The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Association

  • Nursing association to open Imo branch

    the Association of General Private Nursing Practitioners of Nigeria (AGPNP) will inaugurate its Imo State branch next month.

    Its president Rev Joseph Olawale said the association has inaugurated the Benue and Abia branches.

    He spoke during the association’s fifth annual general meeting/national conference in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital.

    “Some states in the North are warming up to fully join the association especially Sokoto and Borno States,” he said.

    Olawale urged AGPNP members to development themselves “educationally, morally, financially and religiously.”

    He said: “Do not be a yellow page member. Be very current in the practice and practise within your limitations as dictated by your curriculum. Invest in new ideas and drugs,” he said.

    The AGPNP president thanked the association’s partners such as NGOs, donor organisations, and the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM) for their support.

    “I appreciate NANNM for their interest in AGPNP. They are ready to make sure that AGPNP has good footing in their states,” Olawale added.

  • Association seeks promotion of Yoruba

    Association seeks promotion of Yoruba

    Yoruba Studies Association of Nigeria (YSAN) has called for the promotion of Yoruba culture.

    Its President, Professor Oluyemisi Adebowale, said loss of interest in speaking and not identifying with the Yoruba language was the greatest challenge of the language.

    She spoke yesterday during YSAN’s annual conference at the University of Lagos.

    Speaking on the theme, ‘Yoruba society and the new media’, Adebowale noted that the people must promote the speaking and writing of the language to preserve the culture of our land.

    According to her, the conference is aimed at promoting the Yoruba culture and sensitise the people on globalisation.

    She called for a review of the education policy as it concerns the African language.

    Retired Bishop of the Methodist Church of Nigeria Ayo Ladigbolu urged the Yoruba to face the issue of computer so that the language will not go into extinction.

    According to him, social cautiousness and ability to embrace the language is the major challenge.

    He urged professors to produce Yoruba materials in the language of the technology world so that  it will be entrusted.

    “If we embrace the language of technology to communicate our ideas in Yoruba, it will help our culture and ability to connect with other people in all spheres of life,” he said.

    UNILAG’s Deputy Vice Chancellor, Management Services Prof Duro Oni, who represented the Vice Chancellor, Rahman Bello, urged teachers and parents to teach children in African languages.

    “You can teach them English using Yoruba as the medium of expression.  When children are taught in the African language at the early stage, it makes them better later on in life,” he said.

    Head of Department, Linguistics African and Asian Studies, University of Lagos, Prof Iwu Ikwubuzo said the expected outcome of the conference is to find ways through which the social media  can be repackaged to satisfy the thirst of the youths who are the major users of the social media.

    Dean, Faculty of Arts, UNILAG, Prof Muyiwa Falaye  added that Yoruba people must do everything to ensure that the local language does not die, noting that no nation can develop using other people language.

     

  • Association moves against street trading

    Association moves against street trading

    Traders under aegis of Alaba International Amalgamated Traders Association (AIATA) have vowed to tackle street trading in the market.

    The President of the association, Emeka Mozoba, and other chieftains of the association including Eze Iba, Eze John Greg appealed to the Lagos state Ministry of Environment to assist them to relocate street traders and promised to find better alternative shops for them.

    Mozoba also called on the state government to help rehabilitate dilapidated roads,public toilets,billboard and build drainages to check flooding, traffic jam, that will attract international customers and other important visitors to the market anytime they are approaching Alaba International market as done in most of the big countries in the world.

    At a meeting with the Special Adviser to Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, on Environment Mr. Babatunde Hunpe, in his office in Alausa Ikeja on Thursday,Mozoba said ‘’that they need both the state and the federal government assistance to solve some of the problems facing the market like bad roads, lack of good drainage as some of the roads link to ECOWAS road and other major roads in the state.

     

     

     

     

  • Association seeks end to corruption, poverty

    An international group, Academics Stand against poverty (ASAP) has urged the media to pursue in depth investigation to enthrone transparency and accountability in public and private sectors.

    The group also wants the media to keep record on corruption in the country especially in the oil sector.

    During a conference held at the Afe- Babalola auditorium, University of Lagos, Akoka, the group said media practitioners were in the best position to unravel corrupt practices in the country.

    Former adviser to the British Prime Minister, Mrs Cat Tully emphasized on sustainable development goals to promote a just, peaceful and inclusive society.

