The Nation Newspaper

Author: The Nation

  • Entrance exam into Lagos model colleges begins

    Twenty-five pupils on Monday took the Computer Based Test (CBT), as entrance examination into the 16 model colleges and upgraded secondary schools in Lagos State began.

    One hundred and two others will take their turns to write the test at the board’s Iyana Ipaja office within five days, the State’s Examinations Board Director, Dr Oluwayemi Hassan, said.

    He added that the Paper-Pencil Test (PPT) for over 10,873 candidates would hold at 43 centres across the state on Saturday.

    Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education Mrs. Olatokunbo Adeleye, who monitored the examination, said the introduction of CBT since 2015 was in line with global trends. She advised parents to expose their children to Information Communication Technology (ICT) training.

    “The world is a global village and government cannot be left out. ICT compliance is key to the development of any nation. I implore parents and schools to help children become ICT compliant. Every year, Ministry of Education records an improvement in the registration of the CBT version, which started in 2015 with 17 candidates. The CBT is the best option because it is faster and easier,” Adeleye said.

    Read Also: No Unilorin student died during CBT exams–management

    Hassan said from next year, the CBT would hold in Ikeja, Badagry, Lagos Island, Lagos Mainland and Epe, all the divisions of the state, so that all candidates sitting for the examination online would not come to Iyana-Ipaja.

    “We have 127 this year as against 72 in 2018; 55 in 2017 and 30 in 2016. By next year, the CBT will not take place at the exam board.  By next year we will have centres in the five divisions of the state,” he said.

    Hassan said the board had made provision for special needs children taking the examination.

    “We have computers for the visually- impaired, but none of them registered for the CBT option.  For the PPT option, we have braille examination questions for them. We even have a separate question for children with albinism. Their questions have larger characters; and for the hearing-impaired, we have interpreters,” he said.

    The Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) for JSS3 pupils, which was postponed on June 25, also started yesterday.

  • FG directs Accountant-General to complete forensic audit of varsities personnel

    The Federal Government on Monday said it has directed the Accountant-General of the Federation to conclude the audit of teaching and non teaching staff of universities in the country.

    The government said this would enable it verify all the claims of both teaching and non-teaching staff of universities up to 2018 so that any payment on earned allowances will be based on the actual entitlement of individuals.

    Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Sonny Echono stated this in an interview on Monday in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

    Echono was reacting to some of the demands made by the Non-Academic Staff Union and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities at a press conference on Friday.

    The permanent Secretary said he has met with the Accountant-General and his team in order to speed up the process of auditing the teaching and non-teaching staff of universities.

    Read Also: Buhari tasks universities to intensify inventions for national development

    He said: “We have advised the office of Accountant General to expedite action to conclude the forensic audit and verify all the claims of both teaching and non-teaching staff of universities up to 2018 very quickly so that any payment on earned allowances will be based on the actual entitlement of individuals. So that we will not do any projection.

    “We recognise the fact that government may not have the funds to pay all the entitlement at once.

    “We have officially communicated this to the Accountant -General. I have also met with him and his officials to convey this position.

    “We expect them to work quickly to get the auditors to complete their work so that we will not have this situation where we are pushing forward and back.

    On the 2009 agreement, he said: “Most of the issues in dispute have actually been resolved. We agreed that four meetings will be held to tidy up and have a full report for the record. So there are no major contentious issue in dispute.

    “We are on the same page with the unions.”

  • Convicted drug dealer forfeits N31m, vehicles to FG

    The Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered the forfeiture of N31.4million and two vehicles seized from a convicted drug dealer Chief Odugwe Azubuike to the Federal Government.

    Justice Mohammed Liman sentenced him to five- year imprisonment.

    The National Drugs Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) charged Azubuike with unlawful importation of 3.150 kilograms of cocaine.

    He was arraigned in 2010 with the prosecution calling two witnesses and tendering several exhibits.

    Midway into the trial, Azubuike fled.

    Read Also: Two suspected drug dealers nabbed with 40kg of hard drugs in Kebbi

    He was later re-arrested and arraigned for another drug-related offence, for which he was convicted and sentenced to three years imprisonment.

    While serving the three-year jail term, he was made to face the previous charge over which he jumped bail.

    The convict pleaded guilty to the charge.

