Category: Education

The Governing Council and Management of Federal Polytechnic Oko, Anambra State, has commenced training of its 107 senior officers on Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

The training covered computer appreciation such as Desk Top and  file management, Introduction to Microsoft, Power Point presentation, Printing Technology, Microsoft Excel, Data Management among others.

Speaking during the four days training, Chairman of the Governing Council and initiator of the training, Mallam Kale Kawu, said the exercise was designed for Deputy Registrars (DR) and Principal Assistant Registrars (PAR).

Kawu underscored the need for continuous training and retraining of staff, especially in ICT, saying the exercise would reduce leakages of confidential information and speed up service delivery.

He said: “The whole world is tilting towards Information Communication Technology. The Federal Polytechnic Oko will not be left behind. Every Deputy Registrar should have certain level of knowledge of use of the computer.

“As heads of various units, there are some confidential documents they need to type by themselves to reduce leakages of information and sometimes speed up service delivery. So, it’s a good development.

“I’m happy the exercise has commenced in earnest and that officers concerned are responding. This and many more are part of the council’s efforts to reposition the institution for the 21st century.”

 

Lauding management for the strides of sustaining the institution’s high class ICT centre and engaging skilled staff for the exercise, Kawu expressed satisfaction at the level of compliance of officers involved, assuring enrollment of more staff in subsequent batches.

The institution’s rector, Dr. Francisca Nwafulugo, said her administration had provided opportunities for various trainings both internationally and locally for many staff through TETfund sponsorship.

“It is only by regular acquisition of knowledge, training and re-retraining, especially in modern technology that the institution would grow. I will make sure I combine this with my desperate push for staff and students welfare,” she said.

 

 

 

DIRECTOR, Centre for Digital Humanities, University of Lagos (CEDHUL), Prof. ‘Tunde Ope-Davies (a.k.a. Opeibi), has won another visiting professorship fellowship awarded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany.

The award, tenable at the University of Hamburg, Germany, will enable him to conduct a research project on Digital Political Multilingualism in Nigeria.

This study will contribute to his ongoing national project on the use of digital technologies in Nigeria’s democracy sponsored by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).

The visiting research fellowship was awarded under the aegis of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation’s Alumni Sponsorship and Network programmes supported by Germany.

A Nigerian lady, Boubini Miyensinte Jones-Wonni, last week, graduated as the best graduating student in the Howard University Medical School Class of 2022, at the age of 22 , and the youngest in her class.

She is also one among the only two members of the class admitted to the prestigious Harvard University Medical School for residency training in Internal Medicine.

Jones-Wonni was born in Ido-ani, Ondo State, on October 23, 1999, to the family of Dr. and Mrs. Jones-Wonni. She hails from Arogbo Ese- Odo Local Government Area.

She started her primary education in Banky’s Private school Apo Abuja. Due to a sterling performance in primary school, she was urged to sit for the common entrance examinations from Primary Three, which she passed in flying colours and proceeded to Word of Faith Group of Schools in Area 1, Abuja. While in high school, she continued on the path of hard-work and diligence.

As such, she was made the Library Prefect, was awarded a full tuition fee waiver in her final year by the management of the school and subsequently completed her education as best graduating student and valedictorian for the class of 2014 at the age of 14.

Upon performing excellently in a test conducted, she became a beneficiary of the Special Education Scholarship programme for Niger Delta Students. An initiative of the   Presidential Amnesty Programme under the leadership of Kingsley Kuku and was sent to the United States to study Medicine and Surgery.

This required her to first complete a first degree in a relevant discipline prior to medical school. Thus she was admitted in Miles College Alabama, U.S. to obtain a degree in biological sciences. She was able to achieve this in a record three years as opposed to the conventional four years of study.

At the completion of her studies in 2018, she was adjudged the best graduating student in the Department of Natural Science and Mathematics with a grade point average of 4.0/4.0 and a co-Valedictorian of the graduating students at 18.

Boubini  wrote the Medical College Admissions Test ( MCAT) , a pre-requisite test for admission into medical school  and scored in the 91st percentile -meaning that her  score was  in the top nine per cent of  the students, who took the examination in the United States at the time, and consequently received an invitation to the  Howard University Medical School in Washington DC to study Medicine in 2018.

She eventually graduated as the best graduating student in medical school class of 2022, winning many awards.

