The Nation Newspaper

Category: Campus Life

  • Honing graduates’ skills for jobs

    Cadbury Nigeria Plc has hosted some students to A day in Cadbury, a session aimed at honing their skills for employment and building a successful career after school. WALE AJETUNMOBI reports.

    Lack of requisite skills that will improve graduates’ employability is one of the factors that causes unemployment. Lack of mentoring programmes to prepare students for life after graduation also contributes to low employability among graduates.

    Equipping graduates with soft skills and exposing them to workplace experience are crucial to bringing down the rate of employment. This is the objective of a graduate career scheme with the theme: A day in Cadbury, introduced by Cadbury Nigeria Plc, a subsidiary of Mondelēz International, which is aimed at sensitising students and fresh graduates on how they can have successful career after school.

    Sixty-one participants, comprising students and fresh graduates selected from various parts of the country, were hosted for career mentoring at the event held at the corporate headquarters of the company in Agidingbi, Ikeja, Lagos.

    The company’s head of Procurement for West Africa, Mr Tolu Adesalu, harped on the need for setting achievable career goals and having a quest for new skills when he engaged the participants on: Cross-functional team, experience and skills required to succeed in the business world.

    To have a successful career, Adesalu said it would require an employee to have passion for the job and build a strong will in surmounting workplace obstacles, stressing that the confidence to tackle challenges and adaptability to new task would lead to job satisfaction.

    He advised them to be inquisitive and never afraid to volunteer for roles outside their core skills in order to diversify their professional experiences.

    He said: “The more you open and expand your career goals at your place of work, the more you have a better career. In achieving set goals, you need to know there are always obstacles you must deal with. The obstacles might appear impossible to overcome, but the necessity of the goals should be the driving force that will help you realise these goals.

    “Your quest to be better and improve your skillset must never end. You must develop the culture of inquisitiveness. While you are improving on your core skills, it is necessary to also learn skill to have diversity in your career. Never be afraid to volunteer for new roles. No experience is useless.”

    Adesalu also admonished the graduates to take courses that would improve their credentials.

    The head of Human Resources Department, Mr Tope Philips, who spoke on Interviewing tips, emphasised the need to have “good attitude” at a workplace, saying no company would recruit people who have no character.

    An applicant getting a job, he said, starts from the values the applicant projects at point of interview, pointing out that an employer only wanted people that would possess the traits in line with vision of the company.

    He advised the participants to build a network of “important people” who could vouch for their competence and help them to choose good career path.

    Philips said: “There are many multinational companies with different rules of recruitment. But, there is always a common ground for recruiting people to fill open positions. What employers are looking for in curriculum vitae is not the list of competences, but a line that describes that drive and passion of the applicant, which can help the company achieve its organisational goals.

    “Companies have human resources mechanism that can make a fresh graduate with no experience work better, but the employee must demonstrate his passion attitude to help the company projecting its values.”

    He urged the participants not to allow their careers to be driven by their superior, telling them that they could only get job satisfaction and career growth if they are in charge of their career. He also advised the graduates to be careful on the information they share on social media, noting that employers had mechanism to know the character of their potential employees through their social media engagement.

    A senior staff member at Cadbury Nigeria, Ifeoma Chuks, engaged the participants on Enhancing employability skills. The company’s Financial Director, Mrs Yimika, engaged them on The importance of soft skills in the workplace.

    Cadbury Nigeria’s Talent Manager, Erica Imama, said the programme was introduced in response to the inability of fresh graduates to get their dream job because of lack of requisite skills.

    She said the participants were selected based on the business needs of Cadbury, adding that the training would help them secure positions in firms where their skills were required.

    She said: “This programme is designed to equip the participants with employability skills by bringing them in contact with professionals with many years of experience. This will help the participants overcome workplace challenges by mentoring them to build skillset that will give them successful career in their respective fields.

    “For Cadbury, the programme is not a Corporate Social Responsibility; rather, it is a way of giving back to the country where we operate. We undertake the scheme to complement the effort aimed at bringing down unemployment in the country.”

    The participants described the event as “highly inspirational”, urging the firm to sustain the scheme.

    Jenny Ukpai, a graduating Finance student of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), said: “I came here with no high expectation because I had attended similar workshops on career. However, this Cadbury programme turns out to be the most valuable event I have attended this year.

