The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Anthony Anwukah

  • Scholarship exams begins tomorrow

    The Federal Government has fixed tomorrow for the qualifying examination for the award of Federal Scholarship into Nigerian public tertiary institutions.

    The Bilateral Education Agreement (BEA) Scholarship obtainable overseas, and the Sustainable Development Goals’ Scholarship for females are also expected to take place tomorrow.

    A statement by Deputy Director (Information) in the ministry, Ben Bem Goong, on Wednesday in Abuja, stated that the examination which will take place in the six geo-political zones simultaneously will start by 7.00am and end by 2.00pm same day.

    The statement advised candidates who applied for any of the scholarships to come with the print-out of their applications to the exam centres to be able to gain access into the exam venues in line with the stipulated time contained in the SMS to their contact phones.

    Read Also: Ganduje settles N7b foreign scholarship debts

    The statement stated that a list of eligible candidates has also been released on the Ministry of Education website www.education.gov.ng.

    “Minister of State for Education, Prof. Anthony Anwukah is already on his way to Owerri, the Imo State Capital to supervise the conduct of the exercise in the South East geopolitical zone, just as Ministry Officials have been dispatched to various Centres to oversee the exercise,” the statement added.

  • Quality of undergraduate degree and fear of wrong solutions

    The universities are producing products that are not matching the needs of the industries. I urged the Committee of Pro-chancellors and Committee of Vice-Chancellor to end the decline in the standard of education,” he said.… Law students attend Law School for one year before going for NYSC and medical students go for one-year Housemanship before they are allowed to practice fully, so it will be necessary for other courses to also go through this process…. The Lagos Business School can also serve as a one year after-school training…. Anthony Anwukah, Minister of State for Education.

    The Minister of State for Education, Anthony Anwukah said recently that graduates from the country’s universities are unemployable because their knowledge does not meet the needs of industries. He said this at a retreat preparatory to National Universities Commissions’ plan to reform university education. The Minister added that his ministry is mulling over increasing the current four-year programme of study for undergraduate degrees in all disciplines to five years. One good thing about this announcement is that it has come in advance of efforts by NUC to reform university education, thus giving experienced higher education specialists and citizens in general adequate notice to intervene in pre-reform debate that is required for such a major policy initiative.

    The acknowledgment by the Education Minister is not new. Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala made similar remarks about six years ago, when she characterized university graduates as generally unemployable, without concluding in her own case that the problem would be solved by adding one year to the time to complete an undergraduate degree. Since the Education Minister too has not reached a conclusion on the matter, it is proper to warn policymakers at the Ministry of Education and their counterparts at the NUC that “mulling over adding one more year to residency requirement for an undergraduate degree” may not be a rational way to solve a problem whose cause does not seem to have been identified.

    Taking such a decision may be tantamount to facing the effects of a behavior without worrying about the cause(s) of such effects. How much longitudinal and latitudinal research has been conducted on the issue of quality of undergraduate education in the country? What are specific statistical and anecdotal evidence to support why Ghanaians, Sierra Leonians in West Africa and Ugandans and Kenyans in East Africa, as well as South Africans and Botswanans are able to produce undergraduate degree holders who can meet the needs of industries at the end of four years of residency?  The research needed to answer this question needs to be done before any rational policymaker can reach a decision on how many years would Nigerian undergraduates need to benefit from university education, if we have good reasons to assume that Nigerians are different from other nationals in this respect.

    More specifically, both NUC and the Ministry of Education ought to find out why students who attended Ibadan, Ahmadu Bello, Ife, Nsukka, Lagos, and other universities about twenty-five years ago acquired an education that matched the demands of industries after studying for three or four years. It is on record that most, if not all, of Nigeria’s stellar achievers attended some of the universities that the current generation of students unable to meet needs of industries attended.

    Further, policy wonks assigned the task of reforming the university system need to take a holistic and rational approach to finding solution to the problem of decline in quality of university training in the country.  Policymakers can benefit from a popular admonition of late Professor Sam Aluko.  Put less poetically than he did, the advice goes thus: ‘Anyone who sets out from the campus of University of Ife with the intention of going to Ibadan should not turn left at the main gate towards Ondo. After such turn, the faster such person moves, the longer it will take the traveler to reach his destination.’ All stakeholders: the professoriate, undergraduates, parents/guardians should resist any attempt by government—also a major stakeholder—to impose a solution that cannot solve the problem at hand but that may be more likely to create new problems.

