By Justina Asishana, Minna

 

Twenty-three students would graduate with First Class during the third combined convocation of the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai holding Saturday.

The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Muhammad Nasiru Maiturare told reporters in Minna during the pre-convocation briefing that 3,212 students would graduate during the ceremony.

Of the number, 700 made second class upper; 1,990 second class lower; 470 had third class; and 29 graduated with pass.

He said the graduates cut across six faculties which include Education and Arts, Natural Sciences, Languages and Communication studies, Agriculture, Faculty Management and Social Sciences.

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The Vice-Chancellor further said 91 students would graduate with Post Graduate Diploma (PGD) and Masters degrees.

He also said that the institution would award honorary degrees to the late governor of the state, Abdullahi Abdulkadir Kure and immediate past Chief Judge, Justice Maria Sanda Dzukogi.

Maiturare said that there has been an increase in enrolment of female students from 33 percent in 2017 to 40 percent in 2019.

 

By Damola Kola-Dare

 

Former Registrar, University of Ibadan, Mr Olujimi Olukoya has urged members of the registry staff of Federal College of Education, Technical, Akoka, Lagos, to imbibe the spirit of excellence and avoid being complacent to make headway in their careers.

He delivered a lecture entitled: “Becoming your best ever: A pursuit of excellence”, last week during the Registry Staff Association’s third Public Lecture and Annual General Meeting (AGM).

Olukoya, who is a visiting Registrar to the National Universities Commission (NUC), Abuja, charged them to work relentlessly to realise their potential.

“To excel in life, we should know that excellence does not consist in doing something once. It is not even in doing sporadic occasional engagement but what we repeatedly do. It is a formed habit,” he noted.

Quoting John Mason’s ‘An Enemy called Average’ he stressed the need for them to use their talents at optimal level.

He said: “We have been wired by God with great potential, and if only we would cooperate with Him, unlearn bad habits that choke excellence in us, and develop healthy habits of excellence, we would break free from the stronghold of failure and mediocrity to becoming our best ever.”

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He advised them to take positive steps towards being goal-oriented as administrators while charging them to be proactive in their various endeavours.

“As administrators, you have to initiate, create, be focused and expect the desired results. You can be like the eagle, which symbolises courage, determination, bravery and grace,”he urged.

Earlier in his speech, Provost of the institution, Dr Wahab Azeez, noted that for any institution to grow rapidly its Registry must perform excellently; hence he called for the support of members of staff to move the institution to greater heights.

He said: “For any institution to develop faster, the Registry of such must be at its best. Therefore, I am calling for your  support to bring new ideas into the system and take the institution to greater heights.”

Commenting on the essence of the lecture, the Registrar, Mr Rasheed Dada, noted that it was aimed at promoting professionalism and keeping up with the latest trends in administration.

By Damisi Ojo, Akure

 

Former Vice-Chancellor, University of Ibadan, Prof. Olufemi Bamiro, will lead the third governing council of Elizade University, Ilara-Mokin, Ondo State.

The Council was inaugurated recently by the founder of the University, Chief Michael Ade-Ojo, who said he set up the institution to help reverse the exodus of Nigerian youths to other countries, by making available at home, what they are seeking abroad.

He called on the Council to do more to forge a closer relationship with the town for the benefit of the students.

The chairman, Toyota Nigeria Limited said: “I also want to breed pure Nigerian graduates to an essentially Nigerian atmosphere but with new attitude of service to one’s community, for me acquisition of knowledge is useless if not actively applied.

“Therefore, I would like the university under this new governing council to forge a strong link between itself, the business world and government, and its parastatals, realising that at the end of their studies, the students will invariably be found in all these sectors.

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“I, therefore, urge you all to come along with me and build Elizade University to an enviable height”.

Chief Ade-Ojo disclosed that he had invested over N28 billion in the institution, promising to continue doing his best until it becomes self sustainable.

He said his ambition within the next five years was to see the university ranking as one of the best 10 among the 179 universities in the country.

He urged all stakeholders to begin to think of a viable endowment launch for the university for the purpose of assisting the founder, who is the sole financier of the university at this point in time.

Responding, Bamiro promised to look into the challenges highlighted by the founder.

He promised to adopt strategic plan to guide the council in its dealings, stressing that with good planning and commitment  to the vision for the establishment of the University would be realised.

Bamiro spoke of the need for the Council, Board of Trustees(BoT) and the Vice Chancellor, Prof Oladipo Amund to align in order to uplift the university.

 

By Uja Emmanuel, Makurdi

 

The Vice-Chancellor of the Christian University of Mkar, Mkar, Prof. Iorwuese Gernah, has called on the National Assembly to amend TETFund Act to accommodate private universities.

Gernah made the appeal during a press conference to announce activities for the 4th combined convocation of the University located in Benue State.

The University of Mkar is based in Gboko Local Government Area and funded by NKST church worldwide.

The Vice-Chancellor said the need to amend TEFund Act became imperative because at the time the law was enacted there were no private universities in the country.

