By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie

The Association of African Universities (AAU) has appointed a former Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Prof. Olusola Bandele Oyewole, as Secretary General.

Oyewole takes over the running of the 54-year-old association from Prof. Etienne Ehouan Ehile of Cote d Ivoire, who was Secretary General for nine years.

The appointment which was announced by the outgoing President of the AAU Governing Board, Prof. Antonio Quilambo during a virtual conference of the organisation on Monday, will take effect from October 1, 2021.

In his acceptance speech, Oyewole, who has served as President of the association in the past, said he would work towards strengthening the AAU for the benefit of higher education in Nigeria.

The Professor of Food Science and Technology also promised to collaborate with relevant partners to help African universities overcome COVID-19 challenges.

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“My vision is to amplify the relevance of the Association of African Universities as the Voice of Higher Education in Africa.  Without strong partnerships and collaborations, the association would be unable to achieve her grand mission of improving the quality of African Higher Education. Through honest, sincere, visionary, committed, transparent and disciplined leadership, I intend to build new strategic partnerships and revive old partnerships for the sustainability of the association”, he said.

Through vibrant platforms for learning and knowledge exchange, Professor Olusola Bandele Oyewole envisions the building of the next generation of academics in Africa, stronger intellectual engagement and the full engagement of AAU Member Universities – and African Universities in general.

By Chimaobim Ihedi-Obi

The Educational Director, Cradles and Kickers school, Mrs. Bukky Adeyemi, has said that the government should put an end to double taxation for private schools.

She spoke at the 14th and 15th preschool and 1st and 2nd-grade graduation ceremony of Cradles and Kickers Schools, Ikeja, which was held at the Bamboo hall 3, Ikeja.

Bukky said that private schools need lots of support from the government especially after the pandemic and if they won’t support, they should be lenient to reduce the taxes they tell them to pay especially the separate tax payment of Nursery and Primary schools.

“If the government won’t support private schools, they should be lenient with us and reduce the taxes they tell us to pay, especially where the nursery and primary get to pay taxes separately because we are all developing Nigeria and most private school owners are not in it for the money but the passion”.

Adeyemi said that the Commissioner for Education has been working on having a unified calendar for the school year and has been successful to a large extent especially in the resumption and vacation time and if it could be unified in the country won’t be a bad idea.

Speaking on the effects of the internet on children, she said the internet is not bad but parents have to structure the way their children make use of it.

“Some parents use these things as babysitters and that is not the essence, the essence is for you to work with your children when they use these gadgets, put a structure in place”.

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She said the government should train and encourage unemployed graduates to go into the educational system and also put more resources into the system.

Speaking on the success of the graduating pupils “we believe that every child should be confident and bold and we train them from day one not to be timid and most of them go as far as challenging their teachers in their perspective of things.

“If we are going to have activities or programs we ask them how they feel it should go, they bring up ideas and we work together and this gives them a sense of ownership and it brings out the best in them likewise their academics”.

She advised parents to be involved in their children’s education and social life no matter how busy they are, adding that their children should get first-hand information from them and not outsiders.

The head boy and also the best graduating pupil, Toluwatomi Joseph, said he feels happy and relieved that all of his hard work has finally paid off.

Describing his success as a result of hard work, Toluwatomi said “basically, my goal this whole time has always been trying to come first and be the best I am, working hard to achieve success”.

Advising his colleagues are other pupils, he said if they want to achieve success as he did, they have to work very hard, read before exams and pay attention in class saying those were the three main things that he did.

The 10-year-old appreciated the educational director, teachers and other staffs of the school saying if it wasn’t for them, he might not have gotten to the level he is.

By Sampson Unamka

Greater Heights Academy in Ijebu Igbo, Ogun state celebrated its 10th anniversary, seventh graduation and ninth prize-giving all at once Wednesday last week.

Its Proprietor and Chief Executive officer, Mr. Timi Owolabi, noted that event which was held at the St. Peter’s Catholic Church, multi-purpose hall Ijebu Igbo; was worth celebrating as it is unique and symbolic to the institution.

