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Tag: LASU

  • LASU signs MoU with Capital Assets to manage its investments

    The Lagos State University (LASU) over the weekend said it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Capital Assets Ltd. to manage the institution’s investment portfolio.

    This was contained in a statement signed by the institution’s Public Relations Officer, Mr Kayode Sutton, and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

    The statement said that the institution decided to engage a new stock broking firm to manage its investment portfolio which hitherto was managed by Fortress Capital Ltd.

    The statement said that the institution and Capital Assets had agreed on several terms.

    The terms, it said, included the setting up of an investment committee comprising all stakeholders.

    According to the statement, Capital Assets Ltd. was considered after due consideration and evaluation along with three other stock broking firms.

    “During the deliberation, it was noted that three other major firms, alongside Fortress Capital Ltd., submitted proposals for consideration.

    “After an exhaustive consideration of the proposals, the institution concluded to engage the services of Capital Assets Ltd.,” the statement said.

    It said that the assignment of the new investment manager had commenced with immediate effect.

  • Panic over leaking petrol in Lagos community

    Panic over leaking petrol in Lagos community

    There was pandemonium yesterday at Isheri, a Lagos suburb following a petroleum pipeline leakage that caused a pool of fuel.

    Residents around Iyana-Odo Bus stop, on LASU-Iyana-Iba Road raised the alarm after they discovered that their ground was soaked with Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) leaking out of a Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) pipelines.

    According to an eyewitness, some of the residents for fear of being consumed by fire, scampered for safety. Others made efforts to contact the appropriate agencies.

    Members of the community wondered where the PMS emanated from.

    The eyewitness said: “We suddenly realised that the ground was soaked with PMS such that the fuel formed a pool but we did not know the source.

    “Obviously, it may have leaked from underground pipe and would have been leaked for so long to soak everywhere like that.

    “We could not reach the NNPC nor emergency agencies till about 3:30pm and they came and closed the valve.

    “Also fire service officials were onground to neutralise the petrol to avoid inferno,” the source said.

    The Southwest zonal spokesman of the National Emergency management Agency (NEMA), Ibrahim Farinloye said the NNPC has confirmed there was a leakage between Idimu and Diamond Estate in Lagos.

    “This is to allay fears of alleged explosion making the round. The supply sources and valves have been shut by NNPC staffers from satellite town this evening,” he said.

    Confirming the incident, Director, State Fire Service, Rasaq Fadipe said they got an alert around 3:45pm.

    Although the cause of the leakage could not be readily ascertained, Fadipe said it could have emanated from defective valves.

    “The leakage was underground and it soaked the whole place with fuel and resulted in a pool of fuel. NNPC officials were on ground to contain the situation. They locked up the valves.

    “We were able to go round the community to sensitise the people to avoid cooking or lighting matches.

    “Also, we temporarily closed all mechanic workshops in the area to avoid fire outbreak.

    “Then, we used foam chemicals to neutralise the PMS and condoned off the area,” Fadipe said.

    He added that the fire service also averted another inferno on Ajuwon-Akute Road, after a tanker laden with 33,000 litres of PMS rammed into a stationed car.

    He said the trailer marked XY154SMK was descending a hill and suddenly lost control before ramming into a stationary Toyota Camry with registration number LSD583AZ.

    “We immediately got to the place as PMS was spilling into a nearby carnal. Then, another vehicle was brought to transload the product while we neutralised the fuel to avoid disaster,” he said.

    Advising articulated vehicle owners to ensure they purchase 9kg dry chemical powder fire extinguisher for their vehicles as first aid measures in case of an emergency, Fadipe urged them to employ literate drivers who can read and understand road signals.

    here was pandemonium yesterday at Isheri, a Lagos suburb following a petroleum pipeline leakage that caused a pool of fuel.

    Residents around Iyana-Odo Bus stop, on LASU-Iyana-Iba Road raised the alarm after they discovered that their ground was soaked with Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) leaking out of a Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) pipelines.

    According to an eyewitness, some of the residents for fear of being consumed by fire, scampered for safety. Others made efforts to contact the appropriate agencies.

    Members of the community wondered where the PMS emanated from.

    The eyewitness said: “We suddenly realised that the ground was soaked with PMS such that the fuel formed a pool but we did not know the source.

    “Obviously, it may have leaked from underground pipe and would have been leaked for so long to soak everywhere like that.

    “We could not reach the NNPC nor emergency agencies till about 3:30pm and they came and closed the valve.

    “Also fire service officials were onground to neutralise the petrol to avoid inferno,” the source said.

    The Southwest zonal spokesman of the National Emergency management Agency (NEMA), Ibrahim Farinloye said the NNPC has confirmed there was a leakage between Idimu and Diamond Estate in Lagos.

    “This is to allay fears of alleged explosion making the round. The supply sources and valves have been shut by NNPC staffers from satellite town this evening,” he said.

    Confirming the incident, Director, State Fire Service, Rasaq Fadipe said they got an alert around 3:45pm.

