Category: Uncategorized

By Olaitan Ganiu

Organisers of Ose Brain Quest competition have announced June 26 as the date for this year’s edition.

The educational competition, which is a continuous effort towards shaping future leaders, is in its 10th edition.

The Young Talent Brain Quest Competition will hold on June 26, while the Smart Competition has been slated for October 2021.

According to the organisers, the registration portal is open both for private and public schools students to participate in categories that cut across spelling in-figures, mental quest, mathematics quiz, impromptu speech, debate among others.

Speaking at a briefing, the founder, Aidanmwosa Aiwanose said her passion is fuelled by the need to help build mental mathematics in children amongst other categories of learning.

Stressing that there is no better brain to train than that of a child, Aiwanose said, “The main objectives of this programme is to add value to the lives of students, pupils, and the Nigerian educational system while making knowledge acquisition fun especially in the area of Mathematics, Impromptu speech, and mental quest.”

Chief Operating Officer of the competition, Juliet Keshinro, said that COVID-19 forced the competition to go digital.

“In 2020, there was a global issue called COVID19 pandemic which gave birth to Online Smart Competition.

The first online smart competition was held June 4, 2020. So, this year’s competition goes digital.”

Keshinro added that over the years, the competition had created a platform that aid mental development of students by giving them a comparative advantage to discover their creative ability.

“We intend to make learning fun, helping them to cultivate a good reading and research habit, as well as discover various abilities in the young mind, thereby enhancing their boldness and confidence academically.”

By Gbemisola Adesola

Dr. Wahab Azeez, Provost, Federal College of Education (Technical), Akoka in Lagos, says his desire is to see the institution upgraded to a Federal University of Technical Education.

Azeez, who assumed office in May 2019 as the 12th Provost of the college, gave his scorecard at a news conference to commemorate his second year in office.

“The Act that established the college is being amended to allow the school run NCE and degree programmes simultaneously to be transmitted to federal university of technical education so as to service the students who are yearning for degree in technical programmes. We need to make the public know the importance of technical education here in Nigeria; China is giving preference to technical education, being the reason for its progress,” he said.

The Provost said efforts were ongoing with support from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) to improve the current state of the College in the areas of infrastructure, learning, and teaching.

“In all of these things, TETFund has been of great assistance; our programmes are increasing; so, we need to expand and create enabling environment for youths to learn more skills,” he said.

Azeez said the institution lacked adequate teaching infrastructure, had problems of landscape, dilapidated hostel accommodation, inadequate power supply, and misrepresentation of the college, which he said are being addressed.

He said: “We have created more and improved our ventures as part of the efforts to tackle the issue of inadequate funds, and also, to increase our Internally Generated Revenue so that activities we need to carry out do not suffer.

“Now, the issue of water and power supply is being addressed. Alternatively, we got a proposal from a consultant to provide solar energy that we can use to power our streetlights and illuminate the entire environment when there is a power failure.

“We have the construction of a two-story block of classrooms for teaching and offices for use by members of staff, both for academic and non-academic, while our senior staff block we will be changed to have inbuilt toilets.

“In addition, we have acquired equipment like multimedia projectors a d interactive boards for departments, and also, the first-ever 500-capacity lecture theatre, which the college has never had.”

He called for the support of the Lagos State Government given that the Federal Government-owned college was located in Lagos.

He said they wanted the Lagos State Government to know that the college had facilities which could assist students from its technical schools to pursue their career.

On the issue of security, the provost said that arrangements were on the ground for officers from Sabo Police Station, linking up from time to time, in addition to its private measure.

“We are giving serious attention to security, and that is the reason we went further to engage the services of legionnaires to beef up our internal security, while CCTV is being installed in the college,” he said.

By Frank Ikpefan, Abuja

Vice Chancellor of Bingham University, Prof. Barnabas Qurix, has asked the Federal Government to pay special attention to both the private and public universities across the nation to enable them to continue normal academic activities.

He assured parents that the university was committed to putting necessary measures in place to secure live and property.

The vice chancellor said this during the 16th Matriculation for the 2020/2021 academic session.

He admonished all students to be alert and promptly report suspicious activities, while making judicious use of all opportunities at their disposal.

“The management of this university will continue to do all that is humanly possible to ensure the protection of this campus from criminal elements,” he said.

Qurix admonished the new intakes to shun cultism, drug abuse and other social vices reminding them as a faith-based institution, Bingham had zero tolerance for social vices.

Of 2, 364 candidates that applied to the university, Qurix said only 1, 377 were admitted. Of the number, 530 are in the College of Medicine and Health Sciences; 87, pharmacy; 22, Arts; and 232, Social Sciences.

