Category: Uncategorized

By Adegunle Olugbamila

 

A Senior Lecturer at the Department of History, Lagos State University (LASU), Dr Wunmi Oluwatoki, has described Islamic education as an asset that helps learners thrive in mainstream education.

He said it was one of the reasons that Muslim parents must ensure that Islamic education was ingrained in their wards from childhood.

Oluwatoki gave this counsel at the 15th Annual Quiz and Qur’anic Recitation organised by the National Council of Muslims Youth Organisation Amuwo-Odofin chapter.

Oluwatoki noted that Qur’anic education espouses certain philosophies such as fate, ambition, death, destiny, and fear in Almighty Allah, among others.

“One interesting thing about Qur’anic education is that it makes man understand that whatever he aspires in life has been predestined by God. Even though man may struggle, only God has preeminence.

Therefore, making these children to understand this from a very tender age will restrict their desperation for worldly things. It will also make them more prayerful, knowing that man proposes; God disposes.”

Chairman of the occasion, Abdulganiyyu Olukolu congratulated the participants as well as their parents for their desire in believing and upholding Islamic education.

Aside winning prizes, Abdulganniyyu admonished participants to see their participation as part of their service to God. He also encouraged them to put more efforts in their studies, noting that when they excel, their teachers and school mates would single them out because of their affiliation to Islam.

Read Also: Sultan to Muslim parents: give your kids Islamic/western education

In the quiz category, Miss Omotosho Usman and Master Omotosho Usman both from Tusiyan School Agboju defeated Ali Qudus and Ibrahim Tawakalitu from Markas Taalim Liaroby while Hajarat Bello and Rukayat Tijani from Markas Danul Salam emerged second runners-up.

Similarly in the Quran recitation, Adekunle Mahbab from Markas Kuje Amuwo emerged first, followed by Ahmad Bello from Navy Town; Islammiyah and Jimeh Khadijah from Tawakalitu Mosque.

The winners in each category were presented with a standing fan, a ceiling fan and a wall clock in that order.

The sponsor of the competition Alhaji Abdul Wasiu Aderibigbe recounted how the contest began 15 years ago as a means of honouring his late mother Alhaja Osenat Kehinde Lawal.

“At the end of the day, we usually have six winners–three winners from the quiz and three from the Quran recitation categories,” he began.

“I am glad to tell you that each category of this event has been so successful. Winners that emerge from this competition have always represented Amuwo-Odofin chapter at the state level.

Some of the winners that this competition has produced are also in attendance here. There is a particular winner who has gone to establish his own Islamic school and he is here with some of his students,” he concluded.

By Frank Ikpefan, Abuja

 

The Pro Vice-Chancellor of Global Engagement, University of Portsmouth (UK) is seeking collaboration with the Federal Government of Nigeria to deepen research.

Prof. Chris Chang noted that such collaboration would expand opportunities in research findings between the university and Nigeria.

Chang, who spoke in an interview in Abuja, said the university was ready to work with the Federal Government to develop research collaboration that would aid learning as well as grow the two countries.

He said: “Our ambition is to grow our profile as a truly global institution with a diverse international community and a track record of worldwide collaboration in research, teaching and innovation.

“We want our students to be global graduates, who take the skills they have learnt to every corner of the planet.

Over the next three years, we will expand our collaborative links and enter strategic alliances with high-quality partners who share our values and mission.”

Read Also: FG moves to secure $500M AFDB fund for technology innovation

 

Chang said about 200 Nigerian students enrol each year into undergraduate and doctoral programmes in the university, making Portsmouth one of the most popular destinations in the UK.

On the issue of Brexit, he said Nigerian students should not worry, saying that Brexit had given foreign students better opportunities to study in the UK universities.

“Brexit does not affect Nigeriand coming to study in UK. We welcome all students from all over the world because we want diversity in the UK

“We are working in a global village and the ability to work cross culture and in multiple teams across different countries is an important skill that graduates need,” he said.

He, therefore, said that the global expansion would give students access to global communities through exchange programmes, internships, placements, volunteering and digital collaboration.

 

By Munirat Saliman

 

The 1974-77 set of the Sociology Department, University of Lagos (UNILAG) has donated two public address systems for the large lecture rooms of their former department.

They made the donation following a reunion held at Octagon 90, Akoka – 42 years after graduation.

