Category: Campus Life

A financial firm, Alpha Morgan Capital, has remodelled the Prof. Adetokunbo Sofoluwe Park at the University of Lagos, UNILAG.

Outgoing  Vice Chancellor, Prof. Toyin Ogundipe, said the effort of the company was in line with the policy of his administration which encourages corporate bodies and interested individuals to pick a project, or pick a person to invest in.

He said  the park was unique as it was named after the 10th substantive VC of the institution who was also a unique person.

He hailed  the company for also providing lighting for the facility.

The Group Managing Director of Alpha Morgan, Mr. Ade Buraimo, said the company had made arrangement for the maintenance of the facility for the nex five years.

He lauded the management team of the institution for being supportive during the project.

At the library complex, Ogundipe said what Alpha Morgan proposed to do would raise the profile of the facility which he described as number one in the country.

He noted  that today’s students prefer to study in unconventional ways.

Buraimo said the intervention of his company would help fault the claim in some quarters that if you want to hide anything from the black man, write it in a book.

Speaking at the Main Library, the University Librarian, Professor Yetunde Zaid, was full of gratitude to the Alpha Morgan Capital for the commitment to the project.

Prof  Zaid noted that the motive of the Makerspace and remodelling project is to convert the UNILAG library into a more lively, innovative, creative, intellectually stimulating and engaging space for users.

Meanwhile, the event also marked the flag-off of the proposed Makerspace and remodelling of the University Library lobby by the Alpha Morgan Capital.

A makerspace is a collaborative work space inside a school,library for learning through high tech tools.

The  University Librarian, Prof. Yetunde Zaid  noted that the purpose of the Makerspace and remodelling of the library lobby would make the library more useful for library users. She also said plans were underway to make the library less of paper and more of technology.

“Students càn  come into the library to   create, innovate and collaborate. They can also share practical knowledge of what they have learnt in class. The other facilities will harbour things that are high-tech facilities, available for users.”

She also lauded  the VC for his roles in deploying facilities to encourage  t visually-impaired students and to make the library more accommodating for them.

“We are actually the first university in West Africa to have an AI deployed to library services, courtesy of the Vice Chancellor. We have a VC  who is a friend of the library. Under his leadership, the library has experienced so much transformation in terms of services to students and staff. A lot of the visually- impaired students now prefer o come to the library. In 2016 before the Vice Chancellor came into office, we have only 16 of them. But as of today we have 64 visually- impaired students in UNILAG.  This is because of the services the library is offering to support them in terms of learning, teaching and scholarship,” she added.

Following last week’s suspension of the industrial action embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), students have urged the Federal Government to settle the union to forestall a recurrence, FATIMAH IDERA(AAUA) reports.

Following the Appeal Court’s order mandating the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to comply with the ruling of the  National Industrial Court to resume for their appeal to be heard, the National Executive Council (NEC) of ASUU held an emergency meeting to suspend its  eight-month-old strike, while it claimed that issues of the dispute were ‘yet to be satisfactorily addressed’.

The union went on strike on February 14, over the government’s alleged failure to meet its demands.

With the suspension of the strike, students do not want a repeat. They want the Federal Government to meet the demands of the union and provide an enabling environment for them to work. Equally, they urged ASUU to restrategise and look for other means of pressing home their demands instead of making students suffer through incessant industrial actions.

Abdulrasheed Hammad, a 400-Level Law Student at  Usman Danfodio University Sokoto(UDUS),  expects Federal Government to fulfill the demands of ASUU to avoid a repeat in future.

“My expectation is for the Federal Government to fulfill the demands of ASUU because we don’t want such to repeat itself. It was obvious that Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila played a vital role in fast tracking negotiations,” he said.

He noted that the government should not have allowed the strike to last long. He urged ASUU to also engage people about their demands so that government would be forced to fulfill their demands, while students hope not to go out of class again.

Deborah Tedunjaye, a Sociology student at Adekunle Ajasin University Akungba-Akoko(AAUA), Ondo State, said: “Federal Government  should work on meeting up with their agreement, so there would not be  recurrence anymore.

“I  expect to finish this semester this year and go to another level and ASUU should have done this earlier. It is late, but better as there are some things we will be able to cover.”