    “I have been exposed to basic skills the business world expects from fresh graduates. Now, I have a picture of what I want to be and where I want to be after my graduation from school.”

    Ewah Odianosen, a Chemical Engineering graduate of University of Benin (UNIBEN), said he learnt that loyalty remains a valuable trait to building impressive career.

    “The session taken by Mr Tolu Adesalu was the most inspiring for me. He taught us that loyalty matters in building an impressive career with a company. Despite that he got so many offers elsewhere, he stayed with Cadbury in times of crisis and boom. This is a key value I am taking away from here,” Ewah said.

    Also, Zainab Bada, a Mechanical Engineering graduate of Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH), said: “I have just known that the leadership roles we take up in school also translate to experience we can use to get jobs. I have learnt how best to write my CV and the need to learn soft skills in addition to my core areas of competence. I am grateful to the Cadbury Nigeria for this chance opportunity to build a rewarding professional career as I prepare to launch myself into the job market.”

  • Obong urges restoration of management courses in Agric varsities

    • FUNAAB graduates 113 First Class students

    The Obong of Calabar, Edidem Ekpo Okon, has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to restore Management Sciences that were delisted in universities of agriculture across the country three years ago.

    The traditional ruler spoke at the convocation of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) in Ogun State.

    Okon is the chancellor of the university.

    The chancellor called on the president to “magnanimously restore” courses in the College of Management Sciences that were deleted three years ago.

    He said: “The establishment of the College of Management Sciences in specialised universities was borne out of diversification of academic programmes in these universities with the assurance to retain agriculture as the flagship programme.

    “The purpose of this academic diversification was to allow greater access to higher education by an ever-increasing pool of eligible candidates, who are unable to access higher education due to insufficiency in numbers to care for their admission capacities.”

    He pleaded with Buhari to allow the return of the college to continue its contributions towards national development.

    The varsity’s Pro-chancellor/Chairman of Governing Council, Dr Aboki Zhawa, also reiterated the call.

    Corroborating the chancellor, Zhawa said: “Mr President, I wish to passionately appeal for the restoration of the university’s College of Management Sciences (COLMAS), which has, for two consecutive academic sessions, been delisted from the brochure of Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), thereby dashing the hopes and yearnings of thousands of youths.

    “The Governing Council believes that whoever opens the gate of a school closes the door of prison while a nation that toys with education of its citizens is only preparing its posterity for penury.

    “I appeal to Mr President to prevail on the agencies and individuals that may be thwarting the efforts of restoring this all-important college to put the future of the teeming youths above all other considerations.”

    The school graduated 3,548 students in the ceremony – the first to be conducted by the Vice-Chancellor (VC), Prof Kolawole Salako, since he assumed office last year. The VC described the graduands as “the best”, saying their degrees were “well-deserved”.

    Giving a breakdown of the graduands, the VC disclosed that 113 graduates made a First Class, 1,327  Second Class (Upper Division), and 1,533, Second Class (Lower Division). The ceremony also witnessed the award of post-graduate and honorary degrees. Some personalities, including the Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, were conferred with honorary degrees.

    The VC explained why the school conferred Doctor of Letters (Honoris Causa) on Prof Soyinka and a renowned historian, Prof Toyin Falola.

    He said: “There is a nexus between science and humanities. We are emphasising this as we confer honorary degree on the men who made their marks on the field of Humanities. Even at this convocation ceremony, Prof Falola, who is our convocation lecturer, demonstrates this scholarship in his lecture titled: Food and us: Poverty, policies and politics. Many people’s lives have been touched by Prof Soyinka’s Ake, the Years of Childhood, and we feel honoured by the Nobel Laureate’s gesture to accept our honorary degree.”

    While congratulating graduands, the VC charged them to uphold the university’s core values in academic and moral excellence, saying: “These will distinguish you among your peers and make you very good ambassadors of the university”.

    Recalling her academic journey in the school, the Overall Best Graduating Student, Oluwatobiloba Akinyele said: “I knew from the start that it was not going to be easy, considering that I switched from Agricultural Technology to Nutrition and Dietetics through Direct Entry.”

    She urged her colleagues to set goals for themselves, and work hard to achieve their dreams.