The Federal Polytechnic, Nekede has entered into partnership with Innoson Motors to expose its students to car manufacturing techniques.

Its rector, Michael Arimanwa, an engineer, in an interview with reporters in Owerri, said the institution found it necessary to go into partnership with Innoson Motors because of the school’s desire to expose the students and workers to car manufacturing techniques.

He added that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) had been signed to establish an Innoson Motors workshop within the school.

According to him, “This will help our students in mechatronics engineering, mechanical engineering and electrical electronic engineering to have hands-on experience. These three are the departments that will directly benefit from the workshop when established.

“We also have the option of going to Nnewi. Our staff and students can go to Nnewi, where Innoso Motors has its head office. In fact, another workshop will also be established at Naze industrial cluster.”

He said many countries like China, Germany, France, United Kingdom and America have set a deadline to reduce their use of fossil fuel – fuel containing carbon that will burn and damage the environment.

“Many countries have set a deadline for reduction by 60-100percent, maybe by the year 2030-2035. Not many countries will be buying crude oil or petrol. Because of that, we went to work, tasked our own engineers and scientists and came up with a design.

“We applied to TetFund and it provided funds for the production. Today, we have produced an electric car, which can operate on about 30km per hour. The vehicle doesn’t have a regular internal combustion engine. It does not use petrol; it does not use diesel and does not use kerosene. It’s completely environmentally-friendly.

“We have presented the vehicle at a science exhibition in Abuja where the Minister of Science and Technology rode in it. We have presented it to the Director-General of National Automotive Design and Development Council, (NADDC) and on the strength of that, the rector was appointed the member of the NADDC Technical Committee on Electric Vehicle.

“It’s a national body that has responsibility to advise government on the production and use of electric vehicles. Very soon, we will be advising the Federal Government on the production and the use of electric vehicles within Nigeria.

“This is a direction that even the entire world is going. Government has even decided that by the year 2060, electric vehicles will be the preferred vehicles in Nigeria.

“We’re only trying to reduce that time to be in line or nearly in line with what they are doing in China and other places. By that year, government will ban the importation and production of vehicles with internal combustion engines.”

He said MoU also has a staff welfare angle, which is that Innoson would make available brand new vehicles to the institution’s staff to pay in installments until they fully pay.

 

 

 

 

“It’s a full package and we’re trusting that it will start soon. The MoU has been signed.”

 

The Committee of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (CVCNU) is partnering Egyptian varsities, through the Association of African Universities, on medical exchange as well as resolving the problem of intellectual property and internet infrastructure to achieve digital transformation. But, the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) is not happy that it’s being left in the cold on the programmes. FRANK IKPEFAN and MOSES EMORINKEN report.

For several years, medics have expressed concern over the falling standards in the medical training.

They have complained about admission policies, inadequate facilities and brain drain, among others. They have recommended actions to tackle the problems at the country’s medical schools, which have 30,111 spaces for medicine. In 2019, over 436,799 candidates applied to study medicine in universities with only 30,111 spaces.This represented 7.95 per cent of available capacities.

According to reports, the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) determines the number of students each college of medicine should admit.This is determined by some variables: staff strength, especially in pre-medical faculties; the capacity of teaching and research facilities and funds for renovation and expansion of facilities.

The VCs have also decided to work with the Nigerian Copyright Commission to develop intellectual property model and policy that will guide its use in the universities.

Also, digital transformation in the global higher education determines the future roadmap to a sustainable education management strategy. Digital transformation, experts said, can be used to build competitive advantages for universities. This is why universities have been ranked low by international ranking bodies.

 

VCs-AAU intervention

 

But, the Committee of Vice- Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (CVCNU), during the week, said it was partnering universities in Egypt to initiate mexchange programmes. The body said this would address the problem of low capacity of medical education studies in  the universities.

Its Secretary-General Prof. Yakubu Ochefu said this in Abuja while speaking on the partnership of the committee with the Association of African Universities (AAU), specifically with universities in Egypt. According to him, the capacity for medical education in our universities is less than eight per cent of demand.

He said: “At the level of National Universities Commission, JAMB and the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria and that of individual university, specifically vice chancellors, are worried about this development, which may become a crisis. This issue is very alarming and the Committee of Vice Chancellors has decided to do something about it.”

Ochefu noted that the low capacity necessitated the deal.

