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Tag: Obafemi Awolowo University

  • Killed at Yuletide

    The killing of a 200-Level student at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Abiodun Babalola, by robbers has again brought to the fore issues of bed space shortage on campus, insecurity of off-campus hostels and irresponsive nature of healthcare personnel, FAROMBI OLUWASEUN reports.

    The Yuletide usually brings hopes, joy and festivities.  But not so at the Obafemi Awolowo University, (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, where a student died three days to Christmas after a robbery attack.

    Abiodun Babalola died of machete wounds sustained during the attack in the wee hours of December 22 at Adam and Eve, an off-campus hostel on Ibadan Road, on the outskirts of the university town.

    Termur, as the 200-Level student of the Department of Management and Accounting was fondly called, was not a resident of Adam and Eve. He slept there in order to participate in a group discussion in preparation for a Sociology Test scheduled for that fateful day.

    The incident has raised concerns about insecurity at off-campus hostels and acute shortage of on-campus hostel accommodation, which is safer.  Students are expressing concern about the poor attitude of health workers  during emergencies.

    According to a source, who pleaded anonymity, Babalola was attacked by the robbers following an altercation with them.

    He was hit on the head with a cutlass.

    Some eyewitnesses claimed that he could have survived if he had been attended to early.

    They alleged that when contacted the police said there was no vehicle or patrol van to take him to the hospital.

    “Both the Nigeria Police and the OAU security officials complained of faulty patrol van,” a source said.

    The victim, he said, was first taken on a bike before the University’s chief security officer released his car for use.

    Abiodun was first taken to the university health centre where he was rejected before he was transferred to the  Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital (OAUTH) around 3am.

    The students claimed that the OAUTH did not treat the case as an emergency. The hospital, they claimed, asked for money for blood and other items, the victim was unattended to for more than five hours.

    It was gathered that the victim was attended to after 8am and he died around 9am.

    Some students said that it was not the first case of students not being attended to on emergencies at the teaching hospital.

    Refuting the claim, spokesperson of the hospital, Kemi Fasoto, said the deceased received prompt medical attention from the hospital personnel.

    Fasoto, who said it was wrong for the hospital to divulge information about the health condition of any patient, said the management of the OAU brought the deceased to the hospital for treatment.

    Ile-Ife Area Police Commander, Mr Funso Adegboye, said the victim was “injured, rushed to the hospital, but eventually gave up the ghost”.

    In statement, the executive council of Nigeria Universities Accounting Students Association, OAU,  described the accident as a “bad occurrence.”

    Some OAU students have blamed the university authority for not mounting pressure on the Nigeria Police to provide adequate security to students staying off campus.   They also said many more students are off-campus this year because there are not enough hostels.

    This year alone, some students said the number of robbery attacks on off-campus hostels, targeting students had increased.

    “This year, the rate at which robbers have attacked students in hostels off campus, has increased.  The only place the university can guarantee security is for students who stay on campus,” a student said.

    Forty-eight hours after the incident, it was  gathered that there was a foiled robbery at an other off-campus hostel in Oduduwa Estate.

    “There was a robbery.  But it was not successful because the security agents exchanged fire with the robbers so they ran away,” he said.

    Majority of OAU students are staying in  off-campus hostels this year because of the school’s new accommodation policy aimed at ensuring that  the on-campus halls of residents are not overpopulated.

    CAMPUSLIFE learnt that the university is insisting that only students legally allocated bed spaces could stay in the hostels.  Consequently, there was no room for squating –a  practice that used to swell hostel population by more than twice the number.

    With a total bed-space of 7,500, there is a shortfall of over 27,500 for 35,000 students’ population, another student said.

    “This session, majority of OAU students are off campus.  Normally, a room should take three students.  But with squatters, the number doubles.  This year, management was strict about not allowing students without bed spaces to stay in the hostel.  As a result, close to 70 per cent of OAU studnets are off-campus.

    “The school management told us that there are only 7,500 bed spaces; but we have over 35,000 students.  If the new policy had not been stringent, there would have been up to 20,000 or 25,000 students on campus.  But because of the new policy, many students had to stay off-campus.  And some of the students are better off than the residents of Ife; they would have more valuables that would have attracted robbers,” the student said.

