The Nation Newspaper

Tag: misadventure

  • The misadventure called Industrial Romance

    The Students Industrial Work and Experience Scheme (SIWES), otherwise known as Industrial Training (IT), was established in 1973 as subsidiary to the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) in order to prepare students of tertiary institutions for employment after graduation. The scheme is aimed at reposing practical knowledge in students and getting them acquainted with the work environment they are likely to meet after graduation.

    Before the establishment of the scheme, there was a growing concern among industrialists that graduates of institutions of higher learning lacked adequate practical knowledge preparatory for employment. Thus, employers were of the opinion that the theoretical education going on in higher institutions was not responsive to the needs of the employers of labour.

    As a result, students found it almost impossible to get a job in the field of their study because to lack of work experience. Hence, the urgent need for a synergy between lecturers and industrialists or prospective employers in the interest of Nigerian students and also for the technological advancement of the country.

    Although, the challenge of unemployment has not been solved, it is worthy of note that the Industrial Training has made great impact in the lives of many, with no exception of this writer. I am a student of Communications and Journalism and I have heard many testimonies of how the scheme paved way for successful journalists and broadcasters, as well as professionals in other fields like Information Technology, Agriculture, Sciences, Engineering and Management.

    Having recently completed the scheme in a period of four months, as a rookie with an online newspaper, I must say I am fulfilled and optimistic of a brighter future ahead of me. Thanks to my bosses and seniors colleagues. I was soaked in a deluge of field assignments; due to my unyielding passion and dedication to the job, my nose for news was sharpened, and with tenths of bylines of news stories and articles, I returned to school as a star.

    While a few of us saw the scheme as an opportunity to broaden our horizon beyond the four corners of the classroom, and acquire as much practical knowledge as possible in our various fields, majority yawned off these primary objectives and granted themselves a long vacation from school. Many lost interest in the middle, saying they were “being used by employers” with little or no remuneration.

    Many, especially ladies embarked on a totally different adventure, and coined a new title for the scheme. They call it “industrial romance” and here is the crux of this article.

    I was having a chat with a female colleague who had her IT at a radio station in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital. I asked her about her experience and she replied with smiles and delight. “It was fantastic,” she retorted.

    “Really, how do you mean?” I asked with a tinge of interest. She laughed and replied: “You can’t understand, Tobi. I wished we never resumed back to school.” She left me wondering what the word “fantastic” meant in the context.

    I decided to examine her physically body thoroughly. I noticed how big she became, just in a space of four months. Definitely, there is more to her “fantastic experience” and I must find out.

    Already, I had heard of the phrase “industrial romance” used jokingly by students and even lecturers, but I never took it serious. I thought it was just a new slang in students’ parlance, but now I understood what the expression really meant.

    It is the new name for IT; it is a concept that defines the nature of experience exposed to female students by male employers in some places of attachments.

    May I inform you that this particular experience comes with adequate remuneration for ladies who would not decline the offer; for those who would not emulate poorly remunerated IT students who are mocked to have been “used and dumped” judging, perhaps, by their ostrich-like necks and darker skins.

    Little wonder, ladies in my class have grown so fat and well-fed. That is not even my headache, the most annoying part is they have become intimidating and unapproachable with their colourful appearances and flashy expensive mobile gadgets. They now see us as small boys that do not deserve their big meats. One even asked if I could present any of my laudable bylines to get garri or rice from Kuto Market. I almost hated my hardworking self, but common! It is a matter of time, when they would start coming for assignments and projects.

    In my usually ‘walk-around’ assignment on campus, I overheard a conversation between two ladies. Let me call them Sade and Bola for the purpose of this write-up.

    Bola who was looking hungry and haggard, was lamenting to her friend about her needs. She claimed not to have food stuffs at home, and does not even have airtime on her phone to call her parents for money.

    Bola was surprised by the response of her friend to her lamentations. “What have you been doing in the last four months?” Sade asked Bola.

    With keen interest, I moved closer to them, pretending to be reading a paper I picked on the ground.

    “What do you mean?” Bola asked in surprise. She is probably one of the students who fulfilled the purpose of the IT scheme and indeed explored the opportunity to garner practical knowledge.

    Sade laughed scornfully at her friend for being uncivilised. “Mehn, O dull gan o (you are so dull). Are there no men at your placement area? Or this is how you dress like old woman over there?”

    The young lady (Bola) could not withstand the mockery since her ‘civilised’ friend was not willing to help her. She left in disappointment.