Alimi Fatima, a 300-Level Biology student at  Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, said: “Federal Government should settle the union and pay lecturers’ salaries when due to avoid  issues of strike.Also ASUU should restrategise and look for other means in terms of fighting for their rights, not by going on strike; making innocent students suffer for it.

“I am very certain it would be survival of the fittest, in terms of rushing students and using two months to complete a semester.”

Adesina Dasola Kafayat,  a 200-Level student of Plant Science and Biotechnology at Federal University Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE), urged government to do all within its powers to meet the demands of ASUU to bring stability to universities.

“Federal Government and ASUU should agree to avoid a repeat of this long  strike.

“I felt the court order was biased and targeted against the victims themselves instead of the perpetrators,” she said.

Adepoju Samuel, a 200-Level English Language and Literature student at the University of Ibadan, urged the government  to fulfill their end of the agreement, while lauding Gbajabiamila. He hoped  resumption would be followed by no further break. He advised the union to use other methods to negotiate with government rather than strike.

He said: “Government should keep to the signed agreement, increase  lecturers’  emoluments and fully fund universities to attract better reputation continentally and globally. ASUU should explore other alternatives to hold government responsible without disrupting  academic activities.

“The court order expedited the decision for ASUU to call off the strike and declare resumption of academic activities. I hope the union  is not merely complying with the order to embark on another industrial action next year.”

Olugade Ayorinde, a 100-Level Banking and Finance student at AAUA, said: “Federal Government  has to see to ASUU’s demands and not allow them to cause any rift; it should not also delay  payment to avoid another indefinite strike. ASUU should be considerate to  students and lecturers.

‘’ I want to resume and continue with my  studies to the next level as many plans have been shattered already.”

Godswill Ntiero, a 200-Level  Electrical Engineering student at the University of Uyo (UNIUYO), said: “When school resumes, I will focus on my studies that need a lot of attention.  It  is going to be a rush on us and we end up suffering for the time wasted;  government  should endeavour to keep its side of the promise and agreement.”

Chukwuyem Franklin, a 300-Level  Computer Science student at University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), wants ASUU and Federal Government to iron out their differences in the interest of students and avoid what may bring a repeat of the strike.

“I guess the courts have done  the students and parents a favour instead of ASUU wasting students’ time.

“ASUU and  government should settle all  differences and avoid what can cause a repeat of the long strike,” he said.

Mazeed Mukhtar Oyeleye,  a 300-Level student of Economics at UDUS said: “Government should mark up enough funds for the settlement of the union’s entitlements in the next budget and if the government failed to honour the agreements, the union should remember their promise that our stay at home will be the last of its kind.

“I do not want to believe that the ruling directly impacted the union’s decision to suspend the strike and resume academic activities as sacrifices in the last eight months finally turned out epochal, marking the end of ASUU strikes in the country’s history as our lecturers assured.”

Tijani Abdulkabeer, a 200-Level student of History at the University of Ibadan, Oyo State, urged  government to have conversations with necessary parties for the funding of  public universities or create an endowment fund that  institutions can tap in to fund themselves or get donations.

He also said autonomy should be granted to universities if government can not keep on funding them.

“My expectation is more of doing journalism because I am not a classroom person even when the school is in session but I know a lot will change about students with the resumption.

“They  will be made to go through struggles with the sudden resumption as the landlord/students issue awaits. Also lecturers will start enforcing laws on students too, while some students would have to quit their jobs, and some their internships just to resume school,” he said.

Peace Oladipo, a 300-Level Mass Communication student at (FUOYE), urged lecturers to improve their delivery and consider students and not go on strike for a long time.

“A major strategy to be deployed to work issues out are legal procedures, not dialogue sometimes, the court changed the storyline of the ASUU negotiation,” she said.

Olayiwola Folahan Festus, the  Student Union President of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, urged both parties to honour, willingly, all signed agreements. He also advised ASUU to consider using other means to press home its demands, adding students were paying too heavily for strikes.

“Based on the wisdom of the court and in the spirit of being law-abiding, I think that ASUU has done well by calling off the strike and it allows the matter to be treated within the ambit of the law without malice,” he said.

