The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Nnamdi Azikiwe University

  • Create legislation on intellectual property rights – Don

    Create legislation on intellectual property rights – Don

    A call has gone out to National Assembly to make a legislation to safeguard and enforce intellectual property rights in Nigeria.

    This  call was made by Prof. Emma Okoye of the Department of Accountancy, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka,in an interview with journalists in Awka on Monday.

    He said that the legislation would allow innovators to reap the benefit of their creative ideas and reward their risk-thinking ventures.

    “Without effective intellectual property enforcement, it will be difficult for Nigeria to benefit from global innovation networks.

    “Most overseas innovation firms will hesitate to invest or form partnerships with Nigeria if their intellectual property right will be readily stolen,’’ he said.

    The professor of accountancy also called for urgent action from all stakeholders to help steer the Nigerian economy back on the path of recovery.

    Okoye said that universities as the citadel of learning and innovation have critical roles to play.

    “In this regard, the government as proprietors of public universities needs to provide the enabling environment needed to harness the potentials of the universities.

    “For example, the Federal Ministry of Education through interventionist agencies like TETFUND should set aside substantial amount to fund both basic and applied research.

    “Empower each institution to establish technology transfer offices to provide incentives to individuals and companies for the production of new goods and services,’’ he said.

    Okoye said that sustained investment in innovation and research was also essential for national development.

    “To achieve this, government needs to invest not less than 3 per cent of her GDP to make any meaningful impact on research and development,’’ he said

  • Unizik postgraduate screening test hits poor start

    Unizik postgraduate screening test hits poor start

    The 3-day post graduate screening test at Nnamdi Azikiwe University for the 2016/2017 academic session which started on Monday has been described as unprofessional as candidates thronged the university’s main campus in Awka spending the whole day waiting to write the 50 minutes Computer Based Test (CBT) test.

    Expectedly, there was massive turn out for the first-day’s screening test since PhD, Masters and PGD candidates for the faculties of Arts, Social Sciences, Management Sciences, Law and Education were all invited to take the test at 8am. However, the overwhelming crowd may have taken the organisers by surprise and although they opted to do the test in batches beginning with PhD candidates, the challenge of inadequate computer systems and disorderly manner of admitting candidates into the exam hall marred the exercise.

    As at 7PM, many of the candidates were yet to do the test and they expressed frustration citing poor planning and shabby treatment by organisers. Enugu based banker and PhD candidate, Victor said he already missed a full day’s work under the most frustrating conditions. For chinagoro, another PhD applicant, it is a case of belittlement. She said, “We had to push and shove our way into the exam hall because there is no system of entry into the hall because they seem not to have the list of applicants. We came here by 7:30AM but the officials were not even here to put things in order which shows inadequate preparation.”

    Other respondents in separate comments suggested that proper scheduling of test for candidates based on available computers would have helped matters. They described the exercise as unprofessional.

    Some candidates who were repeating the screening after failed attempt last year confirmed that this year’s test was much like the last with regards to poor planning. They advised the organisers of the post graduate programme at the university to review the structure and system of the screening test in order to reduce the difficulties faced by candidates and protect the good image of the university.

  • Berger Paints gets new directors

    Berger Paints Nigeria Plc has announced the appointment of three new non-executive directors to its board to replace those who recently retired. The new directors are Mr. Raj Mangtani, Adekunle Olowokande and Engr. Patrick Nnamdi Buruche.

    Raj holds a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from the University of Bombay. He is a member of the Nigeria Institute of Management and the Indian Professionals Association of Nigeria.

    Raj is the Managing Director of Emychem Limited, a leading chemical marketing company. He also serves on the board of such notable manufacturing companies as Metcem Limited and Zaika Foods Ingredient Ltd as non-executive director. He brings to Berger Paints a wealth of experience in the Chemical and Allied Matters Industry within and outside of Nigeria spanning over twenty years.

    Kunle Olowokande is a chartered accountant, with considerable work experience in the UK and Nigeria.

    He holds a Masters Degree in International Finance from the London Metropolitan University.

    Prior to his appointment to the board, Kunle had served as Management Accountant to a leading professional services firm in the UK. For a couple of years, Kunle functioned as the Head of Strategy and Risk Management for Berger Paints Nigeria Plc. – a position that gave him a deep insight into matters of critical importance to the growth of the company.

    Patrick Buruche holds a degree in Civil Engineering from the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. Having served for several years across different positions with the Anambra State Water Corporation, he went ahead to establish Pangoc Global Services Limited, a construction company which had successfully executed many projects in the south eastern part of Nigeria.

  • Varsity don to contest Senate seat against Elechi

    A Professor of Geophysics and lecturer at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Prof. Benard I. Odoh, yesterday declared his intention to contest the Ebonyi Central Senate seat under the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

    He stated that APGA is the only party with Igbo identity, aspiration and ideology and remained the party to beat in Igboland. The varsity don stated this in Abakaliki, the state capital. Governor Elechi is also believed to be interested in the same position.

