The Vice Chancellor of the Kwara State University (KWASU), Malete and President, Nigeria Association of Mathematical Physics (NAMP) Professors Abdulrasheed Na’Allah and Garba Babaji, have attributed Nigeria’s current travails to corruption and the ‘African Time’ mentality.
Pro Na’Allah lamented that it was shameful that Nigeria despite its enormous human cum natural resources is incapable of paying its workers salaries.
The pair spoke in Malete at the 26th annual colloquium and congress of NAMP which was hosted by KWASU.
Na’Allah charged academics to collaborate with industries through research in finding solutions to the nation’s myriad problems.
Said Na’allah: “Academics should work with government to move the society forward; question is: ‘What the result of those meetings that we have had with governments?’
“In Nigeria no extraordinary things happen. As academics, we must understand that our responsibility is to make life better. It is a shame that a nation as rich as Nigeria cannot pay its workers salaries. We are the largest in Africa. Human resource alone is very huge.
“The country cannot pay workers’ salaries because we have almost totally been swallowed up by corruption. We have failed to tap the 24 hours information technology to move the nation forward.
“I challenged all of us here to use our theories to collaborate with industries to move this nation forward. The responsibility of engaging in research and development rests squarely on the shoulders of academics.”
On his part, Babaji said: “The way forward is what individuals can do to make life better for all Nigerians. As mathematicians and physicists, we must make sacrifice for the nation.
“We must bear in mind that Nigeria can only experience positive change by Nigerians, therefore, we must individually and collectively utilise our resources in executing useful work.
“Mathematically, the most important factor that determines the output of any transformation is the operator. We Nigerians are the operators for the much needed positive transformation of our country.”
THE Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof Julius Okojie, has lamented the rate at which Nigeria- trained professors are relocating abroad.
He said they were relocating owing to lack of conducive environment for education to thrive in Nigeria.
He added that the education system was facing problem of inadequate teachers, hence lack of quality.
Okojie said he had discussed the situation with President Muhammadu Buhari for possible solution, adding that most of the professors making scientific breakthroughs abroad are Nigerians.
The NUC boss said this in Abuja at the opening ceremony of a four-day training on Internal Quality Assurance in West African (TrainlQAfrica), with the theme: “Quality assurance of teaching and learning in higher education institutes”.
To achieve progress in the standard of learning, Okojie said quality must start from basic and secondary school levels.
His words: “We need to improve on our standard. Nobody regulates students again. No enough teachers in the system and we must address this sad development. I told President Muhammadu Buhari that we cannot be ranked with Yale University because of our research problems and quality assurance is an issue.
“We must change our style of teaching. We are losing fast on these issues. I also told Mr. President that most of these professors, who are making waves abroad, are Nigerians. We must have a conducive environment for education to thrive. If you do not have a leader, who can carry people along, then there will be problem.
“Quality depends on the approach that we have and teachers must assess themselves in the system.”
Head of Press, Culture and Education Department, German Embassy, Abuja, Mrs. Kornelia Bitzer-Zenner, acknowledged that universities and institutions could not be compared due to lack of quality.
She said there must be common quality standard in Africa for a meaningful progress.
Mrs. Bitzer-Zenner advised experts on quality assurance from African countries participating at the training to take every deliberation serious for effective impartation.
Professors of Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Ibadan (UI) Olawale Albert and Tajudeen Akanji have advised President Muhammadu Buhari and governors to shun discriminatory policies that could threaten peace and security.
They said governments should put in place policies that would ensure equality of persons, irrespective of ethnicity, race or religion.
The dons spoke at a workshop on ‘Security in a multi-ethnic city’, organised by Konrad Adenauer Foundation, presided over by Mrs. Hildergard Behrendt-Kigozi. The event was held at the UI Conference Centre.
Prof. Albert, who noted that corrupt Nigerians were a threat to peace and security, added that the more policies for protecting groups’ rights were lacking in a multi-ethnic society as Nigeria, the more the country was likely to be plunged into conflicts.