    Prosecuting counsel Ichakpa Oigoga told the court that NDLEA recovered N31, 321, 013.55 million and N104,800,00 from the convict’s bank accounts.

    He added that a Toyota 4Runner and a Toyota Sienna were also recovered from him.

    The prosecutor said the money and the vehicles were proceeds of illicit drug dealing and should be forfeited.

    Justice Liman ordered their forfeiture to the Federal Government.

  • ‘Our native doctor asked us to get skulls of people we know for money rituals’

    Three suspected ritualists have told the police that their native doctor asked them to get the skulls of people they know for rituals.

    Sunday Mathew (52), Samuel Olaniyi (65) and Uchenna Olewunne (49) were arrested with a human skull  on July 6, 2019, at Iju, near Ota, Ogun State by operatives of the Inspector General of Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT).

    They claimed, during interrogation, that the native doctor told them they must know the  name  of  anyone   whose skulls they would be using, and members of his family, among other information.’’

    They paid the native doctor N45,000 which he used to prepare a special concoction with the human head.

    Sources said they have given the names of  other members of their syndicate to their interrogators.

    It was also gathered that  the suspects on July 9 took detectives to the family of one of the deceased whose body they exhumed.

    The deceased was identified by his family as Idowu Jimoh, who died at the age of 19 on November 15, 2018 following a brief illness and was buried behind his family house.

    One of the suspects, Samuel Olaniyi, is said to be  related to the family of Idowu Jimoh.

    Matthew  who claimed to be a farmer from Ipokia , Ogun State said it was his first time of participating in exhuming human remains for rituals.

    The father of three said: “I am living with this man (Olaniyi Samuel) in the said family house Obere, after Iju.

    “I know Uchenna Olewunne. Uchenna is an herbalist and I used to scout for customers with different personal problems for him.

    “At a point, my work was not moving fine and I discussed this hard life of mine with Uchenna. I told Uchenna that I was tired of living from hand to mouth, that I wanted to free myself from the chains of abject poverty.

    “He said it would cost me just one human head and must be the head of a person known to me in order for the money making charm to  be effective and produce the needed millions of naira.

    “I told Samuel what Uchenna told me and we met Uchenna again who promised that he would take us to another native doctor who specializes in money rituals at Owode (in Yewa South Local Government Area of Ogun State).

    “The native doctor accepted to do it on the condition that we must bring the human head with correct name and other important details. He told us not to be afraid as he had rescued several human head merchants caught by the police in the past.

    Read Also: Ogun bricklayer allegedly caught with human skulls, body parts

    “In the night of that fateful day, at about 11:00 pm Uchenna came to the family house and we told him that the human head was in a family house. Samuel exhumed the skull while I kept watch  to see that nobody was watching us.

    “When we took the human head to the native doctor, the man said there were other things needed to prepare the concoction and that it would cost N48,000.

    “Samuel and I arranged N16,000 while Uchenna promised to add N10,000 to make the total sum N26,000. But, I don’t know whether Uchenna eventually gave the native doctor the N26, 000 that the three of us contributed.

    “However, the native doctor asked us to come back the following  day with charcoal to burn the skull to make the concoction. Unfortunately, operatives of IRT arrested us on our way to get the charcoal.’’

    The second suspect, Olaniyi, a palm wine tapper and also father of three  said: “Matthew lived with me in my one room apartment. Matthew told me about the deal because I had the details of the boy whose skull we wanted to dig out from the grave at his family house.

    “The deceased was my relative but I didn’t attend his burial. My role was to bring out the skull while Uchenna’s role was to dig the grave.

    ‘’My regret is that I didn’t get a dime after the whole exercise. I am still a poor man. The devil deceived us.

    Uchenna, the native doctor, denied being a ritualist.

    He claimed to be only a specialist in curing ailments.

    He said: ”I am a native doctor, but I am not into rituals. I only cure stomach trouble, venereal diseases, impotency, fever, acute malaria, and fibroid, among others.

    “This is my first time of getting involved in money rituals. They came to me and brought the issue of money ritual and I told them the babalawo (native doctor) that could  do it for them. I didn’t want to become a millionaire. I didn’t follow them to the grave. They lied against me. I only took them to a native doctor.”