Lecturers react

Mr. Benson Otedayo,  a Computer Engineering lecturer at Ekiti State University, said: “There should be a consideration from both parties, since there was an intervention from the Federal House of Representatives.

“We expect that things would go back to normal, we are also looking at other components of developing  universities and welfare with the government.

“Government should set up a rule for engagement so that unions would not come at once for payment.”

A Mass Communication lecturer at AAUA, Mr. Ishola Lamidi, wants the Federal Government to keep to its commitment not only to the union but also to the universities by doing the needful so that there would not be any cause for another strike.

“ASUU is a democratic union and also a law-abiding union who  obeyed the court order. The union has never and would never pursue its selfish interest.

“Meanwhile, the struggle is for the betterment of  public universities in the country and it is about making the university system something to be proud of in terms of proper funding and staff welfare,” he said.

Lamidi urged ASUU to play its part in terms of suggesting creative ways of generating additional income for the system as the funding should not be that of the government alone. He also called on major stakeholders to play their role so it can be well-funded.

An Indian educationist, Cheryl Ferreiri, has canvassed the adoption of the Montessori philosophy in schools.

She gave the advice during the training organised for teachers by the Montessori Study Centre in Gbagada, Lagos.

It was attended by 175 teachers who were drawn from schools in various parts of the state.

Ferreiri, an international trainer with the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI), explained that Dr. Marie Montessori, an Italian physician, who introduced the philosophy and is named after, believed that a child passes through various levels of growth and development, which understanding are crucial to his teacher and him.

She noted that a child’s growth is divided into four ‘planes’ – infancy, childhood and adolescence. A proper understanding of each of these stages by the teacher, she emphasised, could boost the child’s learning. She lamented many teachers and even parents do not and so fail in their onerous responsibility, adding that this impacted on the society negatively.

Quoting Montessori, Ferreiri said education is an aid to a child’s upbringing, his getting a good one, therefore, helps the child to grow well. For example, Ferreiri further explained that at infancy the child has an absorbent mind. Here, she insists, the environment plays a major role.The infant sees adults as their role models. Thus, she said, every information given to him must be good or he would have a problem in future.

She added: “Teachers who handle these children have a huge responsibility. The are not just teaching them but also building them up.”

She, therefore, warned against using traditional methods of education, which tolerate flogging or the shouting at pupils, saying these could impact on them negatively.

Executive Director, The Montessori Study Centre, Lagos, Noyenum Emafo, said the free training was held to assist teachers to be better on their jobs. They started in 2018 and do about six yearly, she said.

“We want to sensitise teachers and help parents. That there is a lot we can do to help the child,” she added. She urged the government and employers to motivate teachers so that they could perform at their optimum.

A transport firm, Indrive, has completed training  for less privileged children on Information Technology (IT) skills under its BeginIT programme.

The BeginIT project  is an initiative  targeted at identifying and providing future career guidance for capable children from orphanages, boarding schools, and rural schools in new technologies.

Thirty-three students drawn from three schools owned by not-for-profit organisations were groomed on different technologies, including Embedded Systems (Physical Computing with Arduino kit).

At the end of the session,  students presented projects to demonstrate their ability to identify solutions related to transportation in their environment.

Director of Transport Operations, Lagos Ministry of Transportation, Olasunkanmi Ojowuro, who represented the Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation, hailed inDrive for the initiative, which he said, would go a long way to bring about innovations needed to transform not only the transportation sector but other sectors in the state.

“Whatever you learn, make sure you take it seriously because the more you understand, the better for us. It is good to seize this opportunity as children so that Nigeria can match up with technological advancement as it is in many developed societies. For instance, transportation has changed from what we witnessed in the past. We use technology to manage transportation,” he said.

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Speaking on the theme, “inDrive: Future of Mobility”, InDrive’s BeginIT Representative & Driver Acquisition specialist, Mrs Onuzulike Clementina, explained that the initiative, which has registered its presence in 15 countries, including Nigeria, is geared towards catching children  young in technology to stimulate their problem-solving skills and prepare them for the future of work.

“We believe strongly in the potential of every child regardless of the circumstance of their birth. We feel they need to get the knowledge in time to ensure that they can compete with their counterparts in the developed world. This is why we have come up with an initiative to enable them to reach their potential,” she said.

