The Nation Newspaper

Tag: educated

  • ‘Nigerians need to be educated about fake news’

    Dr Abiodun Saka-Layonu (SAN) vied for the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship ticket in Osun State in July. In this interview with ROBERT EGBE, he shares his thoughts on fake news, judicial independence, rule of law and political party proliferation ahead of next year’s elections, among others.

    How best do you think the menace of fake news and election results can be addressed ahead of the 2019 general election?

    The issue of social media and its ramifications, including hate speech and fake news, is so entangled and intertwined with free speech and its control in a democratic society. Beyond the level of invoking the traditional laws that are in place, I want to suggest, if it is technologically possible, that there should be a warning on every platforms on the social media that will impress on the people to be wary about the information available to them. I think it’s a matter of general education. People need to be circumspect about every news item at their disposal whether on the social media or newspapers. It is not all of them that are true. Of course, social media is the most affected. All sorts of things are put there. I think there should be general education for the populace to be wary of some of these things. This is because it is a modern day phenomenon which is very difficult to control. The summary of all I am saying is that it is only general education that can help to deal with this menace and not so much legislations, because there will be serious problems concerning what represents free speech, hate speech and fake news in a democratic society.

    How much of independence can you say the judiciary has enjoyed since the inception of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration?

    Generally, my views about the independence of the judiciary are that it is the arm itself that must assert and enforce its own independence. We can’t be talking about the independence of the judiciary in the absence of the arm of government standing against every action of the other arms of government to relegate it. There is every tendency that any government that comes would want to control everything. Usually, if care is not taken, the Executive will want to control both the Legislature and the Judiciary. So, it is for the two other arms to assert themselves constitutionally and not allow the Executive to control them. They must enforce the independence that the Constitution has given them. I am not saying they must not co-operate with the Executive but constitutionally, they must assert their independence.

    Do you think the Judiciary has been asserting its constitutionally guaranteed independence?

    Well, from what I can see, I think the Judiciary does its best to assert itself in the light of the prevailing circumstances in the country. However, because of its own very nature, it is still reliant on the Executive to ensure that its orders are carried out and that the rule of law prevails. This is because the control and the machinery of enforcement of orders are not with the Judiciary. A lot of responsibilities still lie with the Executive. For instance, you will need police to enforce a court’s order. It is beyond the Judiciary. So, the failings that we see, particularly relating to matters involving the government is the yardstick to test whether or not the rule of law prevails.

    Do you think the Federal Government has largely complied with the rule of law?

    I think there are very important cases that tend to dispel that belief. If we are talking in terms of quantities and numbers, we might say something to the contrary. But, we can only judge or measure with certain very important cases. In all these, I think the government can do better. A lot more can still be done.

    At the last count, the country now has 91 registered political parties. What do we stand to benefit from this plurality, particularly as we are heading towards the next general election?

    The criteria to register a political party are not difficult to meet. However, in this country, people tend to abuse everything, particularly when they are at liberty to do something. Here is a right which everyone should cherish with dignity, but it is being abused. This is coupled with the nation’s political terrain where there are hardly any serious principles and fundamental beliefs; everybody is just looking for a platform to express his political aspiration. We cannot blame the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for registering the parties. The Supreme Court has interpreted the constitutional conditions for floating a political party in such a way that make it not difficult. But the responsibility now lies with Nigerians to know that this is not a right that should be used frivolously. What is lacking is the respect for the right which people are now using frivolously. I don’t think having a large number of political parties will make any positive impact on the polity. It may rather add to INEC’s burden. There is the cost implication of printing ballot papers with the logo of all the parties.

    Is the issue of the removal of the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, constitutional or more of Senate’s rule?

    The Constitution makes provision for how you appoint or elect leaders of both chambers of the National Assembly. It also makes provision for how they can be removed. So, it’s a constitutional issue. Though each of the legislative houses has its own rules that are made for the purpose of being able to ventilate what the Constitution has already provided for, the issue of removal of the Senate’s president is fundamentally constitutional. So, anytime this is to be done, there must be strict compliance with the Constitution

  • ‘I am obsessed with getting youths educated’

    Chairman, Senate Committee on Basic and Secondary Education Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko, says he is obsessed with the youths aquiring education at all levels.

