The Nation Newspaper

Category: Campus Life

  • Varsity hosts NANS leaders

    Varsity hosts NANS leaders

    Members of the National Association of Nigeria students (NANS) led by its President, Yinka Gbadebo, have visited tertiary institutions in Cross River State as part of its National Campus Tour.

    The visit, which lasted for four days, ended at the University of Calabar (UNICAL).  Members, who participated in the exercise, included the association’s former senate president, Kolade Olaoluwa, Tijani Usman, Nwachife Umunnakwe and Enoke Samuel.

    Others were Aruwa Ibiloma, Okoi Samuel, Afufu Anthony and Issah Nwankwo.

    Gbadebo said the aim of the tour was to understudy the sufferings of Nigerian students across the country and the poor state of education in the country.

    ‘’This tour is aimed at identifying the need of Nigerian students and how NANS can render a helping hand. We are concerned about the sorry plight of Nigerian students,’’ he stated.

    He lamented the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike that has kept students at home for more than five months.

    Gbadebo said his administration wanted to build enduring relationship with students through the nation-wide tour.

    ‘’NANS wants to understudy the challenges of Nigerian studensts and bring them to the notice of relevant stakeholders for action. There is a dearth of infracstructure on many campuses and we feel our association can play an intermediary role to resolve the challenges,” Gbadebo stated.

    On whether the tour was motivated by the Needs Assessment framework of ASUU, Gbadebo said the exercise was an independent one, noting that it was a students-centred initiative and not for lecturers’ welfare.

    He advised students to make dialogue a tool for resolving disputes, urging them to shun violence and other forms of unlawful demonstration.

    Gbadebo advised female students to stop prostitution and provocative dressing, saying the acts were harmful to education.

    The NANS president refuted the claims that the association has become an appendage of the Federal Government, saying the association has not lost relevance.

    “The problem with most Nigerians is that they expect 2013 NANS president to behave like 1978 NANS president. We tend to forget that time changes. We fail to forget the NANS president during democracy rule is different from the NANS president of the military era. This is the time we all must put all hands on deck to build a nation we all should be proud of. This NANS executive wants to join hands with the Federal Government, ASUU  and the entire Nigerian students in building an enviable educational system for the country,’ he said.

    He commended the Students’ Union Government at UNICAL for promoting peace and students’ welfare.

    The Coordinator of National Command of Man O’ War on Campuses (NACOMOC), Emeka Onu, praised the NANS delegation for his organising the tour. He said the tour would strengthen the bond of friendship between students and the association.

    President of UNICAL Students’ Union Government, Basssy Eka, praised the leadership of NANS for the outreach.

  • ‘Varsities need competent workers to survive’

    ‘Varsities need competent workers to survive’

    No fewer than 1,000 administrators from different universities participated in this year’s national conference organised by the Association of Nigerian University Professional Administrators (ANUPA) with the theme: Emerging issues and global best practices in university administration.

    The conference, which lasted for four days, was held at the International Conference Centre, University of Ibadan. It afforded administrators the opportunity to chart a new course in university management.

    Chairman of the UI branch, Mr Tijani Musa, said the conference was timely as higher education in the country required competent manpower for effective administration.

    ‘’This year’s edition of the annual conference will provide a platform to set standards and keep pace with global trends. As a matter of fact, the conference is crucial and apt, especially as it aimed at improving our professional skills to be better university administrators,’’ he said.

    The National President of the association, Mr Samuel Nwansat, said the choice of this year’s conference became imperative due to the need to enable administrators to adapt to dynamics of the fast changing learning environment. He added that lack of continuity a major problem of the association, saying that it was disheartening that the association, which began some decades ago, was yet to have its national secretariat and official bus.

    The keynote speaker, Prof Ayo Banjo, in his presentation titled: ‘Global best practices in university administration,’’ said he was impressed with the commitment of members to professionalism.

    The former UI vice-chancellor noted that the pursuit of excellence was the hallmark of any serious academic community.

