The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Dr Idiat Adebule

  • We will assist youth to become wealth creators – Ambode

    We will assist youth to become wealth creators – Ambode

    Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State on Thursday said his administration would continue to add value to the quality of education in tertiary institutions owned by the state to make graduates wealth creators.

     

    Ambode, who was represented by the Deputy Governor, Dr Idiat Adebule, made the pledge at the 24th Convocation Ceremony of the Lagos State Polytechnic, Ikorodu.

     

    He said the government was aware of the challenges hindering the growth of young entrepreneurs, which prompted the establishment of the Employment Trust Fund.

     

    “The fund is to assist graduates and help them generate wealth for themselves, as well as create job opportunities for others.

     

    “Your education in this institution has equipped you with the necessary foundation and skills for the challenges ahead.

     

    “You owe this institution a duty to be its good ambassadors by promoting economic development and progress of our community,” he said.

     

    Ambode urged the management and staff of the institution to ensure that the students under their care are exposed to new ideas in research.

     

    In his address, Mr Samuel Sogunro, Rector, LASPOTECH, said that the student population of the 38-year-old institution had grown from 287 at inception to the present 25, 250.

     

    Sogunro said that one of the biggest challenges of the polytechnic was underfunding, as it constrained research activities and development in the Institution.

     

    “Being a public institution, our main source of funding is the government, which owing to the prevailing hostile economic environment, has increasingly been unable to cater for most of our financial needs.

     

    “The inability of the state government to adequately fund the polytechnic has for a long time constrained research and sundry development activities on our campuses,” he said.

     

    Sogunro appreciated Gov. Ambode for his active support in reducing the challenges and burden of the institution, promising that the school management would continue to complement the government’s efforts.

     

    He urged the graduating students to continue to work hard and strive for academic, professional and personal excellence.

     

    “Your achievement now leaves you with a vital responsibility of being a change agent in the society. You are not expected to rely on government jobs; think of what you can do for Nigeria.

     

    “Put your know-how to use and set your creativity free to create jobs in the private sector,” Sogunro said.

     

    LASPOTECH graduated 8, 519 students at the convocation

  • Adebule: we won’t toy with teachers’ welfare

    Adebule: we won’t toy with teachers’ welfare

    Lagos State government will commit more resources to upgrade public schools and teachers to work harder, Deputy Governor Dr Idiat Adebule said yesterday.

    Mrs Adebule spoke at the end of the year party organised by the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) for its director and primary schools’ head teachers.

    The government, she said, was not unaware of the decay of some public schools infrastructure, adding that steps have been taken to repair them in 2016.

    According to her, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode has mandated the Ministry of Education and its agencies to ensure that the state records excellence in all external examinations from next year.

    The deputy governor said she was not pleased with the infrastructure in some public schools, adding that the governor has approved that they be upgraded to ensure quality learning.

    On her unscheduled visits to some schools, Mrs Adebule said her intention was not to harass anybody, but to ensure that people are committed to their job.

    She said there would be more of such visits in future, warning head teachers and schools administrators to always be on top of their job. Government, she said, is not ready to take excuses for non-compliance with standard guidelines.

    SUBEB Chairman Dr Ganiyu Oluremi Sopeyin said under his leadership the board would ensure that prompt attention is given to teachers’ needs. The board, he added, will continue to push for teachers’ welfare to make their job easier and make life more meaningful for them.

  • Adebule: How we averted card reader crisis

    Adebule: How we averted card reader crisis

    Lagos State All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship running mate Dr Idiat Adebule was unhappy with the ineptitude of some Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ad hoc staff at her polling unit at Iba Local Council Development Area (LCDA). She spoke with reporters after voting about some of the lapses that threatened the exercise. TAJUDEEN ADEBANJO was there

    How would you assess the electoral process so far?

