The Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN), Dangote Foundation and Access Bank Plc are collaborating to raise N5 billion to build a private research centre in Abuja.
IHVN’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr Patrick Dakum said the country had been a victim of many disease outbreaks and, as such, deserved a functional private research centre to complement the public ones.
Dakum, who spoke at a briefing in Lagos, said a lot could be done to preserve human lives with the establishment of the centre.
The centre, he said, will have laboratories, offices, training and lecture auditoriums when completed on a 2.5-hectare land.
He urged Nigerians and corporate organisations to support the project, adding that the country has depended too long on the international community to fund most of its programmes.
Dakum said: “The country has 3.2 million of her people living with HIV while 220,000 acquire the virus yearly.”
Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer, Dangote Foundation, Zouera Youssoufu said her organisation was willing to support the aspirations of its collaborators, especially IHVN.
Dangote Foundation’s focus, she said, include health apart from education and economic empowerment.
“When we were approached to collaborate on the project, we agreed because it aligned with our focus area,” Youssoufu said.
She said: “Saving and helping ourselves starts with us. The foundation is looking forward to being a part of the project”.
Access Bank Executive Director (ED), Personal Banking Victor Etuokwu said the role of his bank was to provide the framework and bring together people to raise funds for the project.
“We are not all about profits, we are also concerned about people and the environment,” Etuokwu said.
Moreover, without good health, others things are meaningless.
As part of efforts in reviving the national economy which is the initiative of the present administration, the Personnel Practitioners’ Consultative Association (PPCA), Ikeja chapter has established a capacity development centre to enhance the knowledge and skills of its members and non members as well
PPCA is the grassroots professional arm of the chartered institute of personnel management of Nigeria (CIPM) that advances the course of human resource development
The Chairman of the association, Jide Ologun, said it was the initiative of the group to empower its members to brace up with the current economic realities facing the country expressing the concern many employees were rather losing their jobs.
He said there was urgent need to build entrepreneurial skills in the people including the young ones so that they could be self employed rather than searching for white collar jobs which according to him were not available
“If you are seeking employment it is because you have value to offer, you can come about establishing a business that you can still offer that value”, he added
Ologun, a lawyer told the Nation in Lagos the group would collaborate with the government at different levels and corporate organizations to ensure it delivered on its core promises adding to get the people right would give the right result
According to him, any government that does not pay attention to training the workforce was out to fail because whether you like it or not even when you have the best of policies you need human resources to implement them adding if they are not in tune with your vision you will be working in the opposite direction
He said the group embarked on all encompassing trainings to help members add value not only to their different organizations but also to the nation’s economy
He argued people had capacities that when developed would manifest in good result, it’s all about helping the mind to add value to the workplace, he expressed adding the centre was well equipped with modern infrastructure and also opens to people who operate seminars and workshops
“One of the things the administration decided to do is to have a capacity development centre where we can empower people to add value to the efforts of the government in reviving the national economy.
“If you look at how the resources of the country have been managed if those who have managed them before now knew some things they should have known to constitute the ingredients of national development perhaps they would have done better and we would have been far ahead of where we are today.”
The Falck Prime Atlantic Training Centre in Ipara, Remo, Ogun State has received the Federal Government’s support for in-country training of public servants. The Minister of Interior, Lt-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau, gave the assurance during a visit to the centre. EMEKA UGWUANYI was there.
Falck Prime Atlantic Training Centre in Ipara, Remo, Ogun State isbthe nation’s flagship safety training centre for the oil and gas and allied industries.
The centre, established a few years ago, has facilities and equipment of international standards, the management has said.
Its Managing Director, Mr. Ayo Otuyalo told The Nation that his goal was to make the centre Africa’s number one oil and gas industry health and safety training centre.
He said: “Our objective here is to showcase what we have in-country, he will be surprised at the competence and capability that we can provide in-country, all the facilities we have here are world class, and it matches any training centre anywhere in the world. What we want to do is that you can take advantage of what we have on ground and see how we can provide services to those who require the training in Nigeria.