He said: “It is only those who have stolen from the nation that you will see going with 10 policemen because they are afraid. They make Nigerians insecure because the money allocated for development has been stolen. This is what threatens peace and security. Certainly they cannot be safe when others are not safe. This is why the anti-corruption crusade must apply to all and not be discriminatory.”
The don enjoined President Buhari to constitute a security management think tank comprising representatives of security agencies and civilian security analysts.
Speaking on ‘Manipulation of citizenship and indigeneship in Nigeria: Lessons for multi-ethnic cities’, Prof. Akanji said the indigeneship question had created insecurity.
He urged the Federal Government to lead by example by stopping policies that discriminated in employment, admission to schools, scholarships, school fees and in election.
Other speakers included Dr. Willie Eselebor, Dr. Onuka, security representatives, monarchs, among others.
No fewer than 300 academics from about seven countries are expected at the third International Conference of the U-6 Consortium of African Universities being hosted by UNILORIN between September 6 and 9.
The Chairman of the Conference Local Organising Committee, Prof A.T. Oladiji, said the event was being expected to deepen research collaboration and academic exchange among participating universities and the countries they represent.
The U-6 Consortium comprises six African universities: UNILORIN; the University of Eldoret, Kenya; Kwara State University, Malete, Nigeria; Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town, South Africa; the University of Science and Technology, Kenya; and the University of Cape Coast, Ghana.
Members of the Consortium had, on March 10, 2012, at UNILORIN, decided to collaborate on some activities, such as facilitation and coordination of joint researches, curriculum development, collaborative seminars, workshops and conferences as well as academic exchanges to further expose academic staff and students.
Oladiji, who is also the Director, UNILORIN Centre for Research Development and In-House Training (CREDIT), said more than 160 academic papers would be discussed at the five-day conference.
The keynote address on the theme: “Innovative Trends in Science and Humanities for Global Development and Social Transformation” would be delivered by Prof Peter Okebukola, the Pro-Chancellor of Crawford University, Igbesa, Ogun State.
Other sub-themes to be addressed are: Governance and Legislation; Science, Technology and Energy; Health and Environment; Education, Language and Gender Issues; Peace, Security and Development; Water Resources, Agriculture and Food Security; as well as Information and Communication.
THE crisis rocking the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education (IAUE) Rumuolumini, Port Harcourt, over the suspension of Professor Dele Osahogulu, a director in the Information Technology unit of the ivory tower, has taken a new dimension. Rumours are making the rounds in the university that the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Rosemund Dienye Green-Osahogulu, may be fired by the Rivers state government.
Prof Green-Osahogulu
The speculations are coming on the heels of the calls by the Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU) IAUE chapter, for the head of Prof Green-Osahogulu over the suspension of their member, who is the vice chancellor’s estranged husband.
The Nation also learnt that a letter was sent by ASUU to the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, seeking his intervention in the crisis.
But, Mrs Green-Osahogulu has debunked the rumour of being asked to resign. In a text message to our reporter, she said: “Please ask those who said a resignation letter has been given to me to show the letter.”
On Tuesday, August 4, following the crisis, ASUU members were chased out of the venue of their meeting by security personnel on the order of the vice-chancellor. The meeting, which was later held at the open field of the university, was to call on Mrs Green-Osahogulu to resign over what the union described as a “ridicule on the image of the university”.
“We have resolved that in view of the spate of ugly, scandalous and disturbing events unfolding in the university involving the vice chancellor, the union wishes to write to the vice chancellor to honourably resign her position as the vice chancellor of Ignatius Ajuru University of Education Port Harcourt due to the following reasons: faked kidnapped saga, extortion of students, inflated price of the purchase of liaison office in Abuja, and abuse of due process in disciplinary issues,” ASUU stated in a letter after the meeting.
According to sources, the crisis began as a poorly-managed matrimonial issue between Prof Dele Osahogulu and his wife, Prof Green-Osahogulu, making the duo to wash their dirty linen in public.
