Tag: Nigeria newspaper

The story of a 14-year old raped by her father caught my attention on Tuesday.  The girl in question had previously been raped by the same man when she was 11.  The worst part was that she informed her mother back then that her father abused her but the mother did nothing.   The reason why the man has now been arrested was not because her mother reported the case, but because, her aunt, whom her mother confided in, reported to the NSCDC.

Just before I read the story, I suddenly remembered Ochanya Ogbanje, the 13-year old girl who died of complications from sexual abuse by her cousin (Victor Ogbuja) and uncle (Andrew Ogbuja) between age eight and 13. And I wondered whether her Aunty, Mrs Felicia Ogbuja, did not know that the child was being abused under her roof for six years.  Now I know she knew because a story I read noted that she hid 11 medical test results that showed evidence of the young girl being sexually abused.

When the news of the Bukola Dakolo’s abuse by a popular pastor broke in June, the social media went into overdrive and many people came out to report rape and sexual abuse they suffered as children.  One particular story broke my heart.  It was about a lady, who in sharing the lessons learnt from Mrs Dakolo’s case with her younger sister discovered that their youngest, an eight year old, was being abused by an adult male who their mother trusted so much.  When the young girl was examined by a doctor, it was found that she was months away from death as the infection she had caught was already serious and would have affected her vital organs.

We are not doing enough to protect minors from sexual abuse in our society.  We need to do more about educating them early about unsafe touches and how to seek help.  And when they cry out, like the 14-year old earlier mentioned, we are duty bound to take action.  When I say ‘we’, I mean, parents, siblings, teachers, neighbours, whoever finds out about the abuse.

First of all, parents should begin teaching their children about their body parts as early as 18 months of age.  I learnt this from Praise Fowowe, a popular speaker at a parenting programme organised by Mrs Abimbola Fashola I attended years ago and I put it into practice when I started having children.  Even if the child cannot speak clearly, teach him/her the real names of the sexual organs.  Let them know that it is wrong for others to touch their breast, penis, vagina, or buttocks.  Let them know nobody has the right to kiss them on the lips.

Another writer and proprietor of Le Poshe School Ikoyi, Mrs Ronke Adeniyi, also spoke on the need for parents to teach young children to differentiate between appropriate and inappropriate touch of even public parts of the body.  Someone stroking the cheek of a child and rubbing arms and legs continually may constitute inappropriate touch.  She said children are vulnerable and need information that would make them less vulnerable when there are no adults around them.

In addition to being able to identify appropriate touches, they need to be able call for help.  They should be taught not to be afraid of their abusers to the extent of enduring the abuse.  They should learn to report to adults – and they should be able to tell more than one.

After children are taught to take such steps, then we adults must act when we know.  Please do not demonise a child who complains of sexual abuse for whatever reason.  It may be fear of job loss, marriage or relationship collapse.  Whatever you are losing is not worth the life of that child being abused.

Sometimes the sexual abuse is detected in the school.  Schools have already being informed about how to treat sexual abuse – report it to the appropriate quarters.  In Lagos, cases of domestic and sexual violence are taken seriously.  The Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team (DSVRT) can handle cases of sexual violence against children.  Recently, the team launched a short code, *6820# (for MTN and Airtel subscribers) that can be used to report sexual violence.  The hotlines to reach the team are: 112, and 08137960048.

This new session, every school should determine not to condone sexual abuse by taking action when they learn of sexual abuse both within their walls or in the homes of their pupils.

Management of the Benue State University (BSU) has been finding it difficult to run a hitch-free academic calendar because of incessant students’ protests. EMMANUEL UJA, Makurdi reports on the protests, which stakeholders say are too numerous for the institution’s good.

There are two universities in Makurdi , the Benue State capital – The Federal University of Agriculture (UAM), now JS Tarka University  of Agriculture Makurdi, and Benue State University ( BSU).

While UAM, a federal government institution, enjoys smooth academic calendar, the state-owned BSU is always in the news for wrong reasons as a result of its bloated students’ population.