    She said: “Provision of access to justice for all and building of effective and accountable institutions at all levels of government will go a long way in the development of a nation. The media is expected to keep reporting corrupt issues in the news..

    Managing Director, Premium Times, Muskilu Mojeed stated the need for consistent reportage of corruption related issues, adding that anti-graft agencies like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) be focused on.

    He said: “Nigerian media need to do more of investigative journalism in order to tackle corrupt practices in both sectors. They need to pressure the government to take actions. They also need to consistently sensitize the citizens on the impact of corruption making them understand the poor suffer most. The media should also pay attention to anti- corruption agencies such as the ICPC, EFCC by doing a follow up on their activities. Also, media organizations as well as the regulating bodies should train and retrain reporters on investigative journalism in order to achieve a transparent government.”

    In his keynote address, Executive Secretary, Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, (NEITI) Waziri gave an overview of unremitted fund bills in the oil sector noting that the non remittance of the funds has a striking effect on the poverty level in the country.

    Other Academics at the event were, Professor Ralph Akinfeleye Professor Idowu Shobowale and lecturers from social sciences department.

  • Association seeks good environment for boat operators

    The Association of Tourist Boat Operators and Water Transport of Nigeria (ATBOWTON) on Monday called on the Lagos State Government to provide an enabling environment for boat operators to thrive in the country.

    The ATBOWTON National President, Mr Ganiyu Balogun, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that government’s policies had not helped the growth of the industry.

    Balogun said some association members had, sometime in the past, wanted to develop the sector by providing capacity building and infrastructure but they were hindered by government’s policies.

    He urged the state to also be flexible in its policies’ implementation to encourage positive development in water transportation.

    Balogun urged the state government to earmark portions of land in every local government area as dumpsites to minimise dumping of refuse into the waterways by the public.

    He said throwing faeces into the waterways could also be curbed, if public toilets were provided at strategic locations all over the state and the country also.

    “Dumping of refuse and faeces in the waterways pollutes the waterways and causes it to smell; and this has always deterred the average tourist from plying the waterways.

    “Apart from this, when refuse and feaces get into the boats’ engines, it destroys them. We need to have a neat and organised society,’’ Balogun said.

    He, however, lauded the Lagos State Government for deploying marine police officers to functional jetties that in the state.

    “Each of the jetties is now being manned by two marine policemen, and this has drastically reduced the crime rate.

    “We love this development but we want more friendly laws that will enable us take water transportation to the next level,’’ Balogun added.

  • Association angry with Ojerinde

    THE Association of Tutorial School Operators (ATSO), has accused the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) of using the wrong grading software to mark the 2016/2017 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME). The group claimed that the error was responsible for the poor and conflicting results that were released by the board for the examination written between February 27 and March 17 in over 500 centres nationwide.

    At a briefing in Lagos, President of the group, Mr Shodunke Oludotun, said: “We have our evidence to show that virtually all the candidates we have collected results of 2015/2016 and not of 2016/2017.

    “This year, Prof Dibu Ojerinde advertised 2016/2017 UTME – we all saw it.  During his press conference, he also mentioned 2016/2017.  During the exam, the information on candidates’monitors displayed 2016/2017. Why is it that the result that was sent to the students showed 2015/2016?

    “From our findings from insiders in JAMB, we realised that the software of 2015/2016 interfered with the 2016/2017, which led to the massive failure of the students.  If you can see the trend of results from February 27 to 29, the students failed; March 7 to 15, the students failed massively. But we noticed that the 27-29 were compensated with 40 marks still under the interference of software.  “We can see that the 2015/2016 software was used to mark, that was why the students were receiving 2015/2016 results. So, where is 2016/2017 result?”

    Oludotun said the group supports the CBT because it is better but seeks a change in leadership.

    Responding to ATSO’s allegations of software mishap, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, JAMB’s Director of Media and Public Relations, said whether it was the 2010 or 2019 software, what was important was the programming and not the marking guide.

    “I am not a programmer but I can confirm to you that JAMB does not joke with its template. What happened with the 40 marks issue is because the scripts were marked based on 250 marks because only English Language is 100 while the other three papers carry 50 marks, making a total of 250.”So when the first results were released, they were calculated based on 250, and after normalisation we felt it would not be ideal for us to cheat on the candidates. So we had to quickly send them their real scores,” Benjamin stated.