    Odoh noted that the achievement of the party in Anambra State since 2010 was a true reflection of what the party represents.

    He attributed the high level of poverty in the state to lack of good leadership which he said is responsible for Ebonyi indigenes doing menial jobs in major cities in the country.

    He reiterated that he is not in the race under APGA for opposition sake, rather, to make a difference in very critical areas of development that have suffered over the years for reasons of obvious lack of capacity, character and competence.

    But the leadership of APGA in the state yesterday denied knowledge of Odoh’s membership of the party or his candidature for the position.

    The state chairman of the party, Jerry Obasi, told The Nation that the candidate was not a member of the party. He also denied knowledge of Odoh’s candidature for the party.

    “How can a person come into the state and declare for a party without informing the leadership of the party? I don’t know any Prof Odoh; who registered him as a member of the party and when? I consider such declaration as illegal”, Obasi stated.

     

  • The rite of graduation

    As they filed out of the examination halls, final year students of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Awka, were ambushed by their junior colleagues for the rite of ‘baptism’, which involves the splashing of water to celebrate their graduation. UCHE ANICHEBE (500-Level Law) reports.

     

    Nobody knew how it started or from where it originated. Groups of students came out from nowhere, with buckets filled with water; they ambushed their senior colleagues as they came out of the examination halls. Gently, they asked their ‘victims’ to squat as they surrounded them to perform the ‘baptism’.

    It is ritual usually performed on final year students to bid them farewell.

    Baptising graduating students with all sorts of liquid is a common practice in many higher institutions. It is a tradition that is observed at the end of the session when students in the final lap of their academic journey graduate.

    Commonly referred to as “graduation baptism” or “washing”, it involves either ambushing outgoing students with buckets of water or inviting them into circles of students to ‘honourably’ receive the splashes of water from junior colleagues. After the ‘baptism’, the graduates entertain the ‘assailants’ with drinks to celebrate the forthcoming convocation.

    Sometimes, the excited students, most of who are freshers and second-year students, go to the extent of pelting their ‘victims’ with eggs and tomatoes. At other times, students in a particular Hall of Residence may agree to wash their clothes or plates and splash the water on their ‘victims’. In extreme cases, the performers of ‘baptism’ collect water from sewage to splash on the graduates.

    All these were carried out by Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK) students, who joined their graduating colleagues to celebrate the conclusion of the their final degree examination. CAMPUSLIFE witnessed the ‘baptism’ of graduates from various departments.

    With the university not joining the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), students were in school to write second semester examination.

    The baptism was performed in various departments at the permanent and temporary sites of the institution daily. Despite the epileptic power supply and shortage of water on campus, students somehow got many buckets of water for the exercise.

    At the temporary site, which is close to the UNIZIK junction, the water ritual was observed differently. The graduates were made to sit on a stool, while their colleagues from their hostels and nearby halls pelted them with sachets water, eggs, tomatoes, stew and all sorts of liquids.

    It did not matter whether the baptisers knew the ‘victims’, all that mattered was to identify any graduating student; the mob would immediately swing into action. After the baptism, some of the outgoing students threw parties where the mob was entertained.

    Ozuo Isidore, a graduating student from the Faculty of Law, noted: “It was as if all my hostel mates knew I was graduating on that day; they all waited for me. I had already been splashed in the school but immediately I stepped into the hostel, they started to pour all kinds of water on me. At that point, another graduating member of the hall returned, and they asked us to play a football match against each other, threatening us with the dirty liquids. The loser was drenched with a good amount of sewage water.”

    A graduating student identified as Gold, who was visibly angry with his colleagues’ treatment, protested, complaining he did not like the “water affair”.

    “This is becoming wicked. I never sprayed drainage water on my seniors when they graduated last year. After I wrote my final paper, people, most of who I could not recognise, ambushed me and sprayed water from the drainage on me. My plea not to do so fell on deaf ear. I got irritated, and when I got home to have my bath, I saw some larvae on my underwear. I felt disgusted.”

    One of the baptisers, Uche Orji, a 400-Level Engineering student, told CAMPUSLIFE: “I always look forward to catch the excitement. The kind of water and duration of the baptism depend on the popularity of the graduating student in question and his academic record. Bookworms and first class graduates always receive severe treatment. Students that used dirty water on their senior colleagues will definitely have the same treatment when their turn comes.

    “It is all fun. Most of the time, people do it in good faith. In my hostel right now, people are storing used laundry water to spray the hall chairman, who will graduate in two days. Then we cap it with party.”

    On other campuses, the ritual is the same. Gerald Nwokocha, a graduate of Information and Telecommunication Technology from the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), relived his experience.

    “It is a yearly activity in my school. When I wrote my final paper, my junior colleagues waited for me at my hostel, spraying me with all sorts of water. They were not satisfied; they pushed me into mud water just to celebrate my graduation from the university. That is what makes graduation memorable and no one is a graduate unless he is baptised.”