Category: Uncategorized

By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie

 

On Boxing Day, Uzezi Okinedo departed the shores of Nigeria for the University of Massachusetts in Boston United States for her PhD in Molecular Cellular and Organismal Biology.

 

She is one of the 19 high-achieving but economically disadvantaged beneficiaries of the EducationUSA Opportunity Fund Program (OPF) of the U.S. Consulate who were supported to apply for undergraduate and graduate programmes in U.S. institutions.

 

The trip was the 27-year old’s first international journey outside Nigeria.  She told The Nation that she was looking forward to studying in an environment different from what she was used to.

 

“This is my first trip out of Nigeria. I have never been out of the country before.  I have been on a plane before; I flew to Jos during my NYSC and from Jos took a bus to Bauchi.

 

“I feel very excited – like I am really looking forward to it. I have actually gone online to read about people’s experiences on their first time out of Nigeria or been on an airline and am excited about it that I can’t wait,” she told The Nation during  Zoom interview before her departure.

 

Uzezi, like others got full scholarship for her course and additional support from the Opportunity Fund Program (OFP) to cover cost of travel, settlement, in addition to prior application and visas cost.

 

The First Class graduate of Cell Biology and Genetics from the University of Lagos (UNILAG) said she had already started online classes prior to her departure and had expected the experience to be challenging but was prepared for it.

 

After her studies, Uzezi, who is on the Graduate Assistantship programme of UNILAG, said she would return to Nigeria to offer her expertise in plant molecular biology – an area she said is not commonly studied in Nigeria.

“I will be researching on Plant Molecular Biology with a focus on Population Genomics.  I choose that area because that is an area that has been kind of largely under explored in Nigeria because a lot of people that go into biological sciences focus more on human genetics or animal genetics but when it comes to plants people don’t pay more close attention to that.

“So, I am going to explore that because I really have an interest in improving agriculture and going into Plant Genomics  gives me that ability to contribute to the aspect of agricultural biotechnology, improving like climate resilient crops with the issue of climate change,” she said.

 

Seventeen-year old Chika Dueke-Eze is one of only two undergraduate beneficiaries of the OFP.  The 2019 graduate of King’s College Lagos is settling down at Duke University, North Carolina where he is studying for a double major in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

 

The teenager, who made 5As and 4Bs in the 2019 WASSCE, was admitted into four other U.S. Universities on full scholarship (Northwestern University, University of Texas, Dallas, New York University, and Villanova University) and two others with partial funding.

 

Chika, a native of Enugu State said he chose to study both computer science and electrical engineering because he loves both the hardware and software areas of gadgets.

 

He said: “I have always been interested in the hardware and software.  Then during my gap year I started working with a micro controller like Robotics and I find it fascinating because I was able to write code and interpret it. I was able to understand how things work inside the computer and also like how the hardware works.  The ability to just be able to utilize my imagination and create amazing things and I basically understand how things works and I can like build what I what to build and solve problems.  It empowers me to be someone that likes to create things, so it was right course for me.”

 

Thanking the EducationUSA for the OPF, Chika said: “I had the idea I wanted to study abroad but did not know how I was going to get there.  Without EducationUSA I do not even know how I would have got there.  When I join Education USA I was like even if they give me a whole year I probably would not have gotten all those information I got within a space of three month.”

 

Over 500 students applied for the OFP in 2020 among whom 30 were selected for the programme. However only 19 of them secured admission with full funding that enabled them to travel to the U.S. for their studies.

During a reception in Lagos in honour of the 19 recipients, United States Consul General Claire Pierangelo urged them to make the most of their time in the U.S.

 

“The U.S. Mission in Nigeria is pleased that our two major EducationUSA centers in Lagos and Abuja help brilliant, deserving and high achieving students defray the cost of applying to study in the U.S.  You have successfully navigated the daunting U.S. college and university admissions process and we are so excited for your future.”

“During your time in the United States, please take full advantage of every opportunity you have not only to learn but to expand your horizon. You have excelled in Nigeria and I have no doubt that you will continue on that path of academic excellence in the United States,” Consul General Pierangelo told the departing students,” she said.

By Yemisi Olaosun

 

Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Alhaji Femi Okunnu, has donated a new floor to the Faculty of Law building at the University of Lagos (UNILAG).

Speaking during the event via webinar, Okunnu said he was extremely proud and humbled to be part of the university community and the executor of the project.