Mrs Green-Osahogulu was reportedly kidnapped by unknown gunmen and was later released to the family after eight days in the kidnappers’ den. Shortly afterwards, there was a scandal over whether she was kidnapped. The development caused a division among workers in the university. Although Prof Green-Osahogulu claimed she was kidnapped in June 18 and released on 27 of same month, news of her kidnap was not made public until last month.
However, what was supposed to be an internal affair between Prof Green-Osahogulu and her husband, Dele Osahogulu became a universiy affair when Osahogulu (Dele) was suspended for three months without pay.
Osahogulu, a don and head of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) unit, was accused of granting an interview to a state-based local tabloid, alleging that his wife’s kidnap was stage-managed.
Osahogulu has since denied the report.
Similarly, the Rivers State Police Command, which earlier confirmed the kidnapping, suddenly made a U-turn. The command’s Police Public Relation Officer (PPRO), Ahmad Mohammad, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), told The Nation the case “is under investigation.”
“The case of the alleged kidnapping of the VC of IAUE is still being investigated as such. Due to recent revelations, it is only a logical conclusion of the investigation that will determine it to be such or otherwise,” Mohammad said.
But Osahogulu’s suspension has deepened the face-off between ASUU and some workers loyal to the vice chancellor. ASUU-IAUE Chairman Dr Ugochuchu Agi, described the suspension as an abuse of power by the management. Agi said Osahogulu remains innocent until a court of law rules otherwise.
Dr. Agi
Agi was later invited by the management and, subsequently, quizzed by security personnel for speaking to the press on the matter.
“Look, we are not in support of the suspension as a union,” Agi told our reporter. “The suspension of our member is an irresponsible application of power. You don’t suspend somebody and take away his salaries for three months because of mere allegation.”
Agi continued: “I was expecting the university authority to have set up a panel to investigate the allegations before taking such a hasty decision. We did not want to be thrown into controversy; we know that our member has fallen victim of kidnapping saga and it is regrettable that all these things are happening without due process.
“There is a rumour that the union suspended him (Dele Osahogulu). It is the university authority and not ASUU. We, as a union, are against such suspension because there must a process before a decision could be taken.”
Agi’s reaction irked the management which decided to respond via another briefing.
At the event, which took place at the Saint John campus of the university, Mrs Green-Osahogulu, said her estranged husband had admitted before the school management some of the allegations levelled against him.
She said: “Prof Dele Osahogulu was given a query and he denied the said statement published on the local newspaper. He even disowned the newspaper and said that he didn’t make statements even on telephone to any reporter.
“Sequel to the reply, the university management invited Prof Osahogulu to a meeting. While fielding questions from members of the management, he substantially admitted the contents of the said publication but attributed it to his state of mind at the time.
“The university management found the conduct of Prof Osahogulu scandalous, disgraceful and prejudicial to the integrity of the Office of the Vice Chancellor and the reputation of the university. The university authority, therefore, placed him on three-month suspension in the first instance while investigation into other issues raised in the publication is ongoing.”
Initially, Osahogulu denied granting an interview. He also told our reporter of his denial of the interview credited to him in a local medium.
He said allegations against him by his wife were to tarnish his image, urging the reporter to ascertain the true position of things.
An SMS Osahogulu sent to our reporter reads thus: “My silence on this matter is not admittance; it is in compliance with the IAUE rules and regulations that forbid the granting of press interview by staff.
“The press is the watchdog of the society. If you are convinced that the vice chancellor is deliberately precluding public awareness on my own account, the media should then defend the oppressed and poor folk like me.”
On visiting the university, the reporter observed that the scandal has polarised workers, particularly at the management level. Investigation also showed that certain elements appeared to be fuelling the scandal with the aim of taking over the vice chancellor’s job.
Some workers opposed to the vice chancellor, who spoke to our reporter on condition of anonymity, insisted that her kidnap saga was still unconfirmed. They said the vice chancellor had been calling for the heads of those speaking the truth.
“The vice chancellor is over zealous. You need to see her talking to men during management meetings. She is not popular in this university.The question should be: ‘How many students and lecturers sympathised with her purported kidnap? A woman who cannot respect the husband that married her, who do you think she will respect?” the source said.
