The Nation Newspaper

Tag: DON

  • How to ensure effective communication between leaders, followers, by don

    How to ensure effective communication between leaders, followers, by don

    As Nigeria prepares for next year’s centenary celebration of the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates, a professor of Mass Communications, Idowu Sobowale, has urged leaders to make “communication” rather than “information” a tool for reaching out to the governed.

    The varsity don said there would be be more openness between the leaders and the led, while the leaders would know the needs of those they lead, if this method is adopted.

    According to him, the leaders will be adequately informed to serve the people better, when they choose communication over information in their interactions with the led.

    The Mass Communications expert spoke at the 35th public lecture of Covenant University, Otta Ogun State.

    In the lecture, with the theme: Communication, Politicians and True Democracy, the former Lagos State Commissioner for Education differentiated between communication and information or persuasion.

    He said communication would not survive in an atmosphere of coercion, but where respect for the parties exists.

    Sobowale explained that effective communication connotes shared meaning, adding that it must be transactional and in the spirit of give-and-take.

    The lecturer noted that Nigerian leaders prefer information, the euphemism for “order”, “directive”, or “decision”, which would have been taken without consulting the masses and with little regard for how they such decisions would affect them.

    He said: “Sometimes they try to persuade, in order not to reject, when they sense that we may oppose them. Neither of these is communication. While information may sometimes lead to fear, confusion and hardening of position, communication, on the other hand, engenders confidence, cooperation and a sense of belonging.”

    Of Nigerian politicians, Sobowale singled out Alhaji Lateef Jakande, the first civilian governor of Lagos State, as a leader whose tenure was synonymous with effective communication.

  • Don seeks revival of counselling centres

    Authorities of universities in Nigeria have been advised to rejuvenate their counselling centres to address examination malpractices and other vices.

    The call was made recently by a professor of Guidance and Counselling, University of Ibadan (UI), Elizabeth Emeke, during her inaugural lecture entitled: Psychology in evaluation and the evaluation in psychology: The experiences of a counsellor-evaluator delivered at the Trenchard Hall of the university.

    She said:”This becomes imperative in view of the role the centre can play in curbing examination malpractices and the effects on the society”.

    Noting that examination malpractice had become a hydra-headed monster that has eaten deep into the fabrics of the society, she said the role of the counsellor in addressing the challenge cannot be over-emphasised.

    The counselling centre, according to her, should be well-staffed and equipped to help students. She stressed that it should provide training on self awareness, life skills and values, which should be made mandatory in the first year.

    She said: “The course will help students acquire understanding of self-knowledge, boost self esteem and unlock hidden potentials.”

     

  • Nigerian don appointed chair in South Africa

    Nigerian don appointed chair in South Africa

    Professor Abiodun Salawu has been appointed to the Mazisi Kunene Chair at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), South Africa.

    The Chair, which is domiciled in the School of Arts, College of Humanities of the university, was established by the university in conjunction with the Mazisi Kunene Foundation to preserve and promote the works of Mazisi Kunene and those of other African writers. The chair will focus on African oramedia and the modern media using African languages.

    Prof, Raymond Mazisi Kunene, in whose name the chair was established, was designated by UNESCO as the Poet Laureate of Africa. He authored classical works such as Emperor Shaka the Great, Anthem of the Decades, Zulu epic poems, and Ancestors and the Sacred Mountains. His published literary works in isiZulu have also been translated into French, German and Japanese. He was involved in the liberation movement for the apartheid South Africa. He was an academic at the University of California-Los Angeles while in self-exile and later at the University of Natal, Durban (one of the two universities that merged to make the UKZN). He died in 2006.

    The Chair holder, Salawu, has published extensively on African language media. He edited the seminal book, Indigenous Language Media in Africa. His other areas of research interest include African folk media, development communication, critical media studies and new media. He has to his credit numerous journal articles and book chapters.

    Salawu is moving from the historic University of Fort Hare, also in South Africa. Prior to his relocation to South Africa, he had taught journalism, communication and media studies in various institutions in Nigeria including The Polytechnic, Ibadan; University of Lagos and Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo.

    He holds a PhD in Communication and Language Arts of the University of Ibadan, PGD and MSc in Mass Communication of the University of Lagos, and a B.A (Hons) English Studies of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile- Ife.