The university is shut regularly over students’ protest, such that it hardly completes a semester without students protesting and the management closing the institution.

During protests, they block the two gates of the university and prevent workers from gaining entrance.

In the last three years,  according to a source, BSU students have challenged every management and Senate decision.

For instance, earlier this year, the students protested the management’s insistence that all students must pay school fees and complete course registration before examination.

They argued that most of their parents were civil servants who were owed by Benue State government.  The university was shut over the incident.

The latest protest by BSU students which has sparked anger among Benue people started two weeks ago.

The Nation gathered that in the first week, a Student Union official was allegedly shot far away in the town by unknown gunmen.

He was rushed to Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Makurdi for treatment but on the third day while on admission, the students staged a protest, blocking the two gates, insisting that the victim be taken to a better hospital for treatment.

In the second week, the students staged another protest – this time over the National Universities Commission (NUC) directive that the university should switch to the five points Grading System with effect from 2018/ 2019 academic season.

The management pleaded with the students to vacate the two gates but they refused, and finally the institution was again shut down and students directed to vacate school immediately.

It was one protest too many in BSU.  A parent, James Tyover, told The Nation that students had no right to decide what standard the school management should set for them.

He described the protesters as lazy youths who should be expelled from BSU.

He said such students were being used against the present management.

A source in management said some of the students had carried over many courses multiple times and were just staying on campus without proper registration.  The source said it was difficult to differentiate who was a student and who was not.

However, a 300-Level student of Mass Communication, Paul Onoja, disagreed that students were being used against the management.

Onoja pleaded with the university authorities to start the grading system with new students.

Speaking on the crisis, the university’s Vice Chancellor, Prof Msugh Kembe, expressed concern that the students did not wait for the outcome of a committee set up to look into the grading system before embarking on a protest.

Kembe said all stakeholders, including students, submitted memorandum to the committee and should have waited for the outcome.

A non-academic staff at BSU, Mrs Mary Ukav, told The Nation that some students were behind the latest protest because of  the tussle for  Students Union leadership.

Mrs Ukav explained that there was no Students Union Government (SUG) in place as their tenure had expired and presidents of departmental associations were running students’ affairs.

After stiff competition that involved both undergraduate and postgraduate students, Augustine Udeolisa, a 100-Level Electrical Electronics student of  the University of Port Harcourt became the unexpected winner of the first Professor Ogundipe Innovations Challenge (POIC) at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) last week.

His device, ‘Daltech 4 all security’, which works to prevent car thefts as well as accidents, won him the award and N1 million to further develop the technology.

Speaking at the competition for 11 finalists held at the Jelili Omotola Multpurpose Hall of the university, Udeolisa said he developed ‘Daltech 4 all security’ after witnessing an accident.

“This my device is for anti-theft and for accident. The idea came  the day I witnessed an accident as I was returning from a place. The accident  required an immediate  assistance which was not forthcoming. Infact , no one was there to save them.  My mum told me I can do something about it.  So I had to create a device that when you open a car door of a person it would call the person, and when the person calls back it will shut down the ignition system and if the car has  an accident, it will call the rescue team such as Fire Service, Police. If it is installed in the house or office and there is a fire incident, it will call the fire service or police or call you,,” he said.

Expressing excitement about his success, Udeolisa said he had failed many times before POIC but he was confident the device was valuable.

“I feel very excited, I have failed many times.  I failed in a recent exhibition; they did not accept my project but I told them that someday, I will win – that this device was not meant for that exhibition and was meant for somewhere higher”, he said.

Udeolisa, however, expressed sadness that two teammates could not join him for the competition because of registration error on his part.

He said he registered as the only member of ‘Team Solution’ in error and could not correct it when he tried to so they were unable to attend.

Over 500 entries were received for the competition which was organised by the Faculty of Science of the university to challenge students to use science and technology to solve local problems in the Nigerian society.