    Although the cause of the leakage could not be readily ascertained, Fadipe said it could have emanated from defective valves.

    “The leakage was underground and it soaked the whole place with fuel and resulted in a pool of fuel. NNPC officials were on ground to contain the situation. They locked up the valves.

    “We were able to go round the community to sensitise the people to avoid cooking or lighting matches.

    “Also, we temporarily closed all mechanic workshops in the area to avoid fire outbreak.

    “Then, we used foam chemicals to neutralise the PMS and condoned off the area,” Fadipe said.

    He added that the fire service also averted another inferno on Ajuwon-Akute Road, after a tanker laden with 33,000 litres of PMS rammed into a stationed car.

    He said the trailer marked XY154SMK was descending a hill and suddenly lost control before ramming into a stationary Toyota Camry with registration number LSD583AZ.

    “We immediately got to the place as PMS was spilling into a nearby carnal. Then, another vehicle was brought to transload the product while we neutralised the fuel to avoid disaster,” he said.

    Advising articulated vehicle owners to ensure they purchase 9kg dry chemical powder fire extinguisher for their vehicles as first aid measures in case of an emergency, Fadipe urged them to employ literate drivers who can read and understand road signals.

     

  • A courageous ‘walk’ through life

    A courageous ‘walk’ through life

    Her story touches the heart. Adenike Abraham Oyekan, nee Akinbola, suffered from poliomyelitis very early in life which left her with thin legs to wade through life. Now, in her late 30s. She graduated from Yaba College of Technology in 1998 with HND in Secretarial Administration, has a PGD in Management from LASU and then, proceeded to Ladoke Akintola University of Science and Technology in 2010 for her MBA. Today, happily married to Abraham-Oyekan with a beautiful baby girl who is a year six month old. Her story is a book waiting to be written. She attended Yaba College of Technology, Lagos. Joke Kujenya met her.

    SHE heaved a deep sigh as the discourse began, and then asked, “Are we really talking about me being married, and now a mother?” Without awaiting answer, she said, “Okay, I got married on Saturday, April 2011, to Mr Abraham Oyekan. It has been a beautiful learning process and another school on its own entirely. I met him when he came to take care of those of us with special challenges. This lasted for about two years before he told me one day that God said he should take me for his wife.

    “The mystery of it all is that, I had thought I knew my husband before we tied the knot, but now, I am just knowing him and he’s been wonderful. There is this saying that you cannot know yourselves perfectly well so, there is bound to be new things every day. I am discovering him just as he is discovering me. It has been fun, there is no cause for regrets at all.”

    Reminded that ours isn’t a society prepared to help people with her peculiarities cope with pregnancies, let alone giving birth to children, she hinted that her case has been riddled with bright hopes. “I was truly looking forward to having babies. But my husband was cautious because he did not want me to go through the stress. Left to him, he did not marry me because of babies. He loved and wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. I told him I needed to show the world by God’s help that I am a complete woman with her own children. Doctors had told me I could have my own children, anyway. I pleaded with him to let us give it a chance. And when it happened, none of us knew I was pregnant because we were both first-timers. That month, I had a promotion interview exam in Kubwa, Abuja. On my way, I gave a ride to two pregnant women in my specially built hands-opearting car. I did not know that I was pregnant at all as we went along.”

    For a woman with a peculiar challenge, she was encouraged to share her pregnancy experience.

    “It was hectic,” she began. “I did not want to capitalise on the early signs of every woman missing her monthly period. The fact that I missed it for the first time in my life did not hit me as anything special. When I told my husband, he advised we should hold on a little, thinking it was the usual anxiety with women. We waited for about two to three weeks after I missed my period. In between, I took ill with malaria and had to visit one of our gynaecologist doctor friends who treated me for malaria. He also carried out a pregnancy test on me. He was, however cautious not to do virginal test because he did not want to take chances. Right there in the hospital, a pregnancy test was carried out. We were told to wait for the result to be ready in an hour or thereabout. Then I left and went back to the office. Later, I got called by the doctor who told me that I was a month gone. I felt so excited.

    “I started asking myself if I was truly pregnant. I looked at my tummy expecting to see the bulge and signs of movement. Each time I would ask my husband, is my tummy not getting big? And he would say it is not. But when I started seeing it getting bigger and bigger, I was proud to show the world that this is one of such rare miracles God can do. I also saw myself trying to hide the pregnancy. But sorry, I could not. I wore big clothing. Other women mocked me that it is often like that with first-timers. I thought people would mock me when they see my protruding belly, especially in my office, because one of my bosses usually say women always lie if they are pregnant; that if you want to know the truth about women and pregnancy, wait until their tummy begins to show. And like I feared, in the early months, my colleagues and others taunted me and my boss too was able to jokingly affirm his claim.”

    Asked how did her legs carried the weight of her pregnancy for the nine months period? She recounts:

    “The first three months was filled more of evening sickness. I could be strong in the mornings, but towards the evenings, I would feel sickly. I still went to the office, but evening period, the sickness would start. I never vomited. I was spitting, but never went about with cans because to me, that was disgusting. So rather than carry cans about, I chewed gum. Before I entered my office complex, I would park somewhere and empty my mouth and then put the chewing gum in my mouth. I slept more in the office, especially if I was not working or there was nobody to gist with. By four months, I started contracting.

