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Tag: compulsory

  • Compulsory, but…

    Compulsory, but…

    • Good policy on Mathematics, but there’s need for fine-tuning

    It’s a new dawn in the administration of Nigeria’s education system. The Federal Government lately unveiled a policy by which Mathematics is no longer a required subject for students seeking admission into Arts and Humanities in tertiary institutions.

     The policy is reportedly aimed at making tertiary education more inclusive and flexible – allowing students who have not earned credit scores in subjects unrelated to their chosen fields of study to yet be considered for admission.

    The Federal Ministry of Education, on October 14, announced the policy that education minister Tunji Alausa, said was part of efforts to expand access to tertiary education. According to him, the reform became necessary after years of restricted access that left many qualified candidates unable to secure admission. “Every year, over two million candidates sit for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), yet only about 700,000 gain admission,” he stated, noting that the trend was not for lack of ability on the part of students but rather outdated and overly stringent entry requirements that must give way to fairness and opportunity.

    “The reform is a deliberate effort to expand access to tertiary education, creating opportunities for 250,000 to 300,000 additional students to be admitted to our tertiary institutions each year,” a statement by the ministry spokesperson, Folasade Boriowo, added.

    The new framework applies to universities, polytechnics, colleges of education and Innovation Enterprise Academies (IEAs) across the country as follows:

    Universities: Minimum of five credit scores in relevant subjects, including English Language, obtained in not more than two sittings. Mathematics is mandatory for Science, Technology and Social Science courses.

    Polytechnics (ND Level): Minimum of four credit scores in relevant subjects, including English Language for non-science courses and Mathematics for science-related programmes.

    Polytechnics (HND Level): Minimum of five credit scores in relevant subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.

    Colleges of Education (NCE Level): Minimum of four credit scores in relevant subjects, with English Language mandatory for Arts and Social Science courses, and Mathematics required for Science, Vocational and Technical programmes.

    Read Also: English, maths compulsory for all O’level students, says FG

    Colleges of Education (B. Ed Level): Minimum of five credit scores, including English Language and Mathematics as applicable to the course of study.

    Innovation Enterprise Academies (IEAs) are to adopt the same minimum requirements as polytechnics for the National Diploma (ND) programme, with the National Innovation Diploma (NID) now abolished.

    It added that the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) is currently re-accrediting all IEAs to align with the new ND standards, with institutions that fail the mark to be de-accredited.

    The new policy elicited criticisms from stakeholders who feared pupils could be denied exposure to Mathematics and attendant training in critical thinking, logic and inductive reasoning at secondary level.

    Government returned at the weekend to clarify that English Language and Mathematics remained compulsory subjects for all students sitting for the Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) despite the adjustments to tertiary admission requirements.

     A statement on October 19 by the ministry spokesperson explained that “The adjustment affects only admission criteria for certain programmes, not the requirement to take these subjects.”

    Nigeria’s tertiary institutions are perceived as too restrictive with admissions. This partly accounted for the systemic contradiction whereby promoters were seeking to establish new institutions because of many students denied admission, whereas existing institutions were underutilising their carrying capacities.

    It was only recently that government addressed the contradiction by placing a seven-year moratorium on new institutions.

    We welcome the policy. What remains to be done, in our view, is for government to devise a scheme for sustaining pupils’ interest in Mathematics up to the SSCE, because the temptation will be strong to use the subject as a placeholder in examination when pupils know they would not be needing it for tertiary admission.

    This will worsen the failure rate. If that happens, the intended benefits of basic training will be lost and the upcoming generation could be worse off for it.

  • Make history compulsory

    •The news of the first first class history degree from Ibadan refocuses eyes on the subject

    In the past decade, Nigeria has made quite some history. Not the least in this era is the torpedoing for the first time of an incumbent in the centre. We can speak of the routing of the deadly Boko Haram, the spiriting away of nubile girls from a Chibok school, the Ebola hysteria, a record string of arrests and revelations connected with mammoth corruption. The list can go on. The danger is that all can dissolve into memory and the next generation may only guess at what happened.

    The cynic can recall what Roman Emperor Nero said when some advisers warned him of the verdict of history for his mass slaughter of Christians. “By the time I am done with them,” he is reported as saying, “history will not be sure they ever existed.” History always haunts us even when we want to shovel it out of sight.