Another worker added:”Whether the vice chancellor’s kidnap was stage-managed or not, she shouldn’t have petitioned her husband. As the head of the university, it was wrong of her to support the suspension of Dele without setting up a panel to investigate the allegations. She is victimising workers unnecessarily. I suspect her next target will be the ASUU chairman.”
Those sympathetic to Prof Green-Osahogulu, but did not wish to be mentioned, justified the suspension.
One of them said calling Mrs Green-Osahogulu names, despite her achievement in the university, was to intimidate her because she is a woman.
“You are a journalist, go and investigate her (vice chancellor’s) achievement in the school; some people are scheming to take over her job using the scandal. She was not the one that suspended Prof Dele, it was the authority. The management invited Dele and after questioning him took the decision because of his nonchalant behaviour; so why call the vice chancellor name?”
Students who also reacted to the issue pleaded anonymity.
A source in the IAUE Students’ Union said: “Our position is that it is regrettable that this university is now being mocked because of one allegation or the other. We are really disappointed with the authority over this. You can imagine the kind of shameful act displayed the last time ASUU was having their meeting, and the vice chancellor ordered that they be sent out of the hall. It is that bad.”
Efforts to get the Directorate of State Security Service (DSS) and Police to speak further on the matter were futile. But a source from the DSS, who did not want to be named, said workers who were involved in the incident had been invited and grilled.
PARTICIPANTS at the second edition of the Annual Policy Discussion and Analysis Forum of the University of Lagos (UNILAG’s) Department of Finance, have challenged tertiary institutions to deploy products from the industrial sector for development.
Guest speaker at the forum, which held in the Afe Babalola Hall of UNILAG, Prof Ehiedu Iweriebor, advised Nigerians to look into the educational, agricultural, technological and other sectors for domestic capacity to achieve true political freedom.
He said: “It is only on the basis of the implementation of such a comprehensive and well-articulated programme of basic industrialisation or variants of it that a credible domestic capacity for development can be established; national independence affirmed; psychological liberation achieved and mass material abundance provided for all Africans on continuing basis.”
Iweriebor, who teaches in the Department of Africana and Puerto Rican/Latino Studies at Hunter College, United States, advised Nigerians to re-educate themselves on patriotism by seeking ways to develop the nation, rather than waiting on the government.
UNILAG’s Head of the Department of Finance, Prof Esther Adegbite, emphasised the importance of university education in the domestication drive.
She said: “University education must be tailored to the realities of the situation. The mentality we had before was that everybody must get white-collar jobs. We should rather tailor education to the practicalities and realities at hand. A person studying engineering should intern in a real engineering workshop, not office jobs. We must practise our education.”
A Professor of Sociology in UNILAG Lai Olurode, who reviewed the guest speaker’s paper, decried mass education by tertiary institutions.
He said: “Tertiary institutions have the role of education to play in the development process of a nation. What we have been doing is general and mass education, but there is no indoctrination and political industrialisation. It is to get the next generation ready to love their country.’’
Amid the country’s advocacy for change, Olurode charged the elite to embrace made-in-Nigeria products to boost local production and enhance employment.
A lecturer in the department, Dr Charles Onyeiwu, agreed with Olurode. “Most developments that have taken place come from within. We have enormous resources within us that are yet to be exploited.
The waters have not been exploited, the air, the ground … So, there is so much we can do. Our own experience is to really examine the strategies we can use to adopt how we can do with our water and its bodies. We can find African alternatives to most of our problems. Emphasise small scale production and entrepreneurship. The more challenges we have, the bigger the opportunity we have to really express our talents and ideas,” he said.
A 300 level student of the Department of Finance, Fadeyi Rilwan Akanbi, who assesssed the seminar, said: “The programme has been successful and life-touching . The forum is informative. We students also have a role to play. We should not take the same steps that our corrupt leaders have taken. We should start a new era and make the change for those coming behind us.
“The government should empower students, increase funding to schools and we would do exploits and increase the ratings of universities in the eyes of the world.