    “That was how I coped from one health challenge to another till the nine-month duration was completed. Then on July 23rd, 2012, I went to the National Hospital Abuja, around 12noon with my husband and sister-in-law. I actually went for the regular ante-natal session. But the medical officials took me to the ward. Later in the evening, nurses came, checked my BP, pulse rate and every other thing, and pronounced me okay. Later in the same evening, the anesthesia team, whose job was to talk to me and prepare me psychologically, came in and said I would be given a spinal epidural to keep me awake to witness the delivery process. I was injected to block the lower end of my spine to deaden the pains from my waist down, so that while they cut me open, I would not feel the pains. I asked what were the chances of me still being able to use my legs. I was told that it had nothing to do with me losing the little reserves that I have.

    “Today, all that is history. I was told to stop eating by 12a.m but I had already stopped eating by 10p.m. I was quiet anxious, I could not sleep on time. Very early the next morning of the 24th, the nurses came to wake me up and gave me the theatre uniform. They asked me if I was ready for it, and I said yes, I am in for it. At that point, there was serious anxiety which arose from the fact that people had gone through epidural and some not able to use their legs again. Epidural is the injection on the spine which instead of the normal general anesthesia that makes people sleep off, with epidural, the woman will be awake and see everything that is happening on her body. When I was taken into the theatre and the medical officials bent me over, I saw God reallyworked for me. They wanted to get my spine where they would put the injection. The more they kept putting the injection, because the surgeon that was to perform the surgery discovered that before I was moved in for the operation, I was already contracting, he sat there, thinking. He said he didn’t want this to continue and that the more they kept pinning me, my nerves were already sensitive. So they made me sleep back and said, ‘sorry Nike, you’ll be fine and we’re going to give you a GA but before you know it, you will be awake.’ So that was all I knew. He just said just look at this man and that was it, and before I knew it, I found myself awake. I was taken to the theatre around 3a.m, and my husband said by 4a.m, they already brought out the baby.

    “By the time I regained consciousness, I was shivering. I was cold, although, and then the pains. My hands kept moving to the place where I was feeling the pain but they held me back. It seemed as if I was awake all through, but I was not conscious and I was not coherent. My husband was not allowed in the labour room. The following day after the surgery, I was sitting up. Their normal routine thing is, since I wasn’t given blood during the surgery, they wanted to be sure that my blood level was still perfectly okay. So that prompted the issue of the PCU test. I do not know the full names for the acronym PCU, but I know it is used to detect the blood level.

    When the doctor returned with the result of my blood level, he said it was 17, which meant it was extremely low, very risky. But the doctor said no, it cannot be 17 and she’s still here. He said it should be redone, they did it again and it is 18. The doctor insisted no because I was not showing any symptoms. Other doctors came, but the doctor that did the surgery was not around. I called him and told him. He said if I don’t want the blood since I was not showing any symptoms of a person with shortness of blood, that I should hold on; they shouldn’t transfuse the blood. They brought the blood on two different occasions, but they had to return it back. Then on Sunday they took my blood and repeated the PCU level test and to the glory of GOD, by Monday, it was 24. I did not take any blood transfusion. I was not given any medication except antibiotics, like a woman that had normal birth. And up till now, I have not. Not that it is a bad thing but I do not want and I thought there was no need for it. So they asked me what I would want them to do with the blood. I told them to keep it for whoever will be in need of it because it is my husband’s blood. We paid for the screening and the cross-matching after donating his blood. And since then, it has been wonderful. My baby is now a year and six months old. She has been a healthy child all through. Her names are: Perfection, Iseoluwa, Oluwafimidararere, Mosasinuoluwa, Covenant, Adeshewa Abraham Oyekan.”

    The excitement was infectious as Nike’s husband, Abraham Oyekan, said, “I can only thank God for everything. Though the whole period was challenging, I did not have any emotional stress during my wife’s pregnancy. As a man with a divine mandate from God, I was not taken unawares and that is why I have the inner strength to scale through the period of pregnancy. There was no anxiety when the delivery time came because I knew that everything was in God’s hands. My assurance and rest was in God. So I had nothing to worry about. After all, He was the one that initiated it and has it all planned out from the beginning and I had the assurance that no matter what, He would see us through it all and perfect everything.”

  • Unions join LASU students’ protest against fee hike

    Unions join LASU students’ protest against fee hike

    Business activities were halted yesterday in Alausa, the seat of power in Lagos State, as the Joint Action Front (JAF) and Education Rights Campaign (ERC) joined the protest by the Lagos State University (LASU) students against hike in tuition fee and the partial resumption of students.

    The protest started at about 7:20am at the Textile Garment House with hundreds of LASU students marching and singing war songs on the Agindigbi road via Awolowo road.