After the event, they toured their former lecture rooms, visited the Head of Department and lecturersm and deliberated on what they could provide for the department to enhance learning.

One of the old students, a professor in the department, Lolu Soyombo, said the idea of the reunion was for them to return to the university and see how the department had fared over four decades.  He also promised they would be back again very soon.

Also speaking, Mrs Olabisi Banjo expressed joy at coming back to her alma mater to reunite with former classmates.

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“The reunion was actually a beautiful gathering.  Meeting again after 42 years of leaving the university brought back beautiful memories.  UNILAG has changed a lot for the better.  Our old buildings are still very strong.”

She added: “We decided to do our little bit that we can do to enhance their comfort.  The students are on holidays but they will like us to come back to speak to the students just to enlighten them about sociology.”

Another alumna, Mrs Omolara Olarenwaju said to excel as sociologists, current students must be focused.

“They should apply themselves in whatever they are doing,  We want them to excel and do well in their exams; concentrate, focus and they should one day come back and give back to society like we have come back to do,” she said.

By Segun Omolayo

 

This columnist was involved in two conversations recently. One was with a former university deputy registrar. He had just shared a written address he considered spotless.

He retorted dismissively when shown some misusages, one of which was advocate for, saying: “I don’t see anything wrong in it.” His scowl registered the meta-communication that the columnist was just being a busybody.

In the other conversation, a former permanent secretary who is a writing enthusiast insisted that as a matter of cultural correctness and respect for constituted authority, every occurrence of the word governor must be capitalised.

We have dealt with the usage of transitive verbs like advocate, demand, deny and the like in a past edition, and we will at some point also discuss capitalisation.

So, these will not be the focus in this edition. It suffices for now to note that capitalisation is not about political or social ranking.

Most importantly, the two encounters have more than anything else underscored the need to drill down, still, the matter of correct and incorrect usage. And here we go with this edition’s special selection.

Verbs following verbs

Many hardly pay attention to the proper handling of verbs when one follows another in a sentence. The usual problem is about the tense of the one that occurs in the latter position. See the specimen misusage below for what we mean:

Those who observed him on Tuesday during the lecture saw him spoke with enormous self-satisfaction.

In this construction, the second verb should be the bare infinitive. A bare infinitive verb is one that does not come with to, which infinitives normally carry.

Read Also: Sundry Misusages XXXVIII: Compound adjectives . . . plus more

With specific reference to the sentence at issue, the bare infinitive speak is the second verb required, not spoke. For clarity, we stretch out the correct usage, thus:

Those who observed him on Tuesday during the lecture saw him speak with enormous self-satisfaction.

“Pop” Errors adds: ‘As it is with saw and speak in this construction, so it is with “several verbs of perception, including see, watch, hear, feel and sense” which “take a direct object and a bare infinitive where the bare infinitive indicates an action taken by the main verb’s object.”

The main verb in the statement is saw and its object is him which performs the action of speaking. The present participle speaking can replace the bare infinitive speak, but “the difference is that the former implies that the entirety of the event was perceived, while the latter implies that part of the progress of the event was perceived” (English.stackexchange.com). And, with the bare infinitive, the verbs do not have to agree in number and tense (www.nus.edu.sg/prose/grammar.htm).

In other words, it does not matter if the statement were to be: “He saw him talk,” where talk neither agrees with the tense of saw nor the number of its object him.’

Wake

The wake in consideration here is the one recklessly misused in obituary announcements and funeral arrangements. Commonly, you see wrong usages such as wake keep or wake keeping, as in the sentence below:

Some people noted that the carnival was a joyful equivalent of a wake keeping, as that is what happens when old men die.

In connection with funerals, wake keeping is incorrect and therefore unacceptable. It does not matter that you see such a wrong usage in newspapers every day, even in obituary announcements placed by governments and blue-chip organizations. The correct usage is wake. In the sense of this sentence in consideration, ‘wake is “an occasion before or after a funeral when people gather to remember the dead person, traditionally held the night before the funeral to watch over the body before it is buried.”

The origin of the “pop” error wake keeping is still unknown; our conjecture is that it might have started as a transferred usage of the practice of keeping vigil by Christians.

We think it is high time we stopped inventing and perpetrating errors’ (“Pop” Errors). “Pop” Errors enjoins: “Let charity begin here” by adopting the correction below:

Some people noted that the carnival was a joyful equivalent of a wake, as that is what happens when old men die.