  • Student-parliamentarians visit National Assembly

    Members of the Students’ Union Government (SUG) of Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo (RUGIPO) in Ondo State, have visited the National Assembly to observe proceedings in the Senate and House of Representatives chambers.

    The objectives, the union said, are to expose members of its legislative arm to best practices in legislative business to improve participation in union affairs.

    Speaker of the House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara, recognised the students during the plenary. But, the students were not allowed into the Red Chamber, because of an emergency adjournment by senators.

    The Speaker of the union, Femi Omogunwa, said part of the reasons for the visit was to discuss contemporary challenges of students. He said education was losing steam in the face of dwindling allocation. The students urged the National Assembly to increase budgetary allocation to education, calling for 35 per cent appropriation of national budget.

    Femi said improved funding for education would bring an end to the current problems being experienced in the sector, adding that perennial strike by staff unions in tertiary institutions would stop.

    The students called for national legislation that would prevent authorities of tertiary institutions from victimising students who called for improved welfare, a development, they said, was becoming a norm in public-owned schools.

    The students also visited some lawmakers from Ondo Sate, including Hon. Mike Omogbehin, who is representing Okitipupa/Irele Federal Constituency, Hon. Joseph Akinlaja, representing Ondo West/East Federal Constituency, and Hon. Mayowa Akinfolarin, representing Ileoluji/Odigbi Federal Constituency.

    Addressing the students’ delegation, Omogbehin advised them to leverage the recently-enacted Not-Too-Young-To Run Law to participate in politics, adding that the youth must demonstrate their readiness to wrestle power from the old people.

    He said: “If all eligible young people would support a youth to contest for any public office, young people would surely be represented in the highest decision-making body of the country. But, some youths still prefer to collect money from old politicians and betray their fellow youths seeking public office. If the youth can come together and speak in one voice, the efforts they invest in pushing the Not-Too-Young-To-Run Bill would not have been wasted.”

    On his own part, Hon. Akinlaja advised the students to take their studies seriously and add values to the society through their conduct and values.

  • Fear of exams grips OAU students

    Students of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ile Ife have expressed fears over the exams date for the rain semester of the 2017/2018 academic session.

    They told our correspondent the ongoing Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike will impact negatively on the examinations slated for January 14, 2019.

    In separate interviews, they appealed to the institution’s authorities to postpone the exams to give enable the lecturers prepare them for the exams.

    The students complained the strike has not enabled lecturers to cover many grounds or allowed them to prepare well.

    An OAU student Ilara John said: “For over 5weeks that the strike has been commenced, I have never had any lectures.

    “All our lecturers are part of ASUU and they have not been coming to classes at all.

    “I am afraid as I don’t even know maybe we would do exam or not because I don’t even understand the materials given to us before the commencement of the strike.

    “I have just been staying in my hostel, without going for any classes.”

    Another student Ayanfe Temiloluwa said: “This ASUU Strike has caused a lot of harm.  I have just been sitting at home not going for any classes.

    “I am almost forgetting everything we have been taught.  How are we going to do exams for the classes we have not been going?

    “How does the school wants us to pass when we don’t have anybody teaching us?”

    “I implore that the school management should do something about this and that the Federal Government should heed to the call of Academics Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and give them what they demand so that we can have better educational system.”

    Adejare Oluwatobiloba said: ” The ASUU strike here has not been that effective due to non- compliance of some lecturers.

    “Nevertheless, students have been thrown in a state of dilemma as to whether the rain semester academic calendar will be extended”

    “Academic activities in some departments especially some science related course have been on hold right from the beginning of the strike while in other departments, the strike has been partial.

    “The truth is that students have been at the receiving end of strike. The management should therefore consider us students by extending the school calendar.”

    OAU vice chancellor however maintained the exams will hold as scheduled on Jan, 14 2019, insisting the academic calendar will not be extended.

    He said: “We have had several senate meetings and it has been going on well.

    “We have ordered our lecturers who want the progress of the academic calendar to take up the courses been taken by the ASUU members.

    “There is nothing like shifting the academic calendar. They are rumours.”

     

     

  • LAUTECH appoints new VC, two others

    The Governing Council of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, has announced the appointment of a new Vice-Chancellor and two other principal officers.

    A statement by the institution’s Public Relations Officer, Mr Lekan Fadeyi, named Prof. Michael Ologunde, a renowned professor of food science, as the new vice chancellor.