First runner-up of the competition was ‘Team Veta’ which developed a digital platform where students can learn technical and vocational skills and after training, find jobs on the same platform; while the second runner -up was ‘Team Brickify’ which designed rubber bricks for constructing movable structures.

The first and second runners-up of also got N1 million each to further develop their ideas.

In his speech, the UNILAG Vice Chancellor, Prof Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, said he was impressed by the performance of the teams.

“I feel excited that what you are witnessing today has never happened in any university before. So I am happy University of Lagos is leading in this area of innovation. I will encourage the youth to make sure they build on their potential so that they can move forward and be identified, because honestly speaking everything now is about innovation”, said Ogundipe.

Delta State Government has approved N1.5 billion as counterpart funding for the 2019 Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) projects.

Delta Commissioner for Information Charles Aniagwu said in Asaba that the approval was one of the decisions taken at the State Executive Council (SEC) meeting chaired by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa.

Aniagwu said the meeting also approved the establishment of one primary school and one secondary school in Asaba, to increase access to education by children in the capital city.

Aniagwu said to ensure that projects are executed in accordance with approved scope and specification, a monitoring unit was approved by the council.

He said the project monitoring unit would be headed by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Project Monitoring.

Kano State is home to about three million of the 10.5 million out-of-school children in Nigeria. The government is seeking ways to stem the tide and get children learning up to secondary school. KOLADE ADEYEMI reports.

The campaign for free and compulsory basic education for school-age children was brought to the front-burner in Kano last week, when experts, educationists, politicians, diplomats, non-governmental organisations and representatives of some Western and Middle-East countries gathered to chart a new course for children, including the qur’anic school pupils, popularly known as Almajiris.

The event was a two-day Stakeholders Summit on Free and Compulsory Basic Education in Kano State, organised by Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, in his bid to ensure that every child, boys and girls, has access to free basic education in the state.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was there with some ministers, the three Senators representing Kano North (Barau Jubrin), Kano South (Kabiru Gaya) and Kano Central (Ibrahim Shekarau) and some diplomats representing the United States, Britain, France, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.  International agencies such as the DFID, World Bank, UNICEF and others also had representatives at the event.

Ganduje is seeking ideas and support to reverse the state’s poor statistics regarding education. This is in line with a policy he made to provide free and compulsory education, from primary to senior secondary level, when he was sworn in for a second term on May 29.

He said the burden was not for Kano alone as data available to the government showed many of the out-of-school children in the state came from other parts of the North and even outside Nigeria.

Ganduje said: “It is disturbing to note from available statistics that Nigeria has over 10.5 million out-of-school children, it is also more alarming to note that 60 per cent of that figure represents the girl-child. Also, eight million of those out-of-school children are in 10 northern states of Nigeria. Regrettably, available figures indicate that over three million of these out-of-school children are in Kano. However, a recent survey revealed that most of these children are Almajiris from other northern states and children from the Republic of Niger, Chad and northern part of Cameroun.”

To manage the influx of Almajiris from neighbouring countries and also from states , Ganduje called for regional coordination and legislation.  Already, he said the state planned a census of out-of-school children to get accurate data.

“This government has set up a committee to conduct a census of all out-of-school children with a view to updating the available data and ensure adequate planning in preparation for the implementation of this all important education policy. This will further consolidate the commitment of government to the Better Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA), a UNICEF programme which aims at ensuring equitable access to basic education for out-of-school children,” he said.

Ganduje also revealed that plans were on the way to streamline about 13,619 Quaranic schools with 2.5 million pupils across the state, and integrate them into the free and compulsory education programme. He added that the government had set up Quaranic and Islamiyyah Schools Management Board.

He further said his administration had commenced direct funding of 1,180 primary and secondary schools with a population of 834,366 at the cost of about N200 million monthly or N2.4 billion per annum.

To get more children in school, Ganduje said the government planned to engage 3,000 volunteer teachers to teach in public and Quaranic schools and improve the infrastructural facilities in schools as well as provide water, toilets, electricity and instructional materials.