    They stormed the House of Assembly to express their grievances over what they called “outrageous school fees”.

    Addressing protesters, the National Coordinator of ERC, Comrade Hassan Soweto, said: “We earnestly urge honourable members of the Assembly to reverse the fees at LASU because the fee hike was the cause of protests by LASUITES on January 23 and 24, as well as the inability of about 1,292 students to register”.

    Soweto said the cause of the protests should be addressed once and for all, adding that the fee hike is “anti-poor” and unaffordable by the majority, including civil servants.

    He said: “This regime of fees in the only public university in the state is unaffordable for the majority. It contradicts the vision of LASU founding fathers and is calculated to price education out of the reach of the children of the working class.

    “We urge members of the House to prevail on the governor to reduce the fees and allow LASU students to resume on February 24 as announced by the school’s management for final year students.”

    JAF Secretary Comrade Abiodun Aremu said: “We demand immediate reversal of the hiked fees at LASU by the management. We have argued severally that the outrageous fee hike is the cause of crisis in LASU and its reversal, adequate funding and the democratic management of LASU are the only solutions.

    “The majority of Lagosians, except the few who benefit from the government, are opposed to the continuous charging of N193,750 and N348,750 as fees in LASU.”

    He said JAF members would be at LASU gate on the resumption day and they would disregard law enforcement officers the school management might invite to harass students.

    Deputy Speaker Musibau Kolawole Taiwo said the fees were increased to provide adequate facilities.

    He said: “Some courses were disaccredited in LASU by the National Universities Commission (NUC) during its visit to the school. I was part of the lawmakers that went to the commission’s office in Abuja and we were told that they were coming to disaccredit more courses. That was why we supported the state government on the need to increase fees to help the school.”

     

  • LASU students take protest to Assembly

    LASU students take protest to Assembly

    Irate students of the Lagos State University (LASU), led by some civil society groups, stormed the Lagos State House of Assembly yesterday in protest against hike in their tuition fees. For peace to return to the institution, they insisted that the fees must be reversed.

    Among their requests as contained in their petition to the House are: Adequate funding for the school; democratic management; no payment of reparation/damages; no victimisation and that all students must resume on February 24 as against selective resumption for different levels currently put in place by the school’s authorities.

    The students carried placards bearing inscriptions like: “Education is a right not a privilege”; “Adequate funding of education is non-negotiable” and “Reverse the fees now”, among others, as they chanted anti-government songs.

    The National Coordinator of Education Rights Campaign, Mr Hassan Soweto, who spoke for the students, lamented the harrowing experiences of indigent students paying N250,000, adding that it was the cause of the institution’s crises.

    He said the House was biased in its earlier intervention by putting all the blame on the students, saying: “The hike in school fee in 2011 is the cause of the recurrent crises in LASU. The fee is one of the most expensive in the entire country. We think the House has acted in error. It is unfair to put all the blame on students. This is against the claims of a party that calls itself progressive; it is undemocratic.”

    The Secretary General of Joint Action Front (JAF), Abiodun Aremu, said: “The House has constitutional responsibility to reverse the fees. We are passionate to be here today because we know the lawmakers were beneficiaries of public education.”

    Deputy Speaker Kolawole Taiwo, who said the House had never been biased against the students, said: “I assure you that the House will look into your complaints. We thank you for not taking laws into your hands. We shall do the needful.”

     

  • Builders International School sports competition holds Saturday

    Builders International School sports competition holds Saturday

    All is set for the third edition of Builders international School bi-annual Inter-house Sport competition which is billed to hold at the LASU Museum, Oba Akinjobi road in Lagos this Saturday, February 22, 2014.

    In a statement issued by the school management, the Proprietress, Oluwamodupe Lawrence disclosed that the school has continued to make giant strides in academics, aside from promoting and maintaining high co-curricular activities.

    The school’s bi-annual Inter- House sport is a competition that is primarily aimed at testing the physical skills and strength of young athletes. It is also an avenue for promoting unity and friendship among students as they compete in various field and track events.

    Mrs Lawrence also explained that the event would serve as a nurturing ground for developing team spirit in the pupils. Her words: “Everything in school is not about academic but also about how to develop pupils for greater challenges in the future, which include athletics and other games that require skills. Nowadays sportsmen contribute immensely to the growth of the society.”

    According to her, sports open up opportunities for pupils to choose career at young age, adding, “the inter-house sports of this nature will expose the pupils to competition in sports or other vocations.”

    Mrs Lawrence also revealed that sports provide unique opportunities for people to meet and interact freely. She also advised participants to see the competition as a game but not a do-or-die affair. “Share fun with everyone,” she added.

    Builder International Group Schools was established in 1998 to offer educational development for kids who are leaders for tomorrow.

  • Protest: Police did not compromise, says LASU

    Protest: Police did not compromise, says LASU

    The management of the Lagos State University (LASU), has refuted the report that the police may have compromised in the attacks by students of the university on the institution’s Administrative Block I three weeks ago.

    The management was reacting to a story by this medium on Thursday last week with the title: ‘Counting the cost of LASU riot.’