“Ours is strictly safety training which encompasses various types of fire-fighting, helicopter manning officers, which visit those who work offshore, and helicopters that come to land on platforms. We do confine space training. We train with latest fire-fighting equipment called the Cobra, where we train people with technology for fighting fire, where you don’t need to go into the building because you can fight the fire from the outside the building.”
He said the company prides itself as an example of local content. “We are proud to say we are the flagship of local content because a lot of training that were previously done abroad is being done here. We have several courses that we do here that we are the only one that do it in Africa and because of this; a lot of oil companies have resolved to be their training here. Certain certifications are required to do offshore works in Nigeria.
“I must say we have most of the certifications in-country such as Offshore Petroleum Industry Training Organisation (OPITO) and most of our courses are OPITO certified. We are currently building scaffolding training platform, and we are the only company that has a certificate called CSRS in-country. Some of our clients are Chevron, Shell, Total ExxonMobil and some other companies, and we have capacity to accommodate 100 people a week because training here is not long term,” he added.
Interior Minister Lt-Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau, during the tour of the facilities, was shown the Emergency Breathing System (EBS) and helicopter underwater escape training (HUET) for emergencies, such as fire outbreak on platforms, among others.
Dambazau said: “I’m very impressed with the facilities we have here for training particularly in the area of fire fighting. We have such facilities here, so we don’t need to send our personnel outside this country. The advantage is we save cost, and we also contribute towards providing employment to Nigerians. We also build capacity faster and more efficiently. I think there is a lot we will do with this company in terms of training our personnel but I won’t say what exactly.”
Otuyalo further noted that Falck Prime Atlantic believes that training should be as practical and realistic as possible. Our highly regarded and qualified instructors are experienced firefighters with practical knowledge of dealing with emergency situations, he said.
According to him, training is conducted with the latest techniques and technology and is delivered in a safe and controlled environment. This allows trainees to receive the maximum benefit from their training should it be required in a real life situation.
Training is delivered in a variety of training simulators and where realistic fire scenarios are created to simulate emergency situations. Our ability to develop and change scenarios means that we can offer training to meet the demands of varied industries, for example offshore energy, maritime and petrochemical.
He said: “Training is conducted to OPITO standards for the offshore sector and for the maritime industries advanced and basic programmes to SCTW 95 standards. In addition basic fire fighting courses are provided for onshore customers covering topics such as fire safety awareness and fire warden training.”
Director-General, African Centre for Supply Chain Obiora Madu has urged professionals to stimulate higher business growth in the economy through improved activities.
Addressing the fellowship investiture and induction ceremony of the centre in Lagos, Madu said Trade and Investment Minister Okechukwu Enalamah has called on professionals to tap into business opportunities and support the nation’s ambitious economic development plans.
African Centre for Supply Chain, he noted, provides technical assistance for professionals, entrepreneurs and large businesses to grow and create local jobs while also benefiting from their creativity, growth and innovation. These ranged from developing a functional supply chain, preparing for the public procurement process, enhancing the service offer alongside the supply of products and building strategic alliances with other small businesses in the supply chain. Supply Network Operations Manager,Procter and Gamble, Temitope Ogunfayo said a reliable brand strategy will help entrepreneurs make inroads in the minds of their customers and will ensure that all products and services have a visual identity and good positioning in the sector that they operate in.
A good brand strategy, he added, can help entrepreneurs create a niche of their own and enable their target audience to identify and differentiate their brand in the cluttered marketplace.
The Akwa-Ibom State Command of Man ‘O’ War has appealed to Governor Udom Gabriel Emmanuel to assist it in its efforts to build a skills development training centre and workshop on the land it has acquired for that purpose since 10 years ago. It also appealed to the governor to fix the Uyo-Oron Road that leads to the site.
Making the appeal at Ifa Ikot Idang village in Etoi area of Uyo Local Government Area after an over six kilometres “endurance trek” exercise, the State Commander, Mr Abimelech Boniface Matthias explained that the piece of land was donated to the organisation by the village.
Speaking on the endurance trek exercise, Abimelech said: “It was part of the activities of the Akwa-Ibom State Man ‘O’ War Council meant to keep my men fit and gallant.”
He said the organisation is partnering the state government in this era of ‘dakkada’, to assist in whatever area possible such as combating crime, ensuring orderliness and maintaining discipline in society.