While recounting the school’s journey during his remark, Owolabi said “When the school opened its doors for admissions of interested pupils in 2011, we were not too sure of what the outcome will be as no-one purchased admission forms prior to opening. However, we were pleasantly surprised that by the end of week one 51 pupils had already registered with us in spite of the little publicity we did. Since then, we have been on the upward swing. It could have been only God. Secondly, we recognized the importance of promoting good scholarship right from the beginning, hence we started the celebration of highflyers (prize-giving) in the second year of our establishment (2012) while we also had the first graduation in the year 2015”, he said.

In meeting part of the school’s vision and mission which is to be one of the top ten schools in Ogun State, Owolabi explained how they have vigorously pursued academic excellence, he said  “We have organised regular skill enhancement sessions for teachers, maintaining low teacher-pupil ratio, continuous acquisition of various instructional materials including games and new methodologies like ‘play-dough’ to enhance teaching and learning as well as continuous upgrading of the learning environment through acquisition of furniture and other infrastructure. Since all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, the school also encourages pupils to engage in extra-curricular activities”, said Owolabi.

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He further revealed that in the last ten years the school has recorded some achievements including obtaining approval for both nursery and primary sections, expanded numerically and 99 percent of its pupils who sat for admission into secondary schools were successful, acquired a permanent site for the school among others.

Addressing the 71 graduands combining of both nursery and primary pupils of the school, Owolabi said “Apart from the 10th year anniversary celebrations we are also marking the 7th graduation ceremony. The graduands are tagged ‘The Decennials’ as it is our tenth anniversary. Let me emphasize that graduation means moving to the next stage of life, and as such it is important, we celebrate our children who have achieved and achieved rigours of lower basic education for years. I am glad to see that you have realised our joint projected images of you a couple of years ago, your parents and guardians believed in you and you have made them proud by showing what you can do. We are also very proud of you as a school and you should also feel proud of yourself”.

The ceremony had a list of events such as Poems and Rhymes, Spelling bee, Yoruba cultural dance, Choreography, Debate and Keynote address ‘Quality Early Childhood Education Rests’ by the Headteacher-General, Ijebu division Alhaja(Mrs) Sarat Adedeji.

By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie

The Lagos State government has launched a digital learning platform that can accommodate between two and 10 million learners at a go.

Launching the EkoDigitalSchool.com Tuesday at the Ministry of Education conference room, Alausa, the Education Commissioner, Mrs. Folasade Adefisayo said the initiative was in line with Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s THEMES agenda – one of which is to promote technology-enhanced education.

The ekodigitalschool.com, developed by Chronicles Software Development Company, has curriculum-based content for all junior secondary school subjects, allows self-paced learning, provides for tests, and interaction between learners and teachers through chats and forums, among others.

The Co-founder of the firm, Mr. Oluwatosin Oluwakoyejo added that for educators, the platform allows teachers to create content, set examinations, grade pupils, monitor their performance; while for administrators, the platform provides analysis on performance in various subjects, among others.

Mrs. Adefisayo praised Chronicles Software Development Company for offering the platform, which is being hosted on the Amazon cloud service, for free for now.  She said the state government would do its part to ensure it is well utilised by providing devices for public school pupils and teachers as well as internet to access its content.

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She said: “We should not be reliant on private sectors, NGOs or development partners. We ourselves are going to buy the devices. They will be delivered in time for first term. We are investing significantly in these devices.  We have put in Mathematics and English textbooks; good textbooks. We are going to ensure that there is success and we will even be equipping the schools,” she said.

Regarding provision of internet access to schools and remote communities, the Commissioner said the government was already working on it.

She said: “I am sure you must have seen the various coloured cables across the state. The governor has promised us that the last line of those cables will go into our schools. This has already started. One of our partners, MTN is presently piloting this wireless internet cabling in 100 of our schools across the state. We are ensuring that there is access in schools and also ensuring that the students have devices to access.