    Recently, Ozibo Ekele made history when he bagged a first class degree in the subject at the University of Ibadan. He is the first ever in that university, the oldest in the country. We can muse over many things. For Ekele to have made such distinction, it must have been richly deserved. We congratulate him for bringing this all-important discipline to the fore of national reckoning.

    We cannot escape the irony that the same university gave us ground-breaking historians of world-class genius. The roll call is awesome: Professors Kenneth Onwuka Dike, Ade Ajayi, Tekena Tamuno, Obaro Ikime, Olatunji Oloruntimehin, to name a few. What was it about a system that fails over and again to endorse a candidate after they have walked out of their portals!

    It is not as if other top universities have not had first class over the decades. But the premier university did not set an example in the light.

    But Ekele’s feat is even more potent today because we are at a time in which the study of history is being shunned routinely by students because of curriculum that worships the future and forgets every present comes from a past. The curricula have made history a subordinate course of study even in primary and secondary schools, believing that any focus on social studies covers our appetite and even need to know where we come from.

    This is tragic and hence we have seen that our universities have shied away from history as a solo subject of studies. For instance, our universities have tried to lure students to study history by pairing it with international studies. The students tend to focus on international studies and courses also are light on history.

    Hence the Ekele’s single honours degree and distinction in history is a delightsome departure from its amnesiac mainstream. The answer to this deficiency is to make history a compulsory course of study up till GSS Three by which time pupils would have familiarised themselves with it enough to know whether to pursue it or not.

    That was the system that produced the stellar historians in our society. The way it is now, only those who have extraordinary passion for history study it. That cancels memory and a society without memory has no heritage and becomes irrelevant in its own future.

    This is not just a matter for the minister of education. It is a matter that the Nigeria Union of Teachers should champion. The lawmakers in the states should pay attention to it and nudge the governors to make it compulsory up till the completion of junior secondary education. By then the pupils would have learned about the Nigerian and West African past up till the 19th or 20th century and also have a fair idea of the history of the world.

    We can understand why our political elite of this era would shy away from documenting their ineptitude for future generations. Our aptitude of the past is more important.

  • Fed Govt seeks states’ support to enforce compulsory insurance

    Fed Govt seeks states’ support to enforce compulsory insurance

    •Collaborates with Ogun State

    The Federal Government is  working with state governments to key into compulsory insurance, the Commissioner for Insurance, National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Alhaji Mohammed Kari, has said.

    Kari,who spoke during the Annual seminar for Business Editors and Insurance Correspondents in Abeokuta, over the weekend, said NAICOM was collaborating with the Ogun State government, noting that more visits to other states would continue within the year.

    He said the enforcement of the compulsory insurance at the states’ level would open big opportunities for the industry and the economy in employment, resources and, most importantly, protection of public assets of the states and public interest.

    Citing the various fire outbreak and collapsed buildings in the country, he said such risk could have been protected by the compulsory insurance.

    The NAICOM boss affirmed that insurance losses would reduce drastically if the issue of compulsory insurance is taken seriously.

    He said: “Discussions are already going on with some state governments on the need to adopt compulsory insurances, of which Ogun State is part of. The commission will extend such crusade to other states of the federation, as this would ensure that the motive of the Market Development and Restructuring Initiative (MDRI) is achieved.

    “Our motive is to ensure that all the 36 states, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), comply with these insurance.”

    He also disclosed that the commission was working with the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN) and other relevant operators to create additional distribution channels aimed at increasing insurance penetration to all sector of the population.

    He added that instead of relying only on brokers and agents these new additional channels would help to increase access to insurance across the country.

    “The commission is equally discussing with insurance market operators, to see how the industry can be expanded using other additional channels to sell insurance products and services. Sakeholders are seriously working to deepen insurance market, in a bid to contribute more to economic growth of the country,” he noted.

    Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun has urged NAICOM to stop fake insurance policies in circulation.

    Amosun stated this when the top management of the NAICOM  visited at his Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta office.

    He expressed concern that Nigeria has not taken full advantage of the sector.

    “We need to beef up the contribution of the sector to the nation’s economy. We have not taken full advantage of the insurance sector in Nigeria,” he said.

    The governor added: “Nigeria is not bereft of ideas. The problem is that of implementation. For instance, we need to stop fake insurance policies in circulation. It will be in the best interest of the nation if NAICOM enforce the laws appropriately.

    “We are ready to complement your efforts in the area of enforcement. It is more in our interest to collaborate with you, we will be the better for it.”

    The governor urged members of the team to seize the opportunity of the retreat to visit different parts of the state to appreciate the spread of developmental projects put in place by his administration.