    ‘’A good university requires a crop of good administrators. Professional administrators in our universities should endeavour to keep themselves abreast of global best practices through rigorous training,’’ he said.

    The Deputy Governor of Osun State, Mrs Grace Titilayo Laoye-Tomori, was the special guest of honour at the event.

    The Oloyo Cultural Ensemble entertained participants by showcasing rich Ibadan cultural dance. The Vice-Chancellor, Prof Isaac Adewole had offered a dancer and drummer in the dance group scholarships to study at the university.

    The Director of Public Communication, Mr Olatunji Oladejo, described the scholarships as a way of encouraging talented youths.

    Some of the presentations at the conference included: Nature of and strategies for dealing with workplace discrimination against people living with HIV and AIDS and other communicable diseases by Chief Executive Officer, Institute of Human Virology in Abuja, Dr Patrick Dakum; Managing service delivery: linking strategy to operations by Chief Mojisola Ladipo.

    The event was attended by Dr Ade Abolurin, the Commandant-General, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC); Ayo Ogunruku, former Registrar, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife; Mr Olujinmi Olukoya, Registrar, University of Ibadan.

  • Students pray for VC at 56

    Students pray for VC at 56

    Members of the University of Ilorin Muslim Community (UIMC) have held prayers for their Vice-Chancellor Prof AbdulGaniyu Ambali, to mark his birthday.

    The Chief Imam of the university’s central mosque, Prof AbdulGaniy Oladosu, led the prayers which were held after Jumat last Friday.

    They prayed to Almighty Allah to grant the celebrator many years on earth in good health and wealth. They also prayed to God to strengthen Ambali to continue to discharge his duties.

    Prof Ambali said he preferred going to mosque to offer prayers than throwing a party to celebrate his birthday. He appreciated well wishers for their goodwill messages.

    Prof Ambali added: ‘’Our activities in life are similar to the assessment tests we do in school till the session ends when lecturers collate everything together. We will always have those moments of personal assessment at different stages of our lives. But I pray that God allows us to pass those tests.’’

    The Students’ Union executives led by the President, Ahmed Lawal, visited the Vice-Chancellor’s office to congratulate him. They were accompanied by the Dean of Students’ Affair, Prof A. O. Omotesho.

    In his piece to felicitate with the VC, titled: Ambali: 56 hearty cheers, Deputy Director of Corporate Affairs, Mr Kunle Akogun, described Amballi as a silent achiever, who has transformed the university since assuming office last year.

    Ambali served as the Dean of Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID) and later became the Dean of the same faculty at UNILORIN before he was appointed as Vice Chancellor last year.

  • HoS praises ASCON for fulfilling mandate

    .HoS praises ASCON for fulfilling mandate

    The Head of the civil Service of the federation Alhaji Bukar Goni Aji, has praised the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON) Topo Badagry Lagos for living up to its mandate of providing ‘human capacity development needs of the public service’. He said the Post Graduate Diploma in Public Administration which the college started in partnership with the University of Lagos (UNILAG) in 1980, has further strengthened the civil service in carrying out government policies for national development.

    Aji spoke at the inauguration of ASCON Governing Board/combined graduation of the 2011/2012 and 2012/2013 sets of the Post Graduate Diploma in Public Administration (PGDPA) at the college auditorium last Thursday.

    Giving a background to the PGDPA, Aji recalled the Act that established the college which restricted its activities between 1978 and 1985 to public service alone in order to enable it cope with its human capacity development needs, a situation he added, motivated the college to come up with PGDPA in partnership with UNILAG.

    With the 121 graduands on Thursday, the figure of those that have so far graduated from the programme now stands at 1, 553, Goni added.

    “I must state categorically that the partnership with the academia and people with diverse experiences from the public service in the conduct of this programme has accorded ASCON the credibility of producing graduands of such high quality that would have a positive impact on governance in Nigeria.

    “It is our belief that the PGDPA programme from which participants are graduating today has In no small measure, ensured the production of a crop of public officers with the skills, and attitude required to drive the transformation agenda to greater success. It is also my belief that the graduands of today have received adequate technical training in public administration; and because this training is coming from ASCON, you would have as well been polished in character and refined in attitude for the onerous task ahead.”

