The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Alumni

  • AOCOED alumni train Student leaders

    AOCOED alumni train Student leaders

    Diplomacy is more effective than protests, students’ union leaders of the Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education (AOCOED) Otto/Ijanikin have been told.

    They were taught to employ diplomacy at a seminar organised by the alumni association of the college.

    Addressing the about 100 students, National President, AOCOED Alumni Association, Comrade Adeyemi Adesanya, said unionism in the 21st century is anchored on diplomacy and not violent protest as is still practised in some institutions.

    Adesanya said: “This programme was conceived because we realised students union activities on campus has to go in conformity with the present day unionism in the world.

    So, we decided to organise this workshop for about 100 of them across all categories of SU; and we have invited resource persons from all areas of student unionism. We felt with their level of understanding with management, they needed more encouragement with respect to their grievances.”

    Commending the immediate past Students’ Union (SU) for their good conduct while in office, Adesanya said the alumni body will make efforts to improve the relationship between the current SU leaders and the management.

    He said presently, students face challenges ranging from poor classrooms, lack of public address system in classrooms as well as poor road network, which he said the alumni body is looking into.

    Adesanya said the alumni association was resuscitated earlier this year and is trying to get off the ground. However, despite various challenges, he said it has made modest achievements.

    “We have secured job for our members and are putting some of them on course, especially with the Lagos State government,” he said.

    Also speaking, the PRO, Comrade Oluwole Femi Johnson said the alumni website will soon be uploaded.

    He said: “We are almost at the final stage of the association’s website and once it is done, we shall place adverts in the dailies for our members to log in their resume online. Through that platform, we can connect with all our members worldwide. We have now secured a plot of land in the college where the alumni secretariat will be built. We just did the structural design. But even if it’s to lay the foundation alone, we want to achieve that before the end of the first quarter of next year. We hope the college also assists us as we cannot do it alone.”

    The speaker AOCOED SU Comrade Yussuf Olamilekan, while praising the alumni for the partnership, pleaded with the management to reduce the N25.000 fee management slammed on students that have graduated but have spill over.

    Former College of Education Academic Staff Union chairman AOCOED chapter Comrade Victor Akinola spoke on: ‘Conflict management, resolution in tertiary institution: Role of administrators and Students’ Union’. Alhaji Muhideen Sikiru, a Students Affairs officer in AOCOED treaed Accountability as panacea for a successful administration of Students Unionism, while Mr Ashade oladimeji a consultant, spoke on ‘Conflicts among the three arms of the SU.’

     

  • Alumni to upgrade varsity

    The University of Abuja Alumni Association has said it will soon embark on the renovation of infrastructure at the school’s permanent site in Gwagwalada.

    The body has also scheduled its maiden convention for  Abuja at the end of the month.

    Habeeb Abulkadir who is chairman of the convention planning committee said in Abuja that the association is poised to strengthening itself and contributing significantly to the progress of its alma mater.

    During the event, there will be a reunion dinner and election of officials into the alumni body.

    “The association also plans to build an office on the campus. We’ll build students hostels and give them out at affordable rates,” Abdulkadir stated.

    The association which started in 2008 has now got a strong membership including governors, legislators and other top government officials across the country.

    On the crisis over non-accreditation of some science courses in the university, the alumni expressed gratitude to the pro-chancellor of council, General Samuel Ogbemudia for working tirelessly and getting the courses accredited.

    Dr Abubakar Umar Kari who headed the alumni association’s committee on repositioning the alma mater identified long culture of impunity as cause of the university’s woes.

  • Alumni President seeks support

    President of Ajuwa Old Students Association, Chief John Ademoyegun has started visiting members of the association in various cities across the country to raise funds for rehabilitation of the school’s infrastructure.

    In a statement made available to The Nation, Ademoyegun urged the old boys who attended the school located in Okeagbe, Akoko in Ondo State, to support the association’s project.

    The President thanked Otunba Solomon Oladunmi, Chief Executive officer of Solton Hotel and suites, Ijapo Estate, Akure for donating N1 million to rehabilitate the science laboratory he endowed in 1996. He also thanked Oladunmi for pledging to give prizes to the best students in JSS and SSS classes in science and arts subjects to encourage their academic pursuits.

     

  • Alumni condemn closure of institution

    The alumni association of the Federal College of Education, Obudu, Cross River State, has condemned the closure of the institution by the Internal Revenue Service over alleged non-remittance of tax.

    The college was shut for two weeks by the IRS over alleged non-remittance of Income Tax (PAYE) deductions from staff salaries amounting to over N543.9 million for between 2004 and 2009.

    Briefing the National Executive Council of the association in Obudu, a representative of the Governing Board, Dr David Ugbai, said: “We condemn in its totality the unholy act in the recent closure of our alma mater for more than two weeks by the state internal revenue service for non-remittance of taxes.”

    He said it was not in the best interest of any party to have resorted to litigation to resolve the issue, but rather through dialogue and other peaceful means.

    He said the development was not encouraging, the considering the huge investment government was putting into the sector in ensuring that a well-refined teacher education is provided.

    He lauded the management of the institution and the state government for resolving the matter.

    The National President of the association, Mr Justine Akpo, also noted that the development affected the institution’s academic calendar.

