The Nation Newspaper

Category: Campus Life

  • LASU denies using staff pension

    Lagos State University (LASU), has described as “false” reports that its Pro-Chancellor and  Governing Council Chairman, Prof Adebayo Ninalowo, directed that N474 million be withdrawn from the institution’s Pension Investment.

    Though LASU said it dipped its hands into the university’s reserves to cater for the National Universities Commission (NUC) accreditation last October/November, it denied  tampering with the staff contributory pension. It said the pension funds of employees yet to register with pension funds administrators were intact.

    “Management of Lagos State University has denied outright a publication accusing the Pro-Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor of diverting N198, 000, 000 staff pension to buy luxury cars,” said a statement signed by the university’s image maker, Mr Ademola Adekoya.

    The statement continued:  “For Year 2018 accreditation exercise, LASU presented 37 academic programmes. Preparatory to NUC visit, the university established a model of instituting task teams for all programmes to be accredited. The task teams are supervised by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), while the Vice-Chancellor monitors activities of the task teams from the background using dedicated peer review teams of seasoned professors. Each task team comprised a member of management, the dean of the faculty and heads of the concerned departments. Others were representatives of all staff and Students’ Unions, bursary, and internal audit.

    “It is pertinent to state that at no time did the university borrow from Staff Contributory Fund to finance accreditation expenses. However, the university borrowed the sum of N474, 000, 000. 00 from its provision to meet past service obligations. The Pension Fund for members of staff who are yet to register with Pension Fund Administrators (which is less than one hundred million naira), is intact.

    “In taking the above step, the university obtained approval of the Governing Council while the Office of the Special Adviser on Education and the Visitor to the university were duly carried along. At no time did the Pro-Chancellor and the Vice Chancellor violate the provisions of the financial guidelines of the university.”

  • ‘I feel like my hand is burning with fire from inside’

    A student of the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto (UDUS), Habibu Abubakar, lost his two hands when he was attacked by unknown assailants. His road to recovery is a long one that requires lots of funds, reports ABIODUN JAMIU, a 200-Level student of Political Science UDUS.

    All was well with Habibu Abubakar, a 200-Level student of Modern European Languages and Linguistics at the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto (UDUS) until Sunday when he was dealt a cruel fate by unknown men who chopped off his two hands.

    Abubakar, who was class representative for his set, was attacked around 2a.m by the men at Mana area of the metropolis who also took away his motorcycle.

    The act has been condemned by all and sundry, including students and the university’s Dean of Students’ Affairs, Prof Aminu Mode.

    Uchenna Emelife, a 200-Level student of Literature in English, expressed sadness at the inhumane treatment Abubakar got from his attackers.

    “I cannot bring myself to imagine the pain and trauma he must be passing through now.  Habibu is the most egocentric person I have ever met.  His competence is outstanding, ever ready to speak up and act in defense of the students he represented,” he said.

    Another student, Muneer Yakub, who is in his final year studying Microbiology, said: “I cannot believe some peole could actually go as far as cutting off a fellow man’s hands and steal his bike.”

    He said: “I have seen the pictures, but I don’t really know how it happened.  I heard different versions of the attacks; some said he (Abubakar) was attacked by political thugs while another version alleged that he was confronted by thugs who stopped him on the way not because he belongs to any political party. They wanted his motorcycle.

    “To me, that is simply inhumane! Even animals are better than them.”

    The DSA said he was deeply touched by the attack because the victim was his student, noting that he had sent a team of departmental executives to visit him at the Orthopaedic Hospital in Wamakko where he is being treated.

    “I am deeply touched. They have just rendered him helpless because 90 per cent of what we do in life is through the hands,” he said.

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    Abubakar has two sessions and one semester more to go to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in Modern European Languages and Linguistics.  However, how it will not be so easy to do so anymore without support.

    Speaking when executive members of the Modern European Languages and Linguistics (MELL) visited him at the hospital, Abubakar said he would want to continue his education without taking a break.

    “I feel like my hand is burning with fire from inside.  However, I do not wish to dfer my academics even for a session. But I will wait patiently to wee my health condition improve before I resume,” he said.

    According to www.webmd.com, it may take up to two months for wounds from an amputation following surgery to heal.  This medical recovery should be followed by rehabilitation for the patient to learn to live as normally as possible without his limbs.  For that, Abubakar would need the services of an Occupational Therapist.  Abubakar would also need psychological counseling to deal with the trauma.

