The Nation Newspaper

Tag: moment

  • Freshers’ moment of joy

    Freshers’ moment of joy

    The Imo State University (IMSU) has matriculated no fewer than 5,000 freshers, CHIDIEBERE ENYIA (300-Level English and Literary Studies) and EMMANUEL AHANONU (Political Science) report.

    The ceremonies marking the matriculation of the Imo State University (IMSU) put a lot of shine on the event. Many freshers had more time and space to host their friends and family members.

    The matriculation was decentralised and held simultaneously across faculties. The institution does not have an auditorium that can accommodate all the students at the same time.

    No fewer than 5,000 of the about 100,000 applicants were admitted. Instead of the Registrar, Mr Godfrey Aniche, to administer the oath on the freshers, each faculty officer performed that duty on his behalf.

    The dean of each faculty represented the Vice-Chancellor (VC), Prof Ukachukwu Awuzie. The event was held between 10am and noon. The freshers were in blue academic gowns.

    The ceremony lasted for 40 minutes at the Faculty of Business Administration, where the Dean, Prof P. U. Akanwa, urged the students not to deviate from their primary aim on the campus.

    He said: “You are admitted into IMSU at a time of great privilege and opportunity, revival and renaissance; when we are rising from the ashes of infrastructural neglect.”

    To improve the state of facilities, the VC said: “The state government is currently building six academic blocks spread across the Orlu and Owerri campuses, while also improving on the main access arterial road on the campus.”

    Advising the freshers, he said: “It is time for you to begin to chart your own courses, to find your own paths, to make your own decisions, and even meet new friends who may determine the direction of your development in the coming years. Manage the new freedom that has been given to you. You must shun cultism, examination misconduct, indecent dressing and all similar vices”.

    Mrs. Jane Amaechi stood in for the Registrar to administer the matriculation oath after their Heads of Departments (HODs) presented the freshers.

    At the Faculty of Humanities, the outgoing Dean, Prof Jasper Onuekwusi, told the students to strive for excellence. He described the freshers as “children of the dawn of a new vision”, saying they came at a time the school was undergoing academic revolution.

    As  the IMSU is a non-residential institution, students were made to swear to an  oath that they would be responsible for their accommodation.

    Emmanuel Chimodo, a student of Political Science, who led freshers in the Social Science Faculty, urged the students to reject invitation to joining unlawful groups whose activities are to disrupt academic activities.

    Collins Akaluso, 100-Level Marketing, said his admission was miracle. He said: “I never knew today will come to pass and I really thank God for making it reality and expect his grace to guide me through as I look forward to graduate with first class.”

    Ruth Wilfred, a student of Management Department, who was admitted after six years of writing post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), said: “I am very happy that I finally made it. I have been writing post-UTME since 2008. But I thank God that my effort paid off this time and I am ready to labour for excellence.”

    After the oath, the freshers moved out of the hall and engaged in photo ops. Canopies were mounted at every point on the campus, while music blared from different angles as the students celebrated with their friends and family members. Some students’ associations and campus fellowships also took time to woo new members.

    The celebration was in full throttles in the afternoon; Kegites Club entertained the students with “gyration songs” and palm wine was freely distributed to all.

    A parent, Mr. Jona Mbawho, whose son was matriculated, said: “These are part of the frills and thrills on campuses but a serious student should not be carried away. If anyone is carried away with these excitements, he would have himself or herself to blame at the end of the day.”

    He advised parents to monitor their wards’ academic performance all the time.

     

  • Moment of reversals

    Moment of reversals

    I Return to Edo today. But, this time around, it is with a heavy heart. Not because someone close died, but because I believe reform is being buried gradually. We are succumbing to the notion that reforms are not meant for our society. Things should just stay the way they are, even when totally bad.

    At least twice on this page, I wrote in support of the Edo State government’s decision to make teachers take competency test. My position has not changed. So, you can imagine my disappointment when the Edo State government last week reversed the planned competency test. It also recalled the 936 teachers whose names were deleted from the payroll for certificate discrepancies and age falsification.

    The government equally announced the immediate extension of the relativity to teachers in public schools.

    Lest I forget, there is nothing wrong with having a change of mind. It can show grace. It can also mean humility. For me, these two reversals, cancellation of the competency test and pardon of teachers with cases of records’ falsification, send a wrong signal. To my ‘ungubernatorial’ mind,  I do not see the humility or grace in this, as seen by an Edo monarch. What is humble about jettisoning  reform-driven decisions?

    The about-turn  followed a meeting Governor Adams Oshiomhole had with the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

    Dear reader, please permit me to quote the governor copiously so that we can  see how much sense he made.

    Said he: “On assumption of office, it was very clear to me and my colleagues that our future is defined by the level of investment in education and the quality of the basic education we provide for our children and that is why we have devoted resources to the rebuilding of our primary schools, junior and senior secondary schools.

    “For me, it was clear coming from my own background, I had obligation to restore dignity to the educational sector in the state. Basic education is like the foundation of a house. If the foundation is weak, the building will collapse but if the foundation be strong, it will withstand the test of time. It is easier to re-roof than to rebuild a complete house.

    “The need to ensure the future of the state is not compromised by compromising the future of the Edo child necessitated the action to redefine the educational system in the state. The state government’s commitment to carry out competency test was informed by these broad facts having discovered that some of our teachers were not qualified or up to date with recent teaching methods. Our insistence on the fact that competency test must be seen in this light.

    “However, having listened to all suggestions and consultations with various groups, government has agreed to set aside the competency or assessment test in order to re assure Edo workers that government has no intention to sack anyone.”