    The council also appointed Dr Kayode Ogunleye as Registrar and Mr Abayomi Okediji as Bursar.

    The newly appointed vice chancellor will take over the running of the institution from the incumbent, Prof. Adeniyi Gbadegesin, whose five-year tenure will end on Feb. 14, 2019.

    Read Also:Don proffers solution to LAUTECH crisis

     

    The council said that Gov. Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State and his Osun State counterpart, Mr Adegboyega Oyetola, had approved the appointments as recommended by the Prof. Dapo Afolabi-led governing council.

    It hinted that the position of the University Librarian would be filled soon.

    “The council at its 135th special meeting held last week had directed that the vacancy in the position be re-advertised while the process of appointing a new University Librarian be concluded on or before Jan. 25, 2019,” it said.

    The statement explained that the appointments would take effect from Feb. 14, 2019.

  • Row over N11m scholarship fund at UNN

    • First Class graduates tackle school over non-payment of cash prizes
    • Varsity: money not missing omission; delaying payment

    A row has been broken out over the non-payment of the scholarship cash prize of 18 First Class graduates of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN). In 2014, the Nneji Chukwu Foundation set aside N11million as cash reward for Best Graduating Students in the Faculty of Engineering. No recipient has been able to access the fund since then. KINGSLEY AMATANWEZE reports.

    Where is the N11 million endowed by the Nneji Chukwu Foundation to reward Best Graduating Engineering students of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN)? This is the poser  the group of graduates of the school wants the UNN management to answer.

    The inability of the school to pay winners of the scholarship for years has fueled an allegation that the money may have been embezzled. But, the school denied the allegation, noting that its failure to pay the recipients was due to “unintentional omission”.

    Mr John Chukwu, a philanthropist, endowed the money through the foundation, with the objective to promote scholarship by giving cash reward to the Best Graduating Students in the Faculty of Engineering yearly. The endowment, which was instituted in 2014 at the Herbert Macaulay Memorial Lecture, is to give N100,000 to the Overall Best Graduating Student in the Faculty of Engineering, N50,000 to the Best Graduating Student in each Department of Engineering and N25,000 to the Best Student in Engineering Practice.

    Four years after, the endowment has become a subject of controversy. Investigation by CAMPUSLIFE revealed that the UNN management gave N175,000 only to three winners in the year the endowment was instituted.

    Investigation further showed that no other prize winner had received the cash award from 2015 to 2018, raising questions about the whereabouts of the funds. Attempts by the prize winners to get the school to release the cash were futile, as authorities did not respond to the recipients’ several requests  to be paid.

    Some of the recipients, who spoke to CAMPUSLIFE, said the school only gave them the Nneji Chukwu Foundation certificates, which indicated that they were awarded the cash prizes upon graduation.

    A 2016 graduate, Albert Ugwu, told CAMPUSLIFE that he was yet to be paid N175,000 he won for being the Best Graduating Student at the Faculty of Engineering, Best Student in Civil Engineering and also in Engineering Practice that year.

    He said: “I got nine academic awards during our convocation and awards night, three of which were from the Nneji Chukwu Foundation. When I went to the office of the Dean of Engineering Faculty to get the money, I was referred to the school Bursary Department where I was told to write down my name. I got the cash prizes for other awards, but I did not get the money for the three Nneji Chukwu Foundation awards.”

    Albert met his Head of Department on the matter, but he was told to forget about the money.

    Godwin Nwangene, 2017 Best Graduating Student at the Faculty of Engineering and in the Department of Electrical Engineering, told CAMPUSLIFE that his efforts and those of other recipients of the foundation prizes to get the money paid to them were futile.

    Godwin disclosed that they wrote to the principal officers of the school individually and collectively, but their letters were “practically ignored” by the school management. He decried what he described as “irregularities” in the award of the cash prize, wondering why it was impossible for winners to get the money already paid by the benefactor.

    He said: “It is funny that, after receiving the Nneji Chukwu Foundation award for the Best Graduating Faculty of Engineering Student in 2017, I have not been given the money for almost a year now. To redeem the cash prize, I met with the then Dean of the Faculty, Prof Ogbonna Oparaku, and asked what I needed to do to get the money. He told me it would take time for the school to release the cash, and told me not to worry.