    In a letter signed by the university’s Head of Information Dr Sola Fosudo, and made available to The Nation on Tuesday, the management claimed that most of the reporter’s findings were concocted as they did not represent a true position of the situation.

    The university students had, three weeks ago, protested over the management’s refusal to open the registration portal for them ahead of their rain semester examination, attacking some of the university’s facilities in the process.

    “The authority notes with dismay that most parts of the report dwelt on the opinion held by the writer towards the students’ protest in the university and as such the facts were highly diluted and misrepresented,” Fosudo said.

    “The university management at no time or forum blamed the police for the role they played before, during and after the students’ protest. The management wishes to state that it enjoyed the full and prompt cooperation of the police hence the statement credited to the Acting Director (CIPPR), that it ‘the police compromised’ was absolutely incorrect.”

    The management said it immediately contacted the police on Wednesday, January 22 when the students began the protest as against the report that the Vice-Chancellor Prof John Obafunwa never did. Fosudo also said Obafunwa never walked out on the protesting students.

    The letter further faulted the claim in the said report, that the appeal made by the Dean of Students Affairs Prof Akinyemi Kabir that management should consider the students’ plight and reopen the portal, was rejected.

    “It is also pertinent to add in the write up that, indeed, some students were not prepared to write the 2012/2013 rain semester examination apart from the few ones who were genuinely agitating for the re-opening of the registration portal,”

    The letter further affirms the management’s stance to ‘transform and reposition’ LASU, adding that management would not hesitate to rise against any report to undermine its integrity.

     

  • Counting the cost of LASU riot

    Counting the cost of LASU riot

    The Lagos State University (LASU) was shut last Thursday following a violent protest by students.The university management, students, workers and the police are trading blames over who should be held responsible, reports ADEGUNLE OLUGBAMILA.

    The Lagos State University (LASU) is fast becoming notorious for violence. Hardly does one end before another rears its head. Last week, the institution boiled again. The issue at stake could have been resolved amicably, but all caution was thrown to the wind as some students went wild over the shutdown of the institution’s portal to enable them register for the second semester exam.

    The violence dampened the enthusiasm which greeted the emergence of new leaders of the Students Union (SU) of the institution through e-voting. Lagos State House of Assembly Speaker Hon Adeyemi Ikuforiji, who led lawmakers to assess the damage done to properties last Saturday, was shocked by the destruction, saying it was scary.

    There have been arguments and counter-arguments on why the crisis went out of hand. The management blames the police, and the police are accusing the Vice Chancellor (VC), Prof John Obafunwa, of neglecting the problem until it escalated.

    How did LASU students’ protest of last Thursday get out of hand?

    On Saturday, some members of the Lagos State House of Assembly visited the university and the Administrative Block 1, which houses the VC’s office. They were appalled by the extent of damage.

    Although investigation is still on, the management feels the police could not be totally absolved of blame since they arrived on time following a distress call by the management, but folded their arms and watched as the protesters engaged in an orgy of violence.

    On Monday, the university’s Head of Information Dr Sola Fosudo alleged on television that the police not acting on time left room for curiosity. Had they acted promptly, Fosudo argued, perhaps the violence could have been nipped in the bud.

    Speaking with this reporter on phone on Tuesday, Fosudo, who admitted that the university would rather wait for the investigation to be concluded, added that on the surface, it appeared the police compromised.

    Fosudo said: “I do not want to pre-empt because investigation is still on. But to my understanding, there is no way we can totally absolve the police from the crisis. Since the incident, people have been asking me why police were not able to contain the crisis despite that they arrived the scene on time and saw students protesting.

    “The protest lasted for hours before the students eventually gained access into the building and started destroying everything, including the Vice Chancellor’s Office. It was only at the point they were determined to lynch the Vice Chancellor and his aides who were left in the building that police acted.

    “What I have always heard is that the police are meant to protect lives and property, so why didn’t they intervene when these students began vandalising property in the Admin Block. That, to me, is when police could have acted, but they waited and watched helplessly until everything turned into rubble.”

    On the contrary, the police have insisted that they were reluctant to act because the Vice Chancellor, Prof Obafunwa did not invite them into the campus until the situation got out of hand.

    Responding, a highly-ranked officer (names withheld), who was part of the operation, absolved police of complicity.

    The source said the police teams were commanded not to step into the university premises but stay put at the main gate because Obafunwa never invited them in.

    “Although we were there on time, but we were waiting for the vice chancellor to order us in which he never did. What actually happened was that the management underestimated the situation and felt the internal security could handle it until things got out of control.

    “You must realise that this is not a crisis involving mere touts. It is the students of the university that were protesting, so we had to be cautious. If we had gone in and any of the policemen had shot at students, the news would have been everywhere that ‘police have come again ooo; they have shot innocent student protesting.’

    “This is an internal crisis in the university and we understand their examination was to start that day. If any shooting had mistakenly occurred while we were outside, everybody would then have known that it is either the students or the university security that is responsible and not the police. But when it got to a level when we realised the students were determined to attack the Vice-Chancellor and his aides, we then swooped into action and rescued them.