    Wamakko spoke when the members and Executives of the Sokoto State Law Students’ Association, Usman Danfodiyo University, Sokoto Chapter, paid him a courtesy call at his Gawon Nama Sokoto residence.

    ” This is to make the young ones become mature and productive, hence being responsible members of the society,” said a statement signed by Wamakko’s Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Bashir Rabe Mani.

    The statement continued: “Developing human beings means a lot and I am always happy to see the people educated.

    “Education is also key to success in life and when you give education to the youth, you have developed the society in its entirety.

    “Education is something an individual acquires to make him more organised and live a decent life for the benefit of himself and the society.”

    Wamakko said by giving education to youths, one is at war with illiteracy, idleness, drug abuse and other social vices.

    Wamakko said that explained his personal sponsoring of hundreds of students in Republics of Niger; Republic of Benin; Uganda, Pakistan, Turkey and United Kingdom, among others.

    Wamakko promised to sponsor the members of the association to the forthcoming Annual National Convention of Nigerian Law Students in Lagos, adding that he accepted the students’ request to be their Grand Patron as well the sponsor of their hitherto moribund Journal.

    Earlier, President of the association, Abdulmumini Abdullahi, had told the lawmaker that the visit was to seek his fatherly prayers and support to the group.

    Abdullahi also recalled that Wamakko, as governor of the state, approved the payment of the Law School registration fees for all the successful final year law students from the state before their departure to the institution.

    “Is not out of way to say you have become a father to all the citizens of the state and the members of the association. We, therefore, commend you for the outstanding contributions to law making, peace building and sustenance in the state and Nigeria, in general,” the students said.

  • The learned and the educated

    Your editorial comment of Sunday, February 14, 2016 – SANs sans Wisdom: Senior Lawyers’ unusual solidarity with a colleague made an interesting reading.

    The editorial comment was factual, courageous and very balance. We cannot run away from the fact that the legal profession is central to any civil society, especially in a democratic setting. The elitist club of the SANs – the Senior Advocates of Nigeria – and their solidarity with their colleague, Ricky Tarfa (SAN), is not uncommon of professional groups as this is the usual demonstration of esprit de corps.

    If the story of Tarfa as reported in the dailies of shielding his clients from a legally constituted authority is true; this is least expected. This is a clear case of obstruction of justice and attempted perversion of justice. Since he has now decided to challenge the EFCC in court of which he is free, the EFCC should take it up as a challenge and be brave to avoid any intimidation or blackmail.

    The NBA as the statutory body controlling the legal profession has of recent threatened that any comment from any member on the Supreme Court judgements would be sanctioned. This is a dangerous trend as this will not enrich the legal profession, since all the Supreme Court judges are human and they can make mistakes.

    The SANs like all senior cadre of other professional bodies, be they accountants, bankers, doctors, professors, estate surveyors and valuers etc, are expected to act with integrity and high ethical standards especially in their professional lives.

    The privileged club of SANs should not therefore use their profession to pervert the course of justice.

    • Biyi Adesanya

    Ring Road, Ibadan

  • The learned and the educated

    Your editorial comment of Sunday, February 14, 2016 – SANs sans Wisdom: Senior Lawyers’ unusual solidarity with a colleague made an interesting reading.

    The editorial comment was factual, courageous and very balance. We cannot run away from the fact that the legal profession is central to any civil society, especially in a democratic setting. The elitist club of the SANs – the Senior Advocates of Nigeria – and their solidarity with their colleague, Ricky Tarfa (SAN), is not uncommon of professional groups as this is the usual demonstration of esprit de corps.

    If the story of Tarfa as reported in the dailies of shielding his clients from a legally constituted authority is true; this is least expected. This is a clear case of obstruction of justice and attempted perversion of justice. Since he has now decided to challenge the EFCC in court of which he is free, the EFCC should take it up as a challenge and be brave to avoid any intimidation or blackmail.

    The NBA as the statutory body controlling the legal profession has of recent threatened that any comment from any member on the Supreme Court judgements would be sanctioned. This is a dangerous trend as this will not enrich the legal profession, since all the Supreme Court judges are human and they can make mistakes.