Others are in the colleges of: Science and Technology (239); Law (76); Education (10); Environmental Science (59); and Administration (122).

At the postgraduate level, 387 students were admitted into various postgraduate programme offered by the university.

Earlier in a paper entitled: “balancing your academic, social and spiritual life on campus” a lecturer at the Faculty of Education, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Prof. Raymond Bako, said for the students to excel in their academics they must shun alcohol, drugs, sexual immortality, get-rich-quick activities, and other vices.

By Grace Obike, Abuja

The Afeme Mechatronics School is working on acquiring the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) full accreditation.

The school was established 2015 as part of a bilateral agreement between the Ministry of Defence and Germany and awarded the National Vocational Certificate in mechatronic automobile.

Students are drawn from the Army, Navy and Air Force and trained in the maintenance of modern and sophisticated automobiles for the Nigerian Armed forces.

Chief of Defence Staff, General Lucky Irabor said at the 2021 graduation of batch five students of the school that the Armed Forces has continued to witness improvement through enhanced counter-Improvised Explosive Device (IED) capabilities, more effective medical support to filter units and in the theatre of operations.

Gen. Irabor, who was represented by Air Vice Marshal Yakubu Aminu, said the institution was fulfilling its mandate.

“The Afeme Mechatronics school was set up with the objective of producing technicians, capable of maintaining modern and sophisticated automobiles in the infantry of the armed forces of Nigeria, and those that will be acquired in the future. I am delighted to say that the objectives for the establishment of the school have largely been achieved as the quality of graduates of the school has been well acknowledged from the feedback from the field.

“This school has been awarded the National vocational certificate in mechatronic in automobile mechatronics. However, in line with the current drive to enhance the existing standards, the school is currently at the final stages of getting accreditation from the NBTE. Once the final accreditation is achieved, the school will commence awarding the national innovative diploma certificate. Thus students in the school would be expected to undergo two years of intensive training to meet the requirements of both the NBTE and the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry regulations. At this juncture, let me congratulate the 21 students graduating today,” he said.

The military chief added that the German government had sponsored numerous projects in the country apart from the Mechatronics School. They include, Army School of military engineering in Makurdi, 44 reference hospital and NAF base in Kaduna, as well as in Jaji.

Representative of the Ambassador of Germany to Nigeria, Deputy Defence Attachee Lt.-Col. Stefan Wolter said his country assists Nigerian Military with Naval equipment, instruction infrastructure, etc.

He said: “Currently, our support ranges from the contribution of mobile and steady, medical treatment and rehabilitation facilities over to the provision of long and short range, night vision equipment and infrared equipment, as well as ground surveillance radars, but we also continue to assist with continuity duty and naval engineering equipment. instructors infrastructures and training facilities, and by offering several training courses in different domains that have been conducted in Germany.”

By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie

A new secondary school by the Dominican Order of the Catholic Church, Dominican College, Abuja is preparing for take-off in September with plans to enrol children from less-privileged backgrounds free of charge.

The college is raising N250 million to make this possible and to complete construction of the state of the art facilities before the start of the 2021/2022 academic session in three months’ time.

Director of the Dominican Vocation Support and project coordinator Rev. Fr. Stephen Ogbe, said at a briefing in Lagos that one of the aims of the school was to reduce the number of out-of- school children, especially in the north, where the Dominican Order had done a lot of evangelism over the years.

“The facility upon completion will provide a great succor for a number of out-of-school-children not only in Abuja, but also across the length and breadth of the country. The capital-intensive project has progressed steadily with the kind generosity of good spirited individuals and corporate bodies. However, N250 million is still needed to get the school running fully,” he said.

The Director said though pupils whose parents can afford it would pay, even application forms would be free for the less-privileged applicants.  He said the order was making deliberate effort to enroll more girls.

“The forms will only be paid for by children whose parents are paying their bills. For the indigent children, we will pay for their forms.  The only thing we need from the parents would be consent form; an undertaking that the children will abide by the rules; and the children have to pass.  We want to give opportunity to the girl-child,” he said.

Given the spate of the insecurity, the cleric said the Dominican Order would not compromise in providing adequate security for the full-boarding school located on 10 hectares of land in Yangoji, Abuja.

“To allay the fears of parents, the school is investing in robust security architecture by collaborating with the Police and other renowned security agencies to provide adequate security for both staff and students of the college,” he said.

While the college seeks to raise funds from corporate bodies and public spirited individuals, Ogbe said it would be resourceful in the use of its land. For instance, he spoke of plans to build a bakery and run a farm so the school could produce its own bread and some of its food.

Chairman, Dominican College Fund Raising Committee, Mr. Oladele Olagbaju, urged people to give towards making the school, which will be inaugurated next month, a reality.

