The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Intellect

  • Phillips Consulting, Intellect promote digital banking

    Phillips Consulting Limited (PCL) and Intellect Design Arena Limited have partnered to develop a new digital banking platform called Intellect Digital Core Banking Solution.

    The solution was developed to accelerate the digital banking and channel transformation journey of Nigerian banks. Nova Merchant Bank, a newly licensed merchant bank with a focus on wholesale and investment banking, is the first in the country to adopt the technology.

    Intellect Digital Core Solution comes with a Digital 360 proposition with inbuilt design for both Digital Outside and Digital Inside. Digital Outside ensures True Omni channel and consistency of customer experience at all touch points while Digital Inside drives operational excellence. Completely flexible and scalable, the Intellect platform is built around customer experience. The partnership between both parties, allows Phillips Consulting’s own Fintech Consultants to render on-going support to financial institutions post-implementation.

    Senior Partner at Phillips Consulting, SeunNgonnase said, “implementing the core banking solution will save time and resources “In today’s world, banks require a single, seamlessly integrated global payments system for domestic and cross-border transactions. This system must eliminate manual tasks and enhance interoperability. Implementing Intellect’s Core Banking platform will save time and money for the bank while providing value-added services to their customers. The whole idea is based on the concept of Contextual Banking; customers should bank in the way they want to and how they want to.”

    As leaders in strategy and beingat the forefront of digital technology and innovation, Phillips Consulting joined forces with Intellect Digital Arenato implement this platform not just as a digital solution for banks but as an accelerator of data analytics, AI and machine learning.

    As the first bank in Nigeria to use the Solution, Chief Executive Officer of Nova Merchant Bank, Mr. ChineduIkwudinma explained why “There was a reason we chose this. Our aim was to identify a solution provider that is geared for the future. If you look at the banking system today, there are lots of developments in terms of digital banking and the customer experience now drives banking activities.”

    The Chairman of Nova Merchant Bank, Mr. Phillips Oduoza, added,”The selection of Intellect Digital Core was borne out of the bank’s philosophy of “New Thinking, New Opportunities”. We wanted a platform that would empower our clients, offer a superior customer experience and lay a robust digital foundation for the bank. Intellect Digital Core is an open and flexible architecture which allows us to seamlessly integrate with other systems to offer end-to-end solutions”.

    The Managing Director of Phillips Consulting Limited, Robert Taiwo, explained “In banking, the digital discourse has shifted from ‘nice to have’, to critical business imperative.

  • ‘Quiz contests grow pupils’ intellect’

    ‘Quiz contests grow pupils’ intellect’

    Managing Director of PZ Cussons Consumer, Mr. Alex Goma, has described quiz contest as a strong tool for intellectual development capable of improving the quality of education.

    Goma spoke during the grand finale of the yearly PZ Cussons Chemistry Challenge contest held at the MUSON Centre in Onikan, Lagos.

    No sooner had the quizmaster declared the event open than the six finalists locked in a fierce challenge for the coveted prize. Intermittently, the quizmaster admonished the contestants to relax, as the contest wasn’t a war.

    Having become winners in their groups during the preliminary stages of the contest, who would be the ultimate champion among the six contestants?

    After hours of intense suspense, Dara Ogunmola, SS II student of New Hall International School in Lekki, was declared overall winner of Chemistry Challenge. He scored 90 per cent in practical test and 100 per cent in the quiz sessions.

    Dara was rewarded with N700,000  cash, a brand-new laptop, a trophy and gold medal. His Chemistry teacher, Mr Raphael Adeoye, was presented with N100,000 cash and a plaque. His school also got N100,000 worth of laboratory equipment.

    Samuel Oyelami of Tomia Community Senior Secondary School in Alagbado, who scored 88.50 per cent and came second, was presented with a cash of N450, 000, a brand-new laptop and silver medal. His Chemistry teacher, Mr Bowale Oludare, went home with N80,000 cash and a plaque, while his school got N80,000 worth of laboratory equipment.

    With a cumulative score of 88 per cent, Justine Anyika of Federal Government College in Ijanikin, Lagos, finished as second runner-up and received N350,000 cash, a laptop and bronze medal. Justine’s Chemistry teacher, Adedamola Ibunkunola, got N70,000, while her school received N70,000 worth of laboratory equipment.