    The SANs like all senior cadre of other professional bodies, be they accountants, bankers, doctors, professors, estate surveyors and valuers etc, are expected to act with integrity and high ethical standards especially in their professional lives.

    The privileged club of SANs should not therefore use their profession to pervert the course of justice.

    • Biyi Adesanya

    Ring Road, Ibadan

  • Every child must be educated

    One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world. Education first.”  The line was the concluding words of Malala Yousafzai in a speech she delivered before the United Nation Youth Assembly sometimes last year.

    Malala, who has now become a global icon after surviving a gun attack by the Taliban in her home country of Pakistan last year, has doubled her efforts in advocating education of the girl-child and enforcement of the right of every child to education.

    Given her activism, the United Nation declared her birthday, July 12 as “Malala Day” and just recently, she won the Nobel Peace Prize for her activities.

    The education rights activist was in Nigeria a couple of months ago to plead with the government to secure the release of schoolgirls kidnapped in Chibok, a village in Borno State, by Boko Haram fighters last April. But months after she left, the Chibok conundrum is yet to be solved. The Federal Government is still confused on the whereabouts of the girls but assuring that nation that it would ensure the “safe return” of the girls.

    It is a pity that the nation is still finding it difficult to locate the girls, after six months of their abduction. While these girls are being kept away from school by Boko Haram, the government considered it necessary to roll out drums to mark its “giant strides” and achievements that hardly have any positive effect on the people.

    The series of protests and campaign by #BringBackOurGirls advocacy group notwithstanding, the tears and sorrows in the heart of the girls’ parents will never dry while their children remain in captive. Who will console these people?

    It took the government six months to decide whether to negotiate the girls’ release with Boko Haram or to use force to free them.

    Pray, for how long would the nation cope with the reality of missing 219 girls? I certainly pray that the girls be eventually released to take up the scholarships given to them by the government of United States. While the government churns out inconsistent statements on their whereabouts, don’t we think the abduction could discourage the girl-child education in our society?

    Nigeria country is yet to uphold the fact that education is the right of every child (gender difference notwithstanding) as entrenched in the United Nation’s declaration and the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Sadly, some parts of this country still harbour the barbaric belief that girl-child education is a wasteful venture.

    I feel very sorry for a little girl called Aisha, who was lucky to be selected amongst three other children to be sponsored through school by a humanitarian organisation, but she unfortunately lost the golden opportunity to be educated due to her culture that demands her to be whisked to a man’s house at a tender age of eight all in the name of child marriage.

    Aishah’s case is just one out of thousands of innocent girls, who have been robbed of their dreams to become educated and more useful and productive to themselves and the nation at large.

    Despite the fact that insecurity is the beast ravaging our society and making it rather unsafe to send children to school, the fact remains that acquiring education is vital to development. It is the Chibok case that has gained international attention because of the number of girls involved.

    Do we know how many other girls like Aisha being made to suffer untold hardship because of one reason or the other? Even the ivory towers are no longer safe for the students, considering the height of insurgency that we are currently facing in the country. I strongly pray for a safer and better Nigeria, but it is time we combated the scourge called illiteracy.

     

    Halimah, 300-Level Law, UDUS

     

  • ‘The girl-child deserves to be educated’

    ‘The girl-child deserves to be educated’

     

    Amid the dissonance of voices trailing the position of the Senate on the on-going amendment of the constitution that a girl automatically becomes an adult once she is married, the Special Adviser to the Governor of Katsina State on Girl-Child Education and Child Development, Hajia Bilikisu M. Kaikai, tells ADETUTU AUDU that the girl- child deserves to be educated.THE education of the girl-child is apparently a priority to Governor Shema. Why is this so?

     

    His Excellency, Governor Shehu Shema, established the Department of Girl-Child Education and Child Development in 2008 as the first of its kind in Nigeria to improve the lot and the quality of life of girls, especially those from poor background in the rural communities. The establishment of the department underscores the governor’s passion for the education of the girl-child preparatory to her holistic development. It tells the story of a leader in a hurry to develop the human resources of the state without leaving any segment behind. Things can only get better when all the segments of the society have access to education so that the talent God has deposited in each of us can be developed and such can be used for the development of our state and the country.