“This project is to regroup the process of training Northern youths using the goodwill of the rich people. We have spent over N500million on the project. The scholarship fund of N100million has to grow. Food, security, books and uniform has to be provided,”   he added.

By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie

Chairman, Lagos State Civil Service Commission, Mrs. Regina Fabanwo, says the state has its eyes on being as effective as the civil service of Singapore and, therefore, needed its work force to have the right skills and attitude.

In her presentation at a management retreat organised by the Lagos State Technical and Vocational Education Board (LASTVEB) for senior administrative staff, principals of the five Government Technical Colleges in Lagos State and other school managers at the Golfveiw Hotel, Ikeja, Mrs. Fabanwo said the commission was working hard to restore meritocracy so the state could be more productive.

“We are benchmarking Singaporean Civil Service.  When you do the work as it is supposed to be done, you will be recognised.  We are trying hard to bring meritocracy to service.  We cannot continue with mediocrity,” she said, adding that this informed the recent stringent screening of over 400 candidates to fill 65 permanent secretaries’ slots.

Mrs. Fabanwo charged the managers of the Government Technical Colleges to make their colleges attractive so that students would embrace technical and vocational education and gain skills that are currently being imported to Nigeria.

“If you make your campus attractive, people would want to come.  We visited a technical college in Philippines that was so big and had good equipment for technical education.  They run courses for masseurs.  Their masseurs are rated so highly that they are the ones working in spas in Nigeria,” she said.

Speaking on the topic: “TVET and the THEMES agenda” the second facilitator Mr. Taofeek Ajetumobi, explained the role that technical and vocational education and training should play in Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s agenda for the development of the sate.

Ajetunmobi, the Director Public Affairs at the Lagos State Public Service Staff Development Centre, Magodo, said technical colleges should position themselves to produce skilled technicians that can run their own businesses and not look for jobs.

He said: “Technical colleges are agents of socioeconomic development that provide youths with critical skills that makes them better citizens; that makes them have the mindset of entrepreneurs and not mindset of people who continue to look around for employment.  When technical and vocational education is properly deployed, the tendency will be for unemployment to reduce drastically.”

On her part, the Executive Secretary of LASTVEB, Ms. Morounke Azeez, underscored the need for the workers to be up-to-date with changes in TVET so they offer relevant training.  She said the aim of the retreat was to ensure the board contributes to the government’s THEMES agenda.

“We felt the there was a need for us to re-strategise and take a critical look at ourselves, how relevant are we in today’s world of work; how relevant are we in terms of the THEMES agenda.  We must make ourselves relevant; we must ensure that we are keyed in the government’s agenda and we contribute positively to the developmnet of Lagos,” she said.

Authorities of Ekiti State University (EKSU) have given approval to Oak Business School, Ogba, Ikeja, to run part-time degree programmes under its auspices.

The programme, approved by National Universities Commission (NUC) would be run on weekdays and weekends for prospective students.

The Director of Studies, Dr. Lance Musa Elakama, said youths, as future leaders, must be properly equipped to take the nation to greater heights, which informed his decision to partner with ESKU.

Under the arrangement, the centre’s administrator, Dr. Godson Agbim, said the school would commence its 2021/2022 academic session this month with Accounting, Banking and Finance, Business Administration, Economics, Political Science, Marketing and Diploma in Law programmes.

He said students could be admitted without writing the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

“Students who are not yet qualified for direct admission can go through their Pre-degree/remedial programmes while ND or HND holders will do the top-up programme in a shorter period. Besides, students can combine full time work with qualitative part-time studies.”

He also said facilities were put in place for a smooth take-off.

Agbim blamed deplorable education standard on not only teachers and students, but also on parents and society at large.

He said a situation where lecturers victimise students for not buying handouts, where students bribe lecturers to pass and where society rewards mediocrity at the expense of hardwork called for great concern.

Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Nigeria in Diaspora Commission, Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has donated a building to serve as a civic centre to the Lagos State Polytechnic  (LASPOTECH), Ikorodu, to commemorate her father’s 95th birthday.

The former journalist, who served as a member of the House of Representatives for three terms, also promised to partner the school on Information Communication Territory (ICT) training and youth development.

Dabiri-Erewa promised to support ICT training for youths to ensure the best use of the centre.

“It has been quite a while putting this structure together and I am glad we got to the stage of commissioning it. The beauty of it is that it is situated in Lagos State Polytechnic and that is why we are very confident that it is going to work, by seeing the young people that we have trained as a result of having this structure here.

“In this same polytechnic, I have been able to give 500 computers, laptops and I-pads. We are partnering the Lagos State Polytechnic for youths to feel free to use this place for various training.