    I was not surprised as I have suffered worse than that. SIWES has birthed two schemes, the one funded by ITF and the other, adequately funded by adulterous men in corporate organisations and offices. Verily, I say unto thee, the former is more profitable.

    May I share with you, a quote by Benjamin Franklin? He says: “An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.” I feel sorry for the female students who wasted the opportunity. I am yet to hear of a success story that emanated from industrial romance; instead, successful men and women often point to hard work and pursuit for knowledge as their inspiration for success.

    The gadgets you have acquired through this unfaithful and unprofitable adventure would not last for more than a decade, but knowledge is a lifetime treasure. It never fades, nor expires.

    And to those who would argue that the knowledge acquired in the classroom is enough for the outside world. My experience during the training showed that, what we obtained on the field is a total ball game. The textbooks we cram for exams will not bail us out before interviewers. Also, knowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice.

    I shall also plead with the Federal Government and ITF to fund the programme and provide stipends for students. Education is not really expensive in this part of the world but the standard of living is very low; the struggle for greatness is tough, but we cannot throw away the baby with the bath water.

    Most of these ladies engaged in industrial romance out of frustration and inexperience. The men, who should help them and encourage them towards achieving their dreams, derive pleasure in exploiting these girls, taking advantage of their ignorance.

    Let me save my ink for another day. “The only thing to do with good advice is to pass it on; it is never of any use to oneself.” – Oscar Wilde.

     

    • Oluwatobi is a Mass Communication student of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta.

  • INEC’s misadventure

    The fact of the right of appeal to the Court of Appeal granted by the constitution under Section 220 (1), and afortiori, to the Supreme Court under Section 213 (1) of the same constitution is in itself tantamount to a stay of execution, for the legislature cannot grant the right to the appellant to argue his appeal and expect him to argue it as a dead man.
    – Justice Anthony Aniagolu in Nasiru Bello v AG Oyo State (1986).

    It is the glory and wisdom of our constitution, that to prevent any injustice, no man is to be concluded by the first judgement, but that if he apprehends himself to be aggrieved, he has another court to which he can resort to for relief.
    – Justice Chukwudifu Oputa in Bakare v Apena (1986).

    Thirty years ago, Nasiru Bello was sentenced to death by firing squad for armed robbery by the Oyo State High Court. His counsel assured him that he had a right of appeal and that he would not be executed until he exhausted that right. He was mistaken. On the advice of the attorney-general of the state, the governor ordered Bello’s execution and he was executed before his appeal was heard. Then began the battle by his family members for compensation because, according to them,  they have been deprived of their breadwinner’s support. They lost at the high and appeal courts and the matter went to the Supreme Court.

    The public wondered what will be the Supreme Court’s take on the matter. Will it uphold Bello’s execution as an open and close case  just as the high and appeal courts did? The issue at stake in Bello’s case was whether he should have been executed when he had appealed the verdict. Unlike a civil matter, there is nothing like applying for stay of execution of judgement in a criminal case. All a condemned man needs do is to exercise his right of appeal up to the Supreme Court. It is deemed that the appeal will act as a stay until the case is determined. This is why a condemned man like Chukwuemeka Ezeugo aka Rev King was not executed during the pendency of  his appeal at the appeal and Supreme courts. He was convicted by the Lagos High Court over nine years ago on January 11, 2007. The Supreme Court affirmed the verdict last February 25.

    As I write this on Tuesday night, Rev King is still on the death row. I have used the cases of Bello and King as analogies to discuss the vexed issue of stay of execution of judgement following recent developments in Abia State. A Federal High Court last June 27 sacked the governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue the plaintiff, Dr Uchechukwu Ogah, a certificate of return (CoR) “forthwith”. INEC complied with the order ‘’immediately’’, despite being served with a notice of appeal and a motion for stay of execution of the judgement. In matters like this, opinions always differ, especially among lawyers, the very people who should know better, because of vested interests.

    Ogah’s lawyers are arguing that INEC did the right thing because its action, though misguided, favoured them. The Ikpeazu camp is, expectedly, condemning the commission for not waiting for the determination of its appeal before issuing Ogah the CoR. The Ikpeazu group tried to nip the Abia crisis in the bud. It wrote INEC intimating it of the filing of its appeal and a motion for stay, but the commission ignored the correspondence, issued Ogah the CoR and threw Abia into crisis. What would it have cost INEC to tarry until the disposal of the appeal before doing the needful? It would have cost the commission nothing.

