The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Education

  • Abia’s strides in education sector

    Abia’s strides in education sector

    Education is obviously the most powerful weapon that can be used to change the world says the late great freedom fighter and legend, Nelson Mandela. But how far have we as a people and a nation strived to promote quality and affordable education as a means of changing our great country Nigeria for better?

    Before now, Nigeria’s education system was ranked among the best in the continent of Africa. Then there were few schools mostly public, and governments at all levels lived up to expectations in funding and promotion of good and qualitative education. The country was good for it and a lot of Nigerians benefitted from it.

    But since the policy of private ownership of schools came into existence, the rat race for proliferation of schools became the order of the day, not for affordable and sound education, but purely for commercial purposes. Beneficiaries of public schools who are in position of authority today loot public treasury at ease, refuse to fund public schools, and at the same time use the looted funds to establish their own private schools using their stooges as proxies to run them. In the face of all these, the education sector continued to dwindle unabated with shocking performance year in, year out. That is where we are today as a country.

    But despite all these challenges, the present government in Abia State has from inception taken the bull by the horn in addressing the age-long rot and challenges that has bedeviled education sector in the state. Before the inception of the current administration, the state of educational infrastructures, conditions of service for workers and learning environment for students in all the state-owned schools were pathetic and appalling.  That was why coming on board in 2007, the Theodore Orji administration increased the monthly subvention to all the tertiary institutions in the state. The state Scholarship Board that had been moribund was reactivated. With the reactivation of the Scholarship Board, the regular bursary disbursements to indigent Abia students was resurrected and beneficiaries have continued to enjoy it till date. The board also reactivated the Overseas Scholarship Scheme through which it has granted bursaries to over 40 students of Abia State origin studying in the United States of America, United Kingdom, South Africa and Asia. Students of Abia origin currently in Nigeria Law schools across the country were recently paid bursary by the state government.

    The governor also instituted a private scholarship scheme – the Ochendo Scholarship Scheme which took off with 25 undergraduates in various disciplines within the country as beneficiaries. The project which was strictly private has the respected Catholic Bishop of Umuahia, Most Rev. Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji as its Board Chairman. One of the beneficiaries of the Scheme, Solomon Odochi Chibuzo of the Department of Animal and Environmental Biology Abia State University Uturu emerged the overall best graduating student of the university in 2013 with CGPA 4.8. He was granted automatic employment by the university.

    The government also increased the fleet of buses in its Free-School-Bus Scheme for students in secondary and primary schools while equally repackaging the scheme to ensure effective and efficient service delivery. Teachers’ salaries and allowances are being paid regularly and as at when due. The same goes with their promotions and entitlements that accompany it which hitherto were stunted.

    Since 2007, the government has embarked on massive rehabilitation and construction of standard classroom blocks, offices, and other facilities in schools across the state. Presently many of the rehabilitation and construction works at the schools have been completed. They include construction of classroom block at Nde Ebe Primary School Abam, Arochukwu, construction of many administrative blocks at a school in Okeikpe Ukwa-west, construction of administrative blocks and borehole at Ogbor Central School old Umuahia. At Isikwuato High School, three classroom blocks and a toilet were constructed. The same facilities were also constructed in Community School Umuobala, also in Isikwuato council area. Also not left out were Leru Secondary/ primary schools Leru in Umunneochi council area where several classrooms were constructed. Across the state, massive on-going reconstruction and rehabilitation works are on-going at a pace unprecedented in history of public schools in the state.

    With the completion of works in a number of the schools, the state government returned them to their origin owners to manage, while still paying the teachers salaries. The government, through the Ministry of Education ensured strict supervision and monitoring of the activities of private schools in the state the result of which was the closure of some of that were caught cutting corners.

    Some Nigerians may be surprised at the superb performance of Abia State in the recently released 2013 West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination WASSCE in which they emerged the overall second best in the country behind Anambra State. It is nothing but a confirmation and the result of the present administration’s massive investment in education in last seven years.  With what the government has invested in the sector, the WASSCE feat is just a tip of ice berg; certainly the state will do much in the years to come when the sector must have consolidated the gains of the government’s interventions.

    State-owned tertiary institutions were not left out in the ongoing education revolution in the state. Recently, the state governorn approved a raise in the monthly subvention of Abia Polytechnic Aba from N25 to N90 million.  And towards the end of last year, the government released the sum of N5.4 billion to the management of the state university, ABSU to tackle infrastructure projects in the school. The government also restored peace and harmony between the university and its host community, complete liquidation of the arrears of six months salaries of staff, which gulped a whopping N960 million. The government also redeemed her promise to implement the 2009 FGN/University Staff union’s package in the university from January 2011 which cost the government an additional N528 million.