As part of its efforts to fulfil its dream of having a school and skills acquisition and development centre, the Man O’ War state Commander said:” We have liaised with the state ministries of education and youth and sports. While the Ministry of Education should be building a nursery and primary school, the Ministry of Youth will build a skills acquisition centre for the command.”
Abimelech further said the skills acquisition centre will be beneficial to the group, the community and the state as different trades will be taught to the youth. He expressed optimism that the centre will help in reducing crime rate in the community and the state, adding that all unemployed youth will be gainfully engaged.
The village Head of Ifa Ikot Idang, Chief Morris Asuquo Ibanga appealed to Man O’ War to help maintain peace and make the environment crime-free.
He also appealed to the state government to provide them with basic amenities such as primary school, health centre, access road to link Uruan with Isiet Beach from Uyo-Oron Road and functional power.
Nigerite Limited has inaugurated a Kalsi Experience Centre at its corporate headquarters in Ikeja, Lagos.
The structure, a storey, offers a glimpse into the dry construction system compared with the traditional brick and mortar (wet) process.
Apart from the foundation of the building, which was done with the wet process, the other parts comprising the floors, claddings, partitions, along with the internal and external walls and ceilings, comprise the Kalsi building boards.
“Let’s journey to the future of the country,” Frank Le Bris, Nigerite’s managing director, said adding that the use of Kalsi board solutions is a step in the right direction.
He said the board solution is the future of Nigerite and the building industry in Nigeria.
While insisting that the Kalsi boards are not intended to displace the wet methods but to complement and create an alternative for builders, the company, however, stressed that the advantages of the boards over the traditional methods are endless, as it can save up to 70 per cent of construction time.
Operators of unregistered schools break the law, endanger pupils’ future, do not pay tax and are proving difficult to stop, reports JIDE BABALOLA
They are located in remote settings, run by half-baked teachers and cater to an endless string of helpless pupils. That is the picture of illegal schools in Federal Capital Territory (FCT). And there are over 1,000 of them, according to figures exclusively released to The Nation.
Operators of these fake facilities claim their activities are within their rights to self-sustenance.
“It is true that the authorities have been bothering us, trying to close our schools but we have a right to sustain our only means of livelihood,” one of them who sought anonymity told The Nation.
From a negligible number when the FCT was created, they have grown like a malignant cancer, giving Education Secretariat’s Department of Quality Assurance a headache.
The Director of Quality Assurance, Mr. Ayuba Dudam said almost all such schools being operated in shanty areas have sub-standard teachers, including some found to be unable to spell ‘kettle’ and other simple English Language words.
•Mr Dudam
“They are so many,” Dudam said. “That is our headache in the FCT. The reason is this – so many people have the erroneous belief that the easiest business to run is a school. This is wrong because running a school is a highly technical and expensive undertaking. The regulations and standards required are very high and you must provide all necessary requirements.
“But because Abuja is such a cosmopolitan environment with people coming from all over the country into the city and its surrounding areas every day, so many want to quickly get into some business and several easily drift into having a school as a business. They believe that you can just start a school in your backyard or garage; some even start from their sitting rooms and they call it a school.
“When you go to them, especially in those remote areas far from the city, and you declare that they are sealed, they go away. But by the next day or a few weeks thereafter, they are back in business,” he said.
Altogether, there are 456 duly-registered and accredited basic and senior schools in the FCT. A basic school has nursery, primary and junior secondary components. The ones with secondary classes 1, 2 and 3 are senior secondary schools.
Just recently, the DQA brought in education experts for the assessment and accreditation of schools. The Accreditation Exercise precedes recommendation of schools for ministerial approval.
The Department of Quality Assurance has a statutory mandate of inspecting, evaluating and monitoring of all schools in the Federal Capital Territory, irrespective of whether they are basic schools or secondary schools, public or private schools. It also registers and accredit such schools, using an explicitly spelt out Guidelines which prospective school proprietors procure for N5, 000, along with the ‘Minimum Standards’ list which outlines the minimum standard for the establishment of schools anywhere in Nigeria
Part of what makes it difficult for some prospective schools to scale through the latest Accreditation Exercise is the high calibre of educationists involved in the screening process. There were three university professors and highly-experienced officials from the National Universities Commission, National Council for Colleges of Educations and other government education agencies. Their strict assessment covers the adequacy of infrastructures, quality of staffing, the standard of the curriculum and arrangements for extra-curricular and co-curricular activities.
