The Nation Newspaper

Tag: dons

  • Dons urge collaboration in health sector

    Academics  in the health sector have called for sustained collaboration among practitioners. They made the call at a symposium organised by the Nigeria Association of Pharmacists in Academia (NAPA), held at the Idi-Araba campus of the University of Lagos (UNILAG).

    Pro-Chancellor of Caleb University, Prof Fola Tayo, who spoke at the symposium, stressed the need for collaboration among health-care providers. He said “no man is an island of knowledge, and as such, requires the expertise and specialisation of others to complement areas of deficiency”.

    According to him, anyone who prides himself as all-knowing displays the hallmark of a fool.

    Prof Tayo, a former dean of Pharmacy at UNILAG, said the curriculum of medical sciences should be reviewed for maximum impact.

    Another speaker, Prof Jane Ajukuchukwu, said capacity building workshops and retraining of pharmacists would enhance professionalism in the sector, adding that the move would allay fears of ineptitude which hinder cooperation among medical practitioners.

    Speaking on the need for collaboration among practitioners and patients, Prof Adebayo Onajole of Department of Community Health and Primary Care, said communication was crucial for achieving better results.

    “For patients and care-givers to have confidence in you, you must learn to communicate effectively in a language they understand,” he said.

    He lamented the instability of the tenure of office for practitioners, saying it had affected quality leadership in the sector.

    Referring to the World Health Organisation (WHO) Convention in Community Development, Dean of Basic Medical Sciences (UNILAG), Prof Olufunmi Adeyemi, expressed desire for the sustenance of the programme.

  • ABUAD’s dons for Oxford varsity symposium

    Afe Babalola University Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD) will join other world-class universities in a three-day symposium at Balliol College, University of Oxford.

    The event, which began yesterday and ends tomorrow, will see two distinguished professors from ABUAD, Israel Olatunji Orubuloye, a professor of Sociology and member, Board of Trustees of ABUAD and  Gabriel M. Obi, a professor of Mathematics and Physical Sciences, delivering separate papers on: “The potential impact of technology on higher education: An imperative for a paradigm shift” as well as: “Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti: Model of reformative and transformative higher education in Africa, ABUAD as a case study.”

    The invitation is courtesy of the United Kingdom-based University of Cambridge, Institute of Education (UCIE) Professors’ Network.

    ABUAD Public Relations Officer, Tunde Olofintila, said the invitation was contained in a letter dated April 10, this year.

    According to  him, ABUAD’s participation in the forum has become an additional feather to the cap of the four-year-old university, which he said is blazing the trail at every front.

    One of the critical issues to be explored, he siad, is: “How in the era of technology- driven education, world top university can help in raising the excellence of standard of universities”.

    According to Olofintila, the letter, which was signed by Anant Nepalia, said: “In the era of technology-driven education, how top world universities can help in raising the excellence standards of the universities in countries like Nigeria is key. It is of tremendous opportunity to meet and reach out to top emeritus professors of other universities, who are in the forefront to improve the quality of higher education, thus they are appointed as visiting faculty or advisors/mentors to your institution”.

    “The conference offers attendees a variety of learning experiences and networking opportunities. I look forward to hearing from you soon. Please note that participation is limited and is by invitation only.”

    ABUAD’s Founder and President, Aare Afe Babalola (SAN), said the university is thrilled by the invitation, adding that it is ready to be partners in this drive.

    His words: “We are also looking forward to the opportunity of interacting and brainstorming with emeritus professors, who are in the fore front of improving the quality of higher education and exploring the possibility of partnering with them.”

  • The challenge before our dons

    THE resumption of many public universities this week signaled an end to the long strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

    Though the strike was called off last month, many universities had already reviewed their academic calendars to resume after the festivities, so students stayed put at home until this week.

    Parents, I dare say, must have been relieved to see their wards return to school after the forced holidays. I can also imagine that many students were excited to be free from their clutches. They must have viewed the restrictions on their activities under their parents’ roof stifling. Back in school, they would be free to come and go as they wish – with only their inner compasses and years of training to guide them aright.