    “If you were truly there, you would see the police did a brilliant job. Many of us were repeatedly being stoned by the students, but we ensured that no single student died. We also went through hell to get the VC out of that situation and many of us were mobbed.”

    The Chairman of the Committee on Insecurity LASU Dr Olusegun Whenu also faults the police.

    He told this reporter that there was a little the internal security of the university could do to salvage the situation.

    According to him, the security apparatus of the university is only meant to protect the university, and her students against any external aggression, and not to turn its guns on her own students. Besides, he said the protesters were many and could have overpowered the security if they had attempted to challenge them.

    He said: “All the workers in the security unit are not beyond 100. So tell me how we could have overpowered the students that were more than 1,000. We even realised later that some of them were armed. What we could only do was to send a distress call to the police for help.

    “But when they (police) came, I expected them to at least scare the students away – maybe with teargas canisters but they all gathered there at the gate, saying they must first get an ‘order from above’ before they can commence any action.

    “Meanwhile the students had already overpowered the security at the admin block and were vandalising everything.”

    Prior to the present crisis, Whenu said the security section had forestalled others from snowballing, one of which involved students’ refusal to retake a GNS examination, as well as another which followed the killing of a popular Hip Hop star, Damuche, a 300-Level undergraduate of LASU who was shot by suspected cultists outside the second gate of the university in Iba.

    “At those times students were more aggressive because the fees had just been introduced, yet they never resorted to violence,” Whenu added.

    However, findings by our reporter who spoke with some workers in the university on Tuesday revealed that a number of factors were responsible for the worsened crisis. While the university internal security claimed it had to act with caution, the SU insists the protest was high jacked by hoodlums…and many more.

    The Thursday incident was puzzling because it was the first time students attacked the administration block with such ferocity.

    This reporter, who was there on Wednesday, witnessed the protesters as they peacefully marched to the university’s Senate Building where the Governing Council meeting was holding. As soon as the meeting was over, the students, holding placards with appealing inscriptions, continued to plead with members of the council. But Obafunwa and the Chairman of Council, Olabode Agusto, walked out on them, a development which infuriated the protesters and subsequently led to the beginning of the violence in front of the university main gate later that day.

    The crisis became uncontrollable the following day as the irate students overpowered the university’s internal security, forced their way in and destroyed items, such as computers, laptops, files, photocopiers, among others. They also smashed the VC’s car and that of his PA turning the former upside down.

    Some of the students that led the protest were hooded, and sternly warned their schoolmates and journalists not to dare take photographs or record the incident as the consequence would be fatal. Those who had gained entrance into the Administrative Block were throwing files and other documents to a horde of other excited students outside who struggled to catch them mid air.

    The SU President, Mojirade Hassan, had alleged the student protest was hijacked by hoodlums.

    Explaining his role in the incident, the university’s Dean of Students’ Affairs Prof Kabir Akinyemi told our reporter that neither the students nor the management could blame him as he made repeated attempts to forestall the crisis.

    He said on Wednesday when the students staged a peaceful protest to members of the Council who were then holding a meeting, he had met with the 10 students leading the protest and assured them to appeal to the management on their behalf, yet he had no choice than abide with management decision.

    He said: “It is my duty as the DSA to mediate between the students and the management. But I am not a member of the Council and therefore does not have the authority to give orders. My role is simply advisory and management cannot say I did not do my best appropriately. But when management took a final decision, I had to abide by it.

    “I had pleaded on behalf of the students more than three times and the portal was opened, but when I made another attempt last week and was turned down, there was nothing I could do. I had to abide because I am part of the management.”

    Meanwhile, some of the workers and students who pleaded anonymity blamed the incident on the rigidity of the management and its refusal to heed the students’ plea when they staged a peaceful protest.

    A non-teaching staff member of the university who pleaded anonymity traced the genesis of the crisis to increase in tuition as it had created a deep-seated animosity between students and management, noting that the former only used the portal problem to let out their bottled-up anger.

    “Government has to do something about this school fees. Let me use us workers as an example. Many of us have children here. Before the increase, we have a number of cooperative societies here but it is optional and workers who had interest only joined. But now, the list of every cooperative society here has swelled up because many of us now see it as a means by which we can lend a large sum to pay our children’s school fees,” the source said.

    Another source in the management said he suspected that some reactionary elements in the university tele-guided the students’ action.

    “We suspected that the students’ action was not just ordinary; but they were being influenced by some elements in this institution. All I know for now is that investigation has commenced in earnest and very soon, they shall be exposed,” the source said.

     

  • LASU crisis: We’ll put an end to violence, says Ikuforiji

    LASU crisis: We’ll put an end to violence, says Ikuforiji

    •Lawmakers assess damage

    Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Hon. Adeyemi Ikuforiji, has vowed to end the violent crisis in the Lagos State University (LASU).