    The UKZN which prides itself as the premier university of African scholarship is a foremost university in Africa and has also been listed in the top 500 universities in the world. The university entered into an agreement with the Mazisi Kunene Foundation in 2006 to establish the chair for the purpose of commemorating the life and works of the poet laureate. The chair is expected to build his scholarship around the man of letters.

     

  • UNIBEN don queried over HIV/ AIDS cure claim

    Authorities of the University of Benin (UNIBEN) have queried a lecturer, Prof Isaiah Ibeh, for making public the discovery of a herbal drug that could cure the HIV/AIDS virus without clearance.

    It was gathered that the university management was amazed when they read the announcement of the discovery of the drug by Ibeh.

    Ibeh, who is the dean of Basic Medical Sciences, told a reporter that he discovered an oral drug made from plant extraction in Nigeria for the possible cure of HIV/AIDS.

    Ibeh, who announced the breakthrough in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Benin on Tuesday, said: “We are talking about the latest discovery of an oral drug made from plant extraction in Nigeria for the possible cure of the pandemic, HIV and AIDS virus.

    “We are on the threshold of making history in the sense that we seem to have with us something that will permanently take care of what over time seems to have defied all solutions.”

    Sources told The Nation that several international organisations and agencies bombarded the university management with calls to find out about the veracity of the drug.

    When our reporter visited the university to get more comments from the ‘inventor’, the Provost of the College of Medicine, Prof. Vincent Iyawe, said the school doesn’t want Ibeh to make further comments on the findings because it was investigating the claims.

    Iyawe said the university was not carried along during the research and that all procedures were not followed.

    He said: “In something like this, you ought to take permission from the university. The school would like to take credit for a breakthrough, but it cannot align with the breakthrough because the college was not consulted, the university was not consulted, he did not carry anybody along.

    “There are protocols and procedures for announcing breakthroughs. There are tests to be done going from stage by stage. We give it clinical trials which we will take to the Federal Ministry of Health and many other things are involved.

    “We will equally have to take it to the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and many other things have to be done before you come out with your claims, and even take it to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

    “All the university was doing was to protect Ibeh and the school’s integrity. I am just being cautious. I want all procedures to be followed.”

    On how long the school’s investigations would take, the provost said it might take years for proper answers to come depending on the drug.

    The ‘inventor’ declined comment, adding: “I will naturally maintain a studied silence.”

    Ibeh was sighted entering the Office of the Vice-Chancellor where a meeting was said to have held with other doctors professors.

    It was learnt that comments from the internet on the discovery were reviewed at the meeting.

    After the meeting, he denied seeking for publicity.

    He said: “I am publicity shy. I rather allow my work to speak for itself.”

  • UI don sues four for alleged threat to his life

    UI don sues four for alleged threat to his life

    THE Director of the General Studies Unit of the University of Ibadan (UI), Prof. Adewale Dasylva, has sued four men over alleged threat to his life.
    In the suit filed before Magistrate P.O. Adetuyibi, the don is seeking an order mandating the defendants to sign an undertaking that he would not be harmed by them under any guise.

    He alleged that he had circumstantial evidence to prove that the suspects, led by Femi Eyiowuawi, had the intention to intimidate, harass and even kill him.
    The professor of English, who was led in evidence by the prosecutor, Adamson Ocheni, told the court that the suspects were allegedly after his life because of the role he is playing in two cases of admission fraud against them.

    The cases, which are being heard by courts in the same jurisdiction, involves a suspected syndicate of six persons that specialises in “admission racketeering.”
    Though he admitted that he was not around when the suspects invaded his office last month, the don averred that the telephone calls he received earlier from some unidentified sources convinced him that his life was in danger.

    He dismissed claims by counsel to the respondents, Titilola Dauda, that the suspects wanted to see him over other cases, adding that 6pm to 8pm could not be the right time to do so. Hearing continues in the matter today.

     Dasylva argued that if there was going to be any plea at all, it could only have been between the two counsel since the case in question was not between him as a person and the accused, but, between the University and the accused.

    Dauda, however, insisted that there was nothing to suggest threat to the claimant’s life as being alleged because nothing incriminating was found on the suspects when arrested and that the message referred to by the UI don was not suggestive of threat to his life.

    He sought for short adjournment to enable him secure the copy of the petition written to the police by the claimant to enable him further cross-examine the him (claimant).
    The request was granted by the Magistrate. Further hearing was adjourned to today (Tuesday).