    “Itransformation agenda rests squarely with public service and public servants. I have no doubt that ASCON and the University of Lagos are doing everything to constantly update the PGDPA for greater service.”

    For the college Director-General Mr Ajibade Peters, it was appreciation time for governors, traditional rules, colleagues, the college governing board, individuals and other partners for their support for the 41-year-old college. According to Peters, special thanks go the governors of Lagos, Ekiti Akwa-Ibom, Bauchi, Bayelsa, and Niger states for constantly sponsoring their civil servants for training in the college.

    Peters thanked Bauchi, Niger and Rivers states for further providing spaces for ASCON which the college has since converted to its zonal offices. The best Graduating Student for the 2012/2013 set Babatunde Adeyemi Odunlami told The Nation he owes his success to God, hardwork and the academic environment ASCON provided.

    Odunlami, who made a distinction, said: “I stayed permanently in the college premises for my programme. Here we have 24 hours power supply so I have enough time to study. The proximity to the classrooms is also there. I am also focused.”

    “Above all, it has been the hand of God. When I first came I said: ‘God I want to pass my programme in flying colours. Later I said: ‘God I want to be the Best Graduating Student and He granted it.

     

     

  • Varsity receives C of C Bureau

    EKSU has been commended for adhering strictly to the provisions of the law of Nigeria with respect to the codes of conduct of pubic officers.

    The newly appointed Ekiti State Director of the Code of Conduct Bureau, Akinfolarin Feyisola, said this during a visit to the vc.

    Feyisola, who led the management team of the bureau, said as an alumnus of the university, he was proud returning to his alma mater, which has greatly improved in terms of academic ranking and infrastructural growth.

    The vc was happy that Feyisola and three of his management team are alumni of EKSU.

    He expressed his readiness to support the bureau in its proposed workshop to educate EKSU staff on the procedure to fill the Code of Conduct Bureau Assets Declaration forms.

    The vc described as a welcome development the responsibility of the Bureau to monitor the lifestyle of public officers to ensure discipline, modesty and eradicate corruption and questionable lifestyle.

     

  • A song for Mandela

    A song for Mandela

    My forebears probably did not dream of their own freedom when Rolihlahla was born on the 18th day of July, 1918. The black race could not have imagined the how blessed it was when Madiba first cried as a baby. Nelson Mandela was not only a restless wave that traversed our universe, but he was an unyielding freedom fighter with fierce conviction that Africans must be free.

    Now, he is dead; a litany of tributes and encomiums pour in from around the world about the life and times of this great man. African leaders are not left out; they have continued to issue press statements to remind us who Mandela was. But how many of them share in the Madiba’s ideology or would want to take the opportunity of his death to offer people-oriented leadership?

    Mandela lived and died for a cause, which is to remove shackles from the wrists of Africans. How many of our leaders have shown these traits in recent times? None, alas. But we are used to fooling ourselves. What values would those fine words of African leaders add to the struggle of a respected man, who just proceeded on a journey to the great beyond?

    However, a whole lot of good could come from making positive use of his ideals, drive and passion. Who among the citizens of Aso Rock, government houses and central banks will care far beyond the fame, the money and immediate comfort to project the indestructible legacy Madiba left behind? Who among our leaders will quit the lucrative government job to engage in acts that will free the humanity on the black continent from untold suffering?

    The young people have been frustrated by lack of opportunities for them. Many have taken to rebellion and all manners of vices to demand good leadership, recoiled when they face the reality of their extent of decay in the system. Mandela showed us the way through his struggle, but how many of us want to travel the same path he toed?

    It is high time we told our leaders the truth about their ways. Like Mandela, let the match for freedom begin now, as any minute wasted could cost us our very souls.

    As I reminisce about the life and times of this great man, a great agony overtook me in my sleep and I began touring the world of the unknown.