Also, the President, Faculty of Business Administration, Tope Aregbesola, described the forum as a reawakening to the understanding that Nigeria should begin to look inwards to develop her economy.
A former Council member of the Osun State University (UNIOSUN)Prof Alagbe Wasiu Gbolagade, and a Deputy Vice-Chancellor-elect (Development &Administration), Prof Siyan Oyeweso, have called on Governor Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, to review the recommendations of the Prof Gregory Daramola-led Visitation Panel which investigated the crisis in UNIOSUN, alleging that the panel was not fair to them in its submissions.
The Visitation Panel recommended Gbolagade’s sack from the council and barred him from holding any position in the institution, while Oyeweso was recommended for sack. The recommendations have been approved by the government in its White Paper.
In separate letters by the duo to Aregbesola, copies of which were made available to The Nation, Oyeweso and Gbolagade feared that some of the recommendations would give a bad precedence which might have a negative effect on UNIOSUN in future.
The panel, which was set up by Aregbesola, following a lingering crisis between UNIOSUN Vice-Chancellor, Prof Bashir Okesina, and Governing Council Chairman, Prof Gabriel Adesiyan Olawoyin (SAN), also recommended that the Registrar Dr. Julius Faniran and Bursar Mr. Fatai Lasisi, who had been suspended with the vice chancellor, be sacked from the university, while the chairman of the UNIOSUN Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Dr Oluseye Abiona was barred from holding any position in the university in the next five years.
In his letter dated June 25, Oyeweso faulted the five allegations levelled against him by the panel.
They include being over ambitious; his insistence that the Governing Council had been dissolved without seeking proper clarification; his overbearing influence on the vice chancellor, not allowing his academic achievements to positively impact the university, and holding a clandestine meeting in the vice-chanellor’s lodge with other principal officers of the university.
Oyeweso faulted the panel for not inviting him formally or stating allegations against him prior to his appearance, which could have afforded him ample time to prepare for his defence. He said he only received an SMS from the secretary to the panel asking him to appear.
Oyeweso also said the panel’s claim of him influencing the vice chancellor should not be used against him.
According to him, as an adult and the CEO of the university, the sacked vice-chancellor should be answerable for any error committed in his capacity, rather than Oyeweso being a scapegoat.
Oyeweso said: “The theory of vicarious liability does not hold in this case. If Prof. Okesina is alleged to have committed “irredeemable mistakes” and if the case is proved or established against him, it is Prof A.B. Okesina that should be held squarely responsible and not a third party. In civil justice administration, it is impossible and illegal to hold the son responsible for the sin of the father.”
Regarding the claim of holding clandestine meeting against the Governing Council, Oyeweso faulted the panel for not punishing some professors and heads of departments, who were also in attendance.
With a good number of awards, research, conferences, publications, and appointments including a former Council members and pioneer Provost, College of Humanities and Culture of UNIOSUN, Oyeweso said those are enough to puncture the panel’s claim that he did not allow his academic experience to impact positively in the university.
On his part, Gbolagade, disagreed with the panel’s recommendation that he should not hold any position in UNIOSUN for the next five years. Gbolagade recalled, how, in the heat of the crisis, he sent an SMS to Aregbesola, intimating him of the need to set up a Visitation Panel to resolve the issues. He said the university would not have enough professors for administrative functions if he is barred.
He said: “For your information sir, we have about 13 permanent professors in the whole university that are on ground. Out of these, two have got Council approval for their Sabbatical leave.
One will be going on leave of absence to Centre for Black Culture very soon. There will now be 10 professors left; out of these, three most senior professors have been indicted not to hold any post in the university. It remains seven professors to occupy all the administrative positions in the university. How will these not affect the seamless running of the system Sir? Our university is young and fast growing and I appeal to you to kindly temper justice with mercy.”
Like Oyeweso, Gholagade also attended the purported secret meeting but claimed there was no negative agenda attached to it. Prior to the crisis, Gbolagade said UNIOSUN management usually held meetings within or outside the university premises, especially during emergencies. He cited a meeting by management and some top principals held outside UNIOSUN premises ostensible to resolve the crisis by the Non-Academic Staff Union.