    According to Godwin, the dean promised to write to the Vice-Chancellor (VC), Prof Benjamin Ozumba, for the release of the cash, but he never heard anything about it for months. Curious to know why it was difficult for the school to pay the cash, Godwin got the contact details of the award sponsor, Mr Chukwu, to know if he (Chukwu) had stopped sponsoring the award.

    Godwin said: “I sent Mr Chukwu a text message and explained my inability to get the cash prize. After reading my text message, he called me immediately. He was shocked that students have not been paid for three years. Then, I told him the school only paid the first set of winners since his foundation started the endowment.”

    Worried by the development, Mr Chukwu, in a complaint letter to the VC on June 12, 2018, expressed concerns and described the development as “an embarrassment to my personality”.

    In the letter obtained by CAMPUSLIFE, the sponsor confirmed that he endowed N11 million to the cause and appealed to the school management to release the money to the winners without further delay.

    The letter reads in part: “This is a follow up to my previous telephone discussion, email and WhatsApp messages to you (Vice-Chancellor) on the above subject matter. Kindly save us further embarrassment by investigating the respective winners of the said prizes and ensuring that all the recipients are paid accordingly and documented appropriately.”

    Five months after Chukwu’s letter, the school is yet to give the cash prizes to the winners. The school, it was learnt, cut off further contact with the prize winners.

    The award recipients are demanding from the school to release the money. According to Godwin, 18 recipients have been denied by the school. The concerned graduates said there was no hope the school would pay future winners of the prize.

    The school denied the money had been embezzled, saying the delay was caused by “unintentional omission” arising from change of guard at the school’s registry.

    CAMPUSLIFE met with Prof Oparaku, who admitted the recipients had not been paid since 2015. He, however, said the school planned to pay the prize winners.

    He said: “I spoke with the Registrar on this issue some days ago, and he told me there were plans to make sure the affected students are paid very soon.”

    When our correspondent spoke to the Registrar, Mr Christopher Igbokwe, he said the money was being processed and that the recipients would get their cash prizes soon.

    He said: “Their money is being processed. We’ve sought their bank details from them and as soon as their bank details are released to the Bursary department, the respective amounts would be paid into their various accounts.”

    Asked why the school delayed the payment for three years, the registrar blamed it on “work stress” and “unintentional omission”.

    “At times, when you undertake certain strenuous jobs, you tend to omit some things,” the registrar told CAMPUSLIFE.

    Speaking with CAMPUSLIFE on telephone, Prof  Ozumba said part of the reasons for the delay was the need to “regularise the processes of the payment, because it is a new award”.

    The VC said: “The award was instituted when I came in as the Vice Chancellor and at the time the immediate past registrar was preparing to leave the office. So, the first set of winners got paid. Now, we have new registrar and bursar, which requires that we put some processes in place.”

    Prof Ozumba said he set up a committee to look into the matter and ordered the bursar to transfer the money to the recipients.

    Godwin said his aim for bringing the matter to the public was not about money, but to ensure things were done properly.

    “My reason for speaking up is to expose the wrongdoings in the award of the prize. Why should the school withhold an endowment that has already been sponsored? They never gave us any explanation for the delay when we wrote to them privately. I am surprised everybody is now speaking up when they know the media is involved. This is not the best way. It could have been properly handled,” Godwin said.

    Daniel Onyinanya, the 2017 Best Graduating Mechanical Engineering student, who had not been paid, said: “We have been making attempts to reach out to the school and see how we will be paid. We even sent several text messages to the Vice-Chancellor without responses.”

    Another unpaid recipient, who was the Best Graduating Mechanical Engineering Student in his set, said: “Six of us wrote and submitted our letters at the same time for the school to release the money. The last letter actually was acknowledged by the registrar and sent back to our departments for verifications. Since then, nothing has been done.”

    Anthony Asadu, 2017 Best Graduating Metallurgical and Materials Engineering Student, said the Dean of Faculty of Engineering told him to write a letter to the effect; he submitted the letter through the Dean’s Office, but never got any response several months after.

    As at press time, the school was yet to pay the award recipients, despite assuring CAMPUSLIFE that the funds would be released to the beneficiaries within days.