    Read also: Army confirms 14 killed in Boko Haram ambush

    Reacting, the OAU Public Relations Officer, Mr Abiodun Olarewaju, said the university was forced to introduce the accommodation policy because students had complained about overcrowding in hostels online.

    He said: “We have a particular number of students that normally occupy each of the rooms.  We know that they have squatters that stay with them but we turned a blind eye to allow them stay together.

    “But you will recall that it was this same set of students who took the snapshot of the hostels and put it on the Internet, saying that they were 20 in a room.

    “The university said we did not put 20 in a room and decided to strictly implement the carrying capacity of eight in a room.  The VC said eight were even too many in a room but he finally agreed to allow it.

    “Normally, we are supposed to cater for 100-Level students because they are new and don’t have anywhere to go; and the final year students because of their projects.  Others are supposed to find their way.

    “It is not a crime that we have hostel accommodation for our students.  There are some universities that do not accommodate their students within the campus.  And students live off-campus around the university.  And they do not lay the blame of whatever happens on the management.”

    Olarewaju said the university was making efforts to increase the number of hostels on campus, adding that there were four currently under construction in partnership with the private sector.

    “We are not leaving any stone unturned in relation to hostels.  Since the funding from the Federal Government is inadequate, we have been calling for assistance from individuals and organisations to help us build hostels.  People have been responding to the VC’s call and we are positive that very soon, the issue would be addressed. There are four hostels under construction in partnership with the private sector,” he said.

    Olarewaju said Abiodun’s death was sad, especially as it happened in the festive season.

    He said: “The university Vice Chancellor, his management team and the university council are all sad to lose a student of the institution, especially towards this festive period of the year.”

    The PRO said it was not a time to apportion blame, adding: “Man proposes, God disposes.”

    The Vice Chancellor (VC), Prof Eyitope Ogunbodede, said people should place the fear of God far and above worldly materials, wondering what sort of earthly possession would have made a man to attack, maim and kill his fellow man.

    The VC prayed God to would grant Abiodun eternal rest and his family the fortitude to bear the loss.

  • Why I admire Buhari, Osinbajo, Adeboye, Awo-Redeemer’s varsity new V-C Anthony Akinlo

    In spite of his high office, the new Vice- Chancellor of Redeemer’s University, Prof. Anthony Enisan Akinlo, exudes humility. A professor of Monetary and Development Economics, he has spent virtually his entire adult life working at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) before he moved to Redeemer’s University a few months ago. He took pride in being born to the family of poor farmers, as he told PAUL UKPABIO and BIODUN ADEYEWA the story of his rise from the countryside in Ondo to the ivory tower in Ede, Osun State.

    When exactly did you assume office and what has been the feeling?

    I assumed office on October 1, 2018 and God has been helping me to forge ahead. As for how it feels, I will say by the grace of Almighty God, I think I have settled down now.

    Tell us about your journey to Redeemer’s University.

    I am a stakeholder in Redeemer’s University. I still recall back then at the camp when Daddy G.O. (Pastor E.A Adeboye) showed the vision and mission of the university to us. He gave us a pictorial view of the university during the monthly Holy Ghost service. He showed us how the university would be in the future and that actually caught our interest. Since then, we have been following the trend and seeing to the happenings in the university.

    Did it occur to you at that meeting that you could one day become the vice- chancellor here?

    Not at all. As a matter of fact, I am more into academics than administration. Most of my life, I have been into research, so I never thought of being the Vice- Chancellor of Redeemers University even though I submitted my application this time when the office was to be vacant. What happened was that when the vacancy advert was published, I did not see it. But one of the pastors under me sent a text message encouraging me to apply for the job. The young pastor said that the person who sent him the message used to be a school mate back in the university. I told my wife, we prayed over it and the Lord asked me to apply.

    What immediately came to your mind when you got the appointment?

    The first thing that came to my mind was that it occurred to me again that when God speaks, He keeps His word. Many years ago, a man came to me with a prophecy that one day, I would have something to do with Pastor E. A. Adeboye. I was already a pastor then, so that prophecy did not register until this happened. That was when I recalled the prophecy.

    Tell us about your background.