  • Association angry with Ojerinde

    The Association of Tutorial School Operators (ATSO), has accused the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) of using the wrong grading software to mark the 2016/2017 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

    The group claimed that the error was responsible for the poor and conflicting results that were released by the board for the examination written between February 27 and March 17 in over 500 centres nationwide.

    At a briefing in Lagos lPresident of the group, Mr Shodunke Oludotun, alleged that the board erroneously used the software for last year to grade this year’s examination.

    He called for the release of the right results, as well as the resignation of the JAMB Registrar, Prof ‘Dibu Ojerinde.

    Oludotun said: “We have our evidence to show that virtually all the candidates we have collected results of 2015/2016 and not of 2016/2017.

    “This year, Prof Dibu Ojerinde advertised 2016/2017 UTME – we all saw it.  During his press conference, he also mentioned 2016/2017.  During the exam, the information on candidates’monitors displayed 2016/2017. Why is it that the result that was sent to the students showed 2015/2016?

    “From our findings from insiders in JAMB, we realised that the software of 2015/2016 interfered with the 2016/2017, which led to the massive failure of the students.  If you can see the trend of results from February 27 to 29, the students failed; March 7 to15, the students failed massively. But we noticed that the 27-29 were compensated with 40 marks still under the interference of software.  “We can see that the 2015/2016 software was used to mark, that was why the students were receiving 2015/2016 results. So, where is 2016/2017 result?”

    Oludotun said the group supports the CBT because it is better but seeks a change in leadership.

    “The Association of Tutorial School Operators is not against CBT. CBT has really helped to bring more students to tutorial centres. It makes them to be serious; and we have taught them.  But for CBT, the whole JAMB exam would have been messed up. Because before CBT, it will only take you N2,000 for cyber café to send answers to you.  So, I want to say that we appreciate the professor for introducing the CBT. But we are asking Prof Ojerinde to step aside and allow another person to build on the foundation,” he said.

    Responding to ATSO’s allegations of software mishap, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, JAMB’s Director of Media and Public Relations, said whether it was the 2010 or 2019 software, what was important was the programming and not the marking guide.

    “I am not a programmer but I can confirm to you that JAMB does not joke with its template. What happened with the 40 marks issue is because the scripts were marked based on 250 marks because only English Language is 100 while the other three papers carry 50 marks, making a total of 250.

    “So when the first results were released, they were calculated based on 250, and after normalisation we felt it would not be ideal for us to cheat on the candidates. So we had to quickly send them their real scores,” Benjamin stated.

  • Association seeks Ojerinde’s head

    The Association of Tutorial School Operators (ATSO), has accused the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) of using the wrong grading software to mark the 2016/2017 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

    The group claimed that the error was responsible for the poor and conflicting results that were released by the board for the examination written between February 27 and March 17 in over 500 centres nationwide.

    At a briefing in Lagos last Wednesday, President of the group, Mr Shodunke Oludotun, alleged that the board erroneously used the software for last year to grade this year’s examination.

    He called for the release of the right results, as well as the resignation of the JAMB Registrar, Prof ‘Dibu Ojerinde.

    Oludotun said: “We have our evidence to show that virtually all the candidates we have collected results of 2015/2016 and not of 2016/2017.

    “This year, Prof Dibu Ojerinde advertised 2016/2017 UTME – we all saw it.  During his press conference, he also mentioned 2016/2017.  During the exam, the information on candidates’monitors displayed 2016/2017. Why is it that the result that was sent to the students showed 2015/2016?

    “From our findings from insiders in JAMB, we realised that the software of 2015/2016 interfered with the 2016/2017, which led to the massive failure of the students.  If you can see the trend of results from (February) 27 to 29, the students failed; (March) 7-15, the students failed massively. But we noticed that the 27-29 were compensated with 40 marks still under the interference of software.  “We can see that the 2015/2016 software was used to mark, that was why the students were receiving 2015/2016 results. So, where is 2016/2017 result?”

    Oludotun said the group supports the CBT because it is better but seeks a change in leadership.

    “The Association of Tutorial School Operators is not against CBT. CBT has really helped to bring more students to tutorial centres. It makes them to be serious; and we have taught them.  But for CBT, the whole JAMB exam would have been messed up. Because before CBT, it will only take you N2,000 for cyber café to send answers to you.  So, I want to say that we appreciate the professor for introducing the CBT.  But we are asking Prof Ojerinde to step aside and allow another person to build on the foundation,” he said.

