The Nation Newspaper

Tag: N3m

  • N3m stands between star pupils and Olympiads

    Proprietress of De Ayo International College, Alakia, Ibadan in Oyo State, Mrs Ayoyinka Babatunde, is seeking financial support to enable three pupils of the school who qualified for Biology and Chemistry Olympiads to attend in Hungary and France.

    Mrs Babatunde said Akinsola Pelumi, Oyewole Victor both qualified for the International Biology Olympiad in Hungary after coming first and fourth position in the qualifiers organised by the National Mathematical Centre (NMC), in Abuja. The third pupil, Adeniyi Faith, who qualified to represent Nigerian in the International Chemistry Olympiad in France, came fourth in the trials.

    However, though the trio qualifies to fly Nigeria’s flag at the competitions, they cannot afford the cost of registration and travel, which would come to about N1 million per child.

    The NMC is only sponsoring those pupils representing Nigeria in the International Mathematics Olympiad holding in Bath, United Kingdom in July.

    Mrs Babatunde said the school cannot afford to sponsor the three children who have done not only their school but Oyo State proud – being pupils from the only school to field multiple candidates.

    She said the school had already spent a lot preparing them and ferrying them on multiple trips for the qualifiers in Abuja.

    She lamented that the children were not from wealthy families that could afford the cost.  She said while Pelumi was on scholarship in the school, Faith had only one parent taking care of his education.  As for Victor, who has both parents supporting his education, she said they earned only average income.

    Making an appeal for Pelumi, she said brilliant Pelumi who stays with his grandmother, already had university admission at Duke Kunshan University, China.

    She said: “For the International Olympiad he would need about one million naira, while to process his admission to Duke Kunshan University where he has been offered free tuition he will also need another one million making two million naira in all. This highly talented boy lost him mum while he was only three-years old, the grandmother brought him for admission to De Ayo International College where he scored scholarship mark and enjoyed half tuition for the first three years. On sitting for the JS3 exam, he also qualified for full tuition scholarship which he enjoyed from SS1-3. The school also assisted in several other ways – health and counseling inclusive.

    “On coming first in Biology in Nigeria, we were happy that the government will take over the rest only to hear that they will not be able to finance the trip to Hungary due to lack of funds. We will therefore appreciate whatever you can do to assist. Only four students qualified in Oyo State while De Ayo students among them are three.

    “This is the first time more than one student will qualify for the international Olympiads from Oyo state and consequently, the first time more than one student will qualify from the same school in Oyo state.”

    In a letter requesting sponsorship from the Oyo State Government, Mrs Babatunde said sponsoring the pupils would give Nigeria a chance to win medals in the subjects for the first time.

    “The advantages of the International Olympiads are numerous and highly significant.

    “First and foremost, there is an existing record that no African has ever won a medal at the International Biology Olympiad and International Chemistry Olympiad. If these students are given the privilege to represent the country and they win  medals, their name, the name of the school, the name of the state and the name of every stakeholders involved in their progress to the International stage will be etched in the history books,” she said.

    Mrs Babatunde is seeking the assistance of well-meaning Nigerians to raise funds for her pupils to attend the competition.

  • Court fines police N3m for violating FCT resident’s right

    An FCT High Court, Maitama has ordered the police to pay N3 million to Kingsley Efobi, for violation of his right to personal liberty.

    Efobi on May 10, 2017 filed a suit against the Nigeria Police, Inspector-General of Police and Commissioner of Police, FCT Command, for violating his right.

    Justice Jude Okeke, delivering judgment, held that there was no basis for the court to disbelieve the evidence of the applicant, which was not contradicted by the respondents.

    He held that in order to ensure that the applicant was protected from further violation of his right to personal liberty, “in facts of this matter, the court will be minded in line with the provision of Section 46 (1) of the constitution.”

    “Accordingly, an order of perpetual injunction is granted, restraining the respondents, their agents or servants from harassing the applicant on account of the subject matter of this suit.

    “The respondents jointly and severally are ordered to pay to the applicant N2 million damages for breaking his right to personal liberty, N1million for violating his right not to be subjected to inhuman treatment,’’ Justice Okeke said.

    He ordered that the respondents jointly and severally should return to the applicant N16, 500 being the money extorted from him by the officers of the respondent.

    The judge also ordered that the respondent should pay the applicant N50,000 for being successful in the suit.