    I come from a humble background. I grew up knowing my parents to be farmers. After primary school, I gained admission to secondary school, but there was no money to go further. My father said the way out was for me to go to a teachers’ college where we would be given a stipend. So I was at the teachers’ college for three years, saving the stipend I was paid. And when the opportunity came, I enrolled for GCE examination and passed four out of the five subjects I read all on my own. After that, I was told there was another one called advanced level. I was posted to a remote village and there I studied. As God would have it, I passed. I got admission to study Political Science but my interest was Economics. So I stayed one more year to teach, and in a miraculous way, I got the admission.

    What was the miracle?

    Initially, I got to OAU and was told that I couldn’t get admission because I failed English. I told them I did not. I showed them my result. The admission officer advised that I should go to JAMB office in Lagos and sort it out. I had never been to Lagos, so I looked for somebody to take me there. We got there at 10.30 am and the place was filled to the brim. The gate was inaccessible. I stood out there with the letter in my hand and suddenly, a security officer inside the building was coming straight to the gate and raised his hand beckoning on someone to come. Almost everyone raised their hands, but he said no. He then pointed at me where I was standing with my cousin. I raised my hand and he told me to come.

    I got closer to the gate, and he asked what the problem was. I told him that I had a letter from OAU to rectify my result. He ordered that the gate be opened for me. The man took me straight to the computer room where I met a woman; the head of the computer room. I narrated my plight. She opened the letter, called for my file and they saw that what was written in my result was different; that I passed English. She told me I could go, that it would be corrected. As God would have it, the woman recalled that there was no more space in Economics; that JAMB would offer me Sociology. Eventually, she did a re-think and said I would still be offered Economics, which was my choice. That was how the Lord did it for me.

    Four weeks later, my letter arrived at the school and I graduated in Economics. After National Youth Service, I returned to Ife for masters and later for Ph.D. As God would have it again, I did it in a record time of 10 years. All through my time in the university, I enjoyed accelerated promotion without lobbying.

    Who among your parents influenced you the most?

    I would say both parents. My father was a disciplinarian, which affected our upbringing. They were both honest, straightforward and religious.

    What is your vision, and focus for the university at this time?

    Let me say that by the grace of God, we want to make this university the best in Africa. We are already working towards that. We have the goodwill, which is the name of the founder. So all we need to do is to build on the goodwill. He told me of the vision of the Lord for the university and we are working towards that as a team.

    Is there a special mandate given to you by the Visitor?

    Yes, it is to move to the permanent site. We need to develop the new site. The management and stakeholders are already working towards that to ensure that before long, we move there. After the School of Medical Sciences, we will then progress to the School of Medicine. It will be one step after another, and we intend to expand our academic programmes.

    Recently, we were at the NUC where it was agreed that other programmes will be expanded. We want to increase the number of faculties, introduce new market-driven courses and re-package defunct courses because the world is changing every day. For instance, people are not studying Geography like before but we re-branded Geography, introduced GRS as part of it and changed the name, and it is now attractive by bringing in other courses that are related to it. History became un-attractive until it was merged with International Relations. That is what we will be doing along with changes in the modern society.

    How about the post-graduate programmes?

    That too is in progress, we have just taken a giant step in our discussion with NUC towards our having Ph.D in Mass Communication here. We have also mandated all departments to work and ensure that they start their M.Sc and Ph.D programmes. That also means ensuring professors in each of the departments.

    What plans do you have for the alumni?

    They are a major stakeholder in the university. I had that experience at OAU, where I was part of the team that established what later was to interface with the alumni. We will bring them in. As a matter of fact, based on prophecy from the Visitor, he said that a time will come when Redeemer’s University will not charge school fees; it will be the alumni that will pay the students school fees. And to the glory of God, it has started. Few weeks ago, the alumni offered scholarship to some students here. Right now, we have opened up channels to interface with them. The executive have come and they have already chosen some projects on which work has also commenced.

    How about funding?

    That is not work for the Vice-Chancellor alone. We have notified departments to come up and think outside the box to create programmes that can bring in the funds. It is work for everybody, though my office also has a major role to play in it. In terms of our investment portfolio, we are working on how to come up with the best investment options. No doubt, we could have leakages here or there, so we are being pro-active in that regard too.

    Most people who work in the university environment end up marrying there. Was that the case with you?