    Ideally, Abubakar’s life would be easier with the aid of prosthetic limbs.  However, whether his family can afford them is another matter.

    With advances in science and technology, prosthetic limbs are now much more sophisticated such that amputees can achieve more.  However, they do not come cheap.  According to the website of the Alliance of Advanced Biomedical Engineering (https://aabme.asme.org/posts/3-d-printing-to-lower-prosthetic-costs), sophisticated prosthetic limbs cost between $5,000 to $50,000 – amounts barely affordable for citizens of industrialised countries, and way beyond the poor in developing countries like Nigeria.

    Prosthetic devices have become more sophisticated, enabling amputees to accomplish more of the tasks that were once difficult or impossible because of missing hands, feet, or limbs. Additional functionality, however, comes at a price: advanced prosthetic limbs can cost anywhere from $5,000 (N1.8 million) to $100,000 (N36 million).

    Foreign firms are now exploring the use of 3-D Printing Technology to lower the cost of prosthetic limbs.  But that is not likely an immediate reality for Habibu.

    Prof Mode said the University would support Habibu to graduate from the university – though he did not say the form the support would take.

    “I assure that whatever can be done to ensure the completion of his programme will be done.  The Vice Chancellor, Prof Abdu Abdullah Zuru, is aware of the situation and I know he has students in his mind. In fact, he has directed me to look into it so as to see what the management can do about the matter,” he said.

  • Vice chancellor’s admonition (II)

    Penultimate week, a letter written by the Vice-Chancellor (VC) of Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo, Oyo State, Professor Dapo Asaju went viral. In the strongly-worded message to parents and guardians of the institution, the VC expressed his disaffection over what he described as overindulgence of the students by their parents and warned about raising the “next generation with the same corrupt and indisciplined ethos that has ruined Nigeria.”

    While I have nothing against some of the rules set by some private varsities in the country, I am concerned that some of these rules and restrictions actually negate what a university stands for. Prior to the letter that instigated this write up, I have had interactions with some lecturers in private universities who regret ever abandoning the public varsity system for private varsities.

    One of them told me that after attending several interview sessions and asking all the relevant questions needed for him to make a switch, nothing prepared him for what he later witnessed on ground. “One week into my employment, it appeared I had walked into a convent and not a university or a learning environment. There were rules for everything, from what you teach, to your academic relationship with your students; you are monitored,” he told me.

    He also pointed out that the students were mostly between 14 and16 years old, and that it is only in extreme cases that you have students of 17 years and above. Another insight he gave – which I was already familiar with – was that these students mainly attended private secondary schools either as boarders or chauffeur driven to and from school. Many cannot even navigate their streets as they have never walked 500m radius away from home. “We have hyper-protective parents who want to practically ensure their children are under protective custody at all times.”

    Since no public varsity can guarantee such protection, the best bet are private varsities which provide “safe haven” for these students with the attendant repercussions of them being totally cut off from the same society they would eventually be a part of after graduation. The first shock the lecturer said he got was when parents started calling to find out if their children have eaten! This, he told me, is not limited to lectures alone but extends to the VC, Registrar and other principal management staff.

    Another lecturer told me researchers or visitors cannot freely drive into his university campus except they are invited by a guest. What shocked him to his “bone marrow,” he told me, was the fact that he has to officially write letters to parents of students whenever they are going for field trips which are prerequisites for certain courses. “You are not only to write to the parents, you must wait for their acknowledgement before embarking on such trips. In some extreme cases, a parent may decline.” He pointed out.

    According to him, on one of such occasions, some parents wrote to know the level of security the university has put in place toward the safety of their children and whether bodyguards are part of officials for the trip. The bottom line is that parental consent is needed for any trip outside the campus, even for a basic trip like visiting media houses which mass communications students are compelled to undertake from time to time. From all indication, we are gradually breeding a platoon of irresponsible citizens and an apartheid system that will blow in our face in the future.

    The university system has an enviable history that dates back to the medieval period. A fundamental characteristic of a university is academic freedom. The first documentary evidence of this comes from early in the life of the University of Bologna, which adopted an academic charter, the Constitutio Habita between 1158 and 1155 which guaranteed the right of a traveling scholar to unfettered passage in the interests of education. In essence, a university is free to engage in a clash of ideas and to interrogate any issue of societal concern. This broadmindedness means that academics and students should not be constrained in the pursuit of knowledge.