    Nigeria is now a democracy rather than a military dictatorship. Many reforms had been made under military rule: federal government takeover of regional universities in the 1970s; introduction of 6-3-3-4 education system; establishment of National Universities Commission that came to have power over universities not owned by the central government; creation of  JAMB as a federal agency with powers to regulate admission to federal, state and private universities; and establishment of NECO to do the same job with WAEC. Changing length of study for first academic degree should not be handled in a hurry and without proper debate by the Senate/Congregation of federal universities.

    The issues involved in adding one year to academic to the number of years of study for first degrees are too complex to be handled without due reference to staff and students of federal universities, and non-federal universities need not be bound by any decision to increase the number of years for B.A. or B.SC. In all countries of the world, universities are not isolated from other levels of learning that provide students for them; primary and secondary education. There is no reason to single out the university system as the only source of decline in quality of learning. Serious research is important on decline in quality of education at all levels.

    Some economistic minds are already saying that an additional year in the university would delay entry into the job market by one year. But the disadvantages of an additional year are many. It will cost the federal government more money to run an already underfunded university system. Nigerian parents will need to pay for one extra year that their counterparts in other parts of the world don’t need to do. Making Nigerian undergraduates spend five years for a programme that requires four years elsewhere will give the impression that the brain power of Nigerians is less than that of their counterparts in other countries, thus marking Nigerians as slow learners. Such policy may make it harder for Nigerian graduates to get admission to international universities and even to get jobs because of the stigma of being slow learners who need five years to do the same amount of work that other nationals do in four years.

    But one good outcome from the recent special retreat preparatory to reforming education is that this important sector seems to be finally receiving needed attention. But the reform required seems to be much more complex than just adding one year to the length of study for undergraduate studies. It should include a reform that reduces central control over education in a federal system; that includes a policy to ensure full access to public education that provides adequate resources for improvement of quality of teaching and proper facilities for modern teaching and learning; consistent regulatory framework for private schools; and a comprehensive review of university curriculum (and of other levels of education) in relation to the demands of the 21st century.

    Reforming the university system without or before the other levels of education—primary and secondary—is not advisable and not a matter that should be attempted this close to national elections. Preparation of the nation’s children for the future is too important to be discussed dispassionately in the extremely partisan atmosphere of electioneering. Education reform in a country that used to get its graduates (after three or four yeas of residency) admitted to the world’s leading universities on the strength of their transcripts but now produces students with difficulties getting jobs in companies certainly deserves a robust debate and planning. But there is too much political distraction that can water down or confuse such debate a few months before national elections. The remaining part of the first tenure of President Buhari should be devoted to the research needed to provide insight on a problem that requires the full attention of all citizens.

    • Roposek@msn.com

  • Oloyede seeks establishment of more centers of learning for the deaf

     

    Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, has called on the Federal Government to establish more centers of learning for deaf people in the country.

    The registrar said that the establishment of such centers in five other geopolitical zones of the country would go a long way in meeting their needs.

    He said this when Dr Khadijat Rashid, team leader of Community of Deaf in Nigeria visited Minister of State for Education, Prof. Anthony Anwukah, to solicit for the establishment of a university for over 17 million deaf people living in the country.

    Prof. Oloyede revealed that the team had met with the board’s officials and that of the National Universities Commission (NUC) to fine tune their demand.

    He said that the establishment of a deaf center in Ilorin, Kwara state, for over 30 years needed to come alive for the deaf citizens to actualize their dreams.

    According to him, after the establishment of the centres in Ilorin,  the funding was stopped which influenced the call for its rescucitation.

    He said there was need to establish and have signers in centers in the university of Maiduguri, University of Nigeria, University of Ibadan, University of Calabar and Bayero State University.

    Prof. Oloyede said: “Some universities like the Bayero university and the university of calabar are doing well as the schools have graduated students but with pain as their were no signers to interpret for them.

    “We agreed at the meeting with them that other established centres need signers just as it had in the centre in University of Ilorin.”Read Dr. Rashid called for the support of the Federal Government to establish a special university for the over 17 million deaf people in the country.