    (Laughs) I guess it is because that is where we meet the people we know. You won’t expect me to go and marry outside the university, because how will we meet? Most of the time when we travel for conferences, it is still people within our circle that we meet. Also because there must be a unique thing that must join us together. It is easier to get someone from within the campus too. Again you hardly find a person in academics going to parties, which is usually a good meeting point.

    How did you meet your wife?

    Mine is a different case entirely. I was my wife’s teacher without knowing that she would much later in life be my wife. While in school, she was highly cultured. She used to kneel down and greet every one of us. So my colleague, who is now with the World Bank, used to say that she was the type that one should marry. I didn’t know how to talk to the opposite sex in that direction. After she graduated, I was somewhere and my sister was seeking for admission to the University of Uyo. I remember that my wife’s father was the registrar at Uyo. So I asked some of the students if they knew where she was. That was how I got information that she was working in a bank in Lagos. I collected her address and phone number and put it inside my bible. But then also, I was looking for someone to marry because I was not the outgoing type at all. Interestingly, six months after, I was praying when I heard the voice of God say that I should go to the girl at the bank and tell her that He said that she is my wife. I waited. But again, I went to the mountain at Ikire, as I got there, I saw a man in white suit. He collected my bag. He told me that I could go back to Ife; that my problem was over. He said that my wife knows me and I know her but that we had never discussed having a relationship. That the two of us would just come up naturally; that my wife worked in a bank. I came back and started prayers that God should reveal her to me. I started a three-day vigil. That was when God told me to go and meet that particular girl.

    Supposing she was already married…

    I didn’t know if she was already married. I travelled to Lagos, told my brother what God said and he was making jest of me. I went to the bank where I saw her at the counter. I called her attention. She was shocked to see me. She actually thought I came for banking transaction, but I told her I was there to see her. She asked if I remembered her, I nodded positively. I told her the Lord spoke to me ‘that you are my wife. Go and pray. If it is true, then come. If it is not true, don’t come.’ I carried my bag and returned to Ife.

    A month later, her father was coming from Uyo to a wedding, so she came over. She told her father that she wanted to marry a lecturer. The father said never, because lecturers were considered poor then. The father was angry. But surprisingly, the following morning, the father said he was sorry, that whatever God had said to her was what she should do. Six months after, we had a wedding. Today, we live a happy life.

    Academic life seems to be cumbersome. How do you balance your lives as a couple?

    Well, both of us have a triangular lifestyle. It is usually office, church and home. These are the places you can find us.

    What about now that you are a vice-chancellor?

    It is a different ball game entirely. I can now see that I can’t run away from the public anymore.

    What advice would you give to couples?

    Trust is essentially the basis of marriage. If I travel to wherever, it cannot occur to my wife that I am doing something contrary where I am. It is just not possible. Or she travels and I nurture such thoughts; it is not possible. We trust each other. If you ask my wife where I am at any particular time, she can tell you.

    Who is your mentor?

    The truth is that before I joined the Redeemed Christian Church ministry, Chief Obafemi Awolowo was my mentor. I have been an ardent supporter of that sage. I’ve read virtually all his books. I learnt so many things from him, particularly about women, money and discipline. But when I joined Redeemed Church and met Papa Adeboye, I read everything about him too. I also admire the Vice President’s character. I am not a politician but when a man occupies that exalted office and he has a single house, has a particular car he owns, I admire such people of integrity, because even some local government chairmen can boast of having houses in Abuja or every other place. Then also the President who has been GOC in places, worked several years, travelled far and wide and owns just one house in Daura; that, to me, is the height of integrity.

  • Literacy campaign resonates in Anambra

    Recently, the Literacy Enhancement and Achievement Project (LEAP) and the Anambra State Ministry of Basic Education organized a workshop in conjunction with The Reading Association of Nigeria (RAN) in Awka, the Anambra State capital.  It was purposely put in place as a moment to celebrate what was termed, The child, the boy, the man, revolving around Willie Obiano, the governor of Anambra and a biography written on him by his wife, Ebelechukwu.  But beyond the public presentation of the book it was time for the people to have the second edition of Literacy festival in the state where Professor Chuckwuemeka Onukaogu and his team have been working round the clock to ensure that literacy in the state is streamlined to meet the local and immediate needs of the people, particularly in secondary and primary schools.