He added that what they were doing was to initiate medical mobility exchange programme between Egyptian universities and our universities.

He said the Egyptians have helped set up several medical schools in Maiduguri, Kano and Sokoto and that they wanted to extend that relationship to other universities in areas such as exchange in staff  training, learning materials and  postgraduate students in medical studies.

He added that with the help of the Egyptians, Nigeria should be able to reduce the figures in the next five years.

 

MDCN not comfortable with programme

 

But, the Registrar, MDCN, Dr. Tajudeen Sanusi, was baffled about the medical programme.

Sanusi said: “I am just hearing about this. That is the problem we have in Nigeria, in the sense that when you train doctors, the regulatory bodies must be involved. They are trying to have something with them over there and they don’t let us know. Then, before you know it, they will say the MDCN is causing trouble. No, we are to safeguard the health of Nigerians and other people living in this country.

“Those countries have their own standards, and we have ours. For example, in some of the Eastern blocs, after they have been awarded the degree of MD, they will now go for another one year training in some designated hospitals, after which they will now sit for what is called licensing examination before they are licensed to practice. Our own is a bit different. That is why from day one, the clinical aspect is part of our training. Therefore, those people that are going to say this and that are part of our problems.

“When we tell them to employ only medically qualified people to teach medical students, they will not employ them. That is the problem. Some of these things go a long way to affect the quota we are going to allot to these universities.

“Some of those failing our exams here trained in Egypt and Sudan. You cannot say because you are a vice chancellor, you can go and do this or that. You have to involve the medical teachers in charge. When you involve the medical teachers, they will be able to assess what they do over there vis-a-vis our own and advise you. The fact that you are a vice chancellor does not confer all the knowledge on you. They fail to realise that.

“For example, two universities find it difficult to create the Department of Medical Sciences. Now, they are coming together as a Committee of Vice Chancellors – as what? People are finding somewhere to hide their inefficiencies. We are not saying they cannot collaborate, but let the professionals represent them and advise them. Therefore, the way those countries train their people is different from the way we do it. While we are not condemning them, their system suits their  purpose, and ours suits us.

“There is something we call electives for the students to go overseas for one or two months. Frankly speaking, those electives are not helpful. For example, when Babcock University started, they organised three months’ elective for their  medical students in one of the medical schools in India. They had to stop it. It is not helpful because the reasons prevalent here are not the same as their.”

Domestication of intellectual property and digital transformation

On the need to domesticate intellectual property in the Nigerian University System, the VCs stated that the committee had worked with the Nigerian Copyright Commission to develop intellectual property model and intellectual property policy that will guide its use in the universities in Nigeria.

“When we had our baseline study. We discovered that as of 2019, less than 10 per cent of universities in Nigeria have policies on intellectual property that have been domesticated by their various University Senate. The few who had, did not even domesticate it at the world intellectual property portal, which is why everybody checks to confirm intellectual property.

“The CVCNU then worked with the Copyright Commission. So, we put up a team to develop an intellectual property model that we can share with our members, who will  domesticate the policy and also take their work to the world intellectual property portal,” they said.

However, the AAU has explained how universities on the continent could attain digital transformation. It noted that there was the need to resolve the internet infrastructure issues before this could be done by the universities.

Secretary- General of the AAU, Prof. Olusola Oyewole, who stated this in Abuja during the visit by the Committee of Vice Chancellors, said the association is eager in realising its continental initiatives.

Oyewole, who said the AAU was concerned about the growth of higher institutions on the  continent, said the partnership  would provide  adequate network for the association.

He said: “Africa has the largest number of universities in the world. Nigeria has the highest of these universities. The AAU has membership with the CVCNU and so, the AAU will be glad to collaborate with the committee of vice chancellors. That is why we have come to seek your support as CVC to assist the AAU serve her members better.”

Oyewole said the AAU, an organ of the African Union Commission, will like to work with Nigeria.

The AAU Director of ICT Services, Communications and Knowledge Management, Nodumo Dhlamini, said there was the need to support Nigeria Research Education Network (NGREN).

“Rising from lessons from COVID-19, if we don’t solve the internet infrastructure issues, we will continue to struggle with digital transformation,” he said.

The director said Nigeria should learn from Kenya, South Africa, Uganda and other countries in North Africa on their successes on internet infrastructure for education.