  • Idahosa varsity gets JUPEB’s full affiliation status

    Benson Idahosa University (BIU) has been granted full affiliation to the Joint Universities Preliminary Examinations Board (JUPEB). The development is contained in a letter sent to the Acting Vice-Chancellor (VC), Prof Sam Guobadia, by the Registrar of the board, Prof Duro Ajeyalemi.

    The letter reads: “I am pleased to convey to you that on behalf of the JUPEB Governing Board, the chairman, Prof Oluwatoyin Temitayo Ogundipe, has approved the recommendation of the Pre-Affiliation Visit (PAV) team, which visited your university, that your school be granted Full Affiliation to JUPEB. This approval will be ratified at the next governing board meeting. That is, your university is now approved as a centre for JUPEB examinations.”

    It should be recalled that the board conducted a pre-affiliation visit to BIU on October 8, 2018.

    During the visit, Prof Guobadia stressed the continuous commitment of the university towards running JUPEB programmes to create more opportunities for Nigerian youths to access quality education.

    As a result of this full affiliation, BIU can now accept candidates for the JUPEB Foundation programme, as well as start training of the foundation candidates with the JUPEB’s syllabus for each subject. Successful students of the JUPEB programmes are eligible for admission into degree programmes at the university.

  • 31 make First Class at AAUA

    • Akeredolu hails varsity on improved rating

    Ondo State Governor  and Visitor to Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA), Mr Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN), has expressed confidence in the push by the school to be one of the leading institutions in Africa. He urged its management not to rest on its oars in placing the institution among the top 10 in the country.

    The governor spoke last week, at the eighth convocation of the university.

    Represented by his deputy, Mr Agboola Ajayi, the governor expressed joy that the school has moved from 31st to 18th position in the Webometrics ranking. This, he said, is the reward of the support his government gave the school, adding that the school’s prudence in managing resources and members of staff’s hard work led to the success.

    Akeredolu said: “The government of Ondo State is proud of Adekunle Ajasin University an institution that has become a force to be reckoned with in its 19 years of existence at a period other universities are struggling to make name.

    “It is gratifying that graduates of this university are winning laurels and making waves globally. I would like to charge them to push further so that AAUA would be established as a global champion.

    “The time is now for everybody, including corporate organisations and wealthy individuals, to join hands with government in funding education because government alone cannot fund education.

    “As a government and proprietor to this university, we will contribute and continue to do our best to sustain the achievements of this great university. We will like to appeal to stakeholders to seek time-tested and creative ways that have been used by world-class universities and deploy similar strategies in building the university.”

    The governor, who appreciated the support of the school alumni, added that universities all over the world drew support from their alumni bodies.

    The governor congratulated all the 5,252 graduands, especially the 31 students, who graduated with First Class, wishing them the best in their future endeavours.

    The pro-chancellor and chairman of Governing Council, Dr Tunji Abayomi, listed the various steps taken by the council to improve the fortunes of the institution. He thanked parents and other stakeholders for showing understanding and support during the recent increment in the school fees.

    The Vice-Chancellor (VC), Prof Igbekele Ajibefun, promised that the management would continue to make inputs that would make the university stand tall among its peers.

    He pledged that staff members would be given assistance and support needed to improve on their skills and welfare.

    Highlights of the event included the unveiling of the 31 First Class graduands, including the  Overall Best Graduating Student, Ebenezer Olorunwa Komolafe, who finished from the Department of Science Education with a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 4.74.

    Also, a businesswoman and philanthropist, Mrs Siju Iluyomade, was honoured with the Doctor of Laws (Honoris Causa).

  • Ending discrimination against the physically challenged

    Since 1992, following the United Nations’ declaration of the International Day for people living with disabilities, every December 3 is a day for people with disabilities. Its the aim is to increase global awareness of their situation in all spheres of society.

    The day affords us an opportunity to drive conversations targeted at improving their rights and wellbeing.

    In Nigeria, individuals, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have continued to remind President Muhammadu Buhari of his promise and urged him to sign the Nigerian Disability Bill into law.

    This month makes it the 45th month since Buhari made a pledge during a town hall meeting in Lafia, Nasarawa State, to end discrimination and stigmatisation against persons with disabilities in Nigeria. While the National Assembly (NASS) has completed the legislative actions on the bill to end discrimination against persons with disabilities, the president is yet to sign the bill into law. Global statistics projects that approximately 80 per cent of people with disabilities live in developing countries, with one-in-five of the world’s poorest having at least, one disability.