    For a long time, across the nation, there was the need to retrain primary and secondary school teachers to meet the modern and professional needs of their students.  This was one need Professor Onukaogu of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ife, Osun State, promptly discovered and quickly fell in line to ameliorate.  Today, he is fully involved in some states, more so, Anambra, where he engages in not only literacy campaign and promotion but to also restrain teachers for what he termed effective students – teachers relationship”.  This was why the one day programme organized in Awka was entitled effective and efficient teaching and learning of literacy across the school curriculum:  LEAP learning centred model to the rescue.  This model project took its firm hold in Anambra in 2015.  The idea, according to its progenitor, Onukaogu, is to ensure that Junior Secondary School (JSS) students have the prerequisite literacy empowerment to acquire, receive and give information creatively.  This is essentially needed in some of the core subjects of English, Basic Science and Mathematics.  But this can be expanded to include other subjects that in are conformity with the avowed literacy needs of the people across the school curriculum.

    Over the years Onukaogu, a committed researcher, scholar and a Professor of the English Language, has chosen to use his platform of LEAP and RAN to entrench literacy all over Nigeria.  And it is not surprising, that Governor Obiano has given him the leeway to do this properly in the state.  It is not surprising also to note that in the past years, due to the profundity of the LEAP project, Anambra has been coming tops in both the JAMB and WAEC examinations.

    Now that teachers are being well-trained, it has become easier for them to have proper and humane and human relationships with their students.  Indeed, Anambra has become a model in this regard.  With this skills and knowledge acquisitions in the state, Onukaogu believes more should still be done to make the achievements permanent.  He said:  “despite all the reported successes, LEAP faces one very serious challenge at this stage of its implementation in Anambra schools.  Having stimulated students to want to read and write, we are unable to provide them with the diverse materials that would be at their readability levels as well as sustain their interest to read”.  But he and his team are not relenting as they have been making contacts with different donor agencies to provide the necessary materials to continually cement this project.

    Onukaogu, just like Obiano, insists that there has to be a paradigm shift in literacy practices both in and out of school settings for global relevance.  When this is effectively done the students will have enough confidence in themselves to be able to do better in schools and outside of it.  After all, the world is already a global village and the model of education herein has to synchronise with what obtains elsewhere to make for concerted growth and development.  Also, Governor Obiano had given the enabling environment for the project to thrive.  This was why he was involved in an open literacy festival with some of the students who had the opportunity to ask him questions on the rights of the child.  The programme which drew quite a crowd offered the governor the opportunity to witness first and how successful the LEAP project has been in the state.  So far more teachers are roaring to go while the students can now relate more cordially with their handlers, especially in the classrooms.

    For Onukaogu, it is time to do more.   “The idea for this programme began in 1986.  “That year, I joined the International Reading Association.  This is a group that believes in the promotion of literacy across the world.  So, for me there has to be a theoretical framework for what you do.  So from that academic background you have to study extensively for it.  The Centre of Excellence for Literacy Education was then formed by me to embark on this campaign”.  Today even a retirement, Onukaogu is more proactive and still able to gather his professional colleagues from various professional groups to prosper literacy in many states of the federation.  Today he is the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Reading Association of Nigeria.  He is equally a member of the International Literacy Association which he joined in 1988 and in 2001, he organized the first PAN Africa Reading for All Conference in Abuja.  So far, with the help of some international donor agencies like Heinrich Bol Foundation and his own Foundation called Centre of Excellence for Literacy Education, he has been promoting literacy in different prison across Nigeria.

    In the end, the conference opened people’s eyes to the core value of knowledge, education and what needs to be done to measure up with the rest of the world.  Present at the occasion were Governor Obiano, his wife, Ebelechukwu, Professors Stella Ekpe, Osita Chukwulobelu, Kate Omenugha and others who are in the forefront of literacy campaign and promotion in the society.

  • Mathematical modelling aids development, says don

    Mathematical modelling can be used to solve myriads of problems facing Nigeria, a professor of Mathematics, Samuel Segun Okoya, has said.

    Delivering the 329th Inaugural lecture of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife titled: “The many ‘faces’ of thermal explosion: mathematical modeling point of view”, Tuesday last week, Okoya said through modelling, experts can learn hidden information about a physical system that can lead to a variety of physical responses which at a first glance would seem strange and beyond immediate understanding.

