and educate the various economic agents and stakeholders on the gains of rebasing the economy.

“This is our chance to tell our story by ourselves and let the world hear about the Nigerian resurgent economy.”

Emefiele, who was represented by the Director, Research Department of CBN, Mr Charles Mordi, said that 19 years gap before the economy was rebased posed a challenge in recording Nigeria’s accurate economic reality.

According to him, sectors like telecommunications, information technology and distributive trade of our economy recorded tremendous growth within the gap of 19 years.

He said: “It would be unrealistic to stick to the 1999 base year figures given such structural changes, in addition to changes in the price structure over these years.

“Given these dynamics, GDP rebasing becomes inevitable in order to ascertain more accurate estimates of the size and structure of the economy.”

He explained that the new GDP would help economic planners to gauge whether government was realising its goal of achieving the Vision 20-20-20 target.

$22.5m Safe School Fund takes shape

The Safe Initiative Trust Fund initiated during the World Economic Forum for Africa in Abuja has gone into effect with $22.5million.
Finance Minister Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala explained yesterday in Abuja how the money will be spent.

Africa’s Youngest PhD Holder

The University of Lagos (UNILAG) awarded yesterday a PhD to Mr. (now Dr.) Olaoluwa Oluwadamilola (24), Africa’s youngest PhD holder.

Olwadamilola had the best PhD thesis, titled: “Studies on Fixed Points of Contractive and Expanding Maps in Multi-Dimensional Spaces”. He scored 5.0 Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) as Bakre Oluwafemi Abubakar, a graduate of Electrical/Electronics, emerged the 2012/2013 Convocation Valedictorian — he graduated with a superlative CGPA of 4.86.

Oluwadamilola’s parents are missionaries with the Deeper Christian Life Ministry.

They gave birth to him while on missionary work in African Central Republic, a French-speaking country, where Oluwadamilola had his basic and tertiary education.

He got a B.SC in Mathematics and M.SC and Physics before returning to Nigeria in October, 2009.

According to Oluwadamilola, he began his PhD in 2010, courtesy of a scholarship from the General Overseer of the Deeper Christian Life Mission, Pastor Williams Kumuyi. He spent the minimum three years for a PhD scholar in school.

Speaking with reporters at UNILAG Auditorium One, Oluwadamilola said: “I used to come first in my secondary school days, but not always. My performances became better when I entered the university.”

On his challenges during the programme, he said: “As a Christian, my schedule is very tight. I am focused. There were times when I faced distractions from friends who wanted to take me out. There is nothing bad in it, but it can make you concentrate less. There were times when I had job offers and was tempted to take them.

“I was discouraged at the beginning. One gets a feeling at the beginning of one’s doctorate programme that all the research topics had been considered by previous scholars and so there is nothing else to do, except for the most complicated ones that are most times beyond one’s ability. “Sometimes when you send your papers to international journals, they return it for one reason or the other. That does not mean your work is not good enough, but it can be very discouraging.”

On his next plan, he said: “I want to take another doctoral programme, which will be in either Mathematics or Physics. I will think of what topic to choose before I eventually go ahead.”

Abubakar, the valedictorian, described himself as someone from a privileged home.

Born of banker parents, he said it was not too difficult for him to study Electrical/Electronics, adding: “I will not describe myself as a bookworm, as I try to normalise everything I do. I am not a party freak, but once in a while, I attend social functions with my friends. I am privileged to have been born into a comfortable home. I must confess that I am a product of good advice. I chose the kind of friends I knew would influence me positively and you will always find me in their company.”

Executive-Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC) Prof. Julius Okojie, who represented President Goodluck Jonathan, urged the university’s management to be more creative in boosting its Internally-Generated Revenue (IGR).

Okojie, who also commended UNILAG for the prudent use of funds, underscored the need for universities to seek help from the alumni.

The week-long convocation wrapped up yesterday with the inauguration of three projects – the Central Laboratory donated by an alumnus and the General Overseer of the Mountain of Fire & Miracles Ministry, Dr. Daniel Olukoya; the Biodun Shobanjo Mass Communication Multimedia Centre of Excellence, courtesy of the Chairman of the Troyka Group, Chief Biodun Shobanjo; and the Alumni Jubilee House built by the UNILAG Alumni Association in collaboration with Guarantee Trust Bank.