Category: Campus Life

Africa Foundation for Young Media Professionals   (AFYMP), a non-governmental organisation, has trained 90 students from various universities on journalism and media practice.

It is a non-profit initiative established to raise the standard of media  practice in Africa with focus on media skill development, democracy, good governance and accountability.

The organisation  also announced  the names of applicants from Southwest and Southsouth who were shortlisted for funded media workshops supported by Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism and MacArthur Foundation.

The training was divided into four subsets: Media Entrepreneurship, Campus Journalism, Women in Journalism and Disability Inclusion. The workshop  held  between June 13 and  July 5, in Lagos and Ibadan for Batch A and Port Harcourt for Batch B.

The faculty for the workshops were veteran media specialists, seasoned journalists, senior lecturers, and renowned media trainers like,  Lekan Otufodunrin of Media Career Services, Ifedayo Ogunyemi of 1-79media Consult, Babajide Kolade Otitoju of TVC, Abimbola Bell of Lagos TV, Amaka Okoye of DW West Africa, Dr. Suraj Nifesi of University of Lagos, among  others.

Dr. Yinka Olaito, the Executive Director of AFYMP, noted that the initiative came from the need to mentor and groom young people in the media and journalism space.

He said: “We discovered that young people need mentoring and direction. They have the energy, but how do they channel the energy especially in the media industry?

“This is the best time to invest in the youth otherwise, we will keep complaining about what is not and nobody is talking about should be.”

Speaking about following up the participants, Olaito said  it required deliberate investment in the programme.

“There shall be sustainability of this action; we shall make a platform available to test their abilities and monitor the impact of this training on them. There is  opportunity to mentor and follow them up through virtual platforms.

“This is just the laying of foundation, we intend to build on it through mentoring, correction, setting the standard and giving them opportunities to get rewarded for what they have done,” he said.

Ogunyemi described the training as a platform for young media professionals to have practical knowledge.

He said: “The agenda for the training is to create a new hub of journalists who are ethically sound and aware of issues and trends that characterise the media industry in Nigeria and even globally. When they are well informed, their skills get improved on how well to relate with their audiences.

“I believe this training is very handy particularly with the proliferation of blog sites or news websites by quasi journalists who go about to do all sorts in the name of press freedom. The issues of ethics and standard reporting that this training offers is a great way to groom better journalists.”

Some participants  spoke about the  workshop.

Roland Bayode, who is a final-year student of Adekunle Ajasin University Akungba Akoko, Ondo State,  described the training interesting.

He said: “The facilitators make their teaching appears as if they are ordained from heaven to take up their assigned courses.

“They taught us  how young journalists can learn with humility by maximising  opportunities  around us.

“I cannot but give kudos to the organisers of the programme. They have done a splendid and fantastic job by believing and investing in the future of campus journalists in Nigeria.

“This training has  given me a deep insight into the media world and my role as a journalist to change some narratives and I am  preparing myself to take up this task.”

Chika Igba, a participant under media entrepreneurship, noted that there was a need for Mass Communication to be merged with Computer Science because modern technology was necessary for media and journalism.

She thanked the organisers for the opportunity to network and meet with great minds.

Adebayo Abdulrahman, a young journalist, said he learned about  ethics of the profession and how not to be controversial.

“Learning is a continuous process. AFYMB workshop was eye-opening in the sense that the faculty comprises of people with diverse experience and background.

” We learnt  from the classroom, from the field and from  those who have retired from the newsroom. This diversity of the faculties made the knowledge come from different angles. It was not solely focused on people who had field experience which made the training experience wholesome,” he said.

 

Esther Oladipupo, a Mass Communication student at Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, Ekiti State, who participated under Women in Journalism, is determined to work on herself and be more intentional about her career goals.

In  the past, we had to deal with religious wars as a result of some people’s or groups’ religious extremism and intolerance towards others. We also contended with several massacres most of which were deliberately carried out by group(s) of people who considered their victims inimical to their wellbeing, extrajudicial killings, constitutional crisis, civil unrest, terrorism, political imbalances which oftentimes resulted in political riots etc.