    Before now, the university Surgery and Medicine programme was facing the threat of de-accreditation by the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria. The government has since rescued the university by providing all the requirements for full accreditation of the programme. The governor approved and awarded contracts for two major projects for the school – the Medical Complex and an auditorium for the University Teaching Hospital located in Aba. The projects have been completed and handed over the management of the school since.

    The government interventions in the educational sector has already started bearing fruits as can be seen from the plethora of laurels and awards garnered by the state at various national and zonal competitions. Sometime ago, the state took the overall best position in the Universal Basic Education Commission Good Performance rating for the entire South-East zone; the state also came second in educational performance in the South-East zone, and was rewarded with a plaque and cash prize of N70 million naira. Truly, the state has now arrived as a pacesetter in educational development in the country.

    • Mrs Ozuobi, a teacher wrote from Umuahia, Abia State

  • Ensure girl-child education, Zuriel urges leaders

    Ensure girl-child education, Zuriel urges leaders

    Nigerian-American child prodigy, Zuriel Oduwole has urged female leaders to intensify efforts towards girl-child education.

    She made the call at the First Ladies’ Colloquy on Girl-child Education ‘Practical & Simple Solutions, one-village at a time’ which she hosted in Lagos last Saturday.

    “I am not always happy seeing children out of school; it is a signpost to poverty and bleak future. We need involvement of first Ladies, mothers, School owners and all change-agents to ensure that the girl-child is allowed to have quality education and acquire skills that would make her a wholesome person to herself and the nation at large,” Oduwole stated.

    She illustrated her vision for girl-child education with a mini-documentary on the role of technology in educating children around the world like she and her sister received their own education.

    Participants at the event included select student representatives from Pampers Private school, Corona, Greensprings, Halifield and other schools.

    The First Lady of Tanzania, Mr  Salma Kikwete represented by the Ambassador of Tanzania to Nigeria, Mr. Daniel Ole Njoolay called all African leaders to support Zuriel’s genuine concern for the development of the continent  and particularly the girl-child education campaign.

    The First Lady of Lagos State, Dame Abimbola Fashola also advocated for equal education of both girls and boys.

    “What I advocate is that we should not concentrate mainly on our girl children and forget about the male children because then we would have another problem to solve,” she noted.

    Heritage Bank’s Managing Director, Mr. Ifie Sekibo represented by an Executive director of the Bank –  Mr. Robert Mbonu, commended Zuriel’s impressive exploits in Nigeria and across the globe.

    He stated that the bank was committed to children having financial responsibilities.

    “Heritage Bank is built on three platforms; to create wealth, to preserve wealth and to transfer wealth across generations. In line with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s financial inclusion strategy, we have adopted some schools. The idea is to ensure financial responsibilities in our children. We want them to learn basic skills of money management,” Mbonu said.

    Mrs. Tokunbo Durosaro, Director, Oando Foundation, also applauded Zuriel for her efforts and appealed to private organisations to help develop the nation’s  educational  system.

    She saw a clear parallel in what Zuriel was doing, and the efforts of Oando Foundation, noting how far and how much one young girl has done, and challenging the corporate community to do even much more.

    The events sponsors included Eko Hotels, Coscharis BMW, Ethiopian Airlines, Heritage Bank, House of Tara, KSquare, Pan African University, Four Points By Sheraton, HERTZ, and The Nations Newspapers.

     

  • On the wind of change in education from the north

    On the wind of change in education from the north

    That northern leaders from various political parties are now convinced that progress in the north depends on the level of literacy in the region is good news for the whole country

    Whose who criticise the propensity of Nigerians to have faith in miracles do not seem to understand the metaphysics of change. Change sometimes comes in the manner of miracles, without any visible connection to logic. At a time that a section of the north is killing innocent citizens in the belief that education is sin, major leaders from the north are creating revolutionary ideas about education in response to the logic of lack, lack prolongation, and lack liquidation. Perhaps, the age of Nigeria’s miracles has arrived, even before delegates start sitting to create constitutional change in Abuja.

    Although the quality of education has declined considerably in all parts of the country, the number of children in schools and colleges in most of the north has remained small in relation to the south, despite several attempts to redress the imbalance over the years. The low enrollment across levels of education has not resulted from Boko Haram’s Education is Sin philosophy. Long before the grandparents of Boko Haram adherents were born, the gap between school enrollment in the north and in the south was very wide. It was so wide in the 1970s that the federal military government designated most states in the northern part of the country as educationally backward or disadvantaged. Only two states: Rivers and Lagos were in this category from the south at that time. These two states outgrew their disadvantage, simply because their leaders took deliberate decisions to redress educational imbalance as the only way to participate in the culture of modernity.