    With so much time lost, and the Federal Government appearing to keep faith with its agreement with ASUU this time around, we will be right to expect lecturers to be more committed. During the strike, many Nigerians, including yours truly, condemned the Federal Government for backpedalling on implementing the agreement. We argued that if the resources wasted on governance and corruption was invested in education, the government would not claim not to be able to fund infrastructural development in our tertiary institutions.

    Now that the government has agreed to invest a huge sum of N1.3 trillion to upgrade our universities in the next six years, hopes are high that soon our universities would rub shoulders with the best in the world. The Federal Government has promised to replicate the same investment in polytechnics and colleges of education as well.

    In light of this heartwarming development, we hope our lecturers will do their part. We hope that this improved funding will signal an end to truancy and lateness to lectures. We hope that it will also bring an end to the shallow implementation of the curricula, shoddy assessment of academic work, and above all, corruption in all its ramifications.

    Corruption by lecturers deserves to be treated on its own. With the government beginning to play its part, lecturers should stop engaging in unethical practices like imposing textbooks on students in exchange for scores; forcing students to patronise their business centres (sometimes set up in their offices) to type projects; exchanging scores for sex; and demanding cash to earn grades.

    Lecturers should also stop talking down on their students and insisting they cannot achieve certain scores. Some lecturers, sadly, treat students they way they were badly treated in their school days. They even claim that students cannot make A grades in their courses. This is wrong.

    Our university teachers now owe their students a duty to update their knowledge. It is unacceptable for lecturers to continue recycling the notes they gave students a decade ago today, disregarding the changes that have occurred over the years. They are supposed to conduct researches in their fields to add to knowledge. With the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) providing grants for training and conferences and research grants, lecturers have no excuses for not conducting research. Even before now, there have been funds available for research which many academics have not accessed because they could not produce convincing proposals.

    This is a new era. The time of mediocrity has passed. We are now ready for serious business in the education sector. We no longer want to cut corners; we want to do things properly. We want to produce the best minds in our schools; we want to attract the best hands to teach us; we want our universities, nay other tertiary institutions, to produce manpower that can help our country achieve that noble dream of being among the top 20 economies in the world. I do not know whether that can be achieved by 2020. But I do know that if we start now to be committed to that vision, we will achieve more than we imagine possible – and in good time too.

     

     

     

     

  • Kogi varsity dons represent Nigeria at law conference

    Two lecturers, Dr T. F. Yerima, Dean of Faculty of Law and Dr B. Ogwo, Dean of Students’ Affairs (DSA), of the Kogi State University (KSU) have represented the nation at an international conference on law and justice in Sri-Lanka.

    The dons were selected based on the quality of their papers.

    The duo urged leaders to obey law and order, saying that justice was a necessary condition for sustainable development. They said people must make justice an integral part of their lives, stressing that nothing works in an atmosphere of injustice.

    They added that Africa has had leadership challenges because of the lack of law and justice in the continent. The dons said that the conference acquainted them with a deeper understanding of law.

    “It was an outstanding achievement for our university to represent Nigeria in an international conference where legal luminaries from across the world gathered,” Dr Yerima added.

     

     

     

     

    Dr. Ogwo urged the university’s staff to rededicate themselves to the vision of the institution. He thanked management of the university for making them to participate in the international conference.

     

  • Dons seek improved legal scholarship

    Dons seek improved legal scholarship

    FOR any profession to move forward, it must make provisions for research and development (R&D). To ensure that they remain on top of their game, lawyers devote time to research and teaching.

    Last week, some of them gathered at the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (NIALS) Annual Festival of Legal Scholarship, organised with the Lagos State Government.

    The event witnessed an exhibition of Nigeria’s political and legal history in pictures and documents.