She called for the restructuring of the management of NGREN, stressing that Nigeria should look beyond personalising the leadership of the facility.

She said: “We discovered that when KNET was set up in Kenya, its ownership was taken over by vice chancellors. They appointed its officers, but the reverse is what is case in Nigeria. When vice chancellors take over the NGREN, it will be more effective.

“NGREN should provide free and untaxed internet for the universities to meet students’ needs. We need look at it without personalising who has been running it over the years. No one must be injured if we decide to appoint a competitively appointed CEO for NGREN.”

The U.S. government has described entrepreneurship as a key driver for stimulating economic growth and increasing prosperity in Nigeria.

The U.S. Consulate General on Monday hosted the SelectUSA Tech Pitch Competition for Nigerian female-led tech startups interested in expanding their business operations into the United States.

Nine startups made their pitch before a panel of accomplished U.S. and Nigerian business leaders, including U.S. Consulate representatives, and received valuable feedback on their business proposals.

Following a close contest, Ifeoma Uddoh, 2021 alumna of the Academy for Women Entrepreneurs emerged as the overall winner of the SelectUSA Tech Nigeria Pitch Competition. Uddoh is founder of Shecluded, a fintech start-up dedicated to bridging financial inclusion gap among women of color.

Uddoh will receive a complimentary ticket to attend the annual SelectUSA Investment Summit in Washington DC from June 26-29, with the opportunity to pitch at the Regional, Middle East & Africa Pitch event, to venture capitalists, corporate investors, representatives from startup ecosystems, and industry experts.

The summit will offer Uddoh an unprecedented opportunity to learn how to expand her business to the United States, make the right connections, learn about investment destinations, and discover relevant resources to move the start-up forward.

U.S. Consulate Deputy Public Affairs officer Jennifer Foltz congratulated all the participants for their outstanding pitches. Foltz noted that the U.S. government is committed to providing women with the knowledge, networks, and access they need to launch and scale successful businesses.

“The U.S. government is proud to support young female entrepreneurs who are key to Nigeria’s future prosperity,” Foltz said. “We look forward to continuing to foster a strong entrepreneurial culture by providing skills training, resources, mentorship, and opportunities for Nigerian entrepreneurs to expand their businesses locally and to the United States.”

The annual SelectUSA Investment Summit is where business potential meets business opportunity. The Investment Summit connects qualified companies with U.S. economic development organizations to facilitate business investment and job creation.

The summit plays a vital role in attracting and facilitating business investment and job creation by raising awareness about the wide range of investment opportunities in the United States and enabling essential direct connections between entrepreneurs and U.S. investors.

The U.S. government supports a number of programs, including the Academy for Women Entrepreneurs, the TechWomen and TechGirls Programs, and the African Women’s Entrepreneurship Program (AWEP) to support women’s inclusion in society.

More broadly, the United States has invested millions of dollars to directly advance gender equality across sub-Saharan Africa, through activities that promote political and economic opportunities for women.

The importance of education, being the bedrock of the society and the tool that breaks down all barriers cannot be overemphasised, education is part of the foundation of all progress and growth, both as an individual and as a society. For children who will contribute significantly to the future workforce, access to quality education at the basic education level is critical for their later learning and future success.

A strong early learning foundation is the ladder to ensure a future where they can adapt and thrive. Children, especially from poor backgrounds stand a chance at a bright future with quality education. This can be said of children who have graduated from Bridge Nigeria community nursery and primary schools located in underserved areas in Lagos and Osun state. Fatimat Ibrahim, a graduate of Bridge was recently recognised for being selected as a 2021/2022 African Leadership Academy (ALA) finalist, demonstrating outstanding potential in areas of leadership, entrepreneurship, passion for Africa and academic achievement. Fatimat attended a Bridge school in Ibeju Lekki and emerged as the best performing female pupil in the national common entrance examination in 2019. It qualified her for selection on national merit to attend a federal secondary school of her choice. Due to her exceptional performance, Fatimat won a scholarship from the Purple Girl Foundation, covering her secondary school education.

Fatimat’s success story started when her mother enrolled her at Bridge, a school with a track record of supporting and training teachers to help bring out the best in their pupils. Fatimat joined Bridge after hearing from her friends who told her they learn a lot everyday and how much fun they found the school. According to Fatimat, her teachers make lessons fun and interesting, and are always happy to explain anything she found confusing. The once timid Fatimat had to come out of her shell due to the personable approach used by Bridge in teaching. Bridge uses a teaching and learning approach that involves age-appropriate learning, by adapting to a child’s level of understanding, identifying the readiness of a child to learn, and then following the best-suited method of teaching.