    But most states in the north have remained disadvantaged even four decades after the federal government created several affirmative action programmes to change the culture of education in the region. Schools of basic studies were started in the region, to prepare students for tertiary education. Nomadic education was established by the federal government to give education to itinerant animal farmers. Joint Admission and Matriculation Board was created to control admission to federal universities, with a view to ensure a level playing field for candidates from the north and the south. Up till today, JAMB has different levels of scores for college admission for citizens from the north and the south, all in an effort at educational equalisation between the two regions. More recently, the federal government also initiated a new version of nomadic education, called Almajiri education. But none of these affirmative action programmes seems to have worked well to induce the culture of modernity in the north, in relation to the rest of the country.

    All the time that the federal government devoted huge resources to affirmative action, northern leaders did not show as much enthusiasm about changing the mindset of citizens and improving facilities for learning as the federal government did. The result is the widening gap between the two sections of the country even fifty years after independence. That northern leaders from various political parties are now convinced that progress in the north depends on the level of literacy in the region is good news for the whole country. Once all the states are on the same page on the relationship between literacy and development, the entire country will be on its way to solving most of the other problems that militate against peace and progress in the fledgling federation.

    New ideas about how to position the north favorably for development are now coming from within the region, without any stimulation from the omnipotent federal government that often confuses creating bureaucracies with providing education. The good thing about the new ideas from northern leaders is that they can also help the south to come to grips with changing demands for modernisation and globalisation. For example, nothing captures the theme of education in a federation better than Nuhu Ribadu’s advice: “As part of a federal system, the north can legitimately articulate its own philosophy and tools for development to achieve whatever agenda is for the north….In this journey we are making, we have to continue to evaluate and from time to time, shake up or shake off practices, norms, and dogmas that hinder our progress.”

    Another seismic change in worldview or ideology is captured by Atiku Abubakar’s recent suggestion: “We cannot significantly improve education in this country if we continue with the current overly centralised system with suffocating federal control….Federal schools should be handed over to the states in which they are locatedand the budgetary resources hitherto expended on them transferred to those state governments. In addition to decentralisation and geographical diversification we must also diversify our curriculum and educational programmes. The one-size-fits-all approach will not help us.” Just like Ribadu, Atiku is responding creatively to the realities of the north in particular while also pointing to the way out of the educational decline that has affected the whole country in the last four decades, particularly since federal government’s take-over of commanding heights of education during the era of military rule.

    Still on the theme of miracles happening when the time is ripe, the Northern Governors Forum put the icing on the cake when it announced the group’s intention, shortly before going on an investment drive in the United States last week, to take the matter of education into the hands of the rulers of the north. To show that the governors are ready to use home-spun methods to increase school enrollment and retention, they have, without apology, decided to re-establish two-year teacher training colleges that the federal government had abolished nationwide, to abolish school fees for secondary school students; and to re-establish schools of basic studies to prepare school leavers in the region for university admission.

    These ideas from the north should be of interest to politicians from the south as well. They are likely to be as useful to the south as they are to the north. Northern political leaders have, in the statements quoted earlier, set the tone for re-federalisation of education in the country. They have come to grips with major issues in the design of education provision. First, major northern leaders have recognised the umbilical cord between literacy and development. Second, they have acknowledged the relationship between culture and education. Third, the leaders have come to realise that federal bureaucracies cannot develop education effectively in a federal system. Fourth, they are ready to do whatever is necessary internally to solve a problem that is largely internal to the region.

    The unintended consequence of this paradigm shift in the north is the groundwork it has done indirectly for delegates at the national conference. By recognising the failure in centralisation of education, especially the stifling of innovation caused by an “overly centralised curriculum,” to borrow Atiku’s vocabulary, northern political leaders are signalling to their southern counterparts that they are ready for far-reaching decentralisation in the provision of education in the country.

    National conference delegates need to congratulate themselves for having the advantage of starting the conference on a note of consensus on a major area of revenue and responsibility allocation. Just as Femi Folorunso said in a recent lecture in Lagos: “Make or Break: the Imperative of Cultural Democracy in Nigeria,” delegates should accept the need to put the matter of education at all levels to the states and leave only quality assurance and specialised research to the federal government. The old approach started by military rulers to give funds and functions that should have been better left to subnational governments to the central government are now being deconstructed by political and cultural leaders from a region that has contributed more to unitary rule than any other part of the country. The call for decentralisation of education by the north is the way to go for the entire country, especially now that it embarks on re-designing itself for a future of peace and progress.