    The governor said in place of the competency test, government would introduce training and re-training for teachers and all others civil servants in the state.

    He also said: “On the teachers with falsified age declaration with criminal intentions to cheat, government has resolved to pardon them and retire those whose records show that they are above 60 years while those below 60 years are to return to the classroom with their names returned to the payroll and will benefit from the training programme.

    “Following investigation, the alleged ghost workers in Ovia North East Local Government Area who have been found to have actually been on ground will have their two months pending salary paid. I will discuss with the local government chairman on how to effect their payments.”

    Teachers were happy. For me, the decisions, especially the aspect regarding the recall of people who falsified academic records, sound somehow. It is a virtue for government to listen to the people, but this particular issue borders on criminality. I sincerely believe there is no way training or re-training can make someone who, in the first place, is not qualified to be capable of imparting knowledge. You can’t give what you don’t have. The governor also said those who  falsified their age would be pardoned and retired. What this means is that they will get their retirement benefits and life will still be good. Will this not encourage people to still falsify their ages? Age falsification seems to mean nothing much around here. Not long ago, a famed and respected judge died. His official record and his children’s claims were at variance. His children said he was older that his official record. Yet, while alive he was a role model. If people at that level can falsify their ages, why can’t teachers? This seems to be the message we are passing.

    I love the comrade governor. I have admired him for years. This action of his has saddened me though and I wonder if there is hope for reform. It has also got me thinking what must have informed the decision. I have also thought of what meetings took place  before this concession was arrived at.

    Something tells me that this may not be unconnected with the need not to lose political grounds. Teachers are a sizeable portion of the population. If they all collectively decide to vote against the governor’s party in the next election, it will have significant effect. Is this what the governor is avoiding? I can’t say for sure.

    What I am sure of about our society is that people who set out to carry out reforms are never given a chance. Members of our society, perhaps because of the level of poverty, always frown at anything that will affect their purses. Whether it betters the lot of the generality and improve the society at large does not matter.

    My final take: I am not happy that Edo has decided to allow people who falsify their records to get their benefits. This borders on criminality and we need to set examples so that with time we can start the end of criminality. The case in Edo is an opportunity missed and it saddens me. Opprtunities lost may never be regained. If a reform-minded governor can change his mind on an issue like this, who then can lead the change?

    Something tells me that His Excellency was not happy with these decisions. His statement alluded to the fact that he had to listen to other voices. But, as the leader, he will forever be mentioned as the one who abandoned these laudable reforms.

     

  • Governors’ Forum crisis: Not a fine moment for Nigerian character

    Governors’ Forum crisis: Not a fine moment for Nigerian character

    The photograph on the front page of this newspaper yesterday spoke volumes. It showed Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State addressing the press on a dreary night in Abuja. But it was obvious he was emotionally drained. He had endured more than one week of intense jockeying for relevance in the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF), with some of his colleagues intriguing ruthlessly for his post, or at least trying to get him off his perch. Behind him, almost behind his ears, was Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State, the man who continues to menace Amaechi and haunt his shadows so much that it must take extraordinary nerves for both gentlemen to stand in the same room. In the photograph, however, Akpabio displays unearthly calmness, with a mechanical grin trying to break on his face.

    Also in the photograph, and behind Amaechi to the right, was Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State, a man who has managed by the force of his eloquence and the strength of his conviction to carve some political and national relevance. He has stood rock-solid behind Amaechi, even as the Rivers governor is buffeted by enemies. In the same photograph, Governor Idris Wada of Kogi State, stood distractingly beside Amaechi. The governors were all emerging from a meeting in which some 16 of them attempted to unhorse Amaechi from the NGF chairmanship. The coup failed, and the battle has been postponed till May. Earlier, however, President Goodluck Jonathan had corralled a few governors led by Akpabio to form the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors’ Forum. To cut to the chase, everyone knows, in spite of Akpabio’s doublespeak, that the new Forum is designed to balkanise the NGF for spurning Jonathan’s cajolery and blandishments.

    There are many issues surrounding the NGF that discomfit the public, such as its unconstitutional overbearingness. But beyond all those issues, however, and even beyond the reasons that precipitated the presidential conspiracy against the Forum, is the disturbing impression a few of the governors have given to the world of their character. It is doubtful whether Amaechi would have attracted so much opposition and earned the intense enmity of the presidency had he been more restrained, less candid as a politician, more reflective as a person, and disarmingly more diplomatic. But he can at least take solace in the fact that with all his impetuousness, he is not shifty and his conscience is not for hire. Rivers may find his NGF politics a distraction, and even wonder whether they elected him to engage in interminable political jousting, but they will shrug their shoulders and say, well, he can call his soul his own, if nothing else.

    So far, nothing substantially untoward has been done by the pro-Jonathan group other than their engaging puerility. The group is doubtless entitled to pursue its own interests and fight its enemies, whether real or phantom. But by offering himself as head of the Jonathan army, and for a crusade of such enormous dubiousness, Akpabio managed to give the impression he is for hire, and his conscience as elastic as they come. Recall that in the photograph briefly analysed above, Hardball said he detected a forced grin on the Akwa Ibom governor’s face. Well, that kind of painful expression often indicates unbearable turbulence in the heart of a man full of both surrender and betrayal. Akwa Ibomites will revel in their appreciation of Akpabio’s great developmental projects, for the man is hardworking and focused, and take pride in his eloquence, for he is also a gifted public speaker with confident gait. But it is doubtful whether they would not marvel at how cheaply their governor had lent himself to be used by Jonathan, and also wonder whether it is always the case that brilliance must be compromised by lack of character.