According to Dudam: “We also assess the affective domains. The relationship of that school to the immediate community and other factors are also considered before recommendations are made. Each of these areas must be scored and a school must pass up to a certain standard, in order to qualify to be granted accreditation. You may get 70 percent in the area of having buildings, workshops and so on but if you get only 30 percent in the area of staffing, you have failed,” he explained.
It is exactly these set of hurdles that the owners of several unaccredited schools see as being more of pre-determined obstacles that prevent them from transiting into being ‘legal’ schools.
“The cost of land procurement, construction and payment for the kind of teachers they insist upon is difficult to meet,” a female ‘proprietor’ of one of the FCT’s unaccredited schools said while emphasising that economic challenges, prevailing poverty in the outskirts of Abuja and other challenges necessitate that their business should be allowed to continue.
Mr. Ayuba Dudam argued that the DQA cannot make such compromise.
“It is not just a matter of ‘garbage in, garbage out’ due to the reluctance of such schools to follow standard curriculum; it is just like having quack hospitals and it is deadly.
“Firstly, the right types of infrastructure are not there; the right kind of staff is never there, and; the curriculum is not correct. So, whatever they are doing there is wrong because over time, it is more like destruction instead of construction. Children ought to be taught but instead, they are being cheated,” he said.
Dire as the long-term effect of such schools are, to children’s long-term intellectual development, the FCT Education secretariat’s Department of Quality Assurance is handicapped by two major impediments. While it has a high number of well-qualified staff for the inspection of schools, it barely has vehicles to visit outlying areas outside the city. The rugged rural terrains farther from Abuja appear to be safe havens for operators of fake schools who charge daily or weekly payments to ‘teach’ children of poor parents who are mostly far from being literate enough to realize the difference between right and wrong-headed education.
Also, the DQA lacks adequately effective legal muscle to back its regulatory mandate. Hence, illegal schools that have been closed several times keep coming back. It is no big surprise that whenever the authorities close the shanty schools, their defiant owners agree for a while, only to continue shortly afterwards, knowing that the department supervising them has to take its attention elsewhere, even while contending with severe logistic impediments that include very scanty financial allocations and lack of vehicles needed for inspection tours.
But Dudam who emphasised that officials of DQA in all the department’s seven zonal offices are quietly monitoring operators of hundreds of shanty schools, says all that is now about to change this month as innovative enforcement measures are about to begin. He says that shortage of resources and the need to stop the garbage ‘education’ being fed to children in the outskirts of Abuja city now necessitate measures that include pulling down structures being used for such illegal and sub-standard ‘teaching’
“Having looked left and right and found no way out and not wanting to be a toothless bulldog, we therefore decided that we should do more with the School Closures Committee that was approved by the immediate past minister of the FCT. It comprises all stakeholders/agencies in education in the FCT, the legal department, police, Development Control Department and others are involved.
“So, we decided to look inwards towards finding a lasting solution to this problem by using the Development Control department’s authority. The Department of Development Control is the organ of the FCT Administration that is saddled with the responsibility of monitoring and ensuring compliance with all development guidelines, largely, the Abuja Master Plan and the FCT Regional Development Plan as conceived by the founding fathers before 1979.
“They are part of our Schools Closure Committee and they have authority for effective enforcement of development control (including demolition of all illegal structures
There was tension at the Assemblies of God Church on Mount Street, off Agbani-Road, Enugu State, as rival groups clashed over access to the church.
The church had been locked on police orders following a disagreement on the alleged transfer of a new pastor two months ago. To avert a clash, factions were told to hold their services in the compound.
Consequently, the compound was divided into two; the groups erected canopies and hold parallel services.
It took the intervention of the senior pastor, Rev. Amaechi Agbo, who leads a faction, to stop angry members from disrupting the service of the other group.
The faction has vowed not to allow “strangers” take over their place of worship. The group recognised Dr. Chidi Okoroafor, said to have been ordained the new general overseer, as their leader.