  • How to improve your diction

    How to improve your diction

    Diction is an act of speaking in a distinctive way, the choice of picking words, pronouncing correctly, and the level of articulation. Speaking in the right diction and pronouncing each word according to its sound helps in improving your diction.

    A diction instructor, Drew Company Concept, Mr. Andrew Bini highlights ways to improving your diction.

    1. Don’t speak local dialect more than English

    There is every tendency that if you speak too much of your local dialect and less of English language, it is necessary that the first language be spoken often and also when pronouncing certain words that are dialect based, if care is not taken, the way we pronounce our dialect based words are the same way we will transfer it to the words that are of English background. So it is necessary we speak less of our dialect and try to change words you are used to pronouncing in your dialect to English.

    2. Focus on what you speak and don’t be distracted

    Most times people tend to make jest of others that pronounce words better than they do or in a different way or sound differently from the normal tradition. So whoever wants to work on his diction should not be bothered about what people say, as they would make jest or laugh at you but if you must attain what you want, you should not consider what they say rather what is right.

    3. Constantly use a pronouncing  dictionary

    It is important to know that when you are conversant with your dictionary, you can always look up words, get the meaning and pronunciation. If you are able to use it frequently or check up words apart from the fact that it will build the level of your lexicon, it will also help to pronounce words correctly with the transcription given against each word.

    The pronouncing dictionary is a type of dictionary that helps the user pronounce given words. So, the English pronouncing dictionary is one that helps the way you pronounce words correctly with the correct stress pattern. Certain words in Nigeria are not pronounced correctly but with a pronouncing dictionary you will be able to tell where the stress is placed.

    4. Work on your rise and fall intonation

    The intonation is also another part that helps you to correctly say words the way they should be. A question should fall at the beginning and rise at the end. For instance:

    Are you going?
    Fall         rise
    Working on your intonation doesn’t only help you to be a better speaker but helps to also convey your message correctly.

    5. Working on your /ei/ sounds

    This has to do with working with words usually called ‘a’ as Nigerians when it should be /ei/. Getting good intonation starts from working on your basic /ei/ sounds. The sound is paramount because that is one of the easiest ways a person will know if your diction is improved or not. For starters, pronounce words that end with ‘ay’ with the /ei/ sound. Play /pleI/, Stay /steI/, Day /deI/ e.t.c.

    6. Never copy others

    Never copy others in word pronunciation; sometimes individuals may have difficulty in pronunciations. Other people ignorantly pronounce the ‘ph’ in the word ‘shepherd’,  as /f/ instead of /p/. That an individual speaks with a foreign diction or pronounces words in a different way does not necessarily mean that the person is correct. You may not need to copy others and if need be, then, you need to confirm from your dictionary first to be sure you are copying the right pronunciation.

    7. Practice what you’ve learnt

    This is very important. Note that if you learn something and don’t use it, there is every tendency of forgetting or not even knowing it anymore. Whatever you’ve learnt put it into practice. When you do, it will stick or become a part of your sub-conscious mind that even when you are woken up at the middle of the night, you would always speak correctly. Continuous practice they say makes perfect.

    8. Attend trainings and seminars

    This is a necessity as it enables you know the basics and fundamentals of speaking good English and becoming a good speaker. From the greetings, letters of the alphabet, the vowel and consonant sounds, place and manner of articulation for each sound, training helps in providing the foundation for diction. At the training, participants have the opportunity to record whatever the speaker says so as to enhance good learning.

  • 50 years of legal education in Nigeria: A critique

    50 years of legal education in Nigeria: A critique

    (f) Continuing Legal Education

    Continuing legal education (CLE; also known as MCLE (mandatory or minimum continuing legal education)) is a professional education of lawyers that takes place after their initial admission to the bar. It is to ensure that lawyers remain professionally competent throughout their careers. In the United Kingdom for instance, a lawyer has to be assessed every year before he is allowed to practise. To remain competent, the lawyer has to stay in touch with the profession. All Nigerian Lawyers in legal practice or employment must comply with the Nigerian Bar Association’s Mandatory Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) Programme.

    The Nigerian Bar Association Institute of Continuing Legal Education (ICLE) serves as the Continuing Legal Education regulatory authority for the NBA and the profession by providing the standards and scope for the MCLE programme. The institute is overseen by the Board of the Nigerian Bar Association’s Mandatory Continuing Legal Education and works closely with Nigerian Bar Association Sections and the various local branches at large in developing programmes on Mandatory Continuing Legal Education.