    He urged NAICOM to ensure that insurance companies live up to their responsibilities, adding that failure to observe their duties would be inimical to the public.

    He also called on journalists to educate the public on the benefits of insurance to their daily activities.

  • ‘Make building materials, soil testing compulsory’

    ‘Make building materials, soil testing compulsory’

    Enforcement of compulsory materials testing is necessary to stop the incidence of building collapse in the country, the Managing Consultant, Lagos State Materials Testing Laboratory (LSMTL),  Abel Famakin, has said.

    Speaking at the Eighth Anniversary of LSMTL in Lagos,  Famakin said making materials testing mandatory for new buildings as well as soil test, would reduce incidences of collapse buildings in the state.

    He said since the inception of the Agency, no incident of building collapse has been recorded from any of the certified buildings and materials tested by the Agency, pointing out that non-compliance to building standards and negligence by contractors have been responsible for perennial building collapse in the state.

    Famakin said although the agency is not empowered to sanction  building defaulters, it, in collaboration with  the State Safety Commission and Lagos State Building Control Agency, have over the years, sensitised the public on the importance of materials testing and issued sanctions where necessary.

    He appealed to contractors, site engineers and the public to collect their materials test results to make strategic decisions between the actual result and the expected standard.

    “The laboratory is presently experiencing a backlog of uncollected results which signals that such clients did not pay attention, nor appreciate the importance of quality control and assurance. To this end, we have taken a step further to ease the whole process of result collection by offering the option of result report delivery to clients free,” he said.

    He praised the visionary leadership of the former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu; the then Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, now Governor of Osun State,  Rauf Aregbesola; the then Accountant-General in the state, now Lagos  Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode and the then Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Works and Infrastructure, now Commissioner in the Ministry, Ganiyu Johnson, among others, for conceiving the idea of establishing the agency eight years ago.

  • Lagos may make health insurance compulsory

    Lagosians may be forced to  take the health insurance policy in the new year.

    Commissioner for Health Dr. Jide Idris gave the indication during his maiden briefing on the activities of the Ministry in the outgoing year and its plan for next year.

    He said: ‘The state government is considering making health insurance mandatory for residents by the second quarter of the new year. We intend to target specific diseases and emergencies.’’

    Idris said health facilities across the state are overstretched by patients who come from within and outside  the state. ‘’So, we are considering running double schedules in a day,” he said.

    “We can assure that all health projects started by the past government in Lagos would be completed by the new government and upgrade others to meet the demand of the growing population.”

    The focus would be the Primary healthcare and the completion of Ayinke House – the Gynaecological/Obstetrics Department of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH).

    “The contract of Ayinke House has been terminated and awarded to a new contactor, who has assured of completion in another nine months. TB/HIV and other communicable diseases will be aggressively adressed through campaigns and public awareness,” he added.

    He listed challenges facing the ministry to include, “influx of patients from other states, finance, inadequate workforce, old structure, equipment breakdown, attitude of some bad eggs among others. All these are being addressed to ensure lagosians get the best healthcare delivery without wasting their time.”

  • Make history compulsory, society urges govt

    Historical Society of Nigeria (HSN) has urged the Federal Government to make compulsory the teaching of history at both primary and secondary levels.

    HSN also urged the Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) to ensure that all accreditation panels consist of registered and active members of the society for the accreditation of history programmes in all universities.

    In a communiqué signed by the Chairman, Secretary and a member of the communiqué drafting committee, Dr I. Ukase, Mallam Ahmed Tahiru and Hycinth N. Apya the society recommended that:

    “All obstacles hindering the implementation of the revised curriculum by the National Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) should be addressed without any further delay.

    “The society should produce a standardized template for historical methodology which should become a working guide for all history departments in the country; that all departments of history should as a matter of importance get affiliated to the Society by officially registering with the society. In this connection, the society further resolved to write to all vice chancellors to effect this resolution.”

    The society also urged the Federal Government to “redeem its pledge of a parcel of land for the construction of the Society’s secretariat at the FCT, among others.”

     

  • BATTLES OF MONS, DENDERLEEUW: Breakfast on match days, COMPULSORY

    BATTLES OF MONS, DENDERLEEUW: Breakfast on match days, COMPULSORY

    • Oliseh orders players to wear tracksuits; officials on white
    • Introduces team walk at 11.45am

    Super Eagles players invited to prosecute the two international friendlies between Nigeria and Congo in Mons on October 8 and against the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon in Denderleeuw , Belgium on October 11 will be told that breakfast is compulsory on match day, irrespective of inviduals beliefs.