    He held that the order by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) to the applicant, to remove his sandal, sit on the floor, in addition to seizing his phone, was a violation of his right to dignity of his person, even his arrest and detention.

    Efobi said he was forced to write an undertaking for the payment of the debts he owed.

    “There is no evidence by the respondents showing that they arrested and detained the applicant upon a reasonable suspicion of having committed a criminal offence.

    “It is unconstitutional and, therefore, unlawful,’’ the judge said.

    He said the applicant and two others were traders at Wuse Modern Market, selling bedspread and allied materials.

    The applicant said the bedspread dealers bought in large quantities on debt from Madam Normal, who supplied them from Aba.

    It was the dealer who reported the applicant to the police sometime in May 2015, for debts he owed her.

  • Army places N3m bounty on Shekau

    Army places N3m bounty on Shekau

    The Army yesterday placed a N3 million bounty on Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau.

    Army spokesman Brig-Gen. Sani Usman said in a statement in Abuja that anybody with credible information on Shekau should contact the military command and Control Centre of Operation Lafiya Dole or the Nigerian Army Call Centre number 193.

    The statement said: “The Nigerian Army will give out Three Million Naira (N3,000,000.00k) cash reward for any credible information that leads to the arrest of Abubakar Shekau, the fugitive factional Boko Haram terrorists’ group leader.

    “Anybody with such credible information can either contact the military command and Control Centre, Operation LAFIYA DOLE, any military location, security agencies  or call the Nigerian Army Information and Call Centre 193”.

  • Evans never gave me N3m, SUV, says father

    Evans never gave me N3m, SUV, says father

    Mr. Stephen Onwuamadike,  father of suspected kidnap kingpin, Chukwudi Chidumeme Onwuamadike (aka Evans), yesterday dismissed as false the claim by Evans of once giving him N3million and a Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV).

    Evans had told reporters last weekend when he took interrogators to  one of the dens his gang used for the detention of victims on Green Street, Jakande Estate, Isolo,Lagos.

    “Before I stopped going home, I gave my father N3million and I bought him an SUV and a pick-up van. I believe that part of the money I gave him was what he used to establish the piggery business. Had it been my father had taken good care of me, I wouldn’t have become what I am today,” the suspect said.

    However, Onwuamadike (snr) said yesterday that nothing could have been farther from the truth than the allegation by his son.

    “If he insists that he gave me money, they should ask him when and how he brought the money to me, whether through the bank or through anybody,” he told The Nation on Thursday at his Nnewi, Anambra State residence .

    “I have  been in poverty in Nnewi here and feeding has been a problem for me and somebody, somewhere said he gave me N3million.Where is the money or any sign of it in this house?

    “Money does not hide; I feed myself and my mother with this small piggery I’m running, while my mother engages in buying of goats to keep body and soul together, even at her old age”

    “My son should stop talking of things that are impossible and pray to God for forgiveness. I have never been in support of bad things in life and will never engage in such at this age.”

    Onwumadike (snr) also disputed the claim by Evans that he had herbalists in Nnewi who were preparing charms for him.

    The 58-year-old father of 11 described the allegation as name dropping.

    “Security operatives should take him to Pastor T.B. Joshua for deliverance before any other thing, but he should stop dropping names,” he said.

     

  • Unilag alumni’s N3m scholarships in honour of Sofoluwe

    Twenty brilliant but indigent undergraduates of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) will receive N150,000 each worth of scholarships tomorrow.

    The scholarships, which are courtesy of UNILAG Alumni Association, Lagos State branch, are in commemoration of the yearly Adetokunbo Babatunde Sofoluwe Memorial Lecture.

    Chairman of the Lagos State chapter of the alumni, Dr Lukeman Adeoti, said the association would also visit two orphanage homes- Module Cole, Yaba and Red Cross.

    The late Sofoluwe was the first vice chancellor of UNILAG to die in office. He was 62.

    Speaking at a briefing on the school campus, Adeoti described the late Sofoluwe as an “embodiment of simplicity, erudite scholar, and a man who demystified the position of a vice chancellor’’.

    According to him, it has become a culture of UNILAG to honour the late Sofoluwe whose contributions to the school and society could not be over emphasised.

    “This goes to show us that when we are alive, we have to be good to people. This man died five years ago and he is still being celebrated,” he said.

    He added that the association was looking forward to establishing the Sofoluwe Foundation to immortalise the deceased’s good deeds.

