Category: Campus Life

Pharmacy students of the University of Benin (UNIBEN) are kicking against  the industrial action embarked upon by their lecturers. The strike, which began on April 1, saw the lecturers refusing to carry out their duties and conduct inductions for the final year students.

CAMPUSLIFE gathered that the lecturers are angry over unpaid allowances and alleged shabby treatment meted out to them by management.

According to findings by CAMPUSLIFE, all was set for the final year students to be conferred as ‘pharmacists’ when the news of their lecturers’ strike halted preparations for the induction. The students were more irked because only the Faculty of Pharmacy was shut down, while other faculties are still running.

Some of the aggrieved students told CAMPUSLIFE that the lecturers could have explored other avenues to express their grievances other than their present action.

One of the students, Charles Omokaro, recounted how he was looking forward to resuming for the session when he learned that the lecturers were requesting for their unpaid allowances: “This is annoying. Why will industrial action be the only option to address our needs and requests in this country? What happened to dialogue?”

A lecturer who pleaded anonymity stated that they had sued for dialogue for a long while, but the school management had taken them for granted.

He said: “The Faculty of Pharmacy is like the cash cow of the university. We have a factory where we produce drugs that supply the university health services and other nearby retailers.  We do not know why matters concerning the faculty are treated so lightly. Other lecturers in their relevant fields are paid their due allowances, but lecturers in pharmacy are not paid. This is uncalled for, and until they decide to address this issue, we are ready to stay at home.”

According to the lecturer, the management had repeatedly ignored their pleas, adding that dialogue has not helped the situation either.

However, what seems like a twist to the story is now emerging as students of the faculty blamed their lecturers for carrying out a partial strike. They alleged that the lecturers conducted exams for the PharmD conversion students in the course of the strike, but have ignored the importance of inducting their final year students.

However, the Head of National Association of Pharmacists in the Academia (NAPA), UNIBEN chapter, Fabian Amaechina, declined comments and directed CAMPUSLIFE to the management.

Lauretta Obakpolor, who is the past SUG president and a final year pharmacy student, explained that although the strike was long overdue; yet the timing may not been perfect.

“I believe the aggrieved lecturers once ignored the need to agitate over their legitimate rights. I say this because this fight has been long overdue.Keeping it till this time and allowing themselves to be coaxed into mere promises is insensitivity on their part. The management, on the other hand, should be careful in making promises they know they can’t keep basically due to the bureaucracy and other Nigerian factor. After promising three times and failing, they don’t expect NAPA to believe any of their promises anymore.”

Lucky Oduma described the yet-to-be-inducted students as ‘unfair’. Uduma stressed that he had been delayed for additional months just because of the strike. He called on the striking lecturers to cease fire and attend to the inducting before the strike could continue.

Meanwhile Uniben Public Relations Officer Mr. Michael Osasuyi, said management is trying to resolve the issue amicably.

He said: “Every workers are being paid by the Federal Government so the university has paid everyone as and at when due.

“These lectures presented to us a document which was backed up by their association; but we realised the whole thing was not properly documented.

“We studied the document and realised the allowances they are agitating for could only be paid to two categories of pharmacists- those in the hospitals and health centres. These lecturers are already under salary structure which is (CONUASS) Consolidated University Academic Salary Structure CONUASS, but also want a situation where they will also be under CONMESS (Consolidated Medical Salary Structure) so that the allowances they are agitating for could be paid.

‘’The management want peace; this is why we have been looking for final solutions to this issue.”

Then university does not have the right to determine what to be paid once such is not yet captured under the Salary and Wages Commission. That is the point we are now. The Salary and Wages Commission also sent a delegation to the university to explain this. We do not want to be coerced into taking in what we cannot spew. But we are not sleeping over the matter.”

DESPITE that Nigeria is contending with insurgency, banditry, kidnapping, moral decadence, corruption, injustice and other challenges, a Professor of Arabic Literature Aliyu Muhammad Jami’u, has said the future is not that gloomy.

However, for the aforementioned vices to become a thing of the past, there is a need for profound ideals and sound moral lessons in most Arabic literature to be adopted, internalised and imbibed by every citizen, Prof Jami’u said.

Jami’u delivered the 13th inaugural lecture of the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai (IBBUL), Niger State. He spoke on: Nigerian Arabic Literature: Effective tool to combat societal challenges.