    The state government also established schools exclusively for girls in each of the 34 local government areas of the state. The department mapped out strategies and domesticated international practices such as Teacher-Trainee Scholarship Scheme (FTTSS) to produce female NCE teachers and Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT), among others, to improve the lot of girls from poor families in rural communities.

    So, how do the two programmes aid the education of the girl-child?

    FTTSS is one of the components of UNICEF/DFID’s Girls’ Education Project (GEP). The scheme is a special intervention providing financial support to the tune of N50, 000 for each female NCE student annually for registration, education materials and general upkeep. Beneficiaries are drawn from poor families in rural communities so that at the end of their training, they are bonded to return to their communities to teach. How this helps is that it increases the number of qualified female teachers in rural schools, provides mentoring services to girls, makes rural schools girl-child friendly, increases enrolment, improves attendance as well as raises completion and transition rates.

    FTTSS implementation in Katsina State started after 150 girls in 2008 secured admission into the state College of Education for their NCE programme .It was agreed that the state government was to support 100 students and the remaining 50 by UNICEF/DFID. The number of beneficiaries increased to 240 in 2009 and, in 2010, it went up to 340 after it was decided that each local government in the state should contribute 10 beneficiaries to the scheme while the state government support 80 percent and UNICEF/DFID support 20 percent.

    Under the CCT scheme, the girl-child gets paid to remain in school. This is an innovation to keep the girl-child in school in a society where parents oftentimes are not disposed to educating the female children. The state government is the main financier of the CCT, with technical and moral support from UNICEF, MDGs, World Bank and other stakeholders. It is designed to increase the level of enrolment of girls in school and their retention until graduation, as well as reduce the poverty level of benefiting families. The programme is run in nine LGAs. 125 primary schools are involved while 9095 beneficiary-girls receive N5, 000 each every three months. Each girl is paid the sum through her mother if she scores 80 percent attendance in school in the three months monitored and evaluated.

    Funding must have been a big challenge. How has the state government been able to sustain it?

    The state government has committed more than N300million from the inception of the programme in 2009 to date to the CCT. The amount represents the expenditure incurred in establishing the implementation unit, purchase of monitoring vehicles, training, cash disbursements to beneficiaries and other logistics.

    The CCT Programme Implementation Unit has disbursed five cash transfers and 12 rounds of mandatory monitoring to be followed by three rounds of monitoring preparatory to the sixth cash transfer in August, 2013.

    And in appreciation of Katsina State government’s commitment to the success and continuity of the programme, the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) headquarters in Abuja contributed N200 million to facilitate successful implementation. UNICEF also engaged a resident consultant from Ayala Consulting Equador, who helped in laying solid foundation for effective and successful implementation of the CCT programme. UNICEF contributes in the areas of training and other consultative services. The need to make mothers own the CCT demands that we provide them with skills and resettlement packages.

    The CCT runs currently only in nine LGAs. What happens in the remaining 25 LGAs?

    His Excellency, Governor Shema’s plan is to scale up the programme to cover all the 34 local government areas of the state, as well as extend the programme to junior secondary schools (to complete basic education circle) in the state. This will hopefully be in active collaboration with the World Bank, MDGs, UNICEF, and other development partners and stakeholders.

    Apart from this, which other areas is the Shema administration making the difference in the life of the child?

    The governor has shown tremendous interest in the orphans and vulnerable children so much so that there are adequate provisions for their upkeep. We have a Children’s Home in Katsina town where these children are taken care of. These children are accommodated in the home, fed and clothing provided for them. They are also given the opportunity of education while efforts are made to locate their families or hand them over to leaders in their areas for proper care.

    The general public is also given the opportunity to serve as foster parents to these children by adopting them. The state government strengthened the national survey on orphans and vulnerable children by going into partnership with local NGOs to conduct a baseline survey which yielded 37,000 of such children as against the 17million captured at the national level, and reflecting the children’s needs to be provided by the three tiers of government and international agencies.

    Now, to reduce the incidence of vulnerable children, we are mounting a sensitisation campaign against child abandonment. And in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, the state government provided education support to 300 orphans across the state and for which N1, 920, 000 was received from global funds. The state government invested N2, 682, 000 as counterpart fund in this project. The state government also enhances children’s participation in activities at national and continental levels.