    The professor who has dedicated 34 years to the academia, said: “The only way out to solve the myriads of problems we face in the country is by using mathematical models. We use these models in our everyday life. When you model your problem mathematically, then you can solve it using techniques formulated to get solutions either quantitatively or qualitatively and you use that to explain what you are doing to people who are specialists in other areas. Modeling is key.”

    He is the first occupier of the pastor E.A. Adeboye Outstanding Professor of Mathematics, (Endowed Professorial Chair) University of Lagos.

    Okoya said the application of mathematical modeling was what gave the world such mind blowing inventions regarded as necessities today – like the internet, virtual reality, electronic radar, telecommunications and DSTV to mention a few.

    Okoya said mathematics model should tell stories in reality because they are derived from everyday problems.

    “When mathematics is applied to the real world, the most important thing is not whether it represents the complex mathematical techniques, but does it tell something meaningful about the reality? We make impact by solving important mathematical problems derived from everyday living.

    “It is synonymous to solving word problems in secondary schools. At its foundation lies a physical problem motivated by nature under certain conditions.  The physical descriptions of the problem are then converted to mathematical arguments in form of equations (such as differential or algebraic equations) called the model equations. These are solved validated against related experiments and interpreted for relevant use”.

    Underscoring the importance of getting more young people interested in mathematics, Okoya said doing so would help development of local technology.

    “The more students who get involved in this abstract search into the unknown, the more doors of amazing technological possibilities we can open, even for Africa, the more we can use mathematics to solve local problems from basics, like softwares for record keeping, home management, municipal water distribution, irrigation management to more complex supersonic technologies. The more of Nigerian youths that put interest in mathematics, the more we can develop our own technologies, create jobs, and build our autonomous economies, thereby reversing the depreciation of the Naira,” he said.

    However, the professor blamed teachers for students’ apathy for Mathematics, adding that students would only develop interest in the subject depending on how it is taught.

    He urged teachers and lecturers to simplify the subject and breakdown the abstraction to make learning easier.

    Okoya also advised the government to make Mathematics a course of interest by monitoring pupils who show passion for the subject and encourage them.

    “Why do we have special schools if not to encourage and nurture talents? Why can’t we do the same for mathematics? We have National Mathematical Centre where they organise quiz for secondary schools; is there any follow up? How many have won the competition? Are they monitored up to university level? Are they given scholarship? Are they encouraged? That is one of the ways by which we can ensure that Mathematics is appreciated by our young ones”.

    Okoya urged researchers and lecturers in their various fields to relate their study area to the concepts of Mathematics. However, he advised that if there are lapses in the content of the curriculum, members of staff in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in universities should come together to  fashion out synergy of ideas as “there has been feedback from some of our students on postgraduates studies outside the country”.

  • Family, friends honour IYAYI at 70

    It was an evening of great fun for the Iyayi family as they celebrated their son, Macaulay Iyayi who clocked 70 last week. The event which was held recently at Glover Court, Ikoyi, Lagos attracted  dignitaries  that include; the Publisher of The Guardian newspaper, Mrs. Maiden Ibru, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Channels Television,  John Momoh ,the Chairman, Biscon Communications, Bisi Olatilo, among others.

    Iyayi, a son of a civil servant, Chief Francis Iyayi schooled at the University of Ife now Obafemi Awolowo University. He is a talented sportsman and consummate banker. He was the chairman of the defunct Pinnacle Commercial Bank Limited.

  • Don links poor education to govt policies

    A professor of History and International Relations at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, Prof. Richard Olaniyan, has linked the decline in standard of education to “bad government policies.”

    According to him, part of the government’s poor education policies include taking over of schools from their owners, whom he said had great vision for education.

    The don, who was a guest lecturer at the 25th anniversary of Our Lady and St. Francis Catholic College (OSCCO), Osogbo, said the government should urgently reverse the dwindling fortunes of education to secure the nation’s future.

    He noted that the ill-advised policies and actions of government at all levels stifled the provision of the spiritual dimension of the Catholic education, which according to him was rooted in age-old values and anchored on faith.

    Olaniyan said: “Schools were established as an instrument of evangelization. The missionaries came, built churches and established schools which served both the church and society. In this enterprise, the church and the State became partners in the provision of education. This was until the second half of the 1970s when government took over schools from private and voluntary organizations and it marked the beginning of the end of good education and the collapse of education at all levels in Nigeria.