Addressing the audience in the school auditorium, Jami’u defined Arabic literature as writing produced both in prose and poetic form by scholars of Arabic language. He said Arabic literature was one of the most valuable literatures in the world because of its richness, vastness and contributions to social values.

Jami’u stressed that the use of Arabic literature in addressing societal challenges has proven to be more efficacious because of its approach to social and psychological dimensions, as well as the positive moral doctrines it strives to impact on the society.

He said: “Arabic literature teaches patriotism. It makes people in a society to cultivate the spirit of togetherness and mutual compassion for one another, hence they will learn to live harmoniously among themselves. These encourage them to see the need to fight for their common good irrespective of what it will cost them.

“Again, Arabic Literature helps in the infusion of piety and religiousness, formation of character, development of personality, promotion of social efficiency and happiness, preservation and spread of culture,” he said.

He explained that the emerging social issues in Nigeria call for deliberate and strategic attention of scholars and other relevant stakeholders to come up with effective ways of addressing them towards nation building.

Prof Jami’u, insisted that unless the government adopts the right approach to tackling insurgency, armed banditry, kidnapping and other social ills, the country will remain at the mercy of insecurity.

He, therefore, called on Nigerian Arabic poets, playwrights and literary critics to redouble their efforts in producing literary works that would help curb all forms of corrupt vices, while also reforming the society.

“The role of Arabic literature in peace-building cannot be over-emphasised. Stakeholders should revive the earlier Arabic literatures by engaging in mass publication of books and Arabic journals that encourage peace-making, especially in this era of constant conflicts.

“Assistance should also be given to Arabic institutes that are under the control of individual scholars (Ulama). Such colleges should be upgraded to fit into modern educational system,” Prof Jami’u strongly recommended.

In his address, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Muhammad Nasir Maiturare, applauded lectures in the Department of Arabic Studies for making the learning of Arabic language easier and available to members of the university. This, according to him, is in line with management’s goal to make every staff and student proficient in at least one foreign language.

Almost four years ago – July 9, 2015 – I wrote a piece on this page titled: “Nostalgia.” It was triggered by the popular children education programme “Sesame Street.” I was moved to write that piece after Sonia Manzano, the beautiful lady with the stage name “Maria” left the show after a 44 year active involvement. Prior to writing, I didn’t know she was still around. I had to fish out an old DVD collection of the show I bought to show my son how educational programmes were done back in the days. Today, most things revolve around violence and subtly coopting children into lifestyles their innocent minds are not prepared for. We shall get to that shortly.

What caught my attention about “Maria” were the long years she dedicated to impacting the lives of millions of children around the world. On the show, she ran a Fix-It Shop with her on-screen husband, Emilio Delgado. The two-time Emmy nominee and award-winning writer – who was 65 then – joined the show in 1971. She regularly gave advice to characters like Big Bird and Elmo. She was born in New York City and was raised in South Bronx. Her parents moved to the city from Puerto Rico.

Also an author, her children’s book “No Dogs Allowed,” published in 2004, is one of five books selected by the General Mills – an American multinational manufacturer of consumer foods – initiative “Spoonfuls of Stories.” Apart from helping children across the United States – and globally – gain access to books, it also encourages them to read.

The aim of the show over the years is to improve the cognitive skills of preschoolers so that they would be better prepared for primary school education. By using TV as a medium, the Children Television Workshop (CTW) succeeded in bringing the educational message to a large proportion of preschool children. In fact, among its target group of 3-5 year olds, “Sesame Street” is very popular. It was reported that millions of households watch this program whenever it is shown.

Unfortunately, the show was on the news for the wrong reasons recently. It is also the reasons parents in this post-modern and post-truth era need to pay careful attention to the programmes their children watch and the news they listen to in this age. Parents also need to pay careful attention to languages subtle spoken and the characters in such programmes.

Late last year – September 21, 2018 – a series of “breaking news” stories at the lesbians, gays, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) – oriented “The Advocate” Magazine’s website described “Sesame Street” icons Bert and Ernie as a “Loving Couple;” the subtle message was that they are in a homosexual relationship! A few days later, a follow-up story “Despite Writer’s Revelation, Sesame Street’ Denies Bert & Ernie Are Gay” followed. This was countered with:  “Sesame Street’: Bert and Ernie Are ‘Best Friends,’ Not Lovers.” This is the world we now live in where because of their impressionable minds children are taught to do things they are bound not to understand at a certain age.