  • Belmadi vows to stop Super Eagles

    Algeria coach Djamel Belmadi has said that his team will play to beat Nigeria in today’s Africa Cup of Nations semifinal clash for their fans.

    Belmadi said at the pre-match conference at the Cairo Stadium that his boys want to write their own history by winning the title. Algeria won their last AFCON in 1990 at home.

    “There are Algerian supporters everywhere in the world. We know they love the country and football is our most popular sport. It unites us all. Our supporters have travelled far to support us. Last match was emotional. We will try to make them cry of happiness tomorrow,” Belmadi said.

    Read Also: Chukwueze: Eagles not scared of Algeria

    He added: “We won the AFCON at 1990 at home. This one is away from home. It’s more difficult. (Belloumi, Assad) are great, massive players. They played the 82 and 86 World Cups, but they did not play in 1990. We are chasing this title. We want to write our own history.”

    The former Qatar coach said his team has limited days to prepare for today’s game.

    “Preparation was based on recovery because we only played two days ago. So that’s what our preparation was based on,” he said.

    Belmadi has said all his players are ready for the game except Youcef Atal who has been ruled out due to the injury he sustained in the game against Cote d’Ivoire.

  • Chukwueze: Eagles not scared of Algeria

    Super Eagles winger Samuel Chukwueze has assured the nation that the team will hold no fear when they square up against the Desert Foxes.

    Nigeria is billed to meet Algeria today at the Cairo International Stadium in the semifinal of the Afcon.

    Villarreal winger Chukwueze was the star of the show when the Super Eagles edged past South Africa in the quarterfinals.

    The youngster scored the opener, bagged the man-of-the-match award for his exploits against the Bafana Bafana and sees no reason why Algeria should scare him or others.

    Read Also: Omeruo: Super Eagles must be wary of Algeria’s antics

    “Algeria is a good team, but we are not scared of them. We can’t be scared of any team at this stage of the competition,” the U-17 World Cup winner said.

    Algeria are tipped as favourites having remained unbeaten in the tournament. This still does not faze the rising star.

    “It is true that a lot of people have tipped them to win the trophy, but we will prove them wrong on Sunday.

    “We saw their game against Cote d’Ivoire. It was an interesting game between two top quality teams. For us, we are not afraid, they are beatable. ”

  • Omeruo: Super Eagles must be wary of Algeria’s antics

    Super Eagles defender Kenneth Omeruo has said that Nigeria will be very focused and think ahead of Algeria to curtail their antics in tonight’s Africa Cup of Nations semi final clash at the Cairo International Stadium, Egypt.

    The Leganés of Spain defender, who was pained about the unnecessary fouls committed in their previous matches, said the Super Eagles would be extra careful not to commit fouls in their close areas.

    Omeruo has also called on the referee to be ready to deal with any player who is trying to win through cheating, diving and influencing the official.

    Algeria defender Ramy Bensebaini used Wilfried Zaha’s arm to hit himself in the face during their quarter final match against Ivory Coast.

    Read Also: Onyekuru, Osimhen could play against Algeria, says Rohr

    Bensebaini can be seen in a video of the incident grabbing Zaha’s arm and then slapping himself in the face with the Ivorian’s hand before falling theatrically to the ground, clutching his head.

    “I haven’t seen the video, but there is VAR. So if such a thing happens, the referee will make the correct call,” Omeruo said.

    The former Kasımpaşa of Turkey defender added that they will try everything they can to avoid contact with the Algerians.

    “One thing my coach always says over and over again is no foul, especially around the box because we had two goals from these free kicks and they were just easy free kicks. I think the best way is to stay focused.

  • Ugwuanyi prohibits activities of IPMAN in Enugu

    Enugu State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, has issued an Executive Order prohibiting the activities of Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) in the state till further notice.

    The order, which was issued by Ugwuanyi pursuant to section 48 (1) and (2) of the Public Order Law Cap 130 Revised Laws of Enugu State 2004, section 215(4) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), and all other powers enabling him in that behalf, was as a result of the protracted crisis between warring factions of the IPMAN that has within the recent past given rise to cult activities, gun battles, banditry, continuing threat to public order and human lives and property.

    According to the Order, “the foregoing has created a general state of insecurity in Enugu State (the “State”), presenting grave danger to lives and property of members of the public in the state”.