“One of the hurdles is to understand communities where they don’t even have access; where even if they have devices. We are talking to companies where they can push what they called cloud servers to those communities, where the cloud servers will be able and powerful enough to pick signals but then distribute the contents to students in those remote locations. We have piloted in one of our schools in Epe and it worked well and we are going to reach out across the state. I hope you can see that there is determination on our part that our students will not be left out of the digital world.”

The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Prof. Sulyman Age Abdulkareem, has instituted an annual prize award for the best graduating student of the Department of Chemical Engineering.

This was contained in a July 28, 2021 letter the Professor of Chemical Engineering wrote to the Chairman of the university’s Committee on Scholarship, Examination & Prizes.

The N50, 000 prize to be known as ‘’Prof. S. A. Abdulkareem’s Award for the best graduating student In Chemical Engineering’’, is to run for 10 years.

Towards this end, the Vice-Chancellor has paid a sum of N500, 000 into the University’s account “to cover the award for a period of 10 years”.

By Uja Emmanuel, Makurdi

Benue State Government has offered scholarship to a four- year-old boy, Eje Moses Alia Eloneje, to cover his education from nursery to tertiary.

Governor Samuel Ortom said this at the Government House Makurdi when he met the boy kidnapped from Ochouri village in Konshisha Local Government Area of the state.

The child who was abducted during a fracas between two communities was released after the governor issued a marching order to Konshisha Local Government Chairman and other stakeholders in the area to ensure his release.

While directing the Commissioner for Education, Prof. Dennis Ityavyar, to process the scholarship for immediate action, Ortom said the child was a miracle one, having been kidnapped and released unhurt.

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He said the only legacy to bequeath to a child is education, stressing that children are the future of the state and Nigeria and must be protected.

Ortom condemned the abduction and reaffirmed his administration’s resolve to fight crime in all ramifications.

He also praised Konshisha’s leaders for securing the boy’s release, even as he admonished the youth against crime.

Senator representing Benue North East, Dr. Gabriel Suswam who was also present, condemned the act, describing it as unacceptable and pledged his support to Ortom to continue providing security for lives and property of Benue people.

By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie  and Anne Agbi

Chairman of the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LASUBEB), Mr. Wahab Alawiye-King, hopes that Eko Poems, a book of poems authored by public primary school pupils in Lagos State would  soon replace nursery rhymes being taught in schools.

Alawiye-King spoke last Thursday during the launch of the book, which is an anthology of nursery rhymes by about 33 pupils.

“I hope the Eko Poems replaces the foreign nursery rhymes in our schools,” he said.

Speaking further, Alawiye-King said the creativity of the pupils showed that the government’s investment in education was yielding results.

He said: “This means that the investment in the basic education sector is actually yielding positive results. It shows that approach to improvement in the educational sector is holistic in the sense that we are using the cognitive, the affective and the psychomotor of the education domains to teach our pupils.

“We have been able to arouse their curiosity, creativity. They have been able to talk to us through their imagination, which is a complex memory function; and desires, what they feel in their mind, what they want Lagos to be, what Lagos has been and what they feel it portends for them,” he said.

Dignitaries at the event praised the book project coordinated by Mr. Ola Awakan, a broadcaster.  Many applauded the creativity of the young ones in writing poems that told stories about Lagos State.

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One of them, Makinde Adeniran, who reviewed the book, said the pupils should be proud of themselves.

Adeniran, who is the chairman, National Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners, Lagos state, said: “They have done something to be proud of.  They have contributed to the progress of the state.  For their level, it is fantastic.  The poems contained jokes, snide comments, positive comments,” he said.

On his part, Ola Awakan said the book was an expression of the children’s environments.

“The poems were a simple expression about their immediate environment.  You can only imagine what these children see but do not have opportunities to express. This is why the scope of the anthology is within Lagos State. The intriguing part of it is that, they are not all positive.  Some of the poems speak of the realities such as the traffic situation in Lagos, and lack of needed infrastructures. Some also contained suggestions for the government for the betterment of the society,” he said.

Alawiye-King said copies of the book would be distributed to libraries across the state.

All the children- authors were given certificates to recognise their efforts.