    Responding to ATSO’s allegations of software mishap, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, JAMB’s Director of Media and Public Relations, said whether it was the 2010 or 2019 software, what was important was the programming and not the marking guide.

    “I am not a programmer but I can confirm to you that JAMB does not joke with its template. What happened with the 40 marks issue is because the scripts were marked based on 250 marks because only English Language is 100 while the other three papers carry 50 marks, making a total of 250.

    “So when the first results were released, they were calculated based on 250, and after normalisation we felt it would not be ideal for us to cheat on the candidates. So we had to quickly send them their real scores,” Benjamin stated.

  • Association calls for improved funding zoos

    The National Association of Zoological Gardens (NAZG) has identified ecotourism as one of the areas Nigeria’s government  should develop in the efforts to diversify the economy. NAZG, in a release, said the country should look to ecotourism for the much needed succour for the people, with zoological gardens and parks taking the lead in terms of visitor traffic and experience.

    The association said the latent potentials inherent in these conservation enclaves that are devoted to education, research, recreation and sustainable development as a whole are unquantifiable, but all suffering prolonged neglect from government and related stakeholders.  NAZG therefore called for closer attention and proper funding for these veritable ecological heritages, so as to open them for better utilization and generation of revenue for the country and its people.

    NAZG clearly stated thus: ”With proper funding of Zoological gardens and parks in Nigeria, it is envisaged by the Association that this sector will reduce the burden of mono-economy by helping to attract more capital investment and generating more foreign currency, thereby boosting Nigeria’s economy. More importantly, it will conserve our natural endowment for the next generation yet unborn.”

    This call by the association formed part of a 15 point communiqué issued at the end of its National Executive Council’s two-day working visit to Jos, the Plateau State capital. The working visit was in connection with the recent incident of a lion escape at the Jos Wildlife Park and Zoological Gardens, as well as the various issues confronting the conservation and management of zoological gardens and parks across the country.

    Amongst key statements in the communiqué, ”NAZG hereby calls on  Plateau State government and all other stakeholders of zoos and wildlife parks in the country to strictly adhere to international standards and practices, in order to avoid trauma to wildlife and other embarrassing circumstances.”

    Also to stem this tide, the association has committed itself to visiting all zoological gardens and parks in the country, in phases, with the hope of providing technical and consultancy services, as well as ensuring that ”each zoo visited will be provided with detailed reports of its current status and areas that need immediate attention for improvement of such zoological gardens and parks,”; so stated the Association in the communiqué, which was signed by both its National President, Dr. Olujumoke Morenikeji of the Botanical and Zoological department of University of Ibadan and its National Secretary, Andy Ehanire of Ogba Zoological Garden and Nature Park, Benin City, Edo State.

  • Association urges a rethink

    Association urges a rethink

    The Chairman of Osun State chapter of the All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Otunba Gabriel  Ogunsanya, has urged the Federal Government to have a blueprint on sustainable agricultural development that will reduce hunger and poverty and explore partnerships with the private sector.

    Ogunsanya, who is also the owner of the FEG Agro Farms Nigeria Limited, advised the government to retool its agriculture policy to include a greater focus on agribusiness as a critical driver of future developments; and  to give priority to expenditures on public goods that will boost infrastructure.

    He told our reporter that there is the need for investment in agriculture and rural development, adding that these are crucial to improve farmers’ lives and livelihoods.

    He canvassed the implementation of a blueprint that will combine investment in income earning opportunities with social safety nets to promote a better future for farmers.

    Assessing the contributions of the last administration to agric development, he said: “The last administration tried its best which was not enough, because, we are still importing everything. Because of this, the present administration should lay emphasis on the improvement of the agric sector by improving the system to become a major driver of Nigeria’s development.”

    With Chief Audu Ogbeh, a farmer, as minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ogunsanya expressed the hope that things would  change for the better. “The Chief  Ogbeh that I know is a good farmer who operates in agro-business. He adds value to what he is producing. He makes sure that all his crops are processed to add value to them; he has been a committed and seasoned farmer.”

    He advised President Muham-madu Buhari to promote agricultural entrepreneurship through the development of sustainable commercial farming. This, he added, will help to provide employment.

    He stressed that there should be huge investments in irrigation, value addition, increased production, human resources, affordable inputs and appropriate loans, besides fertiliser projects and marketing. While emphasising the need for a stable supply of major agricultural produce, he called for coordinated development between urban and rural areas as well as between agriculture, manufacturing and the service sector in rural areas.