    In many states in the United States, Continuing Legal Education participation is required of attorneys to maintain their license to practise law. Continuing Legal Education requirements exist in many other jurisdictions, such as in Canada.

    If we impose these same conditions here in Nigeria, we can be sure that any Lawyer who practises in Nigeria is not out of touch with the Profession32. This should be seen as a further contribution of legal education to the profession in Nigeria.

     

    8. Conclusion

    There is no doubt that legal education in Nigeria has come a long way since the days of “Igbosere”. We now have more campuses of the Nigerian Law school than before, more Faculties of Law, more law students and by extension, more lawyers. This is an encouraging development, but it is not enough that the period of 50 years of legal education has brought us more lawyers, we also need to know that their quality is such that they can stand among the best in the world. This should be our collective objective. Today’s lawyer lacks adequate preparation for the basics of legal practice and this lack of preparedness stems from the problems already highlighted. There is a need to adjust legal education in Nigeria to be more in tune with what obtains in the developed parts of the world. Happily, there have been concerted efforts made by the current Leadership of the Nigerian Law School to address these problems, some of which were inherited.

    We should aim not only to have as many lawyers as possible, but to have lawyers we can be proud of at all times; both intellectually and otherwise.

    We should be more forward thinking. What would legal education in Nigeria look like when it is 100 years old? Would it be better than it is presently or worse? These are the questions that should agitate our minds. Like I said earlier, it is not all gloom and doom. The profession has coped well after 50 years of legal education. We are not where we are supposed to be, but we are also not where we were before.

    9. BIBLIOGRAPHY

     

    Statutes referred to

     

    1. Legal Education (Consolidation, etc.) Act, Cap L10, LFN 2004.

    2. Legal Practitioners Act, Cap L11, LFN 2004.

     

    Books Referred To

    1. Adewoye, O. The Legal Profession in Nigeria 1865-1977 (Lagos: Longman, 1977).

    2. Doherty O Legal Practice and Management in Nigeria (Lon don: Cavendish Publishing Limited, 1998).

    3. Encylopaedia Brittanica 2003 Edition ISBN-10: 0852299613 | ISBN-13: 978-0852299616.

    4. Imhanobe S Lawyer’s Deskbook (Abuja: Temple Legal Con sult, 2010

    Articles and Publications Referred To

    1. A Model Definition of the Practice of Law: If Not Now, When? An Alternative Approach To Defining the Practice of Law-Soha. F, Volume 61, Issue 4, Article 13, Washington and Lee Law Review. 9/1/2004.

    2. Address delivered by Dr Tahir Mamman, Director General of the Nigerian Law School at the Presentation of Candidates for Call to the Nigerian Bar at the International Conference Centre, Abuja on 14 February, 2012.

    3. Court Dismisses Aturu’s Suit on Law School’s Fees-This Day Newspaper, October 18, 2013.

    4. Democracy And Socio-Economic Imbalance in Nigeria: the role of law. Being the full text of a Keynote Address delivered at the Nigerian Bar Association (Benin Branch) Law Week On June 24, 2013 at Fourteen Eighty Five Marquee, Edo Hotel Premises, No.4, Okada Drive, GRA, Benin City, Edo State. By Chief Joe-Kyari Gadzama, MFR, SAN, FCIArb. (UK).

    5.Jurist: The Legal Education Network: History of the Legal Profession in Nigeria. Prof. Yemisi Akinseye George, (now SAN) Acting Head and Senior Lecturer, Department of Public and International Law, University of Ibadan.

    6. Modernizing Legal Practice In Nigeria: Challenges And Prospects: Being The Full Text Of A Paper Delivered At The 2013 State Of The Legal Profession Lecture Of The Nigerian Institute Of Advanced Legal Studies (Nials) On August 06, 2013 At Shehu Musa Yar’adua Centre, Abuja By Chief Joe-Kyari Gadzama, MFR, SAN, FCIArb. (UK)+

    7. mynlasportal.com (the Nigerian Law School’s official website) on Friday, September 27, 2013.

    8. Soha F Turfler A Model Definition of the Practice of Law: If Not Now, When? An Alternative Approach To Defining the Practice of Law- Volume 61, Issue 4, Article 13, Washington and Lee Law Review. 9/1/2004.

    9. The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin. October 5, 2010.

    10. Training to Become a Lawyer in Nigeria’ – Idornigie, P O being a Chapter Contribution to the book The Anatomy of the Legal Profession in Nigeria published by the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, 2013

     

    (Footnotes)

    1 Now Legal Education (Consolidation, Etc) Act, Cap L10, LFN, 2004.

    2 1962.