    Sportinglife scooped further that the new ones among the 25 invited players will be told that the essence of the breakfast is to ensure that they have enough energy during the matches by the team’s chief coach Sunday Oliseh.

    Indeed, Oliseh has introduced team walk around wherever the team resides for matches, in a bid to ensure bonding among the players before the games are played. The team walk holds from 11.45am with the players and officials kitted in the NFF’s official attire Nike.

    The players and officials will immediately head for the restaurant to have their lunch and return to their rooms to rest. Team talk on tactics and or logistics surrounding the games will hold at 2.20 pm.

    The team talk is usually for 20 minutes after which the contingent will head to board the bus for the stadium, if such games are played in the evenings. there would be alterations as the coach decides if the games are held much later in the night.

    Oliseh will tell the players that it is complusory for all the players no matter such a player’s stature in the team to wear the designated team attire at all times before, during and after such international assignments.

  • Unity Bank board sends MD on compulsory leave

    Unity Bank board sends MD on compulsory leave

    The Managing Director of Unity Bank Plc Mr. Henry Semeniteri is fighting the battle of his banking career as he has been placed on compulsory leave by the board of the bank.

    The Nation reliably gathered that Semenitari whose 10-day compulsory leave has elapsed has had the leave further extended “to allow for time to investigate allegations against him by some staff of the bank.”

    Allegations against Semenitari were said to have been levelled by the workers of the bank who took the allegations to a former Nigerian president, who has a large stake in the bank.

    The ex -president in turn directed the Chairman of the bank, Mr. Thomas Etuh to engage forensic auditors to investigate the allegations.

    At the end of the initial forensic audit of the allegations leveled against Semenitari, “some cases of discrepancies” were discovered in the running of the bank, thus prompting the board of the bank to force him to embark of compulsory leave to allow for more detailed investigation of the allegations.

    The Nation gathered that some of the allegations against Semenitari included spending of about N100 million on bullet proof vehicles, payment of productivity bonus allowances to some workers and indiscriminate sack of workers without recourse to the board of directors.

    A source at the bank told The Nation that Semenitari was still entitled to over 30 days official leave but that the board forced him to proceed on an initial 10 days leave which elapsed last week.

    The source noted that the bank was being cautious in the way it handled the matter not to damage the fragile reputation of the bank and that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was paying close attention to the matter.

    However, there are strong indications that he might likely resume work at the end of his current compulsory leave but what happens thereafter is for the board to decide.

    Aisha Azumi Abraham, has been appointed Acting Managing Director/CEO of Unity Bank Plc pending the resolution of the crisis.

  • ‘Religious Studies must be made compulsory in secondary schools’

    The absence of moral values is responsible for Nigeria’s political and socio-economic woes, professor of Church History, Rotimi Omotoye has said.

    In view of this development, Religious Studies, as a subject, must be made compulsory at the secondary school level to equip the young minds against vices of corruption, Omotoye further added.

    Omotoye, a lecturer in the Department of Religions at the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), spoke at the 159th inaugural lecture of the institution. The lecture is titled: ‘Christianity as a catalyst for socio-economic and political change in Yorubaland, Nigeria: An account of a church historian.’

    Omotoye said: “Church historians should note that the political and socio-economic history of the nation should also be documented because they are inter-related to religious matters; if development is to be sustained and change effected in Nigeria, there is a need for an enduring sense of history.

    “Religious leaders irrespective of their religion and political leaders in Yorubaland must continue to maintain religious understanding and peaceful co-existence; archives where diaries of religious and political leaders are to be kept for posterity must be built by the government and be made available to church historians and other scholars for documentation.

    “Church historians should also be given priority in sponsorship to local, national and international conferences, so as to make the history of churches and their contributions known to the outside world.”

    The university teacher, who is also a vicar of Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, urged historians both in Nigeria and diaspora to intensify “efforts in documenting religious activities of Nigerian preachers in foreign countries.”

    “Many Nigerian historical church documents kept in foreign archives should be retrieved to Nigeria for accessibility to church historians in Nigeria; church historians should avoid distortion of historical facts in pleasing a particular denomination, while church historians in tertiary institutions in Nigeria should also hold annual academic conferences,”  he added.