    To now seek to hide under what it called the ‘immediacy’ requirement of Justice Okon Abang’s order to justify its action will not fly. INEC did not think it through before acting. Its action was hasty and unjustified though the court ordered it to act ‘’forthwith’’. If it were to be a criminal matter like that of Rev King, would the commission have executed him when his appeal is pending citing the ‘immediacy’ of the judge’s order? Public institutions like INEC, which should be non-partisan, must try as much as possible to stay so. They should like Caesar’s wife be above board. Why the hurry in issuing Ogah the CoR when the commission had already been served with processes showing that the case had gone on appeal?

    By its action, INEC constituted itself into an appellate court. By its action, it has concluded that Ikpeazu has no chance on appeal. By its action, it has shown its bias. By its action, it has decided that come what may Ogah will be the governor. So, because it has the CoR in large quantity, it should be issuing it anyhow? When its National Commissioner for Southeast, Ambassador Lawrence Nwuruku, made that careless statement on national television last June 29, I felt like throwing up.  As an umpire, INEC is required to be neutral and must be seen to be so; it should not join the fray. INEC ran into trouble because it interpreted the judgement by itself. If it had consulted its lawyers, it would have received experts’ advice which may have prevented the mess it has created in Abia.

    If the situation were beyond redemption like in the Bello case, the nation would have been foisted with a fait accompli. Thank God that despite INEC’s action, the situation is still redeemable. The courts and not INEC would have the last say on the matter. Truly,  an appeal does not constitute a stay, but it serves as a notice that the case is still hot and alive.  Being that the case, should the appellant be thrown out of office before the determination of his appeal? The answer is no. So, on being served with a notice of appeal, a law abiding person is not expected to take any action to destroy the subject matter of the case because he wants to enjoy the fruits of litigation. Unfortunately, this is what INEC did by issuing Ogah the CoR after being served with Ikpeazu’s appeal.

    The late Justice Aniagolu was unsparing of the Oyo State Government in his concurring judgement in the Bello case. Noting that the government “hastily and illegally snuffed off the life of an appellant whose appeal was pending without regard for the life and liberty of the subject and the principle of the rule of law”, the late justice said : “The brutal incident has bespattered the face of the government with the paintbrush of shame”. So has INEC’s handling of the Ikpeazu-Ogah matter brought it to public ridicule and scorn. But, we hope this is not the new face of INEC under the  Prof Mahmood Yakubu leadership.

  • Eleven-year medical degree misadventure

    SIR: At the matriculation and inauguration of the University of Medical Science, Ondo, it was reported that the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, Professor Okojie stated that “… students to spend four years studying basic sciences after which they would proceed to medical school to spend another seven years.”

    One error in this policy is that in the present medical curriculum, medical students spend three years in RELEVANT basic sciences before the clinical studies.  One year at 100 level for pure sciences, two years of relevant sciences namely: Anatomy, Physiology, Biochemistry, and in some cases, also Pharmacology. If the candidate entered by Direct Entry and did Higher School Certificate, he/she spends two years of Physics, Chemistry Zoology and Botany (or Biology) at advanced level before entering the university for the initial two years of Anatomy, Physiology, Biochemistry and Pharmacology before proceeding to study clinical work.

    It is superfluous to study science subjects to make him a rocket or space scientist.

    Also, from the address one can infer that one of the reasons adduced for this was “…in order to enable the student to mature psychologically for the profession.”

    The youngest age one enters the university for any course of study is 18 years.  If one spends seven years studying Medicine, one will graduate at the age of 25 years.  Is a 25-year-old boy or girl not “psychologically mature”?  Don’t some countries have Head of States at around that age?  Even if we have a precocious student that enters the university at the age of 16, (which is not very common) he/she will graduate at the age of 23 years.  Is this not mature enough?  Don’t people marry successfully at the age of 23?  If one is not mature enough at this age one can never mature even if one is as old as Methuselah!

    I think the reason behind all these beating around the bush and groping in the darkness is because we are looking for a way of improving on our health delivery system which is sub-standard when compared with other countries.  I agree totally with this assertion, but not with the solution proffered.  If not, why are Nigerians going to India and Germany etc for medical treatment?  Yet we have professors in Nigeria in every medical discipline?