By Adekunle Yusuf

Rotary Club of Eko Atlantic said it has administered the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine to no fewer than 115 students. The beneficiaries are pupils, aged nine to 13, of the Girls Junior School at Simpson Street, Lagos Island.

The vaccination was meant to protect the students against cervical cancer for life. The Change Maker Rotary Club’s Lady President, Mamta Deb Roy; Kishore Bendre, its Secretary, and other members of the Board of Directors of the club made this known to reporters in Lagos. The club said it is also upgrading the Tinubu Methodist Primary School, also in Lagos Island, and the Primary Health Centre in Ogba, Lagos.

Roy said the projects would be impactful and sustainable because the club is willing to change lives around it.

The club said it has adopted the school and is set to renovate the classrooms, library, borehole, and provide clean drinking water for the students, as well as donate school bags, books and stationaries among others.

Speaking on the upgrade of the primary health centre, Mamta said the club is focused on providing medical equipment for the centre, thereby making it conducive for maternal and child health.

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She added that other projects have been lined up for this Change Maker Rotary year, including plastic segregation, with the focus of recycling plastics and making Lagos plastic free in collaboration with the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA).

“This vaccine can prevent most cases of cervical cancer if given before a girl or woman is exposed to the virus. We have adopted the school. We are set to renovate the classrooms, library, borehole and provide clean drinking water for the students, as well as donate school bags, books and stationeries, among others. The club is focused on providing medical equipment for the centre, thereby making it conducive for maternal and child health,’’ Mamta said.

The club added that it would engage in tree planting to support the environment, in collaboration with Lagos State Parks and Gardens Agency (LASPARK), as well as conducting free cataract eye surgery camp for over 300 people.

Mamta said the club would embark on a mega scale Rotary Family Health Camp to touch more than 3000 lives in Badagry, as well as conduct vocational training to empower youths on a sustainable awareness on mental health, free feeding programme, provide support to cerebral palsy home and setting up of blood donation camps.

By Adekunle Yusuf

The Redeemed Christian Church of God’s (RCCG’s) corporate social responsibility arm, His Love Foundation (HLF), has donated a dialysis centre, Enoch and Folu Adeboye Dialysis Centre, to the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OOUTH), Sagamu, Ogun State. The event, aimed at commemorating HLF’s third anniversary, coincided with the church’s 69th yearly convention, which ended last week.

In a goodwill message delivered by Pastor Aboaba Folagbade Olajide, on behalf of RCCG General Overseer, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, the cleric said the church would not relent in supporting Nigerians. He added that the new dialysis centre will complement the one at the RCCG Redemption Camp in Mowe.

The centre has three dialysis machines, one medical water reverse osmosis purification system, and a 30KVA generator. The donation will be the 16th of the church’s specialised medical interventions – intensive care units (ICUs)/dialysis centres/cancer screening centre/primary health centres – donated by HLF in the country in the last three years and the second to be inaugurated Ogun State this year.

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The Assistant Continental Overseer/Intercontinental Overseer CSR, Pastor Idowu Iluyomade, making the donation, said: “A critical look at the needs for kidney dialysis in Nigeria gives the dire picture of the task at hand and based on needs assessment, we discovered that kidney diseases represent eight to 10 per cent of hospital admissions in Nigeria with only 175 functioning dialysis machines in the whole of the country to take care of the over 25 million patients.”

Governor Dapo Abiodun, represented by the Deputy Governor, Mrs. Noimot Salako, thanked RCCG for the gesture, noting that the church had been helpful to the state. The Ogun State Commissioner for Health, Dr Tomi Coker, also thanked RCCG for its donations and support to the state’s health infrastructure.

The Acting Chief Medical Director, OOUTH, Dr. Oluwabunmi M. Fatungase, also thanked the church’s CSR’s arm for coming to its aid at a time others they wrote to did not. She assured that the hospital management would maintain the facility.

The Akarigbo of Remoland, Oba Babatunde Adewale Ajayi, who spoke on behalf of his people, praised the foundation and Pastor Adeboye for the great work he had done.