Boko Haram  has carried out assassinations and large-scale acts of violence in Nigeria, killing thousands of Nigeria and displacing several millions of people, with states like Borno recording deaths of 35, 646, Zamfara 5,747, Kaduna 5,462, Adamawa 4,097, Benue 3,774, Plateau  3,359, and Yobe with 3,176.

With the grim statistics, is Nigeria’s unity not negotiable?  It is a fact that Nigeria is a country consisting of  various ethnic groups, people whose ideologies, historical backgrounds, and reasonings are different from one another, though forcefully joined by  colonial masters through the amalgamation of 1914, an act some Nigerians till date find injurious to the country and blame the ill happenings in the state on it. They call it a parochial marriage on the part of the colonial masters, hence making it almost impossible for them to see themselves as one. It is a fact that not believing in Nigeria’s unity did not start today as some of our nationalists have one time or the other faulted the union.

For example, speaking in the Northern House of Assembly in 1952, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, who later became the Prime Minister of Nigeria (1960–1966), vetoed the amalgamation of Nigeria by the British Government. He said: “…the Southern people who are swarming into this region daily in large numbers are really intruders. We do not  want them and they are not welcome here in the North. Since the amalgamation in 1914, the British Government has been trying to make Nigeria into one country, but the Nigerian people are different in every way including religion, custom, language and aspiration. The fact that we are all Africans might have misguided the British Government. We here in the North, take it that Nigeria unity is not for us’. (As cited by A. Adeleye, ‘Amalgamation of 1914: Was it a mistake?’.

What prompted Balewa’s statement still rings true  in present-day Nigeria.

‘Nigeria’s unity is not negotiable’, is a sentence often used by politicians whenever they are aspiring for one position or the other, however, it is either they are too blind to see the reality or they are, as usual being hypocritical; an average Nigerian knows how dissimilar we are: religiously, politically, ideologically.

It is high time the country came  together to the round table for negotiations. Even a country that is  getting it right negotiates, let alone the one that is  just a step from  collapsing as a result of people with different orientations claiming  to be one.

A marriage that wants to last longer must be ready for  negotiations.

Several agitations are going on in the country today because of our inability to come to the round table and discuss and negotiate with one another.

The Jonathan administration, having awareness of how important it is to negotiate, called for negotiation. The 2014 National CONFAB inaugurated by then President Goodluck Jonathan on March 17, 2014 in Abuja, Nigeria, was perhaps to  address majority of Nigeria’s challenges and  matters such as restructuring the country for the sake of unity, progress and tolerance; the creation of state police as the best form of policing system.

However, the Jonathan administration failed to implement the national confab hoping he would be reelected.

Insecurity would have been a thing of the past if all that was agreed on in the National confab was put into practice.If Nigeria wants to succeed and make her citizens see themselves as one, jettisoning nepotism and favouritism and embracing the spirit of nationalism is vital.

• Ajosanmi is a student at Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA)

 

The Lagos State chapter of Child Protection Network (CPN) has canvassed qualitative education for children, noting that it will eradicate poverty.

This was the focus of an event  celebrating African Children last week. It had as   theme: “Eliminating harmful practices affecting children: Progress on policy and practice since 2013″.

It took place at Bimbo Odukoya Foundation, Ilupeju, Lagos State.

Coordinator of CPN Lagos, Mrs. Aderonke Oyelakin, stated  that educating children was a panacea to   poverty. She said children do not get educated  because of uneducated parents, inability to afford school fees, economic hardship, far distance to the nearest school, or early marriage which may keep girls from school.

According to her  these and other  barriers to education have had a negative  impact on children, especially girls.

“Children are active members of society and they need the support of everybody to achieve their potential.”

One in 10 children are still missing from the classroom. This is a call to all child advocates out there as we all know that much more work needs to be done to ensure all children are receiving a quality education,” Oyelakin said.

She also  urged all levels of  government to prevent, protect and help children exposed to harmful practices.

Oyelakin charged  stakeholders to  reflect on what more needs to be done to effectively eliminate harmful practices affecting children in  Nigeria.

She described harmful practices as persistent practices and behaviours that are grounded on discrimination based on sex, gender, age and other factors involving violence physical or psychological harm.