Wane

Isn’t it incredible that anyone would misuse the simple verb wane? You had better snap your surprise, as even simpler and more commonplace terms and expressions are often misused.

Only an understanding of the nature and meaning of the verb wane will enable you avoid the kind of lexical outrage exhibited in the following statement:

Continuous conflict about personal expenses was waning the interest of some members.

‘This is a bizarre use of the intransitive verb wane as a transitive verb. Remember, an intransitive verb is a verb that does not have an object in a sentence, while a transitive verb takes an object.

And hear the meaning of wane: “to become gradually weaker or less important.” From the meaning, it is clear that nothing can wane interest, but interest can wane, that is, become gradually weaker’ (“Pop” Errors). The book suggests a number of reconstructions, vjz:

“Continuous conflict about personal expenses was weakening the interest of some members.”

OR

“Continuous conflict about personal expenses was causing the interest of some members to wane” (In this reconstruction, the verb wane has been used as the intransitive verb that it is.)

OR

“Because of continuous conflict about personal expenses, the interest of some members was waning” (The usage here is also in the intransitive sense.)

 

 

The Vice Chancellor, Crawford University, Igbesa, Ogun, Prof. Rotimi Ajayi, on Wednesday said the university’s 11th Convocation would bring the number of graduates of the university since inception to 2, 560.

Ajayi made this known at the 11th Convocation ceremony of the university where 243 graduates were conferred with various degree certificates and 32 graduates had first class degree.

Also, 23 were conferred with higher degrees of Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters in various disciplines.

The theme of the 11th Convocation Lecture was: “We are all Explorationist: When All You Need to Discover is You’’, and it was delivered by an oil exploration specialist, Mr Nosa Omorodion.

According to Ajayi, out of the 2,560, 1,182 graduated since 2015 when his administration came on board.

“I am glad to report that the university has witnessed remarkable and monumental growth encompassing academic development, infrastructure expansion and enhancement of spiritual development in the last one year.

“The university remained focused in its pursuit of academic excellence by its high standard of teaching and research in all its academic programmes to provide basic and professionally- relevant academic programmes.

“All the courses run by the university remained accredited by the National Universities Commission (NUC) including Mass Communication which got full accreditation in March 2019,” he said.

Prof. Peter Okebukola, Chairman, University Board of Trustees, said that the school had maintained the highest standard of morality by not engaging in any anti-social behaviour or internet fraud.

“I am delighted to inform you that while the tempest of internet scamming among university students and fake professors are currently raging in Nigeria, Crawford University remained a calm sea.

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“Our students and professors are not part of the shameful acts. I suggest that our Crawford University should be understudied by other universities in Nigeria and elsewhere in the world,’’ he said.

Prof. Oyewusi Ibidapo-Obe, the Pro-Chancellor, said the graduands should contribute their quota to the development of Nigeria and the world at large.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that out of the 243 graduates, 32 representing about 13 per cent made First Class; 91representing about 37 per cent made Second Class Upper Division; while 80 representing about 33 per cent made Second Class Lower Division.

The university also graduated 40 representing about 17 per cent with Third Class degrees.

A further breakdown of the First Class graduates shows that the Department of Biochemistry has five, the highest; Computer Science Department has four; Accounting Department, three; Business Administration, two; and Economics, one.

Others are, Political Science, three; Mass Communication, three; Geology and Mineral Resources, two; Information and Communication Technology, one; and Microbiology, two.

NAN reports that Miss Gloria Adagbogun of the College of Natural and Applied Sciences, Department of Microbiology, emerged the overall Best Graduating Student with a CGPA of 4.88.

(NAN)

Anthony Joshua has defended his measured and tactful display against Andy Ruiz Jr, which saw him become a two-time heavyweight world champion.

Joshua outfoxed and out-boxed Ruiz Jr in Saudi Arabia last weekend to claim a unanimous points win and revenge for his shock defeat six months ago.

As a spectacle, it was not one for the casual boxing fan, and although Joshua mostly received praise for executing his game plan from those inside the sport, there were some who criticised the Brit.

WBC champion Deontay Wilder was unimpressed by Joshua’s performance and blasted his ‘jab-and-grab’ technique in the hours after his victory.

Wilder told The Athletic: “Joshua did what he had to do to get the win. He ran around the ring and was on his bike all day.