Gbolagade also said the IGR proceed that the panel recommended that he, as well as the sacked Bursar and Registrar should refund, is not actually IGR but a honorarium for participating in pre-degree programmes, a decision he said, was also approved by the Council. He said the Council which accused some of them of collecting honorarium is also guilty of same allegations, as well as sitting allowances which Council members collect on quarterly basis.
He enjoined Aregbesola to direct that names of all that collected honorariums be published.
Gbolagade described the panel’s big stick on ASUU-UNIOSUN chairman Dr Oluseye Abiona as a clear case of witch-hunting. He wondered why the panel singled out Abiona for punishment among other ASUU leaders.
The British Council recently awarded £24,380 (or N7, 240,860) through the Researchers’ Link programme to four Nigerian lecturers to undertake various researches that meet the developmental goals of Nigeria.
They are: Dr Rowland Kayode, University of Ilorin; Dr Temilade Sesan, University of Ibadan; Dr Anozoeze Madu and Dr Vincent Chigor, both of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
The grant provides financial support for the researchers to spend up to three months in the United Kingdom (UK) as part of the Researcher Links initiative. The recipients will be supported by established researchers in the UK with proposed activities selected on the basis of mutual benefit, research quality and potential for sustained interaction.
During the visit, they would be expected to establish or develop research links; contribute to capacity building of individual researchers and research groups; and support development-relevant research in Nigeria.
Dr Chigor, who will partner with a researcher from Bangor University, UK, hopes to acquire further skills for research in Environmental Genomics, secure funding for research, and publish in high impact journals.
“The Researcher Links travel grant is clearly a huge step towards these goals and I am eager for the experience at Bangor University that will foster my further personal development, and aid capacity building inT Nigeria, where I am committed to raising young researchers at both doctoral and master’s level,” he said.
On his part, Madu, who will be working with a researcher from the London Metropolitan University on the “Relationship between the severity of sickle cell anaemia and expression of genes encoding fatty acid desaturases 1 and 2”, said: “I am massively excited and grateful for having this opportunity to carry out a high quality research in a state of the art research institution.”
The Kwara Poly Rector, Alhaji Mas’ud Elelu, has praised two lecturers for their research.
At the presentation by Beki Daud Owolabi and Ajadi Bolakale Saheed, Elelu advised other staff members to come up with researches that could add value to knowledge and community development.
He said research is an academic activity that would widen the horizon of academics as well as expose the polytechnic positively.
The Rector also urged the organisers of the event (Staff Development and Orientation Committee) to invite relevant stakeholders whenever such presentations are to take place.
Owolabi presented a research on “Comparative Analysis of Plantation of six Varieties of Rice”, while Saheed worked on: “Effect of Effluents Discharge on Public Health in Ilorin Metropolis”.
A Professor of Geology and Mineral Sciences at UNILORIN, Samuel Akande, has won the 2015 Grover E. Murray Memorial Distinguished Educator Award.
Also a Professor of Ophthalmology, Joshua F. A. Owoeye, has won the International Ophthalmologist Education Award.
Akande’s recent award follows the 2014 Outstanding Earth Science Lecturer Award (NOELA) he won last year.
While the NOELA was conferred on Akande by the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE) at its 32nd Annual Conference in Lagos last November 13, the Grover E. Murray Memorial Distinguished Educator Award will be presented to him during the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) annual conference holding in Denver, Colorado, USA on May 31, 2015.
A letter to Akande by the Chairman of NAPE Distinguished Award Committee and Vice President of the Association, Dr. James Edet, disclosed that NOELA was in recognition of his “immense contributions to the practice and teaching of Earth Science and unflinching support for the various activities and programmes of the Association.”
Meanwhile, Owoeye’s award was presented at the 2014 conference of the American Academy of Ophthalmologist (AAO) in China, Illinois, USA between October 18 and 21, 2014, in pursuit of a lifelong education in Ophthalmology.
He was the only Nigerian out of the 50 recipients for 2014worldwide.