She said harmful practices  include,  child marriage, forced marriage, breast flattening, hate crimes, child abuse linked to faith or belief, among others. Oyelakin said such practices affect a child’s physical and mental health in the short and longer-term, impair their ability to learn and socialise and impact their transition to adulthood with adverse consequences later in life which she  referred to as ACE- Adverse Childhood Experiences.

A member of the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC), serving at the Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board in Bayelsa State,  Blessing Ademilua, has donated food items, toiletries, clothings and cash gifts worth N500,000 to orphanage homes  through the Personal Community Development Service (PCDS) in the state.

The orphanage homes visited were Glory Land Orphanage, New Assembly Quarters Road, and Daisy’s Home for Special Children Foundation, all in Igbogene.

Blessing, a native of Agbado in Ekiti State, said it had always been her desire to identify with the less-privileged in the society and put a smile on their faces.

She noted that identifying with the less-privileged made them feel loved and also gave them a sense of belonging. She said showing love to one another would make the world a better place.

The young corps member, who said it was not the first time she was reaching out to those in need, urged well-meaning Nigerians to always remember the poor and needy and to try to reach out to them.

She thanked God for giving her the grace and also the NYSC scheme for the platform, as well as every individual God used to achieve the project. She also thanked her immediate family members for their support and prayers.

The children and caregivers at the orphanage homes thanked Blessing for her kindness. They prayed that God would reward her generosity.

 

NRTC, an online media outlet in Lagos, has launched an internship programme targeted at providing work experience for undergraduates seeking a career in the media.

According to the spokesperson for NRTC, Sunday Komolafe, the internship programme will empower beneficiaries to develop their skills and improve their performance in the fields of communication, journalism and media.

The internship program, which will last for two months, is to commemorate the 10th anniversary of News Round The Clock.

The candidates are required to be not less than 21 studying media, mass communication or any other related field in any Nigerian university.

The candidates must also possess an experience in writing with a published work. He should also have been affiliated with any student newspaper, magazine or local media outlet.

Interested candidates are to send their CVs, in addition to a 500 word Personal Statement on how you meet the criteria for the internship. Attach a scanned photo ID showing your date of birth (E.g drivers license, passport, or national ID card), and send to internship2022@newsroundtheclock.com

Komolafe also confirmed that interested candidates will be able to apply directly on the website from June 1, 2022. The application closes on July 30, 2022. Successful candidates will be notified and announced on September 1, 2022.

The Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), Sonny Echono has said it is imperative to develop an education curriculum which meets global standards, adding that educators should upskill to improve learning outcomes.

He said stressed the need for a digitised curriculum and improved pedagogy skills for the nation not to lag behind in the comity of developed countries.

Echono spoke  at   a capacity-building workshop for Colleges of Education organised by National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) and TETFUND.

According to him, the workshop which had as theme: “Enhancing pedagogical skills and curriculum development for quality education delivery in Nigerian Colleges of Education,” was aimed at equipping institutions to fulfill roles and enhance nation-building.

He said:”The issue of pedagogical skills cannot be ignored.The nation must place premium on pedagogy and curriculum development to move forward. We need to put in place a digitised curriculum and the infrastructure to drive pedagogy.”

Echono, who warned that an  obsolete curriculum would result in stagnation and retrogression, stated that efforts must be made to improve educators.

He described  modern educators as  facilitator of learning, hence,they should be versatile in utilising technology and expansive in their thought processes.

Executive Secretary National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), Prof. Paulinus Chijioke Okwelle, said quality educators are the focal point of quality education, therefore, serious efforts must be put on training them in line with global best practices.

Okwelle noted that a well-articulated curriculum was key to addressing the challenges.

Vice Chairman Committee of Provosts, Dr Anene Obiakor,said National Certificate of Education (NCE) should not go extinct, adding that it was the best level for pedagogy.

Obiakor also bemoaned lack of enrollment in Colleges of Education despite TETFUND’s intervention.

Exposing teachers to innovative training will impact learners’ performance, the Director, Platform Schools, Lagos, Mr Bola Obe, has said.

