The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Confab

  • Osun students hold confab

    Osun students hold confab

    Student leaders of Osun State-owned institutions gathered in Osogbo for a two- day stakeholders’ meeting organised by the Department of Social Mobilisation and Guidance, Ministry of Information.

    The meeting was held in Hotel-de-Charity and Local Government Commission hall, state secretariat.

    Delegates came from Osun State College of Education, Ilesa, Osun State College of Education, Ila-Orangun, Osun State Polytechnic, Iree, and Osun State College of Technology, Esa-Oke.

    Students also came from Federal Polytechnic, Ede (EDE POLY) and Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, to grace the occasion.

    On the first day, the meeting, which was moderated by Dr Abiola Soetan, deliberated on issues affecting students in all institutions in the state. The delegates considered the situation report and made recommendations on the state of infrastructure on their campuses, management and government policies.

    The delegates stated their positions – in line with the theme of the meeting.

    Some of the issues discussed included the state of infrastructure on campus, tuition fees, insecurity, epileptic power supply, state of libraries and laboratories, roads and the level of Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

    Sheriff Olawale, from EDE POLY, urged the state government not to neglect students of the institution. He said: “Since we are schooling in this state, and a good percentage of the students are indigenes of this state, we should not be neglected at all by the state government.”

    On the second day, the students gathered in the hall of the Local Government Commission with Governor Rauf Aregbesola and his deputy, Mrs Titi Laoye-Tomori, who doubles as the Commissioner of Education.

    The delegates presented the governor with recommendations on how to revamp the state of infrastructure in the institutions and maintain the standard.

    Some of the recommendations included extension of bursary payment to all Osun students, irrespective of their school locations, improvement of schools’ library with new textbooks and upgrading of the libraries to ICT-compliant, among others.

    Aregbesola expressed disappointment at the low into which students’ unionism has been brought on campuses. He lamented the dearth of intellectualism among the present crop of students’ leaders, recalling his days as union leader at The Polytechnic, Ibadan (IBADAN POLY).

    He said students had not made the best use of the opportunity given to them to give recommendations to the government on challenges they faced. Aregbesola wondered why the delegates did not mention offering of scholarship to best students in the recommendations submitted.

    The governor said students’ leaders should always be passionate about getting scholarship from the government rather than fighting for what may not benefit them in the long run.

     

  • Otudeko to chair digital confab

    Airtel Nigeria Chairman, Mr Ayoola Oba Otudeko, will chair the forthcoming Digital Africa Conference & Exhibition, slated for April 23 to 25 in Abuja.

    According to a statement from the convener of the confab, Dr. Evans Woherem, MD/CEO of Compumetrics Solutions Limited, he is excited by the gesture of the foremost industrialist. “We are delighted that this distinguished Nigerian, foremost investor, and respected African business leader will chair the 3-day Digital Africa 2013.”

    Mr Oba Otudeko was the pioneer chairman of the Nigerian-South African Chamber of Commerce which he led from May 2000 till June 2011. During this period, trade between both countries grew from $16.5 million in 1999 to $2.9 billion in 2010.

    Giving an update about the event, Woherem said, “Our focus is to bring ICT people from Africa and the rest of the world to interact closely with the users and consumers of ICT across major sectors of the society such as agriculture, SMEs, hospitals and clinics.”

    “The aim of this continental technology gathering is to promote a better integrated Africa, using modern ICT tools. The event is therefore an important platform to network, share knowledge on the latest developments in the ICT world, do business, and sign deals”.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Otudeko chairs digital confab

    Business mogul and chairman, Airtel Nigeria, Mr. Ayoola Oba Otudeko, has accepted to be the chairman of the forthcoming Digital Africa Conference & Exhibition, slated for April 23-25, 2013 in Abuja.

    According to a statement from the convener of the confab, Dr. Evans Woherem, MD/CEO of Compumetrics Solutions Limited, he is excited by the gesture of the foremost industrialist. “We are delighted that this distinguished Nigerian, foremost investor, and respected African business leader will chair the 3-day Digital Africa 2013.”

    Mr. Oba Otudeko was the pioneer chairman of the Nigerian-South African Chamber of Commerce which he led from May 2000 till June 2011. During this period, trade between both countries grew from $16.5 million in 1999 to $2.9 billion in 2010.