    To this end, the university is not a Nigerian creation, but we have brought our own uniqueness to the system despite the fact that there are universal rules – that is why the “uni” exists in universities! Universities are meant to be great and global learning citadels, with universal rules guiding the academic curriculum, with a great emphasis on intellectual freedom for both faculties and students.

    So, where do we situate some of these glorified dorms and convents claiming to be private-owned and religious varsities in Nigeria? Some are abnormalities. Of course, they are having their way now, because the Nigerian elite are masters of deception adept at fleeing from their problems. Rather than taking a holistic look at why public varsities are “faltering” the answer is opening the flood gates to all manner of private varsities and urging those who can afford their huge fees to go patronise them! This is the height of failure in effective policy formulation strategy.

    Embedded in the VC’s letter are some of the contradictions of these abnormalities. That letter itself can be seen as a subtle protest by some parents. A varsity is a place where a student should be allowed to grow and make decisions that would shape his life after leaving the ivory tower.

    Most of those in my generation that attended public varsities knew there were cult groups – and they are still there – on campuses, but because we had a clear picture of where we were going we looked the other way and refrained from joining such groups. This is what varsities are; they give individuals the chance to grow their natural souls, driven by free choices. The secret of knowing why we should not cross such lines starts from the home where our value systems are effectively shaped.

    Why are most families struggling and suffering? They are because parents are absent and their absence impacts the critical development of their children. Fathers are as much critical to their daughters as well as their mothers. Fathers provide half the genetic material for personality development. Studies show that fathers are the primary and most valuable support persons for the mother during pregnancy and childbirth. Also a healthy relationship between children and their fathers are important for good development.

    Children from homes with absentee parents are more likely to run away from home or live on the street. Studies have also shown that achievement level, sense of mastery, and marital happiness of girls correlate with the presence of an involved father. Security regarding females and their fathers is a key element since it greatly shapes their development

    Dearth of statistics aside, I am convinced that millions of Nigerian fathers struggle as adult parents because they lacked a model of effective fathering in their own lives. Men who experienced this form of parental neglect from their own families of origin oftentimes become emotionally and physically absent to their own families formed through marriage.

    There is thus the importance of preparing such fathers for fathering by first helping them overcome detached relationships they had with their own fathers. One would argue that the key to becoming a father isn’t merely commitment to wife, children and family, but about prior and primal step of manhood in becoming a son.

    A Demographic study on father’s absence and divorce – which I came across recently – indicate that children – especially boys – growing up without fathers usually have problems in the areas of sex-role and gender-identity development, school performance, physical adjustment, and in the control of anger and aggression. Equally too, the age at which a daughter loses her father is meaningful since it influences her perception of male, the world as well as her academic advancement – all because of missing the key element of a father.

    It is unfortunate that universities which should be at the forefront in proffering solutions to some of the pressing social crises that we are facing as a nations have gone to sleep. Kidnappings, corruption, unprovoked killings, terrorism, intolerance and a whole range of issues we are grappling with today are all social crises which universities are better placed to research upon and proffer workable solutions.

  • UNILAG medical students seek more security

    Students of the University of Lagos have urged the government and the varsity’s management to beef up security at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, which shares premises with the varsity’s College of Medicine.

    They made the call during a march they held at the weekend to protest the death of a fresh graduate of the college, Dr Stephen Urueye, who was attacked by hoodlums in front of LUTH gate, a day after his graduation. He did not survive the injuries. Over 800 students took part in the procession.

    The late Urueye, a graduate of Medicine, had taken part in the institution’s 51st Convocation last Wednesday and by Thursday, he was dead.

    CAMPUSLIFE learnt that Urueye was robbed and stabbed between 9pm and 9:45pm around Canal/Sickle Cell Foundation, close to the LUTH main gate.

    Angered by his death, about 800  of his colleagues held a candlelight procession for him last weekend.

    The protesters, led by his former course mates, who belonged to a group known as Syncytium ’17  marched from LUTH, through Surulere to the Baale’s palace. They then cut through Ojuelegba to Area C Command Police Station chanting #JusticeforStephen as they progressed.

    A  protester, described the mashing as a peaceful march and a fallout from the Twitter campaign against the brazen killing of their colleague.