    Eminent legal scholars delivered lectures on various topics during the festival. The lecturers included former Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice Prof Yemi Osinbajo (SAN).

    Former Dean, Faculty of Law, University of Lagos (LASU) Prof Demola Popoola; Senator Oserheimen Osunbor, who also served as Edo State Governor; Delta State Deputy Governor Prof Amos Utuama (SAN), Prof Lanre Fagbohun, among others, also delivered lectures.

    Among the exhibitions were various treaties entered by Nigeria, the military rule and key players, and the state structure starting from 12 in 1967, 19 in 1976, 30 in 1991, to 36.

    Photographs of pre-colonial leaders were also exhibited, such as King Jaja of Opobo, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Ovonrammwen of Benin and Shehu Usman Dan Fodio, among others.

    Also displayed were colonial governors, fathers and mothers of modern Nigeria such as Mrs Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti and Alhaji Aminu Kano; constitutional conferences, pictures of premiers of the four regions, and ordinances, such as the One Nigeria Coinage Order of 1907, among others.

    The treaty between the Queen of England and Chief of Badagry for the cession of the town of Badagry in 1863 was also exhibited, among others.

    The festival was opened by Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Justice Mariam Aloma Mukhtar, who called for partnership between the academia and the judiciary to improve legal practice in Nigeria.

    “The need for a partnership between the two professions is without doubt very fundamental and deserving of all seriousness by all stakeholders. This can in turn build a pragmatic judiciary and develop our legal jurisprudence as we continue to shift the frontiers of law,” she said.

    “Judges rely on academic pieces in their work, especially the time honoured practice of commenting on judicial opinions through law reviews, proposing and granting legitimacy to new legal doctrines, amongst others.

    “We, thus, need to strengthen the relationship between judges and academics by making academics more responsive to the needs of the judiciary and making judges more sensitive to feedback from the academia.”

    NIALS Director-General Prof Epiphany Azinge (SAN) said the festival was a platform to exhibit some scholarly research publications undertaken by foremost academics.

    He added: “We thought about having generations of legal scholars together under one arena. We have here three generations of legal scholars, those who taught other people, all brainstorming.

    “We want to know where we were, where we are and the projections for the future as far as legal scholarship is concerned. We want to encourage the younger scholar, to make them understand what their senior colleagues have passed through, and to appreciate the rudiments and intricacies legal scholarship,” Azinge said.

    The event lived up to its billing, as generations of law professors brainstormed under one roof, sharing research experiences.

    Speakers underscored the fact that hard-work never goes unrewarded, that plagiarism, if not detected early, can be found out many years later with dire consequences for the perpetrator.

    The festival was also memorable for many of the professors, as they met those who taught them law and those they taught.

    For instance, Prof Adedokun Adeyemi taught Prof Nnamdi Aduba at the University of Lagos, while Aduba taught NIALS Director of Research Prof Dakas Clement Dakas, who is also Senior Advocate of Nigeria and a former Attorney-General of Plateau State.

     

  • Ebonyi college demotes 15 dons for certificate forgery

    Fifteen lecturers of the Ebonyi State College of Education, Ikwo, have been demoted over alleged certificate forgery.

    They claimed to have acquired Ph.D degrees from reputable institutions outside the country. However, a committee set up to investigate their claims, found them to be false.

    In a statement, the Public Relations Officer of the College, Mr. Nkwuda Bethrand Otukobelu, noted that the affected lecturers would not be allowed to go for any promotion course until after three years.

    He said: “A lot of processes were followed in verification and evaluation of the certificates of the lecturers involved. Six of the lecturers who had their Ph.Ds from the institutions should stop parading themselves as Ph.D holders and stop adding the title ‘Dr.’ to their names.

    “That as regards to their present positions, nine of them have been demoted to lecturer III; two to assistant lecturers and the remaining two to non-academic staff for not possessing relevant qualifications to be in the academic cadre.

    “That six of them, who enjoyed financial benefits with the controversial certificates are to refund such benefits which accrued to them in excess of their present new position.