    The third runner-up, Adepoju Adewale of Fountain Height School in Lagos, received N250,000 cash, a laptop and a consolation medal. His Chemistry teacher was presented with N60,000 cash reward and a plaque, while his school received N60,000 worth of laboratory equipment. Other finalists were also rewarded with cash and laboratory equipment.

    Some science teachers in the audience were picked to participate in teachers’ challenge. At the end of the contest, Mr John Nnani of Top Grade Secondary School slammed his colleagues. He went home with N70,000 cash and PZ Cussons products; same went for runners up who were also rewarded with cash and products.

    Goma recalled that the Chemistry Challenge was created by the PZ Cussons Foundation in 2011,  as the corporate  social responsibility arm of PZ Cussons, to reward excellence among teachers and pupils.

    He said: “We created this initiative to massively motivate pupils and their teachers to aim for excellence, and also to appreciate the importance of science to our everyday life. We brought in two quality brands, Premier Cool and Nunu Milk, to do the physical and emotional connections needed to consolidate the impact of this project. This edition has been a great improvement on the past ones.”

    The Permanent Secretary, Lagos Ministry of Education, Mr Adesina Odeyemi, reiterated government’s support for the initiative, praising PZ Cussons Foundation and the supporting brands for contributing to the development of science education in the state.

    National President of Chartered Institute of Chemist of Nigeria, Prof Oladele Osibanjo, who is also chairman of Advisory Board of the PZ Cussons Chemistry Challenge, said the initiative would create academic opportunities for winners and motivate students to study chemistry.

    He said: “Nigeria is abundantly blessed in human capital. If students can put up great skills at national competitions, such as the Chemistry Challenge, I have no doubt they would compete and excel anywhere in the world.”

    The overall winner, Dara, praised the organisers. “The quiz did not only challenge my intelligence from the preliminary stages, it has also created a lasting experience which I will never forget in life,”Dara said.

    This year edition of the Chemistry Challenge with the theme: Be a winner, started with over 3,000 participants at the first stage. The second round had 130 pupils that qualified from the first round. They were taken through multiple answer examination, which led to pruning them to 24. Following the practical test for the 24 contestants, six finalists emerged to compete for the star prize.

  • Intellect and infrastructure 

    Intellect and infrastructure 

    •First-generation universities must lead the way in facilitating
    rehabilitation and expansion

    Perhaps nothing so completely symbolises the decline of Nigeria’s tertiary education sector than the infrastructural decay that has become so rampant in the country’s first-generation universities.

    Led by the venerable University of Ibadan, and including Ahmadu Bello University, Obafemi Awolowo University, the University of Lagos, and the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, these institutions are confronting development challenges that have caused them to stray from their avowed aim of cutting-edge research, relevant and committed teaching, and beneficial community service.

    While it is true that the dearth of facilities, poorly-paid and badly-motivated staff and burgeoning student populations are formidable problems, the obsolete, crumbling and decrepit infrastructure, which characterises all of the nation’s oldest universities, stands out as the most urgent problem. For one thing, poor infrastructure is the biggest single issue they all face. For another, many of their other difficulties are in one way or another related to the infrastructural challenge.

    The terrible condition of student hostels is a case in point. In their early years, first-generation universities were renowned for the elegance and comfort of the student housing that was on offer. Today, far too many of them are now degraded by filth and overcrowding. Recently, one school witnessed the embarrassing spectacle of enraged students displaying bedbug-riddled mattresses for the world to see. Similar tales can be told of lecture theatres and classrooms, libraries, laboratories and sports facilities.

    Funding is at the core of the infrastructural problems the first-generation universities face. Severe shortfalls in financing, accompanied by the explosion in student intake, have put enormous pressure on existing facilities. Increases in student fees and other charges have been implemented against fierce student opposition, and are not enough to cover the cost of infrastructural rehabilitation and expansion.

    Successive negotiations between the Federal Government and the Academic and Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) have failed to solve the problem, mainly due to the former’s bad faith and lack of funds.

    It is time for Nigeria’s first-generation universities to lead the way in the adoption of creative and viable long-term solutions to the problem of infrastructural decay. In seeking to do this, they must build on their acknowledged strengths, of which the two most important are their reputations and their alumni.

    Despite the depredations of recent years, first-generation universities have built global reputations as centres for excellence in several disciplines. Ibadan’s contributions to African History can never be forgotten. The same is true of ABU’s path-breaking research in Theatre for Development and Public Administration, OAU’s study of African Languages and Political Science, UNILAG’s scholarship in Education, Mass Communication and Medicine, and UNN’s giant strides in Literature and the Natural Sciences.