    “The education sector has not been the same again. The quality of education has suffered a terrible decline and the effect is still very much with us. The tragedy is the individuals’ loss of their capacity for contributing to the attainment of the common good defined as the integral good of the society through which individuals realize their well-being or reach their fulfilment more fully and easily.”

    Earlier at a press briefing, principal of the College, Rev. Fr. Peter Akinsanya, appealed to the Osun State government to intervene in restoring the “high standard” of education through policies that would encourage groups and individuals to actively participate in development of education sector.

    He said the Catholic Church had always understood her “fundamental mission and responsibility to mould human persons into true image and likeness of our creator.”

    He said: “The Catholic mission was responsible for the education of a significant part of the first generation of educated Nigerians. Unfortunately, government’s takeover of all mission schools through military decree paralyzed this effort for decades. And this was the beginning of the decline of education in Nigeria.

    “The Church always considered as emergency any situation that places obstacle in the education of young people. And this is why in spite of the significant resources that the church had lost to the decision of the government in taking over schools we could not but return again to intervene in the education of young people.”

  • Varsities can solve herdsmen-farmers clashes, says Don

    A professor of Comparative Animal Nutrition at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Adesina Oladapo Aderibigbe, has called on Nigerian universities to rise to the task of addressing substantially the herdsmen-farmers clashes and other national problems.

    Aderibigbe, who is of the opinion that the implementation and sustenance of National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP) should involve direct participation by those in the academia with relevant fields, told The Nation in a chat that: “It is pertinent to state that, challenging the professional animal scientists in our universities with the problem will enable the conduct of thorough academic research to generate better and more comprehensive solutions; with details of appropriate implementation, guideline and timeline.”

    He added: “In more developed countries, national problems are usually taken to the universities for solutions. Hence, many of the current socio-economic, scientific and technological developments and innovations in the world, have emanated from results of research findings from the universities.”

    Aderibigbe lamented that the herdsmen – farmers clashes have resulted in loss of lives, destruction of properties and displacement of thousands of Nigerians from their homes, and constituted a serious national problem that requires appropriate, urgent and patriotic solution.

    He recalled the (NLTP)  initiated by the Federal Government this year to curtail herdsmen-farmers clashes with a N70 billion budget for the three-year pilot phase and N179 billion over 10 years, is being percieved  some states as a plot by the Federal Government to grab land to favour outsiders.

    Recommending solutions, Aderibigbe said the government should provide supplemental feeds and water for pastoralists’ livestock, especially during the dry season. In addition, the government should also provide facilities such as land, low interest loans, and grants, among others to pastoralists.

    He said: “In my opinion, there should be an immediate or short-term strategic intervention to provide supplemental feeds and water for pastoralists’ livestock at their point of needs in their stock routes, especially during the dry season, which is fast approaching.

    Aderibigbe continued: “Lack or shortage of feeds and water for the herds constitutes the immediate challenge for pastoralists. Ruminant Nutritionists are able to compound inexpensive feeds for the herds from locally available, but  largely unutilised agricultural by-products and waste products, grain milling by-products, food processing by-products, as well as  non-protein nitrogen.”

    Secondly, he said: “There should be encouragement and provision of incentives (land, low interest loans, grants etc.) to pastoralists, businessmen and investors to establish and operate sustainable ranches in suitable locations across the country. The NLTP should be continued in states that accept the scheme, while efforts should be made to work out an agreeable mechanism that will enable the establishment of ranches in every state in Nigeria under NEC’s NLTP and encouragement of private investors. Implementation and sustenance of NLTP should involve direct participation by professionals in the area from our universities.”

    Other solution, according to him, include: strengthening security for pastoralists and farmers;  establishment and implementation of conflict mediation and peace building mechanisms; providing a platform between farmers and pastoralists for dialogue; establishment of grazing reserves for pastoralists;  resuscitation of river basin authorities, especially in the north to grow forages for animal grazing; and permanent settlements of pastoralists in ranches.

    Aderibigbe, a United States trained animal nutritionist, with almost four decades of post-Ph.D. teaching, research and community service; in the Department of Animal Sciences (ANS), Faculty of Agriculture Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), has  served as Head, ANS, Dean of Agriculture and three-term member of the OAU Governing Council.