“We will do more of this but we want to start the training immediately in areas that deem fit in teaching young children how to make phones, repairing of phones and learning about ICT,” she said.

Rector of the institution, Dr. Oluremi Olaleye said he was very happy because the centre marks a new beginning in the history on the campus.

“This project is going to serve the generality of Lagos State Polytechnic students and Nigerian youths for technology development and other technology-related training and skills because LASPOTECH under the Lagos State government has robust research training developmental activities that go on all the time,” he said.

Former Governing Council member, LASPOTECH, Dr. Saheed Ibikunle, described the project as  laudable that would enhance teaching, learning and research.

“I am happy because I am part of the project and I am alive to witness the inauguation of this edifice. I must commend our representative, Hon. Abike Dabiri, through which this project came to function,” he said.

The LASPOTECH Registrar, Mr Shakirudeen Adetona Bello, congratulated Dabiri-Erewa on the landmark achievement.

“It is heart-warming to note that  in several ways you have consistently expressed your interest in the development of this institution through numerous developmental projects, either donated or facilitated by you.  One of it was the donation of over 500 computers, desktops and Ipads which administrative, teaching and non-teaching workers are enjoying,” he said.

By Nwanosike Onu, Awka 

Anambra State government has received educational materials worth millions of naira from the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to aid learning in primary and secondary schools.

The materials, including computers, laptops, white boards, and text books, were presented to Governor Willie Obiano in Awka, the state capital, by the Executive Director, Finance and Administration, NIMASA, Chudi Offodile, who said the gesture was part of the agency’s corporate social responsibility in the country.

“We have 40 desktop commuters, some books, boards. This is part of our corporate social responsibility.

“So, on behalf of the Director-General of NIMASA and the governing board, I present this to the state government of Anambra State through the Secretary to the government.

“I hope that this state will find this useful and the different schools that will benefit from it will take advantage of this for the betterment of the society,” he said.

Obiano, through the Secretary to the State government, Prof. Solo Chukwulobelu, thanked NIMASA for the donation and for supporting the state to fight the COVID-19 pandemic last year.

“On behalf of the governor, Chief Willie Obiano, I will like to convey the state’s heartfelt appreciation for these wonderful donations to our schools by NIMASA as part of their corporate social responsibility.

“You may recall that during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2019/2020, the same NIMASA actually donated some palliative to the state. I think that underscores the reason sometimes we feel that in appointments, there should be reflection of federal character,” he said.

The governor, however, called on the agency to adopt a technical college in the state.

“We will appeal for more because you know that education is the fundamental enabler in any development. We look forward to a time NIMASA will actually adopt a technical school, a big secondary school and equip it with everything it requires.

“If they are able to do same for some of our hospitals, the state will equally appreciate it because at the end of the day the state government cannot do everything given its resources,” he said.

By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie

The First Technical University (Tech-U), Ibadan matriculated 197 students for the 2020/2021 session penultimate week and told them how they could earn an allowance for maintaining high scores.

Its Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Ayobami Salami said during the event, which held through physical and virtual components, that students with Grade Point Average (GPA) of 4.50 and above get N10,000 monthly thanks to funds from the Josephus Foundation.

Salami showcased high-achieving students in other levels who maintain distinction scores to the matriculating students at the event held at the university’s library hall. He said to encourage the scholars, the university pays each with 4.5 GPA and above N10,000 monthly allowance.  He however said the Tech-U Scholar with the highest GPA in each department gets N15,000 monthly, while the one with the highest overall gets N20,000 monthly.

“The scheme is supported by the Josephus Foundation, which also has a bold scholarship programme for our students. Already, a good number of you are beneficiaries of the scholarship initiated and funded by our iconic Chancellor, Chief Tunde J, Afolabi,” Salami said.

Addressing the students admitted into the Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Natural and Applied Sciences, and Management and Sciences, Salami assured them that they had begun a journey into a great future.

He urged them to be committed to their studies and not waste the opportunity they have.

He said: “First, gaining admission into higher institutions, especially to a university like the Tech-U, which is prepared in all ramifications to equip students with all-round education, is not a joke. It is not like the manna that falls from heaven. Generally, gaining admission into higher institutions is so tight that whoever has secured one must most wisely and functionally utilise it.”

By the end of their studies, Salami said that they would get three certificates.

“Apart from the academic education, you will further receive entrepreneurial and vocational education. So is language education, as exemplified by our special French programme. The implication is that at the end of your programme, you will receive three certificates: a BSc in your course, a Diploma in Entrepreneurship and another one in French. What this means is that Tech-U is preparing for you a rich and versatile future,” he said.

Recently, the university completed a new science laboratory funded by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund; and two hostels – each boasting of 100 beds – for male and female students built with Internally-Generated Revenue among other facilities.