    In that dream, I saw the man himself. The following conversation ensued:

    Me: Tata Madiba, my country has espoused mediocrity for too long, please can you help us?

    Mandela: How do you mean, my daughter?

    Me: We lack true representatives in government. We still fool ourselves that Nigeria is indivisible but there is a crack. There is high level of complacency among the people. No one seems to care. The youths have exchanged their future for a plate of meal. We have enthroned rogues and entrusted them with power. Daddy Mandela, everybody talks and no one is really listening. The leaders have sold our conscience for filthy lucre. Our faith in our nation has diluted. Patriotism is dead sir.

    Mandela: What has been done to salvage the situation?

    Me: Nothing. No one dares do a thing. Anyone who dares to challenge the status quo becomes the target of state attack.

    Mandela: Hmmm (He waxes in deep thought)… so what have you personally done?

    Me: Me? What can a tot from an unknown village do to help the situation? Well, I simply write to criticise these wrongs. My race looks up to me for their survival but my eyes are only fixed on where my next meal comes.

    Mandela: What? (His querying eyes shot up in shock). You have done poorly indeed! What happened to the rest of your sisters?

    Me: It is painful Daddy Mandela. Many of them have been sold into marriage, the rest wash pants and underwear for the Whiteman in foreign lands. Some of them struggle to earn their keep while others trade cheap sex on the streets of Rotterdam and Spain.

    Mandela: Is the situation this pathetic?

    Me: Yes, daddy Mandela. I cannot tell it all.

    Mandela: What have the power brokers done?

    Me: Not as much. Any effort wasted on change could mean great naira lost

    Mandela: Really? But their praise and heroics reach up to me here. Now, you go and tell them to stop mourning for me. I don’t need their eulogies. Let those who live on the Rock in Abuja fight only for the state, and not personal interests. Let them find an ideal and then die for it. Tell them it is much worthy to live for the state than self. Tell the judges to discharge their duties in the light of posterity. Tell your academics to be true to the noble profession and forsake those things that perish. Tell your statesmen to leave their comfort zones, gird themselves and match to the battle field. Tell your young men not to save their own lives, because he who loves his life shall lose it. Tell your young women to shun offensive dressing. Tell your state to get set for war, a form of change. If they don’t, everything may fall apart and the centre will not hold anymore. Go now, you young poet. You can sort through the mess!

    I left his presence enchanted and open-mouthed. I have never been held in time or eternity before. As I woke then, I began this song, a song for Mandela:

    Hear the lawful felon

    The warlock who braced against cons

    The fires in his soul burns through in death

    All of himself for Africa had let

    In the world I visited, nothing of him remains that hadn’t been let

    Don’t you gather his lessons in a barn Run with it now

    Chase change, go challenge the courts all that our doom may spell we’ll cut for in the world I visited, Nothing of him remains that hadn’t been let.

    It’s high time now, we stopped the encomiums and return to the salt mines!

    •Ngozi is a graduate of UNIZIK

     

     

     

  • Aliyu promises more money for schools if stealing is checked

    Aliyu promises more money for schools if stealing is checked

    •Governor pleads with govt/ASUU to make sacrifices

    The Niger State Governor, Alhaji Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, has attributed the underdevelopment of the education sector to stealing of public funds.

    Aliyu, who spoke at the first national convention and election of executive council of the Bayero University Kano (BUK) Alumni Association, also said the Federal Government should be sincere in tabling the facts as contained in the 2009 Agreement it signed with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

    The governor, who is an alumnus of BUK, said less stealing of public funds would make free education possible.

    ‘’I have been asking myself when I look throughout the parts of the world, it is only in Nigeria where you have strike in the universities; why? And I have also found that if Nigerians desist from stealing, we should be able to provide free education from primary school to the university level,” he said.

    Aliyu also urged the Federal Government and ASUU to make sacrifices, towards an amicable resolution of the lingering strike crippling the university education sub-sector.

    The governor, however, admitted that though strike is old fashioned in the settlement of disputes globally, it is the only language the government seems to understand.