  • Babcock Varsity alumni lift motherless babies

    An response to their sought support when they visited the SOS Motherless Babies Home some weeks ago, the Babcock University Alumni Association, Ilisan Remo, Shagamu, Ogun State, has donated gift items to the babies.

    While presenting the items, the association’s president, Mr. Nwokocha Chibueze, said the donation was its widow’s mite in support of the good works of the management of the home.

    Chibueze, who was accompanied by his aides, prayed for the staff of the home on their selfless service to the society.

    Receiving the items, father of the home, Mr. Inusa-Ahmed Anthony, thanked the association for the kind gesture, adding that the success recorded so far in the home was made possible by those he referred to as “village mothers who left their biological children to take care of the home.”

    He noted that the motherless babies’ home was a loving haven for every child, adding: “Every child is given the opportunity to study with other children to attain greatness.”

    The association also donated some items to the SOS Motherless Babies’ Home in Ijebu-Owu, Ogun State, as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

    The items included two LG washing machines, two 50-kilogramme bags of rice, four cartons of Indomie noodles and eight packs of toiletries.

  • ‘Our alumni secretariat will be built in my time’

    ‘Our alumni secretariat will be built in my time’

    President of the Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education Alumni association Otto/Ijanikin Comrade Adeyemi Adesanya has said his administration has started making moves on how to raise a befitting secretariat for the alumni. He also said the alumnus has opened a database for the 54-year old institution where members can now upload their resume.

    Four years ago, the Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education (AOCOED) Otto/Ijanikin celebrated its Golden Jubilee anniversary where the foundation of the alumni secretariat was laid in the college premises by the former Commissioner of Education Mrs Sarah Adebisi Sosan, also an alumnus. However, the foundation has remained same since it was laid under the former executive led by Dr Bayo Oladipupo.

    On the strategy for raising funds for the proposed structure, Adesanya said the aforementioned database would be used to collate profiles of former students within and outside the country who have graduated over the last 50 years. He added that the alumni is also mapping out plans to wooing governments, media, and individuals and particularly Lagosians to giving their widow’s mite towards the completion of the structure.

    Adesanya, former COEASU chairman AOCOED chapter, said following a successful election which ushered in a new executive on November 3 last year, the alumni hit the ground running.

    “We want to thank the college management which recognised us and has admitted us into the Council. Already, we are members of the two committees – the Staff Welfare and the Students’ Welfare committees set up by the Council.

    “On our part, we have started working with the Lagos State government on a possible means of assisting the alumni, and I can tell you our members have started benefitting from this. Some of our members just benefitted from the ICT (Information and Communication Technology) training by the Lagos State government which was done at the Computer House in Alausa last week. Also in the School Improvement Officers training, government gave our members 31 slots of which 29 of our members were successful.

    “We have also opened up discussions with the state Commissioner of Education on what could be done on the recruitment of our members. We are also doing same for UBEC, SUBEB and other related organisations.

    Aside creating links with members both home and abroad, Adesanya said the alumni association is also looking at ways in which members can assist their alma mater in the provision of items such as toilets, fluorescent for the auditoriums/school environs, speakers and megaphones and other teaching aids that can aid learning.

    As a follow up to this, however, Adesanya said the alumni plans to hold a national conference for members before the year runs out. The proposed conference, he stressed, is particularly meant for members who are in the field of teaching, to update them with the modern teaching techniques that will improve their activities in the classroom.

    “We are also partnering with the Students’ Union on sensitization programme against cultism, indecent dressing, examination malpractices and other vices. We participated in the last matriculation of the college held two weeks ago where we held a talk shop with the students and what is expected of them and how they should comport themselves as students of AOCOED.

     

  • Alumni group praises VC

    Anambra State University Alumni Association has praised the Vice Chancellor, Prof Fidelis Okafor, and his team for uplifting the university.

    Rising from its mini-convention last week, the association appealed to members to rally round the vice-chancellor to continue his immense development of infrastructure and human capacity building for the benefit of students.

    In a statement signed by the National President, Anaetoo Chima and Secretary Amanchukwu Emeka, the alumni warned detractors to allow the VC and his team actualise their dream for the university.

    The statement reads in part: “Evaluating the performance of the VC , the Alumni Association on its findings discovered the establishments of new departments for capacity building , beautification of the University environment, eradication of cultism, sponsorship of academic and non-academic staff to local and international programme, encouragement of students unionism and attraction of TET Fund to mention but a few.

    “We are indeed happy with what Professor Okafor is doing in our great institution and therefore wish to state that the choice of the man who is indeed a ‘daddy’ to all, an erudite professor who we believe has not only come to save the fallen standard of education in the state-owned university vis-a-vis the decaying infrastructures of the school but also to consolidate on the good path he toed during his stay in Nwafor Orizu college of Education, Nsugbe. We are not surprised by his achievements so far since we all know him as an ‘agent of change’ from his days as Provost of Nwafor Orizu college of Education Nsugbe.

    “It is also important we warn through this medium that we won’t condone any attempt by the detractors, anti-progressive element within and outside the school who never wished the institution well from the days of past administrations and pretend to be working for the interest of the institution. And therefore , we urge all the entire staff of the institution who have the good interest of the school at heart like the Vice Chancellor , to cooperate with the VC and his team of management in their readiness towards re-building the Anambra state University in all spheres of development.”