    If we can go back memory lane, some years ago, the late Professor Adeoye Lambo suggested that the years of study of medicine in the universities should be reduced to four years instead of what we have at present.  The basic fact is that the number of years a candidate spends in the medical school does not necessarily make one a good doctor.  The medical curriculum as designed at present produces the best and optimum requirement for producing good doctors.  One year at the university 100 level where they study basic sciences, two years of RELEVANT basic sciences, then three years of clinical studies which include the study of all clinical disciplines including PSYCHIATRY;  one year of Housemanship and one year of National Youth Service, before being allowed to practice medicine – a total of eight years.

    Some scientific studies abroad have shown that the performance of a doctor (whether good or bad, knowledgeable or not, dedicated or not) bears little relevance to the performance in the medical school.  The reason is that about 90% of the course is more theoretical than clinical.  And the clinical component depends on the number of patients available in the institution, number of students in the group, the enthusiasm of the students themselves to the clinical postings, and the diligence of the teachers in clinical teachings.

    There are many medical students who distinguished themselves in the medical school but just turned out to be “average” doctors and yet there are many “average” medical students who turned out to be excellent doctors after graduation.

    Some studies have also shown that the performance of a doctor, however, bears great relevance to the performance during the years of residency training programme.  This is because the residency training programme is about 90% clinical and 10 % theory.  The years of residency training programme can be four years to about seven years post NYSC depending on the specialty.  No doctor now stops after NYSC. Practically all go into a residency training programme after NYSC, whether it is General Practice or Surgery. So, if improvement is needed in our medical education, the focus and emphasis should be on the residency training programme and not on the number of years to spend in the medical school.

    However if this 11-year-medical school programme consists of seven years of university training and four years of specialty (residency) programme, then it can be justified.  But the snag is that first medical degree is awarded by a university Senate, and the postgraduate (fellowship) award is not an award by the university Senate but an award by a professional body that constitutes a College and has no connection with any university.

    • Oluwole G. Ajao

    Professor of Surgery (Rtd)

    College of Medicine, and University College Hospital, Ibadan.

  • Before the misadventure in Mali

    Before the misadventure in Mali

    SIR: There is no doubt, that it is in Nigeria’s strategic interest, as the most populous black nation, to continue to be a key player in the West African sub-region particularly in helping to ensure that peace and stability continues to prevail. However, the decision of the Nigerian government at this point in time, to participate in the regional force packaged by ECOWAS to dislodge the Islamists in northern Mali is a step in the wrong direction.

    The first rule of war is that one must know the enemy and understand his strategy and tactics, and the second is that one must adopt strategy and tactics suited to the circumstances of the war. The Islamists, having occupied northern Mali now will definitely be consolidating and solidifying their hold on the terrain of operation. This is clearly an advantage. And because of their knowledge of the terrain, the Islamists may supplement normal conventional military operation with guerilla tactics by infiltrating small units behind the invasion force to disrupt communications, lines of supplies and continually harass their opponents thereby weakening and demoralizing them.

    Northern Mali presently occupied by the Islamists is an expansive landscape and is mostly desert. And in a desert military operation that is usually characterized by a high rate of mobility, a force of 3500 as proposed by ECOWAS military planners will be so thinly spread on the expansive landscape of the north. Such a situation will definitely allow the Islamists a lot of flexibility and freedom of manoeuvre. Sooner than later the ECOWAS military force would start requesting for reinforcement from their home countries.

    Members of the Nigerian Armed Forces are currently engaged in internal security operations in almost three quarters of the states of the federation. With such a high degree of commitment at home, the Nigerian Army should have been excused from the war in Mali.

    Also of interest is a report in the media that Nigeria is planning to send 200 members of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to Mali as part of the ECOWAS Intervention Force. This idea, if true should be totally discarded. Apart from the legal implication of sending non-combatant paramilitary men to a war front, in a foreign land, serious operational problems are also likely to araise on the mode of operations of the civil defenders vis-à-vis the military. Their presence in Mali would also create a logistic nightmare for the Nigerian contingent.

    Every solider worth his salt knows the importance of the element of surprise in war. Surprise apart from being a major principle of war, more often than not emanates from deception. Surprise is the psychological blow which if the deception is real, unbalances the enemy. It is however doubtiful if surprise can be achieved in Mali by the ECOWAS Force due to the likely infiltration of the force by the Islamists during the preparatory and training stage in Bamako.

     

    • Lt. Col. Oluwole Bright (rtd),

    Victoria Island, Lagos.