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Tag: degrees

  • Bogus degrees

    Bogus degrees

    • Fed. Govt. must go beyond suspending accreditation of degrees from Benin and Togo

    An investigative report by Daily Nigerian Newspaper has led to the suspension of accreditation of degree certificates from Benin Republic and Togo by the Federal Government. The report, titled “How Daily Nigerian reporter bagged Cotonou varsity degree in 6 weeks”, detailed how the reporter got the degree that should ordinarily take three or four years to acquire in just six weeks!

    Consequently, Augustina Obilor-Duru, on behalf of the Director of Press and Public Relations, Federal Ministry of Education, issued a statement decrying the development. According to her, 

    the government lamented that “some Nigerians deploy nefarious means and unconscionable methods to get a degree with the end objective of getting graduate job opportunities for which they are not qualified”.

    The suspension would subsist pending the outcome of an investigation involving the ministries of foreign affairs and education of Nigeria and the two countries, as well as the Department of State Services (DSS) and the National Youths Service Corps (NYSC).

    This, no doubt, is an unsavoury development that should jolt any right-thinking member of the public. 

    While we acknowledge that our higher institutions may not be enough to cater to the academic needs of those in search of the golden fleece, the point must be noted that acquiring degrees through the back door is reprehensible. Indeed, it is criminal. 

    A degree is supposed to be given to people who have been found worthy in character and in learning. Someone who obtains a degree that should take years to get in only a matter of weeks is not only unworthy of it in learning; he or she has also failed the character test.

    This is why we agree with Suleiman Ramon-Yusuf, a former National Universities Commission (NUC) Secretary,  that Nigerians acquiring such degrees are “clear-headed crooks,” not victims. They knew what they were going into, ab initio.

    According to him, “There is no victim, all those people with these certificates are clear-headed crooks who knew what they were paying for because some of them are people who cannot pass the UTME, and some do not have five O-level credits.

    “So they go shopping for these bogus institutions where they get their bogus qualifications from.”

    Sadly, we do not know how many people are parading such bogus certificates in the country. We do not know how many of them have benefitted from things they are not entitled to as of right, through possession of such certificates. 

    Read Also: MURIC hails FG’s suspension of degrees from Benin, Togo

    Sadder is the fact that despite the prevalence of the practice, especially in the Francophone countries, it took an investigative report to jolt the government to action. Yet, this is something that has been going on for long. As a matter of fact, it is also a thing that happens within the country. It has been alleged severally that such institutions exist in Nigeria that literally sell their degree and other certificates to people who can afford, not earn them.

    The Federal Government therefore must be ready to go beyond previous efforts if it is genuinely interested in solving the problem once and for all.

    In addition, we need to de-emphasise paper qualification. If this is done, and what people are capable of doing as opposed to the content of the paper qualification they parade, becomes a major criterion for employment, the desperation for foreign or local degrees through the back door would be tempered.

    Meanwhile, we enjoin Nigerians with useful hints to support the government’s efforts at getting to the root of the matter by availing the investigative panel with information that may facilitate the enquiry so that the practice could be nipped in the bud.

     We agree with the former NUC scribe that the  commission must be involved in any investigation on this issue, given its expertise in Nigerian education quality.

  • Skills, not degrees

    Skills, not degrees

    Sir: Recently, a graduate of Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo, reportedly burnt his degree certificate for not being able to secure a job after his university education.

    Olutimain Ilenre would certainly not be the first; in 2020, Usman Abubakar from Katsina State had similarly burnt his degree certificate including his National Youth Service Corps, NYSC certificate for the same reason.

    Unemployment has been an underlying reason for many atrocities in Nigeria; it has caused many to indulge in drug peddling, drug abuse, terrorism, arm-robbery, prostitution and many other criminal activities.

    Degree, it needs to be said is just a certificate but skill matters even without the certificate. Many Nigerian graduates unfortunately pursue the certificate and not the skill.

    Polytechnics are skills-oriented institutions; they equip students with skills’ talent and empower them to be self-reliant after school. This is perhaps why there is no published story of a polytechnic graduate burning his/her diploma certificate. Thanks to NYSC, there is now a Skills Acquisition & Entrepreneurship Department (SAED) to expose corps members to skills that can help them start business after school. 

    But this cannot be the core solution to unemployment stress and trauma in Nigeria. The solution is skills and not degrees!