    At the Area C Police Command,  an officer urged the students to take their complaint to the Area D Police Command under which jurisdiction the incident occured. The matter was eventually reported there.

     

    How he was attacked

    A close friend of the late Urueye, popularly known as Sembels, relived the deceased’s ordeal in the hands of his assailants. He also spoke of the interventions to save Urueye’s life.

    Sembels, who was in LUTH  that fateful day, said the late Urueye was attacked by hoodlums in front of the Sickle Cell Foundation.

    Sembels said: “They shouted at him: ‘Bring your phone!’ ‘Bring your phone!!’ But, he was not with his phones.

    “Suddenly, one of them stabbed him on his right thigh near the hips; another one stabbed him from behind at his lumbar region.

    “He fell and bled profusely. He got up and ran towards LUTH gate, and fell again, this time into the flood in front of the hospital gate.

    “Unfortunately, it rained on that day and the level of the flood had  increased. Stephen struggled to stand, but he fell again.

    “As Stephen was still battling for his dear life, some of the security men at the LUTH gate allegedly looked the other way,  taking him for drunk.

    An eyewitness, who does not want to be named, said: “The security men at the gate did not take him serious.They thought he was  drunk. They ignored him.”

    Read also: Long years pay off for UNILAG workers

    CAMPUSLIFE gathered that the late Urueye was robbed alongside his friend whose phones were also collected. His friend, who reportedly escaped unhurt, later ran back to where he lay almost breathless.

    Bleeding profusely, the late Urueye was taken to LUTH Accident and Emergency Unit, where he was given some pints of blood.

    His colleagues said he lost so much blood and sustained various cuts, adding that doctors immediately stitched his femoral artery.

    “After conducting that session, Stephen went into a coma. He was resuscitated and admitted at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). He suffered two cardiac arrests and died in the early hours of Friday, after the second cardiac arrest,’’ one of his colleagues told our correspondent.

    It was gathered that the hoodlums also invaded the medical hostel and robbed some students of their valuables.

    Urueye’s death  has again brought to the fore, the safety of medical students at LUTH and its environs.

    The students have repeatedly lamented the insecurity at Itire, describing the Idi-Araba axis as unsafe.

    Although the late Urueye was the first to die from such attacks, past survivors recall their ordeal.

    According to them, such incidents are rampant. They noted that they were lucky to have escaped.

    “This is the hideout of hoodlums,” said another student who pleaded anonymity.

    “They lurk around by the street lights and blockage of the narrow paths. It could have been anyone and we do not want a reoccurrence.”

     

    Previous attacks

    In March 2015, hoodlums attacked students in the LUTH Workers Mosque, a stone throw from the LUTH main gate.

    A victim, who identified himself as Semiu, narrated his ordeal: “We were reading in preparation for the exam at the workers’ mosque in LUTH, some of us were awake while others were asleep.

    “It was in the middle of the night. I was deeply asleep. All of a sudden, I heard disturbing sound of people panicking.  As I attempted to stand up, one of the criminals with a knife, attempted to stab me. Luckily, I stood up and ran away with others.

    ‘’Then, I remembered that I was charging a Samsung Galaxy tab at the mosque. I returned to the scene, only to discover that they had left with some of our items.

    “Although we made attempts to ambush them, annoyingly they ran through the police office close to the LUTH Idi-Araba gate,” he said.

    “Immediately, some of us went to the security checkpoint at the LUTH gate to inform the security personnel. They slapped one of us and ordered him to kneel down. But, we quickly intervened, informing them that the person being asked to kneel down was indeed a victim. It was on hearing this that they released him.

    “Disturbed by this incident, we locked the LUTH gates the following day. Some senior officers in the hospital pleaded with us to stop the protest. We actually suspended the demonstration on the condition that our stolen items would be replaced. They promised but never fulfilled it.”

    To stop the incessants attacks, the students are asking the police command to set up a Rapid Response Squad in the area, especially around the canal.

    Another female student, who did not want her name mentioned, praised UNILAG management for  deploying Close Circuit Camera (CCTC)  in its Akoka campus, urging it to extend the gesture to the Idi-Araba campus, especially the Canal/Sickle Cell Foundation area.