    3 See the Address delivered by Dr Tahir Mamman, Director General of the Nigerian Law School at the Presentation of Candidates for Call to the Nigerian Bar at the International Conference Centre, Abuja on 14 February, 2012

    4 See the Body of Benchers

    ’ Programme for the Call to the Nigerian Bar: 14 February, 2012 at page 5.

    5 Soha F Turfler

    A Model Definition of the Practice of Law: If Not Now, When? An Alternative Approach To Defining the Practice of Law

    – Volume 61, Issue 4, Article 13, Washington and Lee Law Review. 9/1/2004.

    6 See generally, Idornigie, P O

    ‘Training to Become a Lawyer in Nigeria

    ’ being a Chapter Contribution to the book

    The Anatomy of the Legal P

    rofession in Nigeria

    published by the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, 2013

    7 The words

    ‘lawyer

    ’ and

    ‘legal practitioner

    ’ are used interchangeably. Indeed in the Legal Practitioners Act the word used and defined is

    ‘legal practitioner

    ’ while Rule 56 of the Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners, 2007 defines the word

    ‘lawyer

    ’ by reference to the definition in the Act.

    8 Ordinance No 4 of 1876.

    9 These include experienced court clerks

    10 See Supreme Court Ordinance No. 4 of 1876 that granted powers to the Chief Justice to admit persons to so practice.

    11 Gray

    ’s Inn, Inner Temple, Lincoln

    ’s Inn and Middle Temple.

    12 He was enrolled in England as Barrister in November 1879 and in Nigeria on 11 August, 1880. He set up practice first in Accra which was then part of the Southern Protectorate of Nigeria and then Lagos. He practised among self-taught attorneys. Thereafter there were few legal practitioners who established practice in Lagos, Calabar, Onitsha and Warri as sole practitioners.

    13 Adewoye Fn 20 at 16

    14 Doherty Fn 20 at 7

    15 Ordinance No. 6 of 1914

    16 A qualified lawyer may either be a non-graduate barrister or solicitor or a graduate barrister or solicitor. To qualify as barrister or solicitor, a person must possess Ordinary Level or its equivalent, join any of the four Inns of Court and pass the Bar Part I and II examinations or Law Society Examinations for Part I and II respectively. The graduate lawyers enjoyed some privileges

    – a person with a law degree having a minimum of Second Class Honours is exempted from Bar/Law Society Part I examination, enjoyed enhanced salary and served shorter period of pupilage.

    17 The membership of the Committee were: E I G Unsworth (the Attorney General of the Federation), Chief F R A Williams (Attorney General, Western Nigeria), M O Ajegbo (Attorney General, Eastern Nigeria), G K O Amachree (Solicitor General of the Federation), I M Lewis (Solicitor General, Northern Nigeria) and the following legal practitioners: Alhaji Jibrin Martin, C A H Obafemi, Asuquo Okon, J M Udochi, Dr F A Ajayi and C O Nwokedi.

    18 In 1962, one campus was established in Lagos but the Nigerian Law School now has campuses in Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Enugu, Yenogoa and Yola.

    19 Now Legal Education (Consolidation, Etc) Act, Cap L10, LFN, 2004

    20 The other enactment is the Legal Practitioners Act, Cap L11, LFN 2004.

    21

    Problem of legal education in Nigeria

    Hon. Justice M.O. Onolaja, OFR, JCA, LLD, is the former Chairman of the Council of Legal Education

    22 1962

    23 Culled from the mynlasportal.com (the Nigerian Law School’s official website) on Friday, September 27, 2013.

    24

    Modernizing legal practice in Nigeria: challenges and prospects:

    Being the full text of a paper delivered at the 2013 state of the legal profession lecture of the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (Nials) on August 06, 2013 at Shehu Musa Yar’Adua centre, Abuja by Chiefjoe-Kyari Gadzama, MFR, SAN, FCIArb. (UK)+

    25 Idornigie Fn 21 at 5.

    26

    http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bar

    Professional Training Course accessed on 18 May, 2012

    27 The ten institutions are:

    BPP Law School, London, BPP Law School, Leeds, University of the West of Engl and, Bristol, Cardiff University, Cardiff, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, The College of Law, London, the College of Law, Birmingham, City Law School, London, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, Northumbra University, Newcastle upon Tyne and Kaplan Law School, London

    28Court Dismisses Aturu’s Suit on Law School’s Fees-This Day Newspaper, October 18, 2013.

    29

    See Fn 25.

    30

    See Fn 25.

    31

    Supra See Fn 25.

    32

    Supra. See Fn 25.