    Speaking yesterday at LASU Ojo campus during an on- the- spot assessment of the damage in the institution during the violence last Thursday, the Speaker assured the incident would never repeat itself.

    Ikuforiji, who described the damage done to the administrative block of the school as scary, said it was the grace of God that saved the Vice Chancellor, Professor John Obafunwa and his team from the protesting students.

    He promised that the panel of inquiry the House plans set up would investigate the incident and come up with recommendations.

    The Speaker said: “We are close to seeing the end of crisis in LASU. The last few years have been better than the previous decades.

    “There have been tremendous improvements in LASU. If the right thing is done, we will leave scandalous events behind in LASU.”

    Ikuforiji promised that the House would ensure necessary repairs are carried out in the school and Governor Raji Fashola would be contacted on the matter.

    He expressed fears over the damage done to the office of the VC, especially the vital academic documents destroyed, adding that efforts would be made to re-open the school soon.

    Ikuforiji, however, said that the issue of hostel accommodation for the students would be considered.

    “The purpose of not having hostels in the campus has been defeated. We have told the VC to consider PPP arrangement for the hostels.

    “We are sure hoodlums aggravated the violence, but with hostel accommodation, the students would have been curtailed and it would have been difficult for the hoodlums to infiltrate them,” he said.

    The Speaker and other lawmakers were taken round the areas affected by the incident by the VC and other management staff.

    They were dumbfounded by the damaged vehicles belonging to the VC and another management staff as well as the extent of damage at the administrative block.

    Some students had last Thursday protested over the refusal of the school’s management to open its portal for students who had paid their school fees but had not registered before the exams slated to start on the same day.

    The House subsequently summoned the school’s management, led by the VC and the Students Union Government of the school led by Miss Mojirade Hassan last Friday over the issue.

    After listening to both sides for hours, the House condemned the students for their actions and pleaded with the management to open the portal for two days to give those who were yet to register a last chance.

    The Speaker, who read the resolution, warned that such an issue would not be entertained next time and promised to raise a panel of inquiry on the matter.

     

  • Varsities lead the way in e-voting

    Varsities lead the way in e-voting

    More universities are embracing e-voting. The Lagos State University (LASU) joined the league on Monday, conducting elections electronically on its four campuses simultaneously. Is that a sign of good things to come for Nigeria? KOFOWOROLA BELO-OSAGIE and MEDINAT KANABE report.

    More universities are adopting electronic voting. On Monday, the Lagos State University (LASU) joined the league. It conducted elections electronically on its four campuses simultaneously, beating the record of other institutions, which only did so on one campus.

    The institutions are the University of Calabar (UNICAL), University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) and the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), which have designed and deployed software applications in the conduct of school-wide elections.

    At the UNILORIN, the e-voting platform used for the Students’ Union (SU) elections of 2012 and last year was developed by two Computer Science students. Its success in 2012 resulted in its adoption for the election last year after some modifications.

    The situation was similar at the UNICAL, where lecturers and students from the Physics Department developed the application used for the SU elections in the past two years. Emmanuel Ahahonu, who just graduated from the Political Science Department monitored both elections and told of how shortcomings were corrected to improve the process.

    Students were required to register online. Emmanuel said when they complained of the stress, the application was modified in such a way they could register with their phones.

    “I give them a pass mark because testing such a project for the first time was commendable. When they talked about it initially, people thought it was not possible. Almost all the complaints (registered in 2012) were corrected (in 2013) – though there was still an alternative for manual voting,” he said.

    This year, Ahahonu said there are plans to introduce biometrics to cross check the identity of the student voters.

    At LASU SU elections on Monday, the institution deployed biometrics in the voters’ registration and verification for the exercise.

    LASU ICT Centre Systems Analyst, Mr Adewale Adepoju said the process involved two steps: verification and voting.

    He said: “The students have to identify themselves with a school identification card, matriculation number or course form. After providing it, the student’s information would be logged in and sent to the LASU database where the bearer’s picture will come out and he or she will be identified.

    “If verified authentic, the student will give his finger print and be enrolled for a token. The token can only be used for voting once. The student will also provide an email address and phone number where an email and message will be sent to inform them that they have cast their votes.”

    The system used in LASU, which was deployed simultaneously in the main campus at Ojo, and three other campuses in Epe (Faculty of Engineering), Surulere (School of Communication) and Ikeja (College of Medicine), was developed by two 500-Level students of Electronics Computer Engineering, Jubril Isa and Kolawole Majid as their final-year project.

    Their Project Supervisor, Mr Ajasa Abiodun, advised them to partner on the project (electronic inter networked voting system, called Ivote) to enhance its application. Isa had developed a similar voting application earlier, which he first tested during the engineering faculty students’ elections. He said his role as chairman, electoral committee of the faculty gave him the platform to use the application.

    Twenty-two-year-old Isa, who is from Kogi State, said: “I was the Chairman, Electoral Committee for my faculty election in 400-Level. I decided to do something different from the conventional voting system so I created an e-voting application which we used for the election and it was a success. I thought if it could work for the faculty, then it could be extended to the Students Union election, so I decided to do it again for my final project,” he said.