The Vice Chancellor, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, said the execution of the project is in line with his P3P vision which stands for Pick a Project, Pick a Programme and Pick a Person.

He said what Okunnu had done by donating N100 million for the vertical extension of the fourth floor of the Law Faculty building was an example of picking a project.

“Despite that we have no budget for capital project this year, God has sent divine helpers to build the university,” he said.

Prof. Adele Jinodu who represented Alhaji Okunnu at the event, described the donor as a committed intellectual who intends to give whatever he has to advance education in the country.

Dean of the Faculty of Law, Professor A.V Atsenuwa, said the Law programme started as a three-or four-year programme with an average of 80 students admitted annually.  However, he said the number increased when students were admitted through the Post UTME and now admits an average of 270 students per year.  She added that the Master’s programme also expanded which made the space inadequate for the students, adding that the lecturers had to share offices.

She expressed gratitude for the project despite the COVID-19 pandemic delaying its completion.

The new floor, which is the fourth floor, would accommodate the faculty board room, eight offices, two seminar rooms, a moot room with facilities of international standard that can take 80 students, as well as other designated rooms strictly for students.

 

From Adamu Suleiman, Sokoto

 

The National Business and Technical Examination Board (NABTEB) inspected several workplaces in computer village Ikeja that will serve as the Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH) Training Centre for mobile phones and computer hardware repairs and maintenance under the National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF).

The upgrade and inspection of the workplace centres was sponsored by YABATECH in collaboration with Commonwealth of Learning (COL) and the Computer and Telecommunication Engineers Association of Nigeria (COMTEAN) as part of the Skills in demand (SID) Project towards formalising informal apprenticeship in the country.

The Skills-in-Demand Project, an initiative of COL, and co-funded by YABATECH, COL and COMTEAN is motivated by the need to improve quality of skills training in ICT sector and make it accessible to people especially the youth; provide the youth with employment and relevant entrepreneurial skills in the sector; and help them fit into a constantly changing work environment.

Through the SID project, YABATECH will work with industry partners in the ICT sector to implement workplace and community based skills training programme that leverage Open Distance Learning and Technology to increase access, ensure competency and meet skills needs of industry and communities.

The initial target is to produce 46,780 competent and field-ready master craftsmen in both skills areas nationwide by 2023.

 

From Emma Elekwa Onitsha

 

The Director, National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), South East Area Office, Enugu, Alhaji Ahmed Ikaka has  described the NYSC scheme as master key that unlocks padlocks to doors leading to employment.

Ikaka made the assertion at the Permanent Orientation Camp, Umuawulu/Mbaukwu while declaring open the 2020 Batch ‘B’ stream 1 B inter platoon drills competition and presentating trophies and cash gifts to winning groups.

He advised corps members to show particular interest in the skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurial Development (SAED) training capable of turning them to wealth creators, stressing that no nation coild grow beyond the skills of her citizens.

He said: “The NYSC scheme provides the master key that opens padlocks to the shut doors leading to employment.

“Corps members should therefore show particular interest in the SAED training as it is capable of making them employers of themselves and others.”

Underscoring the importance of security, the Director urged the corps members to carry with them their identity cards at all times, just as he implored them to avoid keeping late nights and accepting gifts from unknown persons.

“You should also avoid wrong use of the social media and peddling of fake news that incite people to carry out acts of violence,” he added.

 

The University of Ado Ekiti Accounting Graduates Alumni “96” (UNADACGA”96″ Alumni) has elected new leaders to guide the affairs of the group for the next two years.

The election described as the freest and fairest known to the group produced nine-member executives tagged G9, with Adura Ojo as the new President.

Ojo takes over from Gbenga Ajiboye, the pioneer president of the group who served for two terms.

He was instrumental to its formation and credited with helping the young association grow.

During his tenure, he executed developmental projects including the endowment of a N50,000.00 annual award to the best graduating student of the Department of Accounting, Ekiti State University, Ado -Ekiti (formerly University of Ado-Ekiti – UNAD).

In his acceptance speech, Ojo who doubles as the chairman board of Trustees of the association shared the ideals of an association turned family.

 

By Onimisi Alao, Yola

The General Murtala Mohammed College, Yola, is seeking N2,500,000,000 to rehabilitate dilapidated structures and to organize events marking its 100 years of existence.

The college, an Adamawa State-owned institution named after the former military head of state, Gen Murtala Mohammed (late), was built as an Elementary School at the provincial headquarters in Yola in 1920 and the 100th year fell on April last year (2020), but COVID-19 and other exigencies forced organisers to shift the centenary events to this year.