    In essence, they all possess a residual credibility that they can build on, most profitably in creating more durable ties with corporate organisations based in the country, with the aim of facilitating scholarships, the endowment of professorial chairs and sponsorships of research programmes.

    First-generation universities can count many of Nigeria’s most distinguished and influential individuals as ex-students, and must do more to ensure that they contribute meaningfully to their respective alma mater. The odd commemorative fund-raiser is simply not enough; it must be honed to a science.

    If the benefits of reputation and alumni are to be properly exploited, the universities will have to undergo a comprehensive reconfiguration of their administrative, accounting and bureaucratic processes to meet the highest ethical and performance standards. No one willingly donates to a perceived cesspool of incompetence, laziness and corruption.

    When Nigeria’s oldest and most distinguished universities are able to make verifiable progress in meeting their infrastructural challenges, their achievements will have a salutary effect on tertiary education in particular and education as a whole.

  • Intellect without character

    Intellect without character

    •It is sad that brilliant youths would take to fraudulent means to survive

    It was an ingenious and elaborate scheme carefully crafted to defraud thousands of job-seeking Nigerians of millions of Naira. The six suspected fraudsters behind the crime are young Nigerians between the ages of 25 and 27. They are all well- educated and clearly have the talent and creativity to earn a living by decent and legitimate means, even in Nigeria’s admittedly difficult employment climate. Yet, they chose to apply their intellect, time and energy to defraud their fellow citizens and have now fallen foul of the law.

    The criminal minds, that have made confessional statements to the Special Fraud Unit (SPU) of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), Milverton, Ikoyi, are all products of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA).  They include the suspected ringleader, Oluwapelumi Ayotunde, a 500 level Estate Management student; Asaolu Victor, a graduate of Mining Engineering; Awote Temitope Emax, another 500 level Estate Management student; Emmanuel Onaopemipo Bolatiri, a graduate of the institution who deals in handsets and Adebomi Oluwatosin, a computer graduate who works with Delta State Polytechnic, Ozoro, as a Programmer 2.

    Clearly the most embarrassing of the lot is Fajobi Olalekan, a Mechanical Engineering student of the institution  with first class honours, who was the best graduating student in his department in 2012, and is currently working with Dee Xecutor Concept.

    These brilliant but misguided and depraved youths exploited the plight of at least 2,000 desperate job applicants to criminally enrich themselves to the tune of over N5million. They specialised in designing websites of different companies and using such sites to lure innocent job seekers to apply and pay application fees for non-existing lobs. The crime was uncovered when the Special Fraud Unit of the police in Lagos received a petition from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countr ies (OPEC) Fund for International Development dated August 22, 2013, alleging that a website designed as OFID Scholarship Website with OFID name and logo was being used to defraud unsuspecting Nigerian applicants.  The victims were required to pay N2,500 as application fee through the First Bank account number 2020814607 and Access Bank account number 005941009, with the fraudulent name OFID WSAS NG.

    This sad incident is another poignant reminder of the deep moral quagmire into which our society has sunk. When a society worships at the altar of crass materialism, the end of making money is what matters, no matter how foul the means. In a situation where the most venerated members of society are those who flaunt obscene wealth, even when the source is known to be criminal, there is little or no incentive to seek to earn a living through decent industry and ingenuity. It is thus not surprising that a Fajobi Olalekan with a first class university degree, which suggests brilliance, focus, industry and a capacity for disciplined study, would rather choose the easier, crime-ridden route to wealth acquisition.

    Olalekan and his accomplices are unfortunate examples of intellect without character. Yet, the degree of any higher institution is awarded both for learning and character, since the educated individual who lacks moral scruples is a danger to society.

    The unsavoury unemployment situation in the country has rendered millions of desperate job seekers vulnerable to the antics of fraudsters and extortionists.  At least 16 applicants lost their lives and scores of others were injured during the recent fraudulent and ineptly organised recruitment exercise into the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS). Hundreds of thousands of applicants were made to pay N1,000 each as application fees for no more than 4,000 job vacancies. Till date, no one has been brought to book for this atrocity and neither are we aware that any money has been refunded to the applicants as directed by President Goodluck Jonathan. Why then won’t other syndicates be emboldened to criminally exploit job seekers?