    Rashid who is also the Dean, School of Education, Business and Human Services, Gallaudet University, Washington said the establishment of the university was important to help the hearing impaired citizens have learning in the country.

    She said many deaf people who were Nigerians were opportuned to work with the Wesley University owned by the Methodist Church, Nigeria.

    “We want the government of Nigeria to establish a deaf universities in Nigeria that will help the over 17 million deaf citizens service their needs.

    “We therefore seek the efforts and support of the ministry and the government of Nigeria to meet the yearnings of the special people in our nation.”

    Rashid, however, appealed that the disability bill before the National Assembly be passed into law as it had been in the Senate for the past 15 years without any development to its passage.

    In his response, Prof. Anwukah urged the association to tidy up and perfect every document with the NUC to enable it act quickly and make headway on their demands.

    He therefore pledged the ministry’s support for the initiative while calling on the university of Wesley to encourage Nigerians who had studied abroad to return home.

  • FG to source N8bn to settle SSANU, NASU, NAAT

    The Federal Government says it will source for eight billion naira within five weeks to pay the Joint Action Committee ( JAC ) of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities ( NASU ).

    Sen. Chris Ngige, Minister of Labour and Employment, said this at a resolution reached at a conciliation meeting with the Non-Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities in Abuja.

    The Non-Academic staff Union of Nigerian are made of the Non Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities ( NASU ), Senior Staff Academic of Nigerian Universities ( SSANU ), National Association of Academic Technologists, ( NAAT ).

    The resolution was jointly signed by Ngige, NAAT President, Mr Sani Suleiman, NASU General Secretary, Mr Peters Adeyemi , SSANU President Mr Samson Ugwoke and Prof. Anthony Anwukah, Minister of State for Education.

    Ngige also said that part of the eight billion would also be used to pay members of the Academic Staff Universities ( ASUU ), University of Nigeria, Nsukka ( UNN ), and the University of llorin ( UNILORIN ), who were not paid at the last disbursement.

    He also said that the National Salaries Income and Wages Commission was to rework the Dec. 15 Call Circular on University Staff Schools.

    “This is taking into consideration the observations of JAC of NAAT, NASU and SSANU with a view to ensuring that it complies with the National Industrial Court ( NIC ) judgment.

    Ngige also said that the Federal Ministry of Education reported that the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation has started payment of salary shortfalls, adding that the process was still ongoing.

    He said Ministry of Education was to synergise with the concerned institutions to ensure compliance with Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit ( PICA ) requirements to facilitate payments of JAC members in the universities that are yet to comply.

    The minister, however, said on the issue of the non-implementation of CONTISS 14 and 15 for technologists, the Ministry of Education has made submissions to the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.

    He said that the submission was for onward transmission to the National Council on Establishment ( NEC ) meeting slated for March 18, in Owerri, adding that the Ministry of Education is expected to report the outcome in five weeks.

    Ngige also said the Ministry of Education had put forward an application for the visitation panel to the presidency and that the main trust of the visitation was to re-energise the institution, unearth corruption, among others.

    He said that it was also agreed that the Ministry of Education would set in motion appropriate machinery for the release of White Paper in respect of the previous visitation panel already with government.

    He also added that no worker would be victimised on account of the industrial action.

    Ngige said that government and JAC leadership have agreed that the ongoing strike would be suspended by March 14, after due consultation with their National Executive Councils ( NECs ).

    NAN

  • FG to beef up security in worship centres – Ngige

    FG to beef up security in worship centres – Ngige

    The Federal Government says it will come up with security plans that will guarantee the safety of lives and property in worship centres across the country.

    Sen. Chris Ngige, Minister for Labour and Employment, said this in Amakwa, Ozubulu in Ekwusigo council when he led a delegation to commiserate with the people and government of Anambra on Saturday.

    The delegation was led to St. Philips Catholic Church by Dr Nkem Okeke, Deputy Governor of Anambra and Most Rev. Dr Hillary Okeke, the Catholic Bishop of Nnewi Diocese.

    Ngige said the Federal Government would cooperate with Anambra to ensure that the culprits were brought to book.

    The minister, who described the attack as heinous, wicked and sacrilegious, said the delegation would report back to the presidency.

    He said the Federal Government would also work out a security framework that would protect worshipers anywhere in the country.