  • LCCI opposes bill on firms’ compulsory listing

    LCCI opposes bill on firms’ compulsory listing

    Should  companies with shareholders funds and yearly turnover, exceeding N40 billion and N80 billion become Public Liability Comapnies (PLCs) listed on the Stock Exchange?

    No, says the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), which is opposing the Private Companies Conversion and  Ling Bill 2013 now before the National Assembly.

    The bill is seeking to compel vibrant firms to become PLC’s and listed on the exchange.

    Instead, the Chamber is advocating the creation of an incentive regime that would encourage voluntary listing on the exchange. It asked the National Assembly to discard the Bill and take steps to amend the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) 2004.

    In a communiqué signed by its Director-General, Mr. Muda Yusuf, after a stakeholders meeting to discuss the Bill, LCCI noted that the Private Companies’ Conversion and Listing Bill 2013 contravenes the provisions of existing laws in Nigeria, which encourages the right to own property, movable or immovable, as well as the right against expropriation of private property as contemplated by sections 44 of the 1999 Constitution as amended and section 25 of the Nigerian Investment Promotion CommissionAct, 2004, respectively.

    Quoting section 25 (1) (b) of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission Act, CAP. NI17 LFN, 2004, LCCI said it categorically provides that “No person who owns, whether wholly or in part, the capital of any company shall be compelled by law to surrender his interest in the capital to any other person.” The statement said the Bill which did not emphasise the need to amend the ‘out-of-tune-with-reality’ CAMA, which was enacted in 1968 but last amended in 1990 without recourse to the new ways of doing business is a minus.

    It further stated that the Bill serves as a disincentive to entre-preneurship and foreign investment, which the government has continually advocated as a means of creating employment for the teeming unemployed youths and reducing poverty. In addition, the Bill, LCCI said, is replete with bad draftmanship. It noted, for instance, that the Bill adopts a definition of a private company under the (CAMA), but goes further to extend the definition to cover “any body corporate, firm or partnership or any entity that participates in the sectors contemplated” in the Act.

    He said the inclusion of firms and partnership in the definition is curious as one wonders if the Bill expects the qualifying professional firms to equally go public and be listed on the floor of the stock exchange. Equally worrisome is the use of the phrase “public liability company” throughout the Bill. LCCI argued that the phrase is not defined in the Bill and CAMA uses no such phrase.

    “The term used in CAMA is “public limited company”. The phrase “anybody corporate” could also mean that the Bill covers State owned corporate bodies such as the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), “ the statement said.

    Yusuf argued that in the face of falling oil prices and the need for government to generate more revenue from taxes, the tax reliefs proposed by the Bill to companies that comply with its mandatory conversion and listing requirements is not desirous at this critical moment, especially in view of the fact that the companies that would benefit from the relief constitute about 32 per cent of diligent tax payers in the country.

    He further argued that the Bill signifies a drastic shift in Nigeria’s policy on foreign direct investment. He stressed that a lot of companies have come into Nigeria on the belief that Nigeria operates a free enterprise system that guarantees them the right to own and repatriate their hard earned funds. To him, the Bill negates this concept of free enterprise in Nigeria and has the undesirable consequence of constituting a disincentive to foreign investment in Nigeria.

    He therefore, called for its rejection in its entirety, insisting that the Bill, which is currently before the House of Representatives and has scaled second reading should not be allowed to see the light of day.

    Prior to this time, LCCI had on January 27, 2015 organised a Stakeholder’s forum to discuss the Bill. The forum was attended by representatives of NSE and the private sector, including the multinational companies. At the end of the forum, representatives of NSE agreed to the tenets of the Bill, but not in its current form. The NSE therefore, sent representations to the National Assembly as to what they think the Bill should contain.

    However, representatives of the private companies, the multinationals and other stakeholders present would have none of that. They were unanimous in rejecting the Bill in its entirety.

    The controversial was sponsored by Deputy Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Capital Market Institutions, Honourable Chris Emeka Azubogu. The Bill, when passed into law, will compel a private company that falls into the category to, within 12 months from the commencement of the bill, take all necessary steps to convert from a private limited liability company to a public company within the provisions of the CAMA.

    Such a company shall, within 12 months from the date of conversion, take all necessary steps to list its shares on a stock market for brokerage. A private liability company, which the provision of the bill applies, shall maintain or cause to be maintained proper accounts and records to enable fair view to be formed of its assets, liabilities, income and expenditure.

    Thehope was that the bill would deepen the capital market and also boost the economy, a position now being hotly contested by the LCCI.