    Read Also: Violating NYSC dress codes will attract sanctions, says DG

    What can the graduates learn in less than two weeks of skill training? How can they get capital to start the business? SAED cannot mitigate unemployment trauma among Nigerian youths who think with their degree certificates they must get jobs as superior officers.

    Polytechnic students are taught to be servants of work, they are engineers that do the practical work; they work as bricklayers not supervisors or construction managers but the real makers of the work.

    With 159 polytechnics in Nigeria and 264 universities in the country, the equation obviously favours unemployment as against employment. Skills prepare polytechnic graduates to secure jobs within and beyond the country. After all, the basic criterion for employment in developed nations is to show what you can do practically and not what the expensive grades on degree certificate you possess.

    Because the government cannot provide job for every graduate, Nigeria needs more polytechnics than universities. It will reduce the high number of jobless youths; reduce the propensity for crimes and other anti-social vices and fast track Nigeria’s growth. We can borrow from China that converted 600 of its universities to polytechnics.

    • Auwal Ahmed Ibrahim Goronyo, Kaduna Polytechnic

  • College to award degrees

    The Provost, Ogun State College of Health Technology, Dr. Abiodun Oladunjoye has said that the college has arrangedwith the Kwara State University to award degrees to students of the institution.

    Oladunjoye revealed this at the 40th anniversary lecture and award ceremony held at the premises of the college, Ilese-Ijebu, Ogun State.

    He said it has become imperative to run degree courses since the number of students who would take the degree courses was increasing. He noted that some of the courses that students would sit degree examinations in include Environmental Health, Medical Laboratory Sciences and Health Information Management, among others.

    “Our status as College of Health Technology has given us the opportunity to expand the scope of operation and widen its horizon. So, we have successfully concluded arrangement with the Kwara State University in awarding degree courses. As soon as possible we shall begin to award degree on Environmental Health, Medical Laboratory Sciences and Health Information Management, among others,” Oladunjoye said.

    Speaking earlier, the Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Mrs. Modupe Mujota, said the success story and the achievements recorded by the college in its four decades existence could not be over-emphasised, saying that the theme of the lecture “Achieving Cleaner, more Sustainable and Healthier Future” was apt considering climate change as debilitating factor in all-round development.

    While acknowledging the co-operation of members of staff and students whose professionalism has helped the college to achieve academic excellence, Mujota said government would do everything possible to achieve more in the education sector.

    Mujota, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mr. Shefiu Rasheed revealed that to achieve cleaner and sustainable environment, the people should plant and preserve trees. She noted that burning of plants could cause environmental pollution which could lead to serious health issues such as cancer, respiratory defects and other health-related problems.

    The guest lecturer and Director, Primary Health, Ikenne Local Government Area, Dr. Ademola Talabi, who spoke on the theme “Achieving Cleaner, More Sustainable and Healthier Future”, said: “To achieve a cleaner and healthier environment in the nearest future, there must be urgent need for communities to support the movement for a cleaner, more sustainable and healthier future.”

    Dr. Talabi, however, called on individuals and corporate bodies to incorporate natural ways of making the environment clean such as bush cleaning, reduction of emissions intake and planting of trees.

  • ‘Let colleges of education award degrees now’

    The Students Union of Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education Oto/Ijanikin, has called on the Federal Government to grant colleges of education the autonomy to award degree in education.

    The students described as unacceptable the current trend where students after completing three years of NCE, would spend additional three or four years in a university before finally graduating. This, the students describe as unnecessary waste of time.

    The president AOCOEDSU Ojoare Waheed delivered a farewell speech at the college premises on Monday as he drew the curtain on his executive.

    He noted that some colleges of education in the country were recently upgraded to universities, adding that it would not be out of place if other public colleges follow suit.

    “It remains a sheer waste of time to many of us who after clocking 18 years, end up spending six to seven years to fully complete our programme. We want government to peg the number of schooling at NCE level to four years to avoid waste of time and waste of our lives,” the students said.

    “We also call on JAMB not to only recognise HND as Bsc Tech but also NCE as Bsc.Ed or Bsc.Tech Ed,” they added.

    Ojoare attributed the industrial crises in the nearly 60-year old institution as government seeming neglect to the latter’s financial predicament.

    Ojoare said all through the eight year of the immediate past governor Bataunde Raji Fashola, he never set foot on the institution despite that Fashola attended the sister institution-Lagos State University which is a stone throw from AOCOED on several occasions, and wading into the university’s management- worker crisis.