On the controversy surrounding IPPIS, Gernah said that Nigerian University needed one another to achieve academic excellence using the available manpower and the introduction of IPPIS would place hardship on small universities like UMM that are funded through levies from church coffers.

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During the convocation, Gemah said 22 students would graduate with first class in various degrees, out of the 1, 177 undergraduates and 59 post graduate degree holders.

He stressed further that the biggest challenge of the university was infrastructural development and funding.

The VC called on the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom and others to support the university, especially in the construction of the two main roads leading to institution which he said were in dilapidated condition.

During the convocation, The vice Chancellor said senator Barnabas Gemade would be installed as the chancellor of the University, while Honorary degrees would be conferred on three prominent Nigerians.

 

By Adesoji Adeniyi, Osogbo

 

As the world celebrates this year’s Soil Day, Bowen University, Iwo in Osun State has charged Nigerians to do away with deforestation and overgrazing to prevent climate change.

A senior lecturer at the College of Agriculture of the university, Dr. Vincent Ishola, said that it was expected that climate change would disrupt world by causing extinction of some species, adding that the Africa would be more vulnerable than other continents.

Speaking on the theme: Stop Soil Erosion, Save Our Future, to celebrate the 2019 World Soil Day, he said that 33 percent of the fertile soil had been washed away by erosion which according to him, could be prevented by planting grasses.

Ishola charged the government to sensitise people on how to prevent and control soil erosion in their localities, saying: “We join the rest of the world to celebrate the Soil Day and ask the government to raise awareness among the people about the soil health.

Our experience has shown that erosion is a problem to crop production and if we fail to prevent it, it will destroy the present and coming generations.

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“We can stop soil erosion through conservation including best agronomic practices. We can reduce tillage or no-tillage, permanent organic cover by retaining crop residue and crop rotations. All these practices will help mitigate climate change effect.

“Soil sequestration can be achieved by enhancing concentration and pools of SOC and soil inorganic as a secondary carbonates through land use conversion and adoption of recommended management practices in agriculture and pasture grasslands and forest ecosystems, restoration of degraded and drastically disturbed soils.”

Also speaking, the coordinator for Bachelor of Agriculture Programme in the university, Dr. Lawal Tunde, urged people to guard against anything that could decrease value of the soil for good living of human beings.

According to him, plants and animals are living things that depend on soil, saying “there is no way we can have life without soil. Plants grow from soil to produce oxygen that animals share.”

 

By Gilbert Alasa

 

An Educationist, Kunle Lawore, has called on the government to give education financing the same kind of special treatment that agriculture and industry enjoys.

In an interview with The Nation, Lawore, who runs RiseUp Schools and Colleges, in Lagos, said private school owners go through a lot to raise funds for infrastructure.  However, given the complementary role they play in providing education, he said they deserved more support from the government.

He said: “One key challenge which I believe everyone involved in education in Nigeria will relate to is infrastructure. It costs a great deal to have appropriate facilities in place to run a school in Nigeria.

You have to generate power and that costs a great deal if you use technologies like audio visuals.

“Requirements by banks are highly prohibitive. I strongly believe that government needs to have a different mindset towards education considering its potential impact on the economy of the nation.

If special banks can be set up for Agriculture and Industry, nothing stops government from doing same for the educational sector.”

Lawore urged the government to set up education banks that could offer single-digit interest loans to proprietors.

“School owners are very important stakeholders in nation building, and efforts should be concerted by way of policy to aid them in capacity building which will have multiplier effect on the economy in the long run.

This can be achieved by ensuring these banks give loans at single digits. It will also naturally drive down cost of offering educational services,” he said.

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Lawore, an Archaeologist, said he was motivated to get involved in education because of his passion for youths.

He said this passion was sustained from when he started out as a tutorial centre teacher before his university education to when he owned a centre which later metarmophosed into a full-fledged school.

He said: “Sometime in early July 2004, I realised I could make significant impact by being involved with youths.

Before I gained admission to the university, I had been involved with teaching secondary school students on private basis and in tutorial centres, particularly those preparing for their Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE).

I continued this even as an undergraduate especially when on holidays. So, I had experience dealing with youths at this level. I realised I could make significant impact by starting a tutorial centre while building my mentoring capacity.”

Regarding adoption of technology by schools, Lawore said schools needed to do more.

“For schools integrating technologies as integral part of instruction and engagements with stakeholders within the school value chain including use of software to track performance and provide critical analytics,

By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie

 

Four Professors of English who served as judges in the 2019 National Essay Competition organised by the UBA Foundation have warned against the use of abbreviations or social media short cuts in formal writing.

The Judges, led by Prof Ini Uko of the Directorate of Pre-Degree Studies, University of Uyo (UNIUYO), noted the damaging implication of such wrong usage on the level of expertise of young people in the use of the English language during the presentation of awards to winners on Monday at the UBA headquarters in Marina, Lagos.

“Short message Service is still having extensive damaging implication on Nigerian youths’ usage of language.  There were spelling errors, unnecessary contractions, sentence fragments and more,” she said.