Another ex-pupil, Shiji Sowemimo recounted how the learnings and experiences at Bridge have propelled him to continue to excel and break boundaries even in his secondary school. Shiji who was the best performing Bridge pupil in the 2021 national common entrance exams urged all Bridge pupils to continue to be worthy ambassadors of Bridge as they continue their academic pursuit and encouraged them to remain focused, dream big, be resourceful, plan to succeed and never get tired of making a difference. “I am privileged to share my experiences and successes with you because of the support I have received from my mother, teachers and level of hardwork and dedication I have put into my studies” He noted.

A top performing Queens College student, Anuoluwapelumi Dawodu also graduated from a Bridge school in 2020. She describes herself as a confident, hardworking girl who loves reading books about history and hopes to become an Archaeologist in the future. She developed interest in Archaeology when she read about a volcanic eruption that destroyed an entire village in Peru. Anuoluwapelumi said she would miss her primary school because the method of teaching and classroom management techniques enable pupils to work harder and be of good behaviour. Her favourite teachers are Esther Osime and Victor Adeyanju because they were great teachers who taught well and encouraged her to be better at whatever she did.

According to the Managing Director at Bridge Nigeria, Foyinsola Akinjayeju said “We are proud of our efforts at Bridge to elevate every child’s prospects through quality education as a foundation for broader life opportunities and have designed our classrooms, teaching materials and school structure to empower and support our pupils. This takes deliberate thought and intentional design.”

As children transition through the learning continuum, early education experiences set the stage for their future success. Therefore, access to quality education, supportive parents and highly motivated teachers trained on how to meet the academic and moral developmental needs of the people, young children are placed on sturdy pathways to educational and lifelong success.

 

Wikipedia describes transformational leadership as a theory of leadership where a leader works with teams or followers beyond their immediate self interests, to identify needed change, thus, creating a vision to guide the change through influence, inspiration, among others.

Therefore, a transformational leader serves as a role model who inspires confidence in his team, he is proactive and leads from the front.

That is the man, Major General Shuaibu Ibrahim, the 18th Chief Executive of the National Youth Sevice Corps who assumed duty as Director-General of the foremost youth — mobilisation agency in the country on 10th May, 2019.

He came prepared for the task ahead, therefore wasted no time in rolling out a five – point agenda that gave a clearcut direction on the perspective of his administration in May, 2019.

Ibrahim in unmistakable terms demystiied the airs, opulence and all the glamour associated with high office in Nigeria, making himself accessible and available, not only to NYSC staff members and Corps Members whom he prioritised their welfare, but to the media and other stakeholders as well.

Interestingly, before the drop of the hat, he has given out his personal telephone number on request, and personally picks his calls.

He is a man that I have known and observed in the past twenty — six years, and worked closely with him in the last three years.

He has never ceased to amaze me at the amount of energy and passion he puts in the discharge of his duties. Gen Shuaibu Ibrahim is a transformational leader that is proactively proactive and consistently consistent, all shrouded in humility in his interpersonal relationships, that sometimes make people to ask if he is truly a military man, for the military are known in so many climes for quick temper and authoritarianism, resulting from their hard training.

One of the critical issues that he did on assumption of office was to bring sanity to the NYSC mobilisation process which hitherto suffered so much assault from unscrupulous officers in some Corps Producing Institutions, particularly those in the West Africa sub-region who fraudulently forward names of unqualified people for mobilisation.

He called a meeting of the Registrars of the institutions in Abuja in a bid to get their buy — in towards sanitising the mobilisation process. That singular action yielded great dividends. Some of the unscrupulous officers were sanctioned, while some of the institutions implicated in the fraudulent practice were shutdown by their respective governments.

Internal cleansing mechanism put in place by the Scheme also saw to the dismissal of some erring officers from service.

In addition to that, he introduced the screening of foreign – trained Prospective Corps Members, particularly those that graduated from the universities in the West Africa sub-region.

Quoting the astute and pragmatic administrator, the result of the screening has “been mind-boggling. Some of the supposed graduates parading bogus degree certificates, with second class upper division could not write their names correctly, let alone make correct sentence during the screening exercise which has been institutionalised.”