     

  • Boost for girl-child education

    Boost for girl-child education

    Women’s problems seem to begin from infancy. Either that parents, in line with societal requirement, prefer boys to ensure continuity in the lineage, or they believe more on his education to the detriment of the girl child. This places her at a disadvantage even up to adulthood.

    Gender activists have always regarded this as discrimination against the women folk and have said women should be empowered through education.

    Crusaders for women empowerment maintain that the objective of making women realise their potential could be achieved only through genuine commitment to the education of the girl child.

    As a result of this, some school proprietors have decided to devote their schools’ programme of study to the education of the girl child.

    One of such proprietors is Mrs Mariam Mutallab Duba, the founder of Noble Hall School Abuja who runs an all-girls secondary school.

    She said her decision was borne out of the need to nurture girls for leadership role in the 21 Century.

    In a chat with our correspondent, she said the school has a vision of enriching girls’ lives through holistic world-class education that will develop leaders of tomorrow.

    “We also aim at providing a first-class educational environment for girls, create new cadre of female leaders, equip girls with the required knowledge and skills and strong family values to influence change in Nigeria and Africa,” she said.

    At the main site of the school located at the Idu Industrial District of the city, Mrs Duba said while construction work is ongoing, the school is scheduled to be inauguration next month.

    Two private institutions, the Nigeria Turkish Nile University and the Baze University are also located in the area.

    On the structural design of the school, she said the two-storey academic building has first-rate facilities.

    “The staff office carries an ambience that makes one work and work. It has 20 classrooms, eight laboratories and a library.

    “The library, which is online, has resources covering both e-books and physical books. Behind the academic building is a horticulture garden.

    “The two-storey hostel has a common room, 24 units with two dormitories each and a basement for laundry. Each dormitory has three bathrooms, three toilets and three box rooms. Attached to the dormitory is a kitchenette. Each unit has a common area apart from the main one at the entrance of each floor.

    “The auditorium, with its below-the-surface walkway, is a demonstration of architectural sophistication.

    “The large dining building with conical roof and a multi-purpose hall has capacity for 500. The teachers’ quarters look cute just as the sporting complex attracts even non-athletes,” she said.

    Mr Stewart Cowden, the Principal of the school said management looks forward to producing a premier institution in the whole of Africa in the next three years.

  • FG spent N110bn on tertiary education in 3 years – Minister

    FG spent N110bn on tertiary education in 3 years – Minister

    The Supervising Minister of Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, said on Tuesday that the Federal Government spent N110 billion through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) between 2011 and 2013.

    Wike made the announcement in Enugu at a Stakeholders’ Town Hall meeting on TETFUND interventions in tertiary institutions in the South East.

    The minister said that a breakdown of the expenditure showed that government spent N30 billion in 2011, N35 billion in 2012 and N45 billion in 2013.

    He said that each university in the South East Zone got three billion naira under the high impact intervention on infrastructure development.

    The minister said that each polytechnic and college of education received two billion naira and one billion naira, respectively.

    Wike expressed his dismay that many state and Federal Government-owned tertiary institutions did not access the fund for their development.

    “We have N50 billion not accessed in the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) lying fallow in various commercial banks.’’

    The minister said the town hall meeting was borne out of the prolonged strike of the Academic Staff Union of Universities and to also brief stakeholders on investment in the education sector.

    He expressed the willingness of the Federal Government to provide quality education for the people.

    The Acting Executive Secretary of TETFUND, Malam Aliyu Na’iya, spoke on the activities of the company.

    Na’iya said that it was established to provide support for the development of tertiary institutions in infrastructure, library, system development, training and research.

    He said that the company never awarded contracts on behalf of the institutions but supervised the implementation of contracts.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that representatives of each tertiary institution took turns to present reports of funds they received.

  • Expert advocates quality education for women

    The Federal Government has been urged to give women quality and functinal education to enhance the country’s growth.

    Speaking at closing ceremony of a national conference organised by the Nigerian Aid Group of Islam and the JNI, a professor of Education at Usman Danfodiyo University, Sokoto Mrs Aishatu Madawaki Isah said such education was necessary for women to contribute to health and other development initiatives.

    The theme of the conference attended by women from 25 states of the federation was: “Women, the Centre-point for community Health and National Development.’’

    Mrs Isah said the Nigerian woman had the potential to contribute to all aspects of national and human development like their counterparts in other parts of the world.

    The don, represented by Hajiya Halima Abubakar, said: “The Nigerian woman, if given the space and required knowledge, has the dependable strength to size up any woman from across the globe.

    “Therefore, women should be adequately empowered with the right type of education.”