The judges, however, praised many of the 5,000 entries adjudging them better than last year’s edition.

The secondary school pupils wrote on the topic: “What do you think  government should do to control fraud in Nigeria?”

After screening out entries that were disqualified for not meeting the required guidelines (length; handwritten; etc), Prof. Uko said the judges selected the best 12 based on the following criteria: Content (40), Expression (30); Organisation (15) and Mechanical Accuracy (15).

The 12 finalists were invited to Lagos to write a second essay in a live environment to determine they were the authors of the original entries.

Prof. Uko said their performance in the second essay titled: “If you could be an entrepreneur with unlimited resources, what will you do to change the world?” showed that their entries were genuine – unlike in past editions where there was substantial disparity in performance between the first and second essays.

Uko praised the UBA Foundation for providing a platform for the pupils to express their creative abilities.

Eight of the 12 finalists were girls.  It was therefore no surprise that girls won the top three prizes.

Oluwatoroti Otokini of Louisville Girls High School, Ijebu Itele, Ogun State, won the grand prize of N2 million scholarship grant, a trophy, certificate and laptop.

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She was followed by Precious Ifeoma Okey of Oladipo Alayande School of Science, Oyo State, in the second position with a N1,500,000 educational grant. In third place with N1,000,000 prize was Aimeé Okoko of Beautiful Beginning Academy, FCT Abuja.

All 12 finalists received brand new laptops from the UBA Foundation.

Livingstone School, Lagos, also won a prize of N1 million for filing the highest number of entries for the competition.

The winner, Oluwatoroti said she did not know much about the competition until she made it to the second stage and had to google about it.

She said she was happy to have won.

“My school did not put in a lot of emphasis on the competition.  It was just like another essay competition,” she said, adding that she had no sleep the night before she wrote the second essay.

Her teacher, Josephine Oladipo, said the school’s mantra to its pupils is that they be prepared for anything.

“We just prepare them to be ever ready.  The present JSS1 pupils have already been told to write down the type of competitions they would like to enter for,” she said.

In her remarks, the MD/CEO of UBA Foundation, Bola Atta, praised the winners for their exceptional brilliance, while encouraging others who did not win to try again.

“For those that did not win, I would say do not be discouraged. Take it as a challenge to perfect your writing skills and enter for the competition again in 2020,” she said.

While presenting the prizes, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of UBA Plc, Mr. Kennedy Uzoka praised girls for excelling in the competition but also called for support for boys too.

 

By Adegunle Olugbamila

 

A Senior Lecturer at the Department of History, Lagos State University (LASU), Dr Wunmi Oluwatoki, has described Islamic education as an asset that helps learners thrive in mainstream education.

He said it was one of the reasons that Muslim parents must ensure that Islamic education was ingrained in their wards from childhood.

Oluwatoki gave this counsel at the 15th Annual Quiz and Qur’anic Recitation organised by the National Council of Muslims Youth Organisation Amuwo-Odofin chapter.

Oluwatoki noted that Qur’anic education espouses certain philosophies such as fate, ambition, death, destiny, and fear in Almighty Allah, among others.

“One interesting thing about Qur’anic education is that it makes man understand that whatever he aspires in life has been predestined by God. Even though man may struggle, only God has preeminence.

Therefore, making these children to understand this from a very tender age will restrict their desperation for worldly things. It will also make them more prayerful, knowing that man proposes; God disposes.”

Chairman of the occasion, Abdulganiyyu Olukolu congratulated the participants as well as their parents for their desire in believing and upholding Islamic education.

Aside winning prizes, Abdulganniyyu admonished participants to see their participation as part of their service to God. He also encouraged them to put more efforts in their studies, noting that when they excel, their teachers and school mates would single them out because of their affiliation to Islam.

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In the quiz category, Miss Omotosho Usman and Master Omotosho Usman both from Tusiyan School Agboju defeated Ali Qudus and Ibrahim Tawakalitu from Markas Taalim Liaroby while Hajarat Bello and Rukayat Tijani from Markas Danul Salam emerged second runners-up.

Similarly in the Quran recitation, Adekunle Mahbab from Markas Kuje Amuwo emerged first, followed by Ahmad Bello from Navy Town; Islammiyah and Jimeh Khadijah from Tawakalitu Mosque.

The winners in each category were presented with a standing fan, a ceiling fan and a wall clock in that order.

The sponsor of the competition Alhaji Abdul Wasiu Aderibigbe recounted how the contest began 15 years ago as a means of honouring his late mother Alhaja Osenat Kehinde Lawal.

“At the end of the day, we usually have six winners–three winners from the quiz and three from the Quran recitation categories,” he began.

“I am glad to tell you that each category of this event has been so successful. Winners that emerge from this competition have always represented Amuwo-Odofin chapter at the state level.

Some of the winners that this competition has produced are also in attendance here. There is a particular winner who has gone to establish his own Islamic school and he is here with some of his students,” he concluded.