  • Expert seeks drug abuse prevention inclusion in curricula

    Founder and Executive Director, Global Initiative on Substance Abuse (GISA), Dr Martin Agwogie, is seeking improved efforts towards mitigating the effect of substance abuse among youths from secondary to tertiary levels by ensuring that authorities include it in the curricula.

    According to Agwogie, this is necessary because of the frightened report on the just-released National Survey on Drug Abuse and Health in Nigeria, in which one out of seven Nigerian youths between 15 and 64 at least use one substance.

    This, Agwogie fears, is higher than the global average of 1 out of 20 according (United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) world drug abuse.

    Agwogie stated this on the sideline of the one week training for practitioners on the universal prevention curriculum (UPC) for substance use disorders organised by GISA, in collaboration with Colombo Plan Drug Advisory Programme, in Lagos.

    He said: “Globally it (substance abuse) is one out of 20, but in Nigeria it is one out of seven which means there is a problem that we need to collectively address as a nation, community, parents and individuals.”

    Read Also: NGO expresses concern over rising cases of drug abuse

    Agwogie, who is also the National Co-ordinator for Universal Prevention Curriculum on Substance Use disorders for Nigeria, also added that prevention can only be done through evidence base, a kind of method he said is uncommon in Nigeria.

    “This is the reason we are having this training, to equip people in different sectors in providing or acquiring prevention skills and to be able to prevent the use of substance.

    “It is a training using the United States government developed material for substance use prevention. We are training practitioners, who will provide evidence base prevention for substance use.

    “And how do we do this?  The curriculum is in different tracks and the practitioner are trained according to their specialisation,” he explained.

    Agwogie, however, added that prevention should target age bracket so that the trained personnel will be able to flow with them and through this the target audience would receive the message that would help wade off substance of abuse.

    “Moreso as they develop both physically, cognitive, morally, emotionally and socially, there is also the need to also build their intrinsic motivation that will last longer.

    “That is why we have different tracks like school base for school environment, family base for family, work place for offices and community base tracks among others in order to prevent substance use in the as well to reach out to all individuals nationwide.

    He, however, warned against the passing of wrong messages to people through scare tactics, saying it has aggravate most cases of substance abuse.

  • Nigeria is endowed but poor, says don

    Nigeria is endowed with enormous human and natural resources, yet many of her citizens live in abject poverty,  a professor of Agricultural Economics, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University Lapai (IBBUL), Eniola Oluwatoyin Olorunsanya, has said.

    Olorunsanya spoke while delivering the institution’s 12th inaugural lecture at the school premises titled: “Poverty in the midst of plenty – The challenges of farming households in Nigeria.”

    She quoted a study by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which assessed the rate of poverty, and the level of income inequality among rural households in Nigeria. The study submits that poverty continues to increase with huge chunk of the country’s wealth circulating in the hands of a few.

    Read Also: Nigeria at war with itself, says ACF scribe

    According to Olorunsanya, determinants of poverty include socioeconomic characteristics of the household, physical assets and community factors which include location of residence, among others.

    She lamented that the country was lagging behind in development index amid vast resources endowment and relatively high gross national income, a development she attributed to government’s inefficient and poor income diversification strategies.

    She said: “The global food crisis has been attributed to a number of factors including climate change, population growth, increased demand for bio-fuels, failure to improve crop yield, high oil prices leading to increased input loss for producers and traders. The structural problems like under-investment in agriculture and dominance in supply chain of food and agricultural policies skyrocket prices of food. Rapid urban growth for instance, is raising concerns about supply.”

    Olorunsanya recalled that the food security assessment in 2005 revealed that about 750 million people in 70 low-income countries were victims of food insecurity, noting, however, that Sub-Saharan Africa is the only region where hunger has risen in the last decade.

    According to her, female-headed households are at more poverty level than male-headed households due to poor access to formal education and modern production procedures.

    “There is need for urgent measures to be taken by both government and relevant stakeholders to swiftly eradicate poverty among rural dwellers,” she noted, calling for an improved farming system, development of farmers’ cooperative societies among farming households and measures to mitigate the climate change scourge, among others, as ways of reducing poverty in the country.

  • Youths must see climate change as an opportunity, says director

    Director of Climate Change, Federal Ministry of Environment Dr Pete Tarfa has urged youths to see climate change as an opportunity for  growth and national economic advancement.