    First, I will say it is too early for us to do an evaluation of the whole process, but the little that we have seen, the ad hoc staff of the Independent National electoral commission (INEC) came a bit late. To my amazement, people came out as early as 7am; they lined up peacefully, waiting for them and the INEC officials did not get to our polling unit until around 10:30am. It took them a while to settle down and commence the accreditation process. But, unfortunately, one of the card reader machines in my centre did not work and we had large number of voters. We had about three voting points at Ward 29, Iba and one of the card reader machines was faulty. The INEC official took it away to change it, but she could not do that and so she came back and she was like people would have to come back tomorrow (Sunday) and at that point, I had to step in to say that one of the remaining card reader machines should be used for others. People that their names start from alphabet A to D were assigned to that particular INEC staff and my advice worked. That was how we were able to resolve the problem until about 4:30 to 5pm when I left the centre, everything was going on smoothly. People were already on the line voting.

    Do you subscribe to the idea that more still need to be done to address problems associated with card readers?

    Sincerely, a lot still need to be done. Except we want to kid ourselves, we must continue to fine-tune the process. People left their houses very early in the morning to come and vote. There should be some level of assurances that they will be attended to promptly. I mean, people should be rest assured that when they get there, they would be accredited within a reasonable period of time, so that they can return home. This is particularly because they are expected to return to the polling centre to vote later. For now, you discover that most people could not even go back home after their accreditation; they had to wait to vote because the time for the accreditation was more than the normal time allotted for accreditation. So, a lot still needs to be done on the issue of card reader usage. My advice for INEC is that they should go back to the drawing board; review all the challenges that people are facing now and find ways to address them. For instance, I don’t expect them to make it a four-year affair. Immediately after this election, by the grace of God, they should urgently address all the issues and I pray that the election will be peaceful all over the country. So, what I’m saying in essence is that they should really go back and see why the card reader machines are not working in some areas and working in other areas. If there is any particular component of it that they should remove or review or replace, they should do it and off course, they should do a trial test all the time to see that those things are working. And, off course, those who are yet to get their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs), they should find a way to ensure that as many as possible people get their PVCs. They should not just go and lock the PVCs somewhere; they should open their offices and let people come at their convenience to get their PVCs. At least, there are people who are being paid for this job, so they should just deliver by being in their offices and be doing this job. This way, all the headache we normally have when election is coming will at least reduce to the barest minimum. Again, the issue of ad hoc staff must be seriously looked into. I really want to beg INEC to please, let the presiding officers be people who have been thoroughly trained. The presiding officers in each of the polling units should not be ad hoc staff. They should be people who have been seriously trained. Off course, this afternoon, we realised that the reason why some of the card reader machines are not working is basically because some of the ad hoc staff were not properly trained to handle the device. In some areas, persons from another polling units had to come to help out and the thing worked. So, for me, I think these are the things INEC should pay attention to.

    Still on the ad hoc staff, what are your takes on their attitude to work?      

    Well, sincerely where I did my own voting, I must tell you that those guys there were not committed. Their disposition to people; their level of tolerance is equally not encouraging. The level of knowledge of some of them, I’m sorry to say, is nothing to write home about. They cannot comprehend the responsibilities they are being given to them. At every step, we have to be guiding them; we have to be telling them ‘do it this way, do it this way.’ At a particular point, they were telling us that certain number of people can’t do this and all that. For instance, we were already on the queue and they said all the electorates on ‘A-list’ should move, all B-list should move and I had to tell them that what they are doing is capable of disrupting the exercise and that it will take us another one hour to settle. Therefore, I had to suggest to them to write say A to D on their table and people whose name start from A to D will just walk up to the table and others will look for their own appropriate table. So, I think generally, the NYSC people need proper training. We can’t continue to use ad hoc; I’m looking at a process where we will improve more than what we have now. I cannot say precisely as I’m speaking with you which direction INEC should take. But, I know this process must be reviewed; we must re-evaluate the process we are using now. We must improve on it; we must get it to a standard that is acceptable worldwide.

    Despite all these challenges, do you still have confidence in the ability of INEC to deliver free, fair and credible poll?

    Look, Rome, they say, was not built in a day. First, we must have that confidence in them. If we don’t, that is a bad start. We must have that confidence in them because, really, do we have an option? There must be an umpire when you are conducting an election and in our instance, we have said INEC is the umpire that will conduct elections in our country. So, first we must have faith in them, but we must not stop identifying those areas that they need to improve upon; talk about it and challenge them to improve on it.