    “Findings by the Committee and letters from the National Universities Commission (NUC), and the Federal Ministry of Education show that the institutions were neither approved nor recognised by the Federal Government of Nigeria.”

    At a press conference in Abakaliki, the Special Adviser to Governor Martin Elechi of Ebonyi State on Higher Education, Prof Mike Ituma, said the discovery shocked the government.

    He said the actions of the affected lecturers were a reflection of the level of decay ravaging the sector.

    He said the state supports the college for its action on the matter, describing it as a step in the right direction.

     

  • ICAN endows N5m grant for Abia Poly dons

    The President, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Adedoyin Owolabi, said a N5million grant has been set aside for accountancy lecturers of Abia State Polytechnic, Aba, who would want to do their doctorate degree programmes.

    Speaking during a courtesy visit to the Rector of the institution, Elder Allwell Onukaogu, Owolabi said the grant was part of the group’s commitment to partner with the institution on manpower development and help accountancy lecturers acquire modern accounting methods.

    He also said the professional body would donate computers, books and other educational materials to the Department of Accountancy as a way of promoting teaching and learning of modern accounting methods.

    Addressing the students, Adedoyin said ICAN has a scholarship scheme for indigent but brilliant students who maintain high academic records.

    He said students that made distinction in their final examination and wish to enroll into ICAN programmes but have no money would be trained free of charge by the institute. He warned that such scholarship would be withdrawn from any beneficiary who cannot maintain the academic performance that attracted the scholarship.

    The group leader also urged the students to enroll for ICAN technical and administrative programmes rather than wasting their spare time engaging in social vices.

    In his response, Onukaogu who described the institution as ‘accounting-friendly’ said the management had given automatic employment to its first accountancy student who got chartered while still in school.

    He assured a cordial relationship and partnership between ICAN and the polytechnic, promising to give equal opportunity for their students to compete favourably with others.

    Okey Okechukwu, a former chairman of ICAN, Aba and Umuahia District Society, said the president’s visit was to appraise the performance of ICAN members and ascertain their welfare.

     

  • Dons decry slow growth of democracy

    Two university lecturers, Prof. Dorothy Oluwagbemi Jacobs of the University of Calabar and Dr. Vincent Asor of the University of Port Harcourt, have described the growth of Nigeria’s democracy as poor.

    Giving separate lectures at the Freedom in Chains Lecture Series organised by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Cross River State, they urged the electorate to change the status quo through their massive votes.

    They bemoaned the stagnant growth of democracy in the country, maintaining that what obtains at the moment are indices that have eroded the gains of democracy and inflicted pains on the ordinary people.

    In her lecture titled, “Democracy in third world countries, the Nigerian Experience”, Jacobs said the return of democracy after several years of military rule in the country has only recorded little or no impact on the general populace.

    Jacobs, who is also the Head, Department of Political Science, University of Calabar, said popular participation, which allows the people select their leaders through a free, fair and acceptable election has been jettisoned.

    According to her, “The Nigerian example has been a mix of the good, the bad and the ugly. The prevendal and clientelist politics have become common place in Nigeria’s democracy with a handful of patrons of office seekers deciding for the mass of the people. Politics in Nigeria revolves around god-fathers who are themselves gate-keepers.”

    She regretted that the electoral process in the country has been manipulated to suit the whims and caprices of those who want power at all costs thus negating the tenets of democracy.

    She said it was the responsibility of non-governmental organisations, civil society organisations, professional groups, among others, to rise up to the occasion of checking the excesses of those in authority for the nation’s democracy to work.

    Also in his presentation titled, “The incursion of progressive politics into a conservative society,” Dr. Vincent Asor of the University of Port Harcourt posited that what is lacking in the nation’s democracy is a case where the ruling junta lacks basic ideology and reform programmes to enact the transformation of the polity.