    Read Also: Police debunk rumour of bomb explosion in Enugu

    The Order also expressed deep concern that “the continuance of activities of IPMAN in the state is likely to endanger peace and public order in the state.”

    Prohibiting the activities of the association, the Order further stated that “without prejudice to the issues in contention between the parties and the rights and obligations of the parties, and without prejudice to any judicial decisions in that regard: The activities of IPMAN in Enugu State are hereby prohibited till further notice”.

    It added that “a committee comprising the Department of Petroleum Resources, Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, and Department of State Services shall be constituted to engage with the parties with a view to maintaining public safety and public order”.

  • Group mobilises Nigerian students, youths for anti-graft crusade

    Volunteer anti-corruption group, known as ‘Follow The Money,’ has urged students of University of Jos to use their youthful skills to track public funds meant for infrastructural projects in their various communities.

    The group also said it has commenced the mobilisation of students and youths across the country to take interest in the anti-graft war of the present administration.

    Founder of the NGO, Hamzat Lawal, while addressing students of University Jos at the SS. Maimako Hall on Saturday said, “Follow The Money is a Non-Governmental Organisation established to act as grassroots agents to monitor any public funds appropriated and disbursed for projects that will benefit citizens of this country.”

    Read Also: Eleven Unilorin students faint during exams

    Also speaking at the students sensitisation programme, Chief Superintendent of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), Mrs. Okwong Miriam Ese, said “ICPC has received the work of this NGO as very relevant to our mandate and we have interest to partner with it because we encourage such volunteer groups to join hands with us to fight the battle together.

    “We in ICPC have been calling on members of the society and civil society to join us in this anti-graft war; we welcome this ‘Follow The Money’ group, and we want more; it has to be a collective fight,” she said.

    She also urged students to expose cases of sexual immorality in the campuses so as to end the social menace in our tertiary institutions.

  • Substance abuse: US diplomat, blames societal neglect, negative peer influence

    Societal, parental neglect and negative peer influence have been described as major factors that promote substance abuse among youths, hence all hands must be on deck to curb the spread.

    The Public Affairs Officer, U.S Consular General, Lagos, Russell Brooks, made these comments at a 9-Day ‘National Training of Trainers on the School Based Track of the Universal Prevention Curriculum (UPC) for Substance Use Disorders in Nigeria’ held at Lagos State Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos.

    According to Brooks, who was the Special Guest of Honour at the programme, substance abuse is a global public health challenge and research shows that 40.3 million Nigerians between the ages of 16-64 years are victims of substance abuse. “If we are concerned about the growth of Africa, then we must promote policies and programs that will reduce substance abuse in Nigeria, which is said to be the most popular country in the continent,” he said.

    In his welcome address, the National Coordinator, Universal Prevention Curriculum (UPC) and Executive Director, Global Initiative on Substance Abuse (GISA), Dr. Martin Agwogie, said the 9-Day Training is coming after six months of the first programme held in January this year.

    Read Also: Battling peer rivalry

    “Since the first training of trainers, six batches of practitioners’ training have been conducted with a total of 153 practitioners imparted in evidence based substance abuse prevention in Nigeria. Our target is to train 2,000 practitioners in this area in the next one year,” said Agwogie

    The training, according to a member, Drug Advisory Program of Colombo Plan, Kenya, Susan Mawa, is in two series: the Coordinating series and the implementing series; Nigeria she revealed is said to be in the implementing series and this is the second round to be held.

    Speaking on steps taken by the federal government to ensure a drug free society, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Sunny Echonor, who was represented by the Director, Basic and Secondary Education, Federal Ministry of Education, Lami Amodu, said government is no doubt concerned about the effect of substance abuse among youths hence it has taken the bull by the horn by partnering with NGOs, CSOs and development partners in curbing it.

    The initiative according to the Director, Pharmaceutical Service, Lagos State Ministry of Health and Chairperson Lagos State Drug Controlled Committee, Dr. Moyosore Adejumo, is timely and will help in stemming the tide of substance abuse among young ones.

    Participants at the training include lecturers, clinicians in the area of medicine, psychology and guidance counselling, religious organisations, non-governmental organisations, civil societies, among others.