She stated that the training would further help to deepen knowledge around transportation and automobiles by helping to groom a new generation of engineers, designers and creatives.

Programme Associate, STEMCafe, Daye Omona, stated that the organisation was partnering with inDrive on the initiative to impact  children by implementing a STEM-based programme focused on the future of transportation.

According to him,  the training  would afford them the opportunity to learn concepts such as design thinking, conceptualisation and working with microcontrollers and sensors necessary to create, for example, a driverless car or blue tooth control boat.

Not-for-profit institutions that participated in the session included Amazing Grace, Precious Jasper Foundation and Mayzer Memorial Foundation.

Some  weeks ago, staff and students of Lagos State University of Science and Technology were excited at the visit of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

The ‘Welcome Mr. Governor’ banner erected few metres away from our now famous Helipad at the College of Technology was conspicuous. Many students trooped out to catch a glimpse of Sanwo-Olu.

While supervising the ongoing Senate Building construction, the Student Union Government President, Balogun Aderemi, presented four demands, which included construction of new SUG building and a mini stadium, reduction of a likely-increment in school fees ahead of the new session, and, finally, provision of school bus for students.

Nevertheless, the governor promised to ensure the construction of a mini stadium as soon as possible and renovation of the current SUG Building as it was not likely for them to embark on building a new one. He dispelled rumours of  a possible increment in school fees ahead of the new session.

While these promises had no specific duration attached, the governor gave assurance that he would provide two new school buses before the end of September. He had also added  two extra promises which was the provision of free internet facility for students and construction of hostels using the Public-Private Model used in Lagos State University (LASU).

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In 2017, the then governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode, promised the then Lagos State Polytechnic, a standard stadium and new auditorium at the 25th convocation of the institution. He also approved the construction of hostel on campus.

While the hostel project failed to see the light of the day, the said standard stadium had long been abandoned and gradually decaying out of negligence.

Just as his predecessor, Sanwo-Olu had also promised the construction of hostel, among others, which I believe,  is not beyond his capacity, considering that he had seen to the conversion of the school from polytechnic to university. The possibility of commencing such herculean task in this dying minutes of his first tenure is, however, near zero.

We appeal to the governor to remember his promises, particularly the school buses and free internet facility.

We know the hostel might take years, but the aforementioned could be accomplished within a short time.

Meanwhile, we  also urge the governor to see to the completion of our abandoned stadium rather than embarking on another one. We hope our daddy would  hearken to our requests.

.• Safiu is a student at Lagos State University of Science and Technology (LASUSTECH).

LEAP Africa, in partnership with Dow and other technical partners, recently engaged youths and students to impact communities across Africa.

This was  done at  the third edition of the youth-led social impact campaign – Youth Day of Service (YDoS).

The week-long campaign had as  theme, “Youthful and useful”.

Youths and students engaged in  volunteerism and community service in to actualise a sustainable future.

Over 5,000 young people across 34 African countries were mobilised to  implement projects including tree planting, school painting, beach cleaning, digital sensitisation, medical outreach, prison outreach, among others. The projects were in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs).

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Managing Director, Dow Northern and Western Africa, and Chair of Dow Africa Steering Committee, Sami Mainich, said   Dow’s partnership with Leap Africa was aimed at developing  and supporting  solutions that bring  change and build resilient, sustainable communities.

“Dow recognises that the future is created by what is done today through empowerment, collaboration, and deliberate investments in the communities we live and work in. As global citizens, we believe in dedicating our time and talents to challenges and opportunities that connect science, people, and community across the globe to achieve our envisioned world built on human creativity, innovation, and problem-solving,” he said.

Kehinde Ayeni, Acting Executive Director, LEAP Africa, said, LEAP Africa is committed to supporting and nurturing  youths  with skills and tools to enable them to become transformative leaders.

” The Youth Day of Service provides an enormous opportunity to engage the hands and hearts of individuals, the third sector, and public and private stakeholders to actualise the Sustainable Development Goals. Our partnership with Dow in this year’s edition supported our vision to sustain our wide reach on the continent,” he said.