    According to him, this development accounts for why progressive politics must be embraced for its ability to cater for the generality of the masses through clear-cut ideologies and reformist programmes.

    He added that what Nigeria desires in its transformation drive is what he described as “more democracy” where equal rights and protection of all as against selective bargaining and sectional interest hold sway.

    He lashed out at conservative politics, saying that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) was a typical example whose ideology only values the status quo because of the pecuniary benefits that accrue to the “god-fathers,” while the masses continue to be enslaved.

    He suggested “the broom revolution to sweep conservatism away and allow progressive politics infiltrate the Nigerian society.”

    State Chairman of ACN in Cross River, Comrade Hilliard Eta, expressed the need for the masses to root for change from the present political status in order to be free from the shackles of poverty and under-development.

     

  • Dons proffer solution to Boko Haram

    Major-General MD Isah has said that the security challenges the country is facing could be a thing of the past if universities inculcate discipline in their students to be able to make them good citizens of the country.

    Speaking in his keynote speech during the first International Conference organised by the Department of English, Anambra State University, Igbariam Campus, General Isah, represented by the Commander 302 Artillery Regiment, Onitsha, Col. T. Gagariga, said that violent crimes across the country could be stopped through re-introduction of literature and other languages in our schools to keep the students busy.

    In his submission, the Head of Department of English language, Anambra State University, Igbariam campus, Dr. (Mrs.) Ngozi Chuma Udeh, said the essence of organising the international conference was to seek solution to Boko Haram insurgency through literature.

    Udeh further called on other intellectuals across the country to come together to brain storm on the plausible solution to end violent crimes, including Boko Haram insurgency in the North and rampant kidnappings in the Southern parts of the country, adding that it was in the backdrop of these that the theme of the international Conference, Language, Literature and National Consciousness were chosen.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Former minister, dons, others hail high education vote

    Stakeholders in the education sector yesterday hailed President Goodluck Jonathan for giving the sector the highest budgetary allocation in the 2013 Appropriation Bill he presented Wednesday.

    Jonathan proposed a N4.9 trillion budget to the joint session of the National Assembly for approval.

    The proposal gave N426.5 billion to education while Defence came second with N348.9 billion and the police had the third highest share of N319 billion.

    A former Minister of Education, Mrs Chinwe Obaji, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on telephone that the move was “a right step in the right direction”.

    “We are happy to see such a development coming to the education sector, depending on where the money will be applied to.

    “Having said this, we must also wait and see if the said amount will be released fully and the implementation carried out without a hitch.

    “I also hope that the bill will be speedily looked into and the funds quickly released to take care of capital projects in the sector.”

    “My major worry, however, remains that of prudent management which has been a major challenge with public funds.”

    The former minister said it would benefit the economy more if the funds were judiciously used for what they were meant for.

    She, however, called for effective measures in monitoring the funds application.

    Also speaking, Prof. Ukachukwu Awuzie, the immediate past President, of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), expressed the hope that the education vote, if approved, would turn around the fortunes of the sector.

    He said: “If actually the fund is released to the sector, it means that we have started seeing the need in getting our priorities right because the emphasis should be on human capital development.

    “However, we would need time to look at how the budget to the sector got to be one of the highest beneficiary, where it should be channeled, the implementation, how it should be managed and what it portends to the sector.

    “It is only when we study all these details that we would be able to get a better view of how this would transform the system for the advancement of the country’s economy,” he said.

    Dr Olubunmi Ajibade, a senior lecturer at the Department of Mass Communication, University of Lagos (UNILAG), said the budget, if approved, would be one of the best things that had happened to the sector in recent times.

    “We have been advocating crucial funding of the sector because that is the only way to restore its glory.

    “There is no way we can talk about national development without sound education.

    “However, we must realise that budget is not equal to money released and money released is not equal to money judiciously spent, which is where the worries lie.

    “It is wise that every fund is spent on what it is meant for and so I am advocating that the National Assembly should monitor the implementation of the budget.