    With the success of the faculty elections, the LASU management soon bought into the idea and involved the instruction’s ICT team.

    The Dean, Students Affairs of the university, Prof Kabiru Olusegun Akinyemi, said the university spent N1 million on the project.

    He said: “When the students brought up the idea, they encouraged them to go ahead with it. We used the Faculty of Engineering to test what they brought and then assisted in modifying and suggesting some things. They went to the vice chancellor and a meeting was called where it was demonstrated and criticised.

    “The university decided to support the project, so the ICT Centre headed by Prof Olatunde Oni, was consulted and asked to help the students. The university gave them over a N1 million to do this.”

    Explaining further, Oni said the university deployed a total 140 computers for the exercise.

    He said: “What we have deployed can be used for national election. We have deployed all voting applications in all four campuses and we have deployed 80 computers in Ojo and 20 each in other campuses.

    “We registered 8, 000 students successfully. The results will be known two minutes after the final person votes. The e-voting has a zero tolerance for manipulation. LASU has utilised all process of election. It will be unbiased. We have also taken care of power supply. All campuses are networked. We use only one central server to collate all the results from all the campuses and only a few trusted people have access to the centre to prevent manipulation. The application will use bio-metric feature to curb multiple voting. The voting application has been developed online,” he said.

    Isa’s partner, Majid, would love if the process is adopted by INEC.

    “It will give the people an opportunity for a free and fair election. It will take great expertise for this process to be manipulated. Our web server is the only place where it can be manipulated and the system has a device that will show every activity carried on the server,” he said.

    The Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly, Ikuforiji Adeyemi, who witnessed the election at the S.L. Adu Hall, said he would recommend that the Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Attahiru Jega invest in the school and the software developers instead of wasting billions outside the country.

    He said: “If LASU can do it, why can’t INEC come and invest in here, instead of taking billions out of the country. If we cannot learn from our children, shame on us. We will let Jega know that it is working here.”

     

    Biometric machine

     

    Beyond developing e-voting applications, researchers at the UNILORIN have come up with a prototype biometric machine, which functions far better than the foreign ones in use in the country.

    The machine, which was developed from the World Bank-assisted Science and Technology Education Post-Basic (Step-B) project funds, is designed to capture physical features of blacks and Nigerians, which the foreign versions have difficulties doing.

    The machine was developed by Prof. Tunji Samuel Ibiyemi of the Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department, and three others (Prof. J. Sadiku of Computer Science Department, Dr. S. A. Aliu and Dr. I. O. Avazi of Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department) to study ‘Biometric Signal Processing for Personal Application and Forensic Application’.

    Ibiyemi told The Nation that the machine can checkmate impersonation, economic fraud, multiple voting, examination malpractices, election rigging, and security.

    Besides taking finger prints, the Professor of Electrical and Electronics Engineering said their own biometric machine can record facial and signature features as well.

    Compared to what INEC is using, which only checks multiple voting in an area, Ibiyemi said the UNILORIN version can check multiple voting on a national scale.

    “It can eliminate multiple registration/voting. If properly implemented, you do not need to vote where you registered; you can vote anywhere. What INEC is using only documents biometrics and you have to vote where you register. There was a time one or two of their machines was missing and they were jittery. But if our own gets missing, they do not need to worry because we electronically mapped them; so anywhere they are used, we can identify them,” he said.

    If mass produced, Ibiyemi said, the UNILORIN biometric machine will cost about N25,000, which is far cheaper than the foreign versions.

    “The cost at prototype level is more expensive than the imported ones. But if it is mass produced, one machine will come to about N25,000,” he said.

    Ibiyemi also made a case for local content, arguing that sensitive data regarding security should be localised.

    “The developed world have their own biometric machines to their specifications. They don’t contract it out. Anything security is better done in-house. It is the same technology, but we look at our own specifications to design it,” he said.

    Ibiyemi has, however, not been too successful getting relevant national authorities to reckon with his invention.

    “I approached Prof Maurice Iwu (former INEC Chairman) about the invention. He invited me and was excited about it. He promised to convene a workshop and involve the National Population Commission (NPC) and the National Indentity-Card Commission because he said it is relevant to them in three months. However, he was removed before the time came.

    Since Jega came into the saddle, he said he has not succeeded in meeting with him.

    “I have tried to get across to Prof Attahiru Jega ( INEC chairman), but I have not been successful. So, I left it; after all, I do not need it. I only want to help. Ilorin is far from Abuja. It is not easy going the distance,” he said.

    When asked to comment on the innovations in e-voting being used in the universities, the Chief Press Secretary to the INEC Chairman, Mr Kayode Idowu, said with a ban on e-voting in the constitution, the commission cannot attend to them because it would be illegal.

    “There is still a legal prohibition in place against e-voting. It is even premature to discuss the possibilities. But when the ban is lifted, then of course we can consider local solutions,” he told The Nation on phone.

    Section 52 (2) of the Electoral Law outlaws e-voting in Nigeria.