At the end of the week-long project implementation, about 620 projects and over 5000 volunteers were registered via a dedicated portal from 34 participating African countries, including Nigeria, Kenya, Algeria, Sierra Leone, among others.

The Ghana Export Promotion Authority(GEPA) under the auspices of the Ghana High Commission has concluded plans to undertake a two-day International Students Recruitment fair in Lagos. It is scheduled for October 17 and 18, 2022.

This was made known at a press briefing on Tuesday by Minister Counsellor, Trade and Investments, Ghana, Nicholas Quansah at the Ghana High Commission office in Lagos.

He noted that GEPA is collaborating with 16 Ghanaian universities to recruit students from the country. This includes seven public and nine private institutions.

” We are partnering with some institutions and agencies to make education accessible for students in Ghana. The recruitment fair is free,and open to students and parents interested in Ghanaian education,” he said.

The Minister noted that the fair started in 2017 at the Lagos International Trade Fair, adding that this is the third in the series.

He said students were assured of quality education and cross-cultural interaction with their robust teaching and learning methods.

“International students would benefit from cross-cultural interaction. Students are allowed to chose from any of the sixteen universities during the fair,” he said.

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Quansah, who noted that they were not taking advantage of the industrial action embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), explained that over 5000 Nigerian students are in various Ghanaian universities.

The Minister said there was no need to have a visa to apply, adding that the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) protocols allow free movement. He, however, said a resident permit was compulsory.

“The fees are moderate and affordable. Welfare and security are also guaranteed for students,” he added.

Empower Nurses Consult (ENC) has concluded plans to launch an education trust fund worth $6000 to empower nursing students in the country. The first stage of the project will span from January 2023 till December 2025.

This was made known by the co-founder of the organisation, Mr Princewill Aghedo – a Nigerian nurse currently based in Canada.

The firm is a human capital organisation focused on proving strategic intervention around personal, professional and academic development for Registered and Student nurses and Midwives in Nigeria.

Princewill said the trust fund is part of the corporate social responsibility of the company, in line with the United Nations sustainable development goal 4 (which targeted at Ensuring Inclusive and equitable quality education that will promote overall learning opportunities to all) and this will mainly involve providing scholarships opportunities to student nurses in Nigeria.

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“We are launching a first of its kind education trust fund for student nurses in the country. We will give out scholarship worth $2000 in the next three years, that amounts to $6000 for 10 student nurses across schools of Nursing and Departments of Nursing in Nigeria” he said.

He noted that the firm also have current plans to lead an agenda that will provide funding to equip libraries from Traditional to digital and upgrade training rooms and laboratories across nursing schools to meet Global best practices.

“Many of our training rooms do not have basic equipments like defibrillator; our nurses go through school of nursing and are unable to honn their clinical skills to perform basic life support. We will invest in providing more mannequins and Defribillators to support their clinical skills development; so that our nurses can compete favorably amongst their peers from first world countries,” he said.

The co-founder of ENC said the organisation would also upgrade libraries to meet the reality of 21st century nursing education. This, he said, would make nursing students be at par with their peers in advanced countries.

Aghedo said the firm had provided funds for nursing students and graduates who are looking forward to explore international opportunities for career & Academic development.

He said in the last one year, the firm provided over $2000 to nurses for advanced nursing programmes to improve their competence.

He added that it also established a career support fund where it gave $200 monthly to student nurses.

Speaking on interventions by the firm at the height of COVID-19, he said: “During the first wave of the pandemic, our organisation led an advocacy campaign that led to the investment of N3 million by the National Association of Nigerian Nurses in North America. The fund was used to procure 5000 face shields and distributed across 36 states in the country, including Abuja.

“To support and improve the confidence of nurses and healthcare workers across public hospitals, our organisation won a grant in collaboration with 360degree Health Network from Queen Elizabeth commonwealth Trust to provide personal protective equipment(PPE) to six government hospitals across the country.

The PPEs included, nose masks,face shields and hand gloves,” he said.

He also said during the second wave of COVID-19, the firm led an advocacy campaign that attracted the leadership of National Association of Nigerian Nurses in USA to donate 1040 packs of N 95 face shield distributed across 12 states in the country, among other interventions.