    Tarfa made the call at the Accra International Conference Centre in Ghana, when he met some Nigerian youths’ delegates attending the ongoing International Climate Change Development Initiative (ICCDI) in commemoration of the Africa Climate Week. The theme was:  ‘Africa climate week is a race we can win’.

    Six youth delegates from Nigeria attended the event. They are: Babatunde Enitan, Abiodun Adekoya, Rukayat Odebiyi, Moses Eboigbe, Prosper Egeonu and ‘Seyifunmi Adebote.

    “One thing I want Nigerian youths working in the area of climate change to do is to open their eyes to the many opportunities that surround climate change,” Tarfa began.

    He continued, “Before now, we used to see climate change as a tragedy, a woe, and something to be scared about. Today, there are a lot of opportunities that climate change has brought.

    “As young people, you should begin to see how you can create jobs from climate change – in the area of renewable energy, solid waste management, writing, advocacy, creative expressions like literature, poem or music, just to push out the message of climate change.

    “One major problem we have in Nigeria is deforestation, most women in the local communities cook with firewood and some of them are dying because of the effects of smoke on their health. Young people can partner private companies, creating innovative clean cook stove solution. Those products can be sold to the huge market in Nigeria. That way, you make money and impact lives. I want to see Nigerian youths who have understood climate change to look out for opportunities in the areas renewable sources of energy to provide power for the millions of people off-grid. Waste management is another big issue in Nigeria, single-use plastic recycling, architecture and many other aspects.”

  • Negotiate with facts, union tells members

    Members of the Academic Staff Union of Colleges of Education (COEASU) have been advised to be armed with facts when they negotiate with either the institution’s management or the government.

    Such an action, the union believes, wouldconvince the management on the union’s ability.

    And if management or government remains adamant, COEASU will be left with no option than to go on strike, the union added.

    The union spoke during its 50th Southwest Zonal Delegate conference hosted by COEASU of Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, Oto-Ijanikin.

    COEASU National General Secretary Comrade Taiwo Abolaji Olayanju said in line with 21st century, ‘’negotiations should come before war’’.

    Olayanju, who is the Chairman of the COEASU Federal College of Education (Technical), Akoka, Lagos, continued: “We also want to tell our members that when we come to the negotiation table with the government or management, they should not come with bare hands but facts. When you confront the government or management with statistics to back up your agitation, a reasonable government or management will bow to superior argument.

    Read Also: Ndigbo to negotiate with other nationalities

    “We don’t believe in locking up the gates (of our campuses). We can fight the management but the idea of resorting to protests and shutting up the gates is one of the issues we are going to deliberate upon during this congress.”

    Olayanju recalled the suspension of COEASU’s strike with the Federal Government last November over some of the latter’s unfulfilled promises, saying the action aimed at giving the government some time.

    “There is a difference between ‘suspending’ and ‘calling off’ the strike, Olayanju stressed.

    “Suspension allows you to give a benefit of the doubt (to the government) to actualise your desires.  We have had some understanding with the government with respect to issues of arrears. When it comes to money, it is easy (for governments) to promise but difficult to fulfill. So, if in the end, we realised governments are simply paying lip service, we easily go and remove what (suspension) we hung there.”

    Earlier, AOCOED Provost Dr Aina Ladele charged her colleagues to remain committed to a culture of research. She craved the leadership of the union to exercise caution with their management in view of lean resources.

    “As we (COEASU) agitate, I enjoin us to display maturity,” ‘Ladele appealed.

    “No college of education nationwide is sufficiently funded, yet we have to meet the demands of COEASU, other unions as well as other competing needs of the institution. We know the challenges will always be there. We also enjoin you to ensure quality teacher education is not compromised. Besides, the very senior colleagues should not shy away from the task of mentoring the upcoming ones, while the younger lecturers too should be flexible to being mentored.”

    She praised AOCOED COEASU as well as other unions for ensuring that the 37 academic programmes of the college were fully accreditated by the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) last year.

    The host Chairman Comrade Ige Ajayi listed some achievements of COEASU AOCOED to include ‘’attaining the 65-year age retirement; putting a stop to quota system; reintroduction of committee-based system for union’s activities, constitution of advisory council for the executive, as well as accessing of pension funds by retired colleagues, among others.

    According to Ige, COEASU AOCOED is desirous that the congress address issues, such as life salary for chief lecturers, revival of all programmes that serve as internally generated revenue (IGR) for colleges, and addressing epileptic power supply.