    The union lamented that at the just concluded convocation of AOCOED a fortnight ago, Fashola successor Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, could only be represented by his deputy Dr Idiat Adebule, raising the suspicion that the trend might also continue under the current administration.

    While lauding the Lagos State government for renewing the tenure of the Provost Wasiu Olalekan Bashorun for another term, the students appealed to Ambode to go a step further by inviting workers in the college to a roundtable towards ending the crisis industrial disharmony for good.

    The  students also advised President Muhammad Buhari to implement the UNESCO’s 26 per cent of budgetary allocation for developing countries to ensure the actualization of Education for All (EFA). Ojoare equally noted that the government should concentrate more on vocational and technical education as a way of reducing unemployment in the country.

    “Tertiary institution management should stop multiplying academic programmes when the existing ones are poorly funded” he added.

  • Degrees in prison

    • NOUN results of four inmates encouraging but there is room for improvement

    Unlikely news from the Nigerian Prisons Service shows that the country’s much-criticised prison system is not without redeeming features and not beyond redemption. The controller-general of the organisation, Dr. Peter Ekpendu, highlighted remarkable positives at a workshop on Prisons Welfare Insurance Scheme in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. According to him, “Four inmates of the Nigerian Prisons Service have graduated from the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), with three obtaining 2.1, while the other obtained 2.2.”

    Noteworthy among these caged academic stars is Theophilus Adeniyi, an inmate awaiting trial who made a second class upper degree in Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution at the NOUN Enugu Prison study centre. He received three awards for excellence, including N50, 000 cash prize as the best student. Indeed, it is a reflection of the possibilities, even behind bars, that Adeniyi was able to continue his education and take it to a logical conclusion. He was reportedly a final-year political science student at the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT) before his arrest in connection with a communal crisis.

    It is important to observe that the academic achievements of these inmates may have as much to do with their personal ambition and commitment to success as with an atmosphere conducive to learning. Significantly, Ekpendu was quoted as saying to other inmates during the convocation: “I heard a number of you registered for Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination. We shall do our best to ensure that you are comfortable to the best of our ability.”

    The striking picture of academic accomplishments in prison is worthy of focus because it underscores the reformatory essence of imprisonment. More and more, the modern-day jail is envisioned as a place of possible reformation and reconstruction, and it is reassuring that this concept is appreciated and captured by the prisons chief. Ekpendu said: “There are six directorates in the Prisons Service, with one dedicated to the training of inmates in skill acquisition and productivity. One of the cardinal objectives for which prison is set up is to train inmates for worthwhile careers after their terms.”

    Against this background, it makes sense that the vision of improvement is not restricted to the academic activities of inmates, but accommodates their practical involvement in similarly useful areas such as farming, carpentry and tailoring, among others. This range of opportunities for personal development can always be expanded by the prison authorities for the benefit of inmates. It must be emphasised that at the end of the day, encouraging inmates to be better people not only morally but also vocationally is in the best interest of the society.

    To be realistic, coping with post-prison stigma will always be a predictable challenge for inmates; and the role and value of learning and training for life outside jail cannot be over-emphasised. In this connection, it is reasonable to consider parole possibilities for inmates who demonstrate a capacity for change based on academic attainments within the prison walls or other positive criteria.

    Certainly, the narratives of the new graduate inmates make a striking statement about the possible usefulness of adversity. However, the remarkable success stories should not make the authorities blind to the urgent need to re-imagine and restructure the country’s prison system. The problems of overcrowding, poor feeding, inadequate medical facilities, and generally rotten infrastructure, to mention a few, continue to discredit the prison system and deserve to be addressed with greater seriousness.

    The truth is that celebrating academic efforts and brilliance in the country’s prisons cannot obscure the bigger reality of the unacceptably primitive conditions inmates face during their terms.

  • Chase skills now, degrees later, technicians told

    Chase skills now, degrees later, technicians told

    Many young people would love to be in the shoes of the 37 technicians who graduated from the Technical Training Centre (TTC) of the Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) last Thursday.

    They were selected among thousands to undergo a two-year training in bottle equipment operations and maintenance that also involves theoretical and practical knowledge of automation and mechanical engineering, which prepares them for the City and Guilds of London examination.

    Now that they have completed the training, which Pastor Tope Dada, Head of the centre, said cost the NBC N4.8 million per student (covering feeding, accommodation, allowances, and training materials), they have all been employed by the company.

    In light of the high rate of graduate unemployment, Mr Olawumi Gasper, Executive Secretary, Lagos State Technical and Vocational Education Board (LASTVEB), counselled the graduands not to jettison the great opportunity they have to start a lucrative career at NBC in search of university degrees.