    It is believed that when the bill is signed into law, it would maximally boost human capital development and encourage indigenous and foreign participation of persons with disabilities in the economic, social and political development of the country. This year’s International Day of People with Disabilities with the theme: Empowering persons with disabilities for inclusive, equitable and sustainable development, brings this subject to the table of state actors again, particularly when considered that their rights and wellbeing are also integrated part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other international development frameworks which Nigeria is signatory to.

  • Graduates of private varsities are pacesetters

    In contemporary times, privately-owned universities, especially the popular ones, carry more prestige in their names than most public-owned schools. This is as a result of their stable academic calendar, student-lecturer relationship, committed teaching staff, conducive learning environment and the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) to impart knowledge on students.

    Also, the reccurring lecturers’ strikes that have crippled government-owned schools and poor standard in public universities are major contributors to this prestige that private universities have today.

    Little wonder why, in spite of the high fees, parents still send their children to private universities because they want quality and uninterrupted education for them.

    Presently, some private universities, such as the Benson Idahosa University (BIU), Covenant University (CU), Afe Babablola University, Ado Ekiti (ABUAD) and Babcock University (BABCOCK), are among the leading ivory towers, dishing out quality education to students, thereby churning out world-class graduates.

    BIU, for instance, has produced scholars that are performing exceedingly well in their respective fields of endeavours. The institution happens to be one of the many private universities that are leading the change by producing world-class graduates. The university aspires to be model for academic excellence, professional development and entrepreneurship promoter; its graduates are trained to be effective as disciples for Christ by excelling in their professional fields.

    No doubt, the institution can boast of the fact that it has produced graduates that are competing globally. Some of them are employees, who are living their dreams in corporate environment, while some are full time entrepreneurs, who have decided to give their passion a voice while creating a niche for themselves in the market.

    This is made possible because, in private universities, every student is exposed to training by some of the world most renowned leadership experts and knowledgeable people with great achievements. By this, they are inspired and their perspective broadened on spiritual growth, leadership, wealth creation, politics, entertainment and many more.

    A popular aphorism says: “The quality of education determines the development of any nation.” How can a nation develop when the public-owned institutions have performed below expectations in teaching and broadening students’ perspectives on leadership, wealth creation, and self-development?

    Universities should play frontal roles in shaping people’s self-development and nation building.

    It is also noteworthy that while the graduates of private universities have high employment turnover, universities, such as Covenant University, also take a broader step by equipping their students with entrepreneurial skills that make them self-reliant. Covenant University is, unarguably, one of the world-class universities that prepare students for all-round success post-graduation.

    Benson Idahosa University believes in the power of entrepreneurship to drive national economic growth and prosperity through innovation. That is why the school, from the outset, equips its students with skills that open their eyes to free enterprise.

    During the 2017 convocation ceremony, the BIU president affirmed that graduates of the institution were doing well professionally and academically after leaving the school.

    His words: “We have graduates that have done so well that they are now at the tops of their various fields, thus making the vision of our university a reality. They are showing up in fields like Nollywood, where Blossom Chukwujekwu carries the title of renowned actor. In the ICT sector, John Obidi carries the title of social media expert.”

    A BIU alumnus, Alex Osagie, usually described graduates of the school as galaxy of stars shining forth for the entire world to see. Recently, four of the BIU alumni, Mrs Osayuki Aiyanyo, Mrs. Osarunwese Irabor, Ms. Imoedemhe Tessy and Ms. Ivie Akhere were appointed into the Edo State Judiciary as judges.

    Every student is given equal opportunity to gain invaluable practical experience through special programmes organised by the Life Success Centre Department of the university.

    Adekunle Ajasin University is part of the public-owned school training students to stand shoulder to shoulder with graduates from any university around the world. Students gain practical field exposure through entrepreneurship attachments and internships with top-notch companies in their fields of interest to get them equipped for life after school.

    In private universities, students, irrespective of course of study, receive hands-on training in entrepreneurship, administration, management, personal branding, proposal development, resume writing and communication, negotiation, and project management. This is one of the reasons why graduates of private schools are having an edge over their peers, who finished from the public-owned school.