    COEASU Federal College of Education Osiele Chairman Comrade Akin Akinyele, one of the delegates, lamented that his chapter still grapples with unpaid cooperative deductions, and unpaid peculiar academic allowances, lower cadre migration,  and unchallenged condition for promotion,

    “I have been promoted from Lecturer 1 to Senior Lecturer since 2017, yet I am still being owed promotion arrears as well as annual increase. That is not fair,” he said.

  • Next President will be a youth

    Hamzat Lawal is the Chief Executive of Follow the money, an organisation dedicated to tracking corruption in governance and ensuring that rural dwellers enjoy dividends of democracy. A resource person at the just-concluded Young African Leadership Initiative (YALI) workshop held at the Facebook Hub, Yaba, Lagos, which drew participants from 16 African countries, Lawal, 32 is co-convener of Not-Too-Young-to-Run. In this interview with ADEGUNLE OLUGBAMILA, he speaks on the workshop, his organisation and the role of youths in nation building.

    What inspired your organisation Follow the money?

    Everything! Politics, control of resources, and acquisition of power is about money. I believe if we can follow the money, we will put corrupt people in the limelight, so they will not be able to steal public resources. The name was an inspiration from God and probably the first-ever in the world.

    Why are you at this training?

    I was invited by the United States’ Department. I’m here to inculcate knowledge and share experiences with young people across 16 countries. I recall when this platform gave me similar opportunity to train some delegates in Ghana two years ago, we created an association called Gambian Participate, which is doing well in Gambia. Now, they are about to start the Senegal Participate. These are young people showing great interest in the governance of their various countries.

    You are a co-sponsor of Not-Too-Young-To-Run bill, but oftentimes, the older politicians complain of immaturity of youths to man public offices.

    (Interjects) Ask them (older politicians) how much they have invested in youths before being given political positions.

    Now that the general elections are over, we want to bring together young people that vied for public offices but lost and we want to also bring young people that are mostly used for political hooliganism. We want to have a conversation with them.  We are hoping to use our limited resources to do this and tell the old politicians to stop complaining about the incapability of the youth because they are not investing in their education, skills and intellect. Rather they want the old traits of corruption and looting of public treasuries to continue. But I can assure you that by 2023, young people will provide presidential candidate that will be duly elected into office.

    Are you considering an independent candidate?

    Yes!

    Remember, we are seeking two amendments in the Age Reduction Bill.

    One, reducing the age for running for public offices. Two, giving space for independent candidate. We believe independent candidate will cripple party supremacy. That means as long as you are popular and represent the interest of your community, people will vote for you. The irony is people vote for candidates and not political parties, but it is the political parties that will allow you run on the platform. Aside that, we are ensuring that we put a lid on money politics. It is unfair when you want to represent the interest of your people and community but people won’t vote for you because you don’t have money to spend.

    So, how far has Follow the money gone?

    When we started in 2012, our aim then was advocating and tracking $5.3 million in government coffers. The government and some people in power made a laughing stock of us then. Today, the government invites us anytime they see our letter.

    The media too have always been very supportive of amplifying our efforts. We also do ‘naming and shaming’. For instance, if the government refuses to appear in our meetings, we approach the media to name and shame them.

    Read also: In search of the ‘strong’ president (II)

    Do you do this by street protest?

    Follow the money don’t go on the street. We only use media and social media to make our noise. When we attend international meetings, we also use that platform to highlights issues at the home front.

    What are your challenges?

    One of the major challenges is accessing communities.

    It will surprise you that to travel from here (Lagos) to Abuja, where our head office is to some communities take about 25 hours by road. Worse still, some communities don’t even have roads, yet there are appropriations from government for these communities.

    Don’t you suffer any risk?

    Plenty. The work that we do is life-threatening.

    I have been harassed and intimidated, but I’ve never been arrested because everything I do is transparent.

    Where do you derive the inspiration?

    When I was an undergraduate at the University of Abuja, I was a very strong voice in the Students’ Union. Though I did not contest for any office, I was more like the INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission) chairman in my department.   Besides, as a younger person, I’d always complained about the poor governance and other things. But then, the thoughts came to me that ‘instead of complaints, why can’t I think of solutions that will mobilise young people to hold public office holders to account?’. I’m driven by the passion for sustainable change and bringing ideas and solutions to the front burners.