The soft – looking, but no-nonsense general who loathes unpatriotic acts and circumvention of law and order vowed never to mobilise unqualified people for service.

Some of those caught parading bogus and unearned certificates have equally been prosecuted and jailed to serve as a deterrent to others.

Frighteningly, if those characters had not been detected through the doggedness of the Director-General, many of them would have found their ways to both the public and private sectors to debase the institutions.

Ibrahim believes so much in forging worthy partnerships with both public and private institutions of like minds. In particular, the robust collaboration with Nigeria Centre for Disease Control resulted in early and safe return of the Corps to the Orientation camps, under the supervision of the NCDC.

He ensured that willing Corps Members, Prospective Corps Members, as well as serving Corps Members and staff members got vaccinated against COVID-19.

Gratifyingly, the data generated on COVID-19 tests at the Orientation camps helps the NCDC in tracking the rate of infection in the country.

He is a man that believes so much in the utilisation of Corps potentials for national development. He is detribalised, humane and blind to people’s religious persuasions.

Though a devout Muslim, he believes that true religion is the pursuit of people’s welfare and happiness; and would always speak to people about the ephemeral nature of human existence. He is always concerned with touching lives, and leaving worthy legacies for which posterity will remember him when he has gone to be with his Maker.

No wonder he has continued to pay the school fees of some less privileged students, cutting across tribe and religion, which he has done from his days as a young officer of the Education Corps.

Yes, he believes so much in the utilisation of Corps potentials for national development like I had earlier stated. This conviction prompted him to challenge the creative ingenuity of Corps Members at the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria.

That challenge yielded so many inventions by the Corps Members, ranging from body temperature reading devices to automated sanitiser machines, as well as liquid soap — water — sanitiser — dispensing machines, among others.

Corps Members were amongst the first set of Nigerians to produce liquid soap, sanitiser and facemasks which were donated to Nigerians, free of charge.

He established NYSC National Troupe, revitalised NYSC Musical Band, so as to showcase the musical skills of Corps Members.

The first NYSC Film, titled: A Call To Service, featuring some Corps Members and Nollywood stars such as Pete Edochie was premiered last year. The film has introduced Corps Members with budding talents to the vast opportunities in the Nollywood industry which some of them have embraced.

Under his watch, the NYSC Farms have been resuscitated, notably: the rice farm in Kebbi State, cassava farm in Oyo State, maize farm in Bauchi State, cassava, rice and poultry farms in the FCT. Beniseed is also cultivated in the farm.

In 2021, he was able to recover 52 acres of land allocated to the NYSC Secretariat Ebonyi as farmland by the State Government. The land was left uncultivated for so many years, resulting in the State taking back the land.

Through his doggedness, the land was given back to the Scheme. It is now a large rice farm which was cultivated in partnership with NALDA. Plans have also reached advanced stage to secure land in Bayelsa State for cultivation.

The same applies to other NYSC ventures such as the water factory, bakery and garment industries, all of which have been revitalised and are operated by Corps Members under the supervision of relevant NYSC staff members.

Recently, the Executive Governor of Nasarawa State commissioned another NYSC water factory in Keffi, as well as NYSC garment factory, built in collaboration with the private sector. These ventures generate revenue which are paid into government coffers.

Indeed, I was amazed when the Director-General announced that the Scheme for the first time in history contributed about Two Hundred and Eighty- One Naira to the national coffers from internally – generated funds which is unprecedented in the annals of the NYSC. As at date, over one billion Naira has been generated and paid into government coffers by the Scheme.

The Director-General has pioneered the construction of an ICT centre which according a senior member of staff of the institution thought was not possible. From every indication, the edifice will be commissioned within the year.

As an outstanding academic, a Josite, a historian — Associate Professor of Military History, he edited and co-edited nine books on the Scheme — covering areas such as NYSC and National Development; NYSC and National Integration; NYSC and COVID-19; NYSC and CDS; NYSC and National Elections among others. The nine books unveiled June last year are researcher’s delight.

The General, a Fellow, Historical Society of Nigeria and Member Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria has equally established NYSC Museum which is named: NYSC Museum of Dynamic History which, I stand to be corrected is the biggest museum in Abuja. The museum is a centre of learning.