    For the viability of universities, Aliyu counselled all major stakeholders to contribute their quota towards the funding of universities through their alumni associations, pointing out that famous universities in the world, like Oxford , Harvard universities, among others, are great, primarily due to their financial contributions made by the alumni associations.

    He called on the various alumni associations to emulate the good gesture of the foreign-based universities by exploring other sources to generate funds to develop and equip their alma mater.

    On the occasion, the BUK Vice-Chancellor, Prof Abdulrasheed Aabubaka, praised members the university’s alumni association, especially Aliyu, as well as Senator Ahmed Sani Yerima, former Zamfara State governor for their support for the infrastructural development of the university.

     

  • Muslim students lament strike

    The Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria (MSSN), Lagos State Area Unit, has expressed concern over the impasse between the Academic Staff Union of the Universities (ASUU) and the Federal Government that has kept public universities shut for five months now.

    The face-off over the non-implementation of the 2009 Agreement assumed a dramatic dimension penultimate week when the government threatened to sack any lecturer who failed to return to work.

    The group, in a statement signed by its Amir (President) Mr. Kaamil Kalejaye appealed to President Goodluck Jonathan to resolve the matter as soon as possible as education is next in importance to freedom and justice.

    Rather than solve the problem, Kalejaye said sacking the university teachers would complicate issues.

    He said: “As a student-based organisation, it is not a good omen that students have been rendered redundant for more than five months. We use this medium to appeal to President Goodluck Jonathan to play a fatherly role to end this matter as education is paramount to the socio-economic development of a country’s future.

    “We urge the Federal Government not to use force to bring the lecturers back to work as that will only worsen the case. The case of UNILORIN 49 is still fresh in our memory.

    “We believe the most honourable thing for the government to do is to honour the agreement reached with the lecturers in 2009. Doing this will definitely take the lecturers back to school immediately.”

    The group lamented the rot in the country’s education system and the negative effect it posed to the future of the nation if not urgently addressed.

     

  • UI VC seeks better funding

    UI VC seeks better funding

    The Vice-Chancellor, University of Ibadan, (UI), Prof Isaac Adewole has called on the Federal Government to give special consideration to the funding of the premier university given the age and decay of its infrastructure.

    He spoke at a briefing in Ibadan on his third year in office.

    Adewole made a case for special funding for the institution given its status as the premier university which was established 14 years before others.

    He said considering that it has been in existence for 65 years, most of its infrastructure need replacement.

    For example, he said most of the water pipes laid 65 years ago were in bad shapes and need to be changed.

    While noting that the institution enjoys capital allocation from the government and endowments from individuals, international bodies and corporate organisations, he said UI still needs alternative funding sources outside government.

    He said efforts were on to institute income-generating projects for the university.

    Adewole who did not agree that there was rot in the education sector, said universities were not enough to accommodate eligible students.

    “More universities should be established to accommodate more applicants who could not be admitted by various universities in the country. Government alone cannot do it. We need to see education as necessary tool for development and avenue to generate money,” he said

    While admitting that there were challenges in the sector, he called for massive reconstruction right from the primary school level.

     

  • Lectures resume at AAUA

    Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) at the Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA) have returned to work.

    Investigations by CAMPUALIFE revealed that lectures have started in some faculties. A lecturer in the Faculty of Social and Management Sciences, who did not want his name in print, said they were working on the faculty’s time-table, adding that lectures would start soon.

    A student, who simply gave his name as Victor said: “As you can see, I am just returning from a class. We had a lecture today at Yar’Adua Hall.”

    Another student said he was happy that the university pulled out of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike.

    “I pray that God would continue to bless Prof Femi Mimiko for saving our future from the strike. Many of us are happy to be back on campus. That is why we all returned to campus immediately we got our resumption messages.”

    However, CAMPUSLIFE gathered that some lecturers were unwilling to return to classes because they believed it was wrong to pull out of the strike when the national body was yet to end the industrial action.

    Efforts to get the local ASUU Chairman, Dr Busuyi Mekusi, proved abortive.