    “You are on the route to a very sound career.  Most of you have National Diplomas (ND) or more.  But from here you have gained sound training that would make you to be sought after.  Most of you after this will still want to get university education.  I don’t begrudge you for that.  But never leave a sound career for a certificate.  You can get a degree along the way,” he said.

    With the training they have received, Gasper, an engineer and former Rector, Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH) said the graduates have been exposed to the secret of technology and should build on it to improve the manufacturing industry in Nigeria.

    “You are so lucky to be exposed to the secret of technology.  There is nothing regarding machine and instrumentation that you do not know.  We expect you to assist us in improving the manufacturing industry,” he said.

    In his charge to the new technicians, the Managing Director of NBC, Mr Ben Langat, said despite having received world class training, they would only be successful if they have the relevant soft skills.

    “This centre has equipped you with all the technical skills that you need to succeed in your career.  But that is not everything.  The different between those who succeed or not will be defined by you attitudes, worth ethics, and discipline in completing tasks before you,” he said.

    He warned them to flee from alcoholism and laziness, which he described as the biggest career killers.

    Through the TTC, Langat said the NBC has contributed to expanding the number of youths with technical skills sought after by industry.

    Counting the centre’s success, Langat said that over 560 students have graduated from the centre flagship programme with over 90 percent gainfully employed by the company.

    “We have recorded scores of success stories of our graduates who have excelled and risen to key management positions within and outside the NBC system through sheer brilliance and hard work,” he said.

    Commissioner for Transportation, Kayode Opeifa, praised NBC for investing in the lives of the young ones and called for more collaboration between the government and NBC and other companies, saying that it would help curb unemployment.

    He urged the grandaunds not to see challenges in life anymore but opportunities to challenge the status quo.

    As is the centre’s culture, Mr Tope Dada said the new technicians, who are the Set 25 and Set 26, developed a new pallet testing machine (used to measure the strength of pallets on which bottles are loaded) as their project for the company.  He said this would save NBC about N25 million monthly.

    One of the new line technicians, Amaka Adigbonu, who has been posted to NBC’s Port Harcourt plant, told The Nation that she learnt a lot during the programme.

     

     

    “We were opportune to go to other parts of the country – Abuja, Jos, and Port Harcourt; and we were able to balance what we learnt in school with what we learnt at the centre. It was wonderful.  They would not train you on your field alone, they would train you in other things as well, they train you on machine, how you operate them, how you maintain them so you know how to deliver,” she said.

    Students who distinguished themselves during the training were rewarded with gifts.

     

  • Nigerian Army School may offer degrees

    Acting Commander, Nigerian Army Education Corps (NAEC) Brig Gen Sunday Adebayo, has said that the Nigerian Army School of education (NASE), Ilorin may run degree programmes.

    Adebayo made this known while speaking at the inauguration of NAEC officers’ Executive Management Course 15 of 2013.

    He hinted that there was the possibility that NASE would start degree programmes for its officers, but added that the corps has to take permission from the relevant authorities before it takes off.

    “We are only considering it for now; we need to have some blue prints on ground before we can talk of running degree programmes,” he added.

    Adebayo said the structures on ground at NASE are enough to operate degree programmes.

    He noted that education is essential to security services, adding that without good education, the service may not be able to perform well.

    “Without educating your soldiers, you are just sending robots to the field, but with proper education, all will be well,” he said.

    Adebayo said the Chief of Army Staff has approved the teaching of French language in NASE because of officers posted to foreign countries.

    Speaking on the Course 15, Adebayo said it is designed for senior NAEC officers to prepare them to fill in vacancies at strategic management positions and locations across army units and tri-service establishments.

    He said the course would arouse participants’ interest in globalisation, conflict management, dispute resolution, threat to domestic and international security as well as peace support operation.

    Gen Adebayo told the participants that the Chief of Army Staff laid great emphasis on capacity building of officers and assured them of training in this regard.

    Earlier in his own remarks, the commandant of NASE, Brig Gen Timothy Orimogunje said 15 senior army officers made up of six colonel and nine Lt Colonels are participating in the course.

    He said Nigerian Army attaches much importance on the course due to its strategic importance in preparing officers for high level strategic decision making and appointment.

     

    Orimogunje therefore charged the participants to show commitment and dedication during the course.

    The commandant warned he would not tolerate any acts of truancy, malingering and laziness among participants.