Osinbajo praised Ganduje for taking the first step and urged other governors in the North to emulate him.

He said Ganduje’s policy would trigger an educational revolution not only in the northern region but in the entire country.

“Kano is eminently positioned to trigger educational revolution around the northern region and Nigeria in general and the Federal Government must stem the tide to make it workable,” he said.

Osinbajo said the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration’s school feeding programme, which benefits 9.8 million children daily, shows the government’s commitment to basic education.

Dr Euphrates Efosi Wose, chief education officer, UNICEF Nigeria, said Ganduje’s policy aligned with UNICEF and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) mission “to promote the full attainment of the rights of all children, especially, the most disadvantaged.”

She added: “As part of this larger mission, UNICEF assists the government to enable every child learn. Indeed, education is a right enshrined in Articles 28 and 29 of the UNCRC and further in the Nigerian Constitution, and it is also a driver of equity, poverty reduction, empowerment, peaceful and inclusive societies and economic growth. When realising the significance of education, it is painful to understand that around 14.7 million children in Nigeria are not getting the access to education. And Kano is the state that has the highest number of out-of-school children in the whole of Nigeria, having around 1.5 million out-of-school children.”

Dr Efosi Wose, however, said the government could not do it alone but needed the help of parents, communities, the media and other stakeholders, pledging the agency’s support to Kano.

“Indeed, it is the government that holds the stake for ensuring that all children learn, parents and communities have critical roles to play – not only enrolling their children at schools at the right age, but also by monitoring if their children are receiving quality education, and, if not, demanding for it. Media has its own roles and responsibilities too. Indeed, due to the strategic importance of Kano State in addressing the challenges around the rights of Nigerian children, UNICEF has established a Field Office in Kano, and the office is fully operational since July this year. Thus, UNICEF is readily available to provide our assistance in an expedited manner, always,” she said.

Also, Janice Dolan of DFID pledged their support to the efforts of the Ganduje-led administration towards ensuring that every child gain access to free and quality education. Also, the representative of the World Bank praised Ganduje for championing the cause of child-education in Northern Nigeria, promising that Kano would hugely benefit from some juicy packages being sponsored by the World Bank to support not only free and compulsory basic education, but skills acquisition and other empowerment programmes.

In his speech, Adnan Mahmoud Bostaji, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to Nigeria, praised the government’s plans to remodel almajiri system of education, saying it would check antisocial behaviour among youths.

He said: “It will help in putting an end to the negative behaviour that comes from youths in the society because of lack of education. It is my pleasure to commend the Kano State government initiative of re-modelling the traditional Al-Majiri system of education.”

On his part, the representative of the UAE shared how educational innovations in his country, including achieving almost 100 per cent literacy rate, helped to promote development.

He said: “Education reform in the UAE focused on better preparation, greater accountability, higher standards, infusion of technology and improved professionalism to achieve the desired quality. Schools are moving away from papers, books and pencils to electronic-books, files and materials from different authors in one location, thereby simplifying the learning process. Investing in Technology can play a significant role in making it easier for students to get content and apply it in practice. The UAE has shown its desire to invest in various sectors in Nigeria and has already established a university, Skyline University, a UAE-based Higher Institution in Kano State.”

Lella Mathieu, who represented the French Embassy, said successful countries invested heavily in education.

“Free and compulsory education also helps bind people and communities together, it helps create a nation of citizens, and this is more important than ever indeed in this day and time. Finally, free and compulsory education for all is what brought freedom to many different nations and people throughout the world-freedom to think, freedom to act, freedom to prosper. And, as you know, all successful countries and economies have invested very heavily in education,” she said.

Describing Kano as a pace-setter, the Education Minister, Adamu Adamu said the state plays a strategic role in the north.

He said: “Kano has been very strategic in educational development in the North.Whatever happens in Kano has enormous effect in other parts of the North. ”

Adamu pledged Federal Government’s support to Kano’s educational development.