Obe said the regular training it exposed its teachers to made the school to win this year’s Science Olympic Competition in the Junior Secondary School category in Lagos State.

The contest, which took place at the Anchor University, Ayobo, Lagos, had three categories – the primary, the junior secondary, and the senior secondary schools.

Obe said the aim of the competition was to produce students that were proficient in science education.

He explained that the philosophy of the school is to be the best in science education and mathematics.

‘‘Basically, we want to meet international standards. That’s why we blended the British and the Nigerian curricular. One of the things we do every term is that we bring consultants to train our teachers. We also have different clubs – science, literary, music and JET – and the students belong to any of these clubs,” he said.

Obe said the school’s boarding house facility is of a high quality, adding that students are protected from bullying and well-trained for good behaviour and academic excellence.

The school’s counsellor, Mr. Olusegun Akinsanya, said the school had quality assurance officers who checked  academic and extra-curricular activities in the school to ensure standard was not compromised.

Akinsanya said teaching and non-teaching staff members were exposed to various innovative training that would be of benefit to learners in the primary and secondary arms of the school.

‘‘One of the factors that helped them to pass or to excel to this stage of the competition is parental support. Our parents formed the parents’group for science competitors, for Olympiad Competition, so that they will continue to give moral support to those children,” he said.

Provost, Topmost College of Education (TOPCOED), Ipaja/Agbado, Lagos, Dr. Olufunmilayo Mabel Odunayo, has urged the federal and state governments to provide scholarships for indigent students applying to private colleges of education.

This, she said, would help decongest government-owned colleges and enhance the capacity of private colleges in terms of funding.

She spoke at the institution’s  matriculation on the college campus.

Also held on the campus were the convocation and induction of students into Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN).

The Provost noted that it was imperative for government to assist students in private colleges whose parents bore the burden of tuition and paid tax at both Federal and State levels.

“In private institutions, students and their parents bear the full and heavy burden of tuition fees alone without any relief from government though they too are taxpayers at both Federal and State levels. The consequences have been inability of private institutions to admit students to their full capacity,” she said.

She urged new students to desist from dishonourable deeds and be committed to their studies.

Dr. Odunayo advised them to be dedicated to their studies and embrace quality education.

“We enjoin you all to embrace quality education and pursue your career seriously. Therefore,there is zero-tolerance for examination malpractice,” she said.

The Provost, who urged the graduands to be worthy ambassadors of the institution, charged them to put in practice what they had learnt.

She urged them to be honest, upright and selfless wherever they found themselves.

Her words: “Those ideas and standards which  have been brought to your attention during your period of studentship here must now be put into practice. You are admonished to be worthy ambassadors of this college and the teaching profession.”

She charged the government to prioritise education, stressing that it was the way out of challenges plaguing the nation.

Odunayo stressed the need to be technology-compliant, adding that it would help address challenges of the 21st century. “For anyone to scale  21st century hurdles, Information  and Communication Technology (ICT) is the solution.  During the COVID-19 lockdown, ICT came to the forefront of every human activity.Schools had to resort to online teaching. Thus,it is compulsory for all our students to own a laptop and modem for class work and assignments,” she said.

TRCN Registrar Prof. Josiah Ajiboye urged inductees to turn the disadvantages of their time into advantages and opportunities.

He advised them to be resilient for them to thrive and reach the pinnacle of their career.

 

As earlier stated in the part one that depression is a medical illness that affects a person’s state of mind, it is so serious that it affects the thinking of a student, his or her actions, and how students feel in general. It also takes a toll on their relationship with others, making them feel sad and uninterested in anything that has to do with people and fun activities.

This makes depression, including methods to cope with the condition, an extremely crucial topic to be treated among students also, as a lot of students struggle with this condition regularly.

Some of the ways of overcoming depression as mentioned in part one are socialising, engaging in recreational activities (exercising, playing video games etc.), going for therapy, among others.

The ability to speak out and seek counselling is one of the most important preventive measures in overcoming depression which can even eventually leads to suicide. The inability of depressed people to share their problem have led to an uncontrollable rate of depressed people committing suicide. This is specially directed to the depressed people to see the need into sharing their issues. Like the adage: “A problem shared is a problem half-solved.” Although it also emphasises the point that one speaks to the right person about one’s problems or what troubles one.