In a photo illustrating the first piece, the two celebrity Muppets hug each other.  In the next, they are pictured side-by-side. In the third – which delivered the gut-wrenching bad blow to the LGBT world – they are seated far apart enough on a couch that Elmo can squeeze in between them.

It all begin when a former Sesame Street writer, Mark Saltzman, said he based the characters of Muppet live-in buddies Bert and Ernie on his own homosexual relationship. Saltzman, who wrote scripts and songs for Sesame Street from 1985 to 1998, reportedly said he patterned Bert on his live-in long-term lover, film editor Arnold Glassman, and Ernie on himself.

But while Saltzman’s admission evoked cries of vindication from the LGBT movement that the longstanding rumours were true, Sesame Street Workshop and Muppet creator Frank Oz swiftly denied that Bert and Ernie are “gay.” “I created Bert. I know what and who he is,” tweeted Oz, the actor and puppeteer who, along with the late Jim Henson, co-created many Muppet characters, and who played Bert to Henson’s Ernie. And Oz dismissed a Twitter observation that “characters often evolve beyond their creators’ intentions.

Likewise, Sesame Workshop countered Saltzman’s revelations by tweeting that Bert and Ernie are “puppets and do not have a sexual orientation.” In order not be accused of being homophobic (hatred of homosexuality), Sesame Street deleted the tweet so as not be further accused of being politically incorrect. Nonetheless, the controversy continued with a 4th article “The Problem With Saying Bert and Ernie Are Not Gay,” which also appeared on “The Advocate” website, lamenting assertions from Oz and Sesame Street that the famous Muppets do not suffer from same-sex attraction.

Over the years, the LGBT world has tried to paint not only puppets but many historical figures as ‘gay’ or ‘lesbian,’ based solely on imaginary thinking and flimsy evidence. The goal is the normalisation of homosexuality by making it attractive and acceptable. “The Advocate” commentary cites Vito Russo’s The Celluloid Closet which claims many of the celebrities from Hollywood’s glory days were ‘gay.’

For example, the FBI’s famous first director, J. Edgar Hoover, was popularly portrayed as not only homosexual but as an occasional drag queen. An entire book – The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln – devotes 343 pages to portraying President Abraham Lincoln as a closeted ‘gay.’

Homosexual writers have even asserted that the Old Testament’s David and Jonathan in the Bible were homosexual lovers. Fr. James Martin, SJ, an outspoken proponent of the normalisation of homosexuality and transgenderism within the Catholic Church famously sent out a Tweet two years ago, saying, “Some saints were probably gay or lesbian. Which ones? Hard, even impossible, to say. But if a certain percentage of people are gay or lesbian, then some are surely among the Communion of Saints.”

One thing is now clear, the LGBT issue is now a global phenomenon and parents – in Nigeria – neglect it to their peril. Of all the issues of our day, parents are most likely to become tongue-tied in response to their children’s questions about sexuality. We fear they’ll be confused if we have the conversation. In all likelihood, they’ll be more confused if we don’t.

The LGBT issue is now deep-seated with powerful theories and propositions to back it up with a determined and formidable media ready to push it through with ferocious force. It is now a pop culture thing with celebrity “role models” using multimedia channels to showcase how “cool” it can be. Parents with strong spiritual viewpoints need to explore ways of discussing this issue with their children and not to be tongue-tied. For me, as a Christian, I affirm the biblical view of marriage. I also affirm the biblical view of gender and the biblical view of everything.

While it’s one thing to discuss a mural that celebrates an unbiblical perspective, what’s a Christian parent to do with actual people? Increasingly, our lives are intersecting with neighbours, coaches, friends, and even pastors who have chosen to affirm and practice same-sex marriage and relationships.

How do we, as someone has put it, build bridges of grace that can bear the weight of truth? How do we help our children navigate relationships with people who have chosen a path other than God’s best for them? This is a balancing act that needs deep introspection and divine guidance.

The idea that people can decide what’s right and wrong for themselves, with no moral absolutes and therefore no sin, directly contradicts the Christian gospel. I am aware that we can’t avoid the issue of alternative sexualities with our children, but thankfully, we can address it with the same biblical framework we use for everything else.

A subtle inroad is being made into the impressionable minds of our children and we have to be on guard to counter such narratives.