    The Chairman of the committee for the lecture Prof Oluwayemisi Obashoro-John, said an exhibition of the deceased’s lifetime, such as  the love letters he exchanged with his wife, a compendium of his works, especially his first academic and last academic papers, among others, would be on display.

    The lecture entitled: “Administration/management of a university in a recessed economy” would be delivered by the Vice Chancellor of Sokoto State University, Prof Nuhu Yaqub.

  • N3m for grabs in PZ Cussons Chemistry challenge

    Prizes worth over N3 million are to be won in the PZ Cusson Carex Chemistry Competition (PZCCC) for SS3 pupils, whose entry closes on November 4.

    The competition, sponsored by the PZ Cussons Foundation, will be implemented in three stages – the first of which is scheduled for November 7 in 10 centres across Lagos State.

    Those who score 70 per cent and above will progress to the second stage of the competition, which, like the first, will be a written examination to hold on November 14.  The best four that emerge from the second stage will feature in the practical-oriented final.  The final would be recorded in a studio on December 12.

    Speaking at a stakeholders’ engagement forum held last Tuesday at De Renaissance Hotel, Ikeja, Carex Brand Manager, Oluwaseun Ayeni, said the top 10 winners would be rewarded with cash prizes.  While the top four win cash and gift awards for themselves, their teachers and schools, the rest would get N50,000 as consolation prize.

    The winner would be rewarded with N700,000 cash prize, a trophy, laptop and gold medal.  His teacher would get N100,000, and the school N100,000 worth of chemistry textbooks.  The first runner up would win N500,000 and a laptop and silver medal, while his teacher would get N80,000 and the school, N80,000 worth of books.  The second runner up is to win N400,000 (N70,000 for the teacher, and N70,000 for the school); while the third runner up would get N300,000 (and N120,000 for the teacher and school).

    A member of the Board of Trustees of the foundation, Tunde Oyelola, said the competition is one of the firm’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CRS) programmes initiated to stimulate secondary school pupils’ interest in Chemistry.

    Mr Alex Doma, Managing Director, PZ Family Care, added that the winners would get an internship opportunity with the firm to develop new products – an initiative he described as the icing on the cake of the competition.

    “Beyond the cash prizes and the gifts, the four finalists will spend six weeks to work in our Research and Development functions.  They actually start to see how things in the chemistry text books work out.  It will stimulate their interest in the subject and we will begin to build a credible core of professionals for the industry,” he said.

    Mrs Modupe Badiru, General Manager of Redwood Consulting, which is handling the implementation of the competition on behalf of the foundation, said forms for the competition could be downloaded online or obtained from the Lagos State Ministry of Education or the headquarters of the six education districts.

    Past winners of the competition, which is in its third edition, are Emmanuel Ejiogu Onyekachi of Miketoy College, Ikotun (2013) and Nwaoha Justin of ISOLOG College, Ojodu (2014).

     

  • Lagos gives N3m aid to rainstorm victims

    Lagos State Government has presented a cheque of N3 million, which was the last phase of its financial assistance, to victims of rainstorm disaster in the Surulere Local Government Area.

    General Manager, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Dr Femi Oke-Osanyintolu, who presented the cheques to the victims in Alausa yesterday, said 60 of them received the sum of N50,000 each to alleviate their suffering following the disaster.

    Oke-Osanyintolu explained that the government also carried out reconstruction of the victims’ affected structures with about N50million, assuring residents of government wiliness to reach out to them.

    He said the primary victims, mostly tenants that occupy the affected building, were the beneficiaries of the N50,000, while the secondary beneficiaries are the owners of the building that have taken possession of their reconstructed property.

    He said: “Emergencies and disasters by nature are unforeseen and sudden. And this explains why the blows by them are usually deadly and devastating. It is in line with this philosophy that the governor has approved payment of this financial assistance.”

    He said the agency had paid a total of N13million to occupants of 65 flats at Jakande Estate in Oke-Afa, adding that 17 flats owners were paid in the first phase, 24 flat owners in the second and 24 flat owners in the third phase.

    He said plans are ongoing by the government to rebuild the demolished structure and hand them over to the owners, adding that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed with them to show government’s commitment to return the property to them when completed.

    He suspended plans to present cheques of N200,000 each to 24 flats’ owners in the last phase at Jakande Estate in Oke-Afa area due to low turnout of affected persons as well as following report that some aggrieved members plan to institute legal suit against government.

    He charged residents on the need to insure their properties, while urging them to always accord safety issues the deserved attention in daily activities.