Agbo said trouble started on July 19 “when a member, claiming to be a lawyer but championing illegality and unlawfulness, imported Nathan Udeze to overthrow me.
“We reported to the police and went to court; the police advised us to lock the church and we did. We started worshiping outside and they sought court order to open the church.
“They did not allow the court decide before coming last Monday and broke the school’s entrance. Today (Sunday), they broke the church’s entrance, contrary to the agreement we reached with the police to wait for the court to decide.”
Expressing anger at the police handling of the matter, Rev. Agbo said: “I called the DPO to inform him that these people have broken into the church, he urged us to maintain peace and told me to see him by 2pm. I don’t know what he meant by that; these people broke into the school and today, into the church and the police are watching them”.
On the claim that he had been transferred, he said: “I am still in charge of this place; I came here on April 12 , 2013 and till date, I remain the senior pastor.”
“We are shocked at what happened today; if we had gone inside, there would have been bloodshed. I thank God that my members refused to confront them in the face of such provocation because something terrible would have happened here today.
“We are calling on law enforcement agencies to do the needful and avert trouble,” Rev. Agbo said.
But leader of the second faction, Rev. Paul Nathan Udeze, said he remained the authentic priest in charge of the church. He denied forcing his way into the church.
The Managing Director of Ibom Power Company, Dr. Victor Udo, has decried the absence of a transmission work centre in Akwa Ibom State.
Speaking with reporters, Udo said it was not good that each time there were faults, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) deploys workers from the work centre at Calabar, the Cross River State capital.
Udo said: “When faults occur along transmission lines, TCN deploys workers from the work centre at Calabar.
“The implication is that faults that ought to be resolved within a short time take longer to resolve because of the logistics in transporting TCN workers from Calabar to Uyo”.
“We have four 132kV transmission substations in Akwa Ibom State at Ikot Abasi, Eket, Itu and Uyo while two 330kV transmission substations are in advanced stages of completion. Therefore, a transmission work centre ought to be established in Akwa Ibom State.”
He added that “some other places that have only one or two transmission substations have at least one TCN work centre while we have four transmission substations with no work centre in the state.
‘’The issue has been discussed with chief executives of Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and TCN. We will continue to push until TCN establishes a work centre in Akwa Ibom State.”
Udo said the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) failed to instal sufficient injection substations.
“We need at least two more injection substations in Uyo due to the population increase. The 11KV substation installed 10 years ago is no longer sufficient to meet the demands of the people.
“It is not the responsibility of government to provide injection substations although government has intervened to instal transformers in communities across the state,” he said.
Udo said providing this substations would amount to government providing mobile phone services or building masts for telecommunication companies after privatisation.
He urged the Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC) to “improve operational efficiency to sustain the steady power supply”.
Members of staff of Oyo State branch of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have donated borehole and generating centre to Ojoo Health Centre in Akinyele Local Government area of Oyo State.
The branch controller of the bank, Mr. Musbau Olatinwo said the donation informed by the plight of the less-privileged persons in the society, adding that the project was financed through members’ monthly savings.
Olatinwo said similar donations had been made to support host communities, saying “we owe Ibadan a lot and so many intervention programmes all over the country are being carried out to make the bank’s impact felt in all facets of human endeavour.
“Over the years, we have been spending billions of Naira on our host communities to sponsor identifiable area of needs such as building classrooms and provision of potable water, among others. And this is financed by members of staff of the bank. “Today is my happiest moment in the one year I have spent in this branch. It is a continuous thing and we will be glad to be back here to do more,” Olatinwo said.
Olatinwo further assured all residents of Ibadan that the CBN would continue to give priority to the needs of the people across the communities to make life meaningful for all people of diverse backgrounds in the society.
Speaking at the event, the head of local government ýadministration in Akinyele Local Government Area, Mr. Akin Akinpelu praised the members of staff for the gesture, pointing out that the donation was coming at a time when it was most needed due to excruciating economic crisis which was hampering government’s efforts at meeting all the yearnings of the people.
The Chief Matron of the centre, Alhaja B. A. Shittu described the borehole project as timely, saying “he, who gives water, gives life”.