“You want to dominate guys, man. I’m not coming in, after losing to this guy, to just dance and grab and jab and hold. I’m going to show the world and convince them I am the very best and that no one is close to me.”

AJ hit back at his rival’s comments, insisting that he deserves credit for showing the discipline to box smart and prise back the heavyweight world titles.

READ ALSO: ‘Joshua, emblem of a true Nigerian’

“That’s Wilder’s opinion,” Joshua said. “A lot of people don’t have a good bone in their body to say a positive thing anyway. I out-boxed the heavyweight champion of the world for 12 rounds. I don’t think I lost a round. Maybe one.

“I come in there with a great game plan, I’m successful. Isn’t that good enough?

“You can’t box to keep everyone happy; you have to box for the win. And I feel like when I’m at home celebrating, he’s there talking about negativity. Negative energy breeds failure so I’m just going to keep a positive mind-set and build on that victory.”

Okorie Uguru

 

The founder and presiding Pastor of the Synagogue Church of All Nations, Pastor T. B. Joshua, has paid tribute to the late German evangelist, Rev. Reinhard Bonnke who passed on last week.

Pastor Joshua described the late evangelist as “a missionary, with a burning passion for the gospel, a vision for Africa and a message for the world.”

He said: “Evangelist in 60 years of ministry, the founder of Christ for All Nations (CfAN)had the joy of witnessing to over 79 million people give their lives to Jesus.

READ ALSO: 12 things to know about Reinhard Bonnke

“He continued to preach the gospel even to his final moments reminding people that salvation is only found through Jesus, and Jesus must be preached; the character of a believer is that he found refuge in the4 secret place of the most high God.

“Heaven is our resting place, our dwelling place. Here Reinhard Bonnke rests in the precious arm of Jesus Christ.”

He, on behalf of the Emmanuel TV and the Synagogue Church of All nations (SCOAN), joined believers worldwide to pray for God’s strength and comfort upon the family of “this servant of God as we celebrate his life and legacy of harvest.”

“In the words of Reinhard Bonnke: ‘I don’t want monuments; we don’t build monuments; we build God’s kingdom.’”

THE United Kingdom (UK) economy suffered its worst three months for more than a decade after official figures revealed output failed to grow once again in October.

Office for National Statistics (ONS) data showed the economy flatlined month-on-month in October, after two months of declines.

It was the weakest three months since early 2009.

The figures come ahead of tomorrow’s general election, with the main parties all promising to boost growth.

Although the service sector expanded 0.2% in the August-to-October period, that was offset by a 0.7% contraction in manufacturing and 0.3% fall in construction. The ONS said there had been “a notable drop in housebuilding and infrastructure in October”.

John Hawksworth, chief economist at consultancy PwC, blamed Brexit-related uncertainty for the economy’s “loss of momentum”.

He said: “Growth seems likely to remain subdued through the rest of 2019, but we would hope for a gradual revival in activity over the course of 2020 if current political and economic uncertainties ease. Our main scenario is for 1% GDP growth in 2020 assuming an orderly Brexit.”

Professor Costas Milas, of the University of Liverpool’s Management School, described the figures as “quite poor”.

“The main point is that our economy continues to disappoint badly, which will probably bring a Bank of England interest rate cut much closer, especially if Thursday’s election turns out very inconclusive,” he said.

Jack Leslie, economic analyst at the Resolution Foundation, said the UK’s domestic challenges come against a weak global economic outlook for next year.

 

 

A faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State loyal to Chief Bode George may have defied the directive of the party’s national leadership that antagonistic camps should close rank and support Mr. Deji Doherty as chairman.

Doherty, a former deputy governorship candidate of the party, succeeded ex-chairman Dominic Agboola during the party’s congress.

Many top party leaders witnessed the congress. However, the camp loyal to Chief George shunned the congress.

Following Doherty’s emergence as chairman, Dominic kicked against the congress and threatened to go to court.

A source said a Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja will begin hearing of the case instituted by him on Friday.

According to the source, Dominic has the backing of George in his bid to bounce back as chairman.

Although the PDP national leadership directed the three camps in the chapter to close rank and team up with Doherty, supporters of George said they preferred to wait for the outcome of the suit against Doherty by Dominic.

George is holidaying abroad. His media adviser, Uthman Shodipe, hinted that “there is a case in court on the matter,” adding that he will not comment further until George returns to the country.