    Ngige, who was briefed by the Bishop and Parish Priest of the church, Rev. Fr. Jude Onwuaso, said efforts would be made to forestall future recurrence.

    In his remarks, the deputy governor said the church was praying for the repentance of the perpetrators.

    He said government and the security agencies could go ahead with the hunt for the culprits, but as Christians, the diocese was praying that the masterminds should change their ways.

    He called for prayers and support for the victims either directly to the affected families or through the church through its Victims’ Support Fund.

    Other members of the delegation included the Minister of State for Education, Prof. Anthony Anwukah, the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama and the Minister of State for Environment, Mr Ibrahim Jubrin.

  • FG orders immediate separation of CRK, IRK in new curriculum  

    FG orders immediate separation of CRK, IRK in new curriculum  

    The Federal Government on Thursday bowed to pressure and directed the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) to separate the Christian Religious Knowledge and Islamic Religious Knowledge subjects in the basic education curriculum.

    The grouping of IRK and CRK under the Civil Education in the new curriculum by the NERDC had generated controversy in the last few months with religious leaders calling for their separate teaching.

    Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, gave the directive at a meeting of Ministers of Education with education stakeholders from six geo-political zones and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Abuja on Thursday.

    The meeting, which was attended by Commissioners for Education from various States of the Federation, was part of the ongoing efforts to strengthen the partnership within the three tiers of government in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals 4 (SDG4).

    Adamu, who was represented by Minister of State for Education, Anthony Anwukah, said the directive to separate the subjects became necessary because of the various complaints by Nigerians, especially the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) that has been vociferous about the issue.

    He explained that the collapse of the two subjects was done by former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration to reduce the number of subjects offered by pupils and students in schools.

    The minister said: “There is this controversy over the merger of CRK and IRK in the school curriculum. There were complaints by parents that children were overloaded with so many subjects and the recommendation then was to merge one or two subjects. Unfortunately, water and oil were merged together and it is not working.

    “So, to save ourselves the agony, the two subjects should be separated. We push that to the NERDC,”

    Adamu, in his address, reiterated the commitment of the Federal Government to revamping the education sector and appealed to state governments as well as relevant stakeholders to support the federal government effort.

    He also expressed the commitment of the government towards achieving the SDG4 by 2030 in line with the global timeline.

    The minister said Nigeria has selected the Goal 4 of the SDGs, which emphasizes inclusive and quality education for all and promotion of lifelong learning, for implementation in view of the importance of education as a fulcrum to national development.

    He said the federal government was aware that in the journey towards achieving the Education 2030 Agenda, key issues including the phenomenon of out-of-school children, insecurity in and around the schools and infrastructure decay must be addressed.

    The minister said there was also the need to have credible and reliable data, and how to address the challenge of poor teacher quality as well as teacher gaps, low carrying capacity in tertiary institutions, and poor learning outcomes.

    “We recognize that the task of revamping the education sector is challenging, the ministry of education cannot do it alone. Our task is to coordinate national efforts to meet our national goals and objectives.

    “It is our believe that with good planning, appropriate investment of resources, transparency, due process, effective collaboration and coordination of inputs and activities of government and that of all stakeholders, we will realize our vision of providing quality education to build and sustain adequate human capital for national development,” the minister added.

     

  • “440,000 candidates write JAMB exams in two days”

    “440,000 candidates write JAMB exams in two days”

    No fewer than 440,000 candidates have sat for the 2017 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations within two days across the country.

    The Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Is’haq Oloyede made this known in Abuja on Monday during a tour of the examination centres in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

    Oloyede said that the exams would end in Bauchi, Abia, Niger states and some other states on May 15 while the UTME would continue in Kebbi state, Lagos state, Oyo and some other states.

    He also said that some centres in Delta state were underutilised, adding that the Board would fully involved the centres in future exams.

    He called on candidates to avoid being exploited by unscrupulous persons in the name of getting exam questions for them.

    He said that a case of a person who attacked JAMB officials in Abia state had been reported to the security personnel.

    “I believe everything is going on well. We are monitoring the situation except for a person that was said to have attacked our staff in Abia state this morning.

    “Candidates should be careful because some of these people go about telling the candidates they can give them questions.

    “We are therefore appealing to people to do everything according to the law and avoid cutting corners with JAMB,” he said.