    Earlier, the Sokoto State President of the Nigerian Aid Group, Ahaji Sani Umar said the conference was part of the ongoing national efforts to promote the campaign for effective healthcare as it concerns maternal and child health.

    Umar said the importance of the conference could not be over-emphasised considering the importance of women in the society.

    According to the District Head of Gagi, women are strong pillars in the society and the immediate family,” stating that “the importance of this conference is too glaring.

    The traditional ruler also said the conference was a good one considering the socio-cultural, economic and health challenges in the society.

    ‘’This conference aims at ensuring the significant reduction in maternal mortality, and by extension, to reduce the rate of child mortality through collaboration between healthcare service providers and community at all levels,’’ he said.

  • Education Minister not qualified – COEASU

    Members of the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union [COEASU], Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo, Saturday trooped out to protest what they called the”maladministration”of the Supervising Minister of Education, Ezebunwo Nyesom Wike .

    They maintained that he is not qualified to be a minister.

    Its former National President, Comrade Remi Makinde said it would have been logical if Wike holds the office of “Special Adviser to the President on Governor Rotimi Amaechi’s affairs rather than be in an office that decides the future of all Nigerian students.

    Makinde said Wike is a lawyer, who is interested in helping the Presidency to fight Amaechi rather than looking for ways to tackle all the challenges in the education sector.

    The lecturers expressed their grievances over the ongoing strike which has entered four months .

    The protest came up at the institution’s gate and led by its Chapter Chairman, Dr. Samuel Akintunde

    They carried placards with different inscriptions such as “IPPIS is repugnant, Jonathan should respond to the cries of the masses” FG should safe education from drowning “

    The protest was initially disrupted by men of the Nigerian Police led by CSP Emmanuel Okoi,who prevented workers from blocking the free flow of vehicles along Akure- Ondo-Ore-Lagos road.

    The Police later settled with the workers as the lecturers resolved to stage the protest at the college’s gate.

    Akintunde said the battle of the lecturers was to liberate colleges of education and to improve the academic standard of the students.

    He said the federal government has abandoned teachers’ education completely, adding that none of the 10 issues raised by the union has been solved.

    The COEASU chairman noted that the federal government has been recalcitrant,stressing that the government has only met two times with the lecturers and on these occasions it was different groups who represented the government on the dialogue table.

    His words, “Our fight is about bringing up quality education in Nigeria. The federal government prefers dialoguing with University sector when they came up with their demands but neglect other group in the education sector. If you visit any of the college of education, you will discover that we are working with obsolete tools.

    ” We are saying that it is high time all these things change. Secondary schools workshops and laboratories are better than those ones in Nigeria Colleges of Education

    “We have tabled 10 issues that can make education move forward but the federal government has turned a deaf ear to this. We are ready to work, but they have been delaying us from working and since the best approach they know is strike, we will continue to seat at home until they are ready to meet our demands”

  • Stakeholders canvass re-strategising of education

    Stakeholders canvass re-strategising of education

    Worried by the recurrent mass failure in the Senior School Certificate Examinations, stakeholders in the sector have canvassed regular training of teachers and strategic planning as measures to reposition the sector.

    They made these submissions at a forum organised by ThistlePraxis Consulting in Lagos.

    Speaking on the theme: “Education: Building viable frameworks for fustainability”, the Chairman, West African Examinations Council (WAEC), Prof Pai Obanya, who was the lead discussant,recommended holistic assessment of the sector towards ensuring appropriate policies, programmes and processes.

    He stressed that exam failure is a manifestation of various issues with the major one being system assessment.

    According to Obanya, it requires good politics to have good education, because it will provide sound policies, which would engender good programmes and compel good processes.

    He said: “Strategic planning means in depth and not cause analysis to address the challenges from their very roots. There must also be situational analysis, policy planning, action planning and an in-built monitoring and evaluation framework.”

    A professor of Counselling and Psychology, University of Lagos, Ngozi Osarenren said continuous development of teachers is critical. Teachers, she stressed, must be aware of updates in the sector, especially as it affects their job. They must be aware of new pedagogies and be provided with teaching materials.

    Praising the giant telecommunications outfit Etisalat Telecommunications for sponsoring the event, Osarenren said it’s about time the Organised Private Sector showed more interest in teachers and the teaching profession.

    The Lagos State Team Leader of Education Sector Support Programme in Nigeria (ESSPIN), Mr Olabode Oyeneye, said that a shift of focus from certification to functionality is imperative in the quest for viable frameworks for sustainability in education.

    “Certification has been so much glorified to the detriment of ability, capability and performance,” Oyeneye lamented.