The alumni association of the college said during a press briefing at the college premises that in the countdown to what they described the final phase of centenary events, N2,500,000,000 is needed to complete rehabilitation projects and hold events to celebrate the 100th year of the college by the first or second quarter of this year.

READ ALSO: Alumni reward Loyola College pupils

The General Murtala College, located in the heart of Jimeta, Yola, is an expansive serene academic environment with structures similar to other premier colleges around the country, but these structures, which have had hardly any additions in recent times, were in a sorry state when the alumni members began efforts in 2019 to give the college a facelift as an integral part of its centenary celebrations.

The Tiddo Yo Daddo National Alumni Association, as the college old students are known, said through Chairman of the Local Organising Committee of the planned 100-year anniversary, Baba Sa’adu Abubakar, that the N2,500,000,000 is the total cost of estimates, and that the estimates are open to corrections and adjustments.

The General Murtala Mohammed College changed names a number of times from Provincial Elementary College in 1920 to Middle School and then to Provincial Secondary School by 1955; Government Secondary School in 1966, and then its current name in 1976, the year General Murtala Mohammed was killed.

The alumni members, finding it difficult to reconcile the different names the school has answered over the decades, decided on the motto of the college, Tiddo Yo Daddo, which in Fulfulde roughly means ‘If you Persere, you will Succeed.’

The college has over the decades produced many prominent individuals, including Nigeria’s first Minister of Defence, Muhammadu Ribadu; erudite scholar, Prof Iya Abubakar (both late); former governor of defunct Gongola State and then national chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Alhaji Bamanagar Tukur; former Minister and then senator, Prof Jibrin Aminu, among many others.

By Dr Benjamin Ola-Akande

2020 is finally behind us (cue the cheers). By all accounts, it was a most unusual year – devastating for many, inconvenient for most. Yet now we have a chance for a fresh start, a new year filled with hope and possibilities. The pandemic is certainly not over, but the change of the calendar provides us with an opportunity to turn the page and, hopefully, begin to return to the way we were.

When I think about the future, I am drawn back to lessons learned from my role model – my late father. From him, I learned the meaning of respect, humility, and courage. In his work ethic, I discovered an unrelenting focus on finishing whatever he started. My dad always found a way to rise above pettiness and rancor, something that we need now more than ever. He demonstrated that you can play a meaningful role in life from wherever you are. He encouraged us to rise above the ordinariness of life to strive for success, and then to pursue significance.

My dad also had the uncommon ability to connect with people and make friends, but more importantly, he possessed the talent to keep them close. His secret was that he understood the power of words. For more than 50 years he demonstrated the ability to make words rise from paper; to change lives, motivate the downtrodden, transform organizations, and benefit the Kingdom of God. He was a linguistical craftsman who could smell a splendid style from a respectable distance. If Ronald Reagan was the great communicator, my dad was the greatest communicator. He touched people he met along the way in a tone and tenor that were neither too stilted to scare the audience, nor too banal to dull their thinking or insult their intelligence.

That is a skill that has seemed sorely lacking over the past few years. Too often, our words have tended to be less inspirational and more confrontational. We have spent far more time shouting and arguing than listening and seeking a greater understanding of each other. Were he still with us today, my dad would remind us of the efficacy of telling it like it is; provoking thought, enthusiasm, hope, and maybe even unity. He spoke the truth with power and felt the indignation of those who were stung by the words of truth. But he never wavered and he refused to put his life in reverse.

I lost my father in 2020, but his words and his example will stay with me forever. He had a sense of constructive impatience, something that all of us should embrace as we embark on this new year. He lived believing that nothing less than salvation was at stake and that God’s multiple blessings are contagious, eternal, and never-ending.

In our final conversation on the day he passed, he bid me “a ma rira” (I will see you later). Dad, I know we shall see each other again, and so I say to you—I will follow your example and urge others to do likewise. I will see you later and make you proud.

Dr. Benjamin Ola. Akande is the current and the 9th President of Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont. He is the former Assistant Vice Chancellor of International Programs-Africa, Director of the Africa Initiative, and Associate Director of the Global Health Center at Washington University in St. Louis. Dr. Akande also chaired Washington University’s International Travel Oversight Committee (ITOC). Dr. Akande is a respected economist, scholar, and global consultant to Fortune 500 corporations and institutions in the higher education space in the areas of strategy, leadership development, corporate responsibility, and market positioning.