    On the recent industrial action at the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomosho, Oyo State, Oloyede said there was preparation to move the candidates to the University of Ilorin for their exams.

    “We understand that there is a sort of strike by either staff or students in Lautech and two of our centres are in that school.

    “However, arrangement is being made already to transfer the students because there are no private CBT centres in Ogbomosho and the closest place is Ilorin because of the proximity.

    “So we believe it is better than taking them to Ibadan or any other place in Oyo state.”

    Oloyede also condemned the incessant strike in Nigerian Universities, saying that the acts could destroy the future of the country and citizens.

    He added that unions were free to disagree with the government but not at the detriment of students.

    “Anybody who loves this country and education will be against incessant strike.

    “I don’t mean government should take academic staff or non-academic staff for granted but it means we should find a way of solving our crisis not at the expense of the innocent ones,” Oloyede said.

    Meanwhile, the Minister of State for Education, Prof. Anthony Anwukah, who was also on exams monitoring, applauded the board for smooth conduct of the exams.

    Anwukah, however, urged candidates to put more effort in order to succeed in the examination.

    “Based on what I have seen today, the exercise is excellent and if we can fathom this into what we are doing, I think it will be excellent from now on.”

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that centres visited within the territory are Digital Bridge Institute, Global Learning Institute, Sascon International School and the JAMB headquarters centre.

     

  • Teachers council to conduct first professional exams this year

    The Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) says it will conduct the first professional examination for teachers before the end of 2017.

    The examination, known as the Pre-Qualifying Examinations (PQE), would serve as a pre-requisite for admission of teachers into the profession.

    Prof. Josiah Ajiboye, the Registrar and Chief Executive of the council, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Tuesday.

    According to him, “With regard to the PQE -Professional qualifying examination-the people given the contract, the consultants, they have delivered the test items and we have the custody presently.

    “We have also gone to the Joint Consultative Committee on Education to sensitise Nigerians.

    “Soon, we are going to begin to sensitise the teachers to know that before the end of this year the first examination will be written.

    “We are in the process of sensitisation now and we want to carry the media along and all Nigerians along and in fact our teachers along.

    “So that they will know that now those who have not registered through the existing procedure will have to write qualifying examination as it is being done in other professions.’’

    Ajiboye explained that the PQE would be written based on the four categories of teachers, adding that the old system of ‘’one size fits all’’ no longer holds.

    He said, “Now we have designed a test in such a way that will be suitable to each category of teachers that we are dealing with because when we register teachers we registered them based on the categories.

    “Essentially, we have four categories; we have Grade A that is PhD and above, then we have Grade B that is those with Masters.

    “Then we have Grade C, that is those with first degree and we have the Grade D that is those with NCE and Diploma.

    “The test has been prepared based on the syllabi that covers the whole education spectrum and you are going to be test based on your own category.’’

    NAN reports that the Federal Government had set the end of 2017 as the deadline for the registration of teachers with the TRCN.

    Prof. Anthony Anwukah, the Minister of State for Education, had said that government would flush teachers without the registration out of the Nation’s classrooms after the deadline.

     

  • Ministerial Panel to probe alleged Queens College’s sexual assault

    Ministerial Panel to probe alleged Queens College’s sexual assault

    The Minister of State for Education, Professor Anthony Anwukah, has set up an investigative panel to look into the alleged case of sexual assault of a JSS II student of Queens College, Lagos by one of the teachers.

    In a statement endorsed by the by Deputy Director (Press) of the Ministry, Bem Goong, the Minister  charged members of the panel to do a thorough investigation to unravel the truth behind the allegations.

    The investigation panel has two weeks to submit its report.

    The minister charged the committee to make recommendations to the Federal Government on how to deal with the situation based on the principles of truth, justice and fairness to all parties.

    The statement advised parents, guardians, students and staff of the College who may have credible information on the matter to reach the committee on: 07034613096 and saniabdu59@yahoo.com.

    Professor  Anwukah assured the general public, particularly parents and guardians whose children are in any of the Unity Schools and other Federal Government Colleges that their children were in safe hands.

    He said that government will continue to do everything possible within the ambit of the law to protect children in all government schools across the country, including Queens College, Lagos.

    Prof. Anwukah advised parents to remain calm and avoid taking decisions that may affect their children adversely.

     

    End.