    What has been the impact of your campaigns?

    Lives have been saved. Communities now have better schools and healthcare centres. For me, that is the dividends of democracy and that keeps me going.

    What is your relationship with people in power?

    We do invite them for dialogue. I call it ‘safe space’ –  bring people from public office and private sector to dialogue about finance, public expenditure, feedbacks from the public and all that.

    What is your modus operandi?

    I am a civil society leader. I don’t to antagonise the government. Rather, I join forces with them to work. Governments are political leaders, so we must join forces. Remember, people pay tax, that’s why we always engage the government to get information.

    What are your sources of funding?

    We get grants from international organisations

  • Improve research for lecturers, students of Biotechnology, says don

    A professor of Biotechnology at the Ota, Ogun State based Covenant University (CU), Olawole Obembe, has urged the three tiers of government to further develop secondary and tertiary education.

    Obembe of the Department of Biological Sciences, is also seeking improved research in biotechnology, adding that the discipline should be based on long-term training rather than through seminars and workshops. This, he said, is in addition to aggressive funding of specialised biotechnology centres and agencies such as the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA); National Centre for Genetic Research and Biotechnology (NACGRAB); and Sheda Science and Technology Complex (SHESTCO), among others.

    Delivering CU’s 19th inaugural lecture at the university premises, Obembe, appealed to authorities across Africa to increase capacity for food production. This, according to Obembe, becomes necessary, particularly amid the grim prediction by the United Nations that an additional two billion individuals are most likely to be malnourished by 2050.

    Obembe, who spoke on the topic: “Subdue and dominate the earth: Plant Biotechnology for sustainable development’, admonished authorities to leverage plant biotechnology, which he described as the panacea for food, feed and fibre production.

    He said, “It is noteworthy that while the world’s population is increasing phenomenally in fulfilment of the mandate of creation, the size of the planet earth remains fixed and its resources also remain finite. This challenge has had its effect on socio economic development and the overall quality of life.

    “Plants are pivotal to the existence of life on the earth and in situations whereby population growth is exceeding food production, agriculture is as never before crucial to the economies and environments of the world.

    “Modern agriculture must meet the demands of the ever increasing population and expectation of improved living standards, in the presence of frightening harmful consequences of diminishing arable land and environmental pollution, plant biotechnology offers the world significant opportunities to subdue and dominate over the challenge of ever growing demand for food, feed and fibre production, as well as the need for good health and well-being, ensuring that more efficient use of the world’s limited resources and consequently contributing to sustainable development.”

    Obembe said Africa has the opportunity of profiting immensely from agricultural biotechnology because of its large population, rich yet uncultivated arable land which could be fully maximised.

    He continued: “African countries have the greatest potentials to benefit from modern agricultural biotechnology. This is due to the fact that about 70 per cent of the populations derive their livelihood from farming. The agriculture is the single largest employer of labour worldwide, providing income for 40 per cent of the current global population.

    “Agriculture contributes the largest source of income and jobs for poor rural households. Globally, 500 million small farms, most of which are still rain-fed, produce about 80 per cent of food consumed in major part of the developing world. It is noteworthy that 65 per cent of Africa’s workforce is employed by the agricultural sector, which also contributes 32 per cent of the continents’ gross domestic product.

    “Agriculture accounts for one third of Nigeria’s GDP and it is the leading employment sector, as it employs over two third of the country’s total workforce. Thus unlocking this sector holds the key to socio-economic transformation in African countries in general and Nigeria in particular. Africa is home to over half of the world’s uncultivated arable land and as such has limitless opportunities to leverage on new technologies.”

    Obembe noted that plant biotechnology may not directly play a role in attaining sustainable development goals (SDG4) which seeks to ensure quality and all-encompassing education for all, yet it can make indirect contribution by reducing hunger, poverty and improve health.

    “By increasing the wealth generating opportunities of the resource poor farmers in rural communities with provision of better crops, they (mall scale farmers) could afford to enroll their children in school, thereby increasing the percentage of school children.

    “It is generally believed that education is the foundation for improving quality of life as well as the key that will enable the achievements of several other sustainable Development Goals. With quality education, people can break from the cucle of poverty and can live healthier and sustainable lives, and in tolerance among other people thereby contributing to more peaceful societies.”