    Giving an update about the event, Woherem said, “Our focus is to bring ICT people from Africa and the rest of the world to interact closely with the users and consumers of ICT across major sectors of the society such as agriculture, SMEs, hospitals and clinics.”

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • MainOne, Kitskoo, others to hold confab

    A group of technology firms in Nigeria and their offshore technical partners are planning an ICT managers confab in Lagos. The parley is to address the challenges facing the industry and highlight the business benefit of network-based ICT services to managers drawn from different segments of the business community, a statement has announced.

    Gilbert Kimeng, the Service Manager of Kitskoo, said the forum would be organised in partnership with leading technology firms like MainOne Cable Company, Tech Mahindra and Resourcery to highlight the need for collaboration in the industry.

    Kimeng who spoke about its business offerings and benefits to the business community added the IT services company that offers end-to-end Business Services Platform that provides immediate business solutions on demand basis without capital investment taking advantage of cloud computing technologies.

    “There is no doubt that organisations’ IT needs are evolving rapidly and there is the need to take this burdenoff business organisations so that they can concentrate on their core business. That is why Kitskoo, in partnership with leading technology firms like MainOne Cable Company, Tech Mahindra and Resourcery, is responding by providing business focused ICT solutions in Nigeria,” Kimeng said.

    On the firm’s service offerings, he said, “We are an Information Technology services company focused on organisations’ most critical ICT requirements. Kitskoo’s Guardian range provides a fully managed backup, recovery and security services for mission critical data and applications. The Kitskoo Guardian backup and recovery solution is a unique disk-to-disk alternative to traditional backup methods, replacing conventional tape-based systems with a fully automated cloud solution.”

     

  • Confab discusses best practices

    The Minister of Education, Prof Ruqqayat Ahmed Rufa’i, has underscored the importance of collaboration in improving the quality of education in the West African sub-region.

    Speaking while declaring open the third International Conference of Collaboration of Education Faculties in West Africa (CEFWA) with the theme: Global Best Practices in Teacher Education hosted by IBBUL, she said the challenges in the education system could only be overcome if there are collaborative efforts by various organs managing the sector.

    The Minister, who was represented by the Director, Policy Planning, Research and Management of Federal Ministry of Education, Dr Kalamatu Lawal, enjoined CEFWA to make concerted efforts toward ensuring that all faculties of education become part of its annual events.

     

     

     

    In his remarks, the Visitor and Chief Servant of Niger State, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu through the Commissioner for Tertiary Education, Science and Technology, Dr. Mustapha Ibrahim Lemu emphasised that global best practices in teacher education should not be discussed in isolation of strategies that could help in their implementation so that it would be reflected in the quality education for present and future generation.

  • Governors shun North-east confab

    Governors shun North-east confab

    Confusion on Saturday marred the inauguration of various committees of the newly formed North East Forum for Unity and Development convened by elder statesman Alhaji Bello Kirfi .

    However, six governors from the region shunned the meeting.

    The meeting held in the  Multi-Purpose Indoor Sports Hall of Bauchi Stadium, attracted prominent sons and daughters of the six northeast states among whom were Lt.Gen Theophilus Danjuma, who was the Special Guest of Honour ,Adamu Ciroma, Chairman of the occasion, Alhaji Yayale Ahmed, Prof. Jibril Aminu, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, Adamu Maina Waiziri, Gen. Timothy Shelpidi, Bunu Sherif and Aliyu B,Modibbo.

    Also in attendance were – General Yakubu Usman, Deputy Senate Leader; Senator Abdul Ningi, Senator Aisha Alhassan, Former Minister of Women Affairs; Inna Ciroma and Emir of Fika and former Minister of Education, Alhaji Dauda Brima, among others.

    The absence of the six governors, according to Danjuma was due to the suspicion that the meeting had “political undertone.”

    Danjuma, a former minister of Defence, said he was initially informed that the governors would attend the inauguration, but “three days before the meeting” one of the governors told him that they have resolved not to attend the forum.

    “They advised me to stay away from the meeting because it has political undertone, “he said.

    Based on the advice, the former army general, said he went back to read the minutes of the meetings held by the Forum including the draft speech adding, “I am not in a position to pass judgment but this development has created doubt in my mind regarding the motive of the forum.

    “ I therefore suggest that this meeting should be adjourned immediately and be reconvened at a later date when we would have been able to persuade the governors to join us in this noble undertaken,” Danjuma told the gathering.