Keeping things to oneself is one of the symptoms of a depressed person. I had such an experience: I am happy I shared what I was going through and it has helped to shape my life. If one speaks out to the right persons, there is a high tendency that one will get the solution to one’s problem. Although during my experience, I did not get the solution to my problem instantly; I was able to get the encouragement that made me overcome even committing suicide.

Everyone feels down from time to time, showing that anyone can be depressed and that the causes of depression are vast. There are various ways to speak out and whom to speak to when one is depressed. A lot of people just need to speak out to a medical practitioner, a counsellor or anyone around who they deem fit to play the role of a counsellor.

Another method that could be applied to coping with depression would be the recreational method. Although some students are likely to see it as a waste of time, medical personnel have confirmed that it helps the mental state of an individual after so much work and stress of the day. This method implies that the student dedicates a specific time to recreational activities that do well to put his or her mind at ease and relax.

Essentially, these activities are to rebuild the mental morale which may have been spent trying to chase his academic goals. These activities may or may not involve other people; the student can do some of these on his own, by himself. Example of such recreation activities are exercising, playing of video games, watching a movie with friends, participating in sporting activities among others.

Alternatively, one can engage in therapies. In a case where one is unable to engage in recreational and/or social activities due to one reason or another, it is advised to speak to a professional who is well-equipped to understand the situation surrounding one’s condition in order to proffer proper and practical solutions and exercises which a person can carry out to battle the effects of depression. Similarly, there also exists the option of guided self-therapy where one can conduct an in-depth research on the symptoms of one’s condition, perform self-diagnosis and proceed to create a plan of action based on information made available on the internet by professionals willing to help.

Similar to socialising is the internet (social media). Being active on social media will also help anyone struggling with depression. Although the internet has its shortcomings, it is still a place for self-relief by many people. Because in the world today, the internet/social media plays a great role in different aspects of our lives, especially as youths. Social media is particularly recommended for students fighting depression. The brain needs rest from incessant studying and one should not deny it that. Spend some time on your social media applications. Indulge yourself in a movie or comedy series and anything entertainment that can help lift your spirit.

 

The National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) has unveiled a digital platform to address complaints by students and the public.

The platform, known as e-ticketing, is an electronic solution that facilitates quick response to students’, public’s complaints and other enquiries.

This was made known at a briefing on the campus by Pro-Chancellor/Chairman of Council Prof. Peter Okebukola.

He described it as one of the institution’s learner support services, adding that since the system came on board, over 100 enquiries/queries were responded to in a day.

Okebukola noted that with the institution’s World Bank Centre for Excellence, students of the university have unrestricted access to the state-of-the-art technology hub.

He said the centre focuses on development of human capacity and research in digital solutions that would lead to utilisation of technology for education.

“The NOUN Africa Centre for Excellence on Technology Enhanced Learning (ACETEL), a special academic centre being sponsored by the World Bank, the Association of African Universities (AAU),  and the National Universities Commission (NUC), has continued to blaze the trail in the development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools to enhance learning,” he said.

Okebukola said in its drive to take qualitative education to Nigerians,the  institution has continued to expand with the establishment of more community study centres in the six geo-political zones of the country.

“The advantage of this policy is  that more qualified Nigerians now have easy access to university education.The latest of which are the over 13 study centres established in Kano State. Two centres are to be established in Lagos State,in Ikorodu and Badagry,” he said.

Okebukola, however, said with  103 centres  spread across the country, the  university was  making efforts to get to other communities.

The Council Chairman, who stated that the institution had graduated 1,229 inmates, said it was committed to making enrolment reach  one million in few years. He said the institution currently has 600,000, with 150,000 active.

He said NOUN was partnering NUC  to train staff. Hence, 4000 members of staff have been trained.

Okebukola said solar panels have been introduced at study centres to supplement the conventional source of power since the national grid may not always be available due to operational issues.

Okebukola, who noted that the university’s first set of Law graduates performed well at the Law School, said  the institution had integrated instructional videos into all courses to strengthen multi-modal delivery system and learner support base.