To give the Scheme a strong voice in the media space, he established NYSC Radio and Television Stations which were commissioned in April this year by the former Head of State, Gen Yakubu Gowon. The television transmits on TStv Channel 365 and the radio station on 88.3 FM.

The Director-General ensured an upward review of Corps Members allowances by the Federal Government which is a great morale booster to Corps Members, in addition to the decentralisation of NYSC Administration through the establishment of NYSC Area Offices, domiciled in each of the six geopolitical zones of the country, manned by substantive directors.

The Area Òffices have brought administration closer to the grassroots, while also opening up space for the career advancement of staff.

In January this year, NYSC mega printing press, Kaduna was commissioned. The press prints both for the Scheme and outsiders at a competitive cost. It equally serves as a training ground for Corps Members that desire to go into printing business at the end of service.

There is no gainsaying the fact that capturing all that the DG has achieved within three years in this single write-up would seem like a fruitless effort at reciting an unending litany.

I am not hesitant to posit without equivocation that he is a shinning star in the present Administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. He has reinvigorated the National Youth Sevice Corps, making Corps Members and staff welfare key priority, making the Corps central to national development and stability.

To further prioritise Corps Members’ welfare, especially in the area of empowerment, under the platform of Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development programme, he canvassed the establishment of skill acquisition centres in six of the geopolitical zones. Some have been commissioned.

He has championed the establishment of National Youth Service Corps Trust Fund ( NYSCTF) which promises to be a game changer for the Corps.

The fund when established will not only address the infrastructural deficits of the Scheme as explained by the DG, but will be a pool of funds to be advanced to willing Corps Members to pursue their skill acquisition initiatives.

The benefits derivable from this proposed trust fund cannot be over-emphasised. When approved and implemented, it will lift millions of Nigerians, especially the youths out of poverty.

I feel that there will not be hesitancy by both the Executive and Legislative arms of Government in passing the bill into law in order to achieve the lofty dreams of the DG.

At this point, I am persuaded to enjoin you to please, tune to NTA International, Channel 251 every Wednesday at 7.30 pm and see the wonders NYSC has been doing in the area of youth empowerment, under the skill acquisition programme, national unity and integration. It is an interesting documentary programme which should be a must watch for every patriotic Nigerian.

These achievements as earlier captured are by no means exhaustive of his contributions in furthering the course of the National Youth Service Corps which is a pivot of national unity, national integration and youth development.

He has within three years transformed the Corps so much so that whoever that comes after him when he concludes his tour duty will find very big shoes left behind.

The National Directorate Headquarters of the Scheme in Abuja has been given a face-lift which makes it so befitting and great morale booster for staff.

Doubtlessly, at the end of his tenure of office in the Scheme, like Julius Caesar said in a letter to the Roman Senate around 47 BC after he had achieved a victory in a short war against the Pharnaces 1 at the battle of Zela as recorded by Wikipedia: Veni Vidi Vici, translated: I came I saw I conquered. He has done very well for the NYSC in three years of his purposeful leadership.

Like the youngsters would say, let us give three big gbosas to Maj Gen Shuaibu Ibrahim.

. Emeka-Rems Mgbemena is an Abuja – based public affairs analyst.

Oyo State Government has directed all public primary schools to immediately implement the teaching of history as an independent subject starting from the current third term of the 2021/2022 academic session.

The Executive Chairman, Oyo State Universal Basic Education Board, Dr. Nureni Adeniran, stated this on Monday while monitoring schools’ resumption in Ibadan.

Adeniran, who applauded the massive turnout of pupils in public primary schools, said reintroduction of history is in line with the new education policy of the State Government.

He applauded the leadership of Universal Basic Education Commission for the technical supports received as well as the supply of textbooks.

READ ALSO: Oyo Assembly queries EFCC’s power to probe its finances

Adeniran said over 4,950 history textbooks were being distributed to public primary schools statewide, adding the move will give pupils a proper understanding of national history.

He hinted that the curriculum would enable pupils appreciate history as an instrument of national integration, adding that it would allow students know the history of the country.

Adeniran, an education expert, who dazzled OYOSUBEB staff members and teachers by teaching pupils, said he was optimistic that the curriculum would equip the younger generations with the knowledge of the past.

The OYOSUBEB boss said that the importance of history to nation building, patriotism and human development could not be over-emphasised.