  • OAU: Students call for improved transport service

    Students of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife have called on the management of the institution to resolve the transportation crisis on the campus.

    They made the call in separate interviews over the lack of enough buses for transportation within the campus.

    A student, Tolu Adams said ” the transportation crisis has not yet been resolved despite the promises made by the school management. The management shouldn’t make vain promises when they know they can’t achieve anything as regards the issue.

    ” I miss some of my lectures sometimes when there are not enough buses that can convey me from campus. I had to miss a test last semester due to this same transport issue” he said.

    Timothy Adedeji who spoke with our correspondent expressed displeasure on the transportation crisis which has been a major issue in the campus.

    “The school management should be able to put everything in place when they know their plans. The school has no plans for over 80% of students who stay in town. I almost missed my exam last semester because of this same issue and the management hasn’t done anything yet to curb this”

    “Is it because there is no student union on campus that is why the management is doing all this? The management should be after the welfare of the students and not to make the students suffer” he added

    Kemi Adagunodo pleaded with the management to take a drastic step as regards this transport issue.

    ” If the school management can’t do anything to this issue then more hostels should be built on campus, so students can have access to stay on campus”

    “They should be able to look into this before the new intakes come in before everything gets out of hand ‘ she advised.

  • ‘My mission is to take literacy to all corners of Nigeria’

    Chukwuemeka Onukaogu is a retired Professor of English Language at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, and a former Anambra State Resident Electoral Commissioner. He is the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Reading Association of Nigeria. At the moment he is involved in literacy advocacy programmes in states across the nation not only to retrain teachers and ensure a steady teacher-child collaboration, he is also involved in the literacy empowerment of prison inmates in many states of the federation. In this encounter with Edozie Udeze, in Awka, Anambra State, he speaks on his mission to take knowledge and education to all corners of Nigeria and more. Excerpts.

    What is the place of literacy in national development as it relates to the role you are playing at the moment?

    You have to recognize that without education there can be no form of national development.  You have to also realize that traditionally we have our form of education.  But the chain for national development is anchored on the fact that formal, education is the foundation for development in line with other parts of the world.  Where we do not have formal education, then our plan for national development will be very, very slow; it will not be deep, it will not be all-encompassing.  That is why we are investing enormously in formal education.  But we have to have the minimum requirements of formal education to meet up with the rest of the world.  It is then that we can begin to challenge them; square up to the rest of world.

    Unfortunately, in this part of the world since the end of Nigerian civil war, the place of formal education has gone down.  This is so because the engine that lubricates education has been tampered with.  When the missionaries came here, they gave us formal education based on the level of literacy in the society.  This is because everything for formal education is hinged on literacy.  But since the end of the civil war we have been downplaying the importance of literacy.  This is not good enough.  Let me explain, when you talk of mathematics, there is no way you can be a good Mathematician without a good background in the language in which it is written.  Even if it is written in Russian, Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba or Spanish, if you cannot process the information and understand clearly the content, you cannot solve the mathematical problem.  You have to understand all those signals in the book.

    Similarly, if it is in English, you have to study the English language as a subject.  Or do you want to do the sciences, you have to be educated in that area as well.  There is no way you can understand the content of a book.  But with formal education and the pivot, the basis of that formal education is literacy.  Literacy is the key that enables you to process the knowledge, the information that is contained in the textbooks that convey plans for national development.  So unless you have the empowerment to process the scratches on paper, kind of, but then the scratches on paper have been so well organized to carry the information which will help you.  So, unless you can decode the content, you won’t have the knowledge; you won’t have the key; you won’t have the composure and the right attitude to excel.  That is to say literacy is the key in the pivot that will enable you to work to process the written text.  Whether it is written online, without your literacy empowerment you cannot understand or communicate effectively in the process.  Your e-mail is in written text, so also is your face book.  Today for you to process all the information at your disposal, you have to be literate.  Literacy is what you need to browse, to do your watzapp.  Without it you are lost in terms of formal education, you are lost in terms of national development, you are also lost in terms of effective communication and so on.

    It is not enough to obtain information.  It is not enough to obtain knowledge.  No, it is not enough.  What is important after obtaining knowledge is to store the information in such a place that you can be in a position to get back what you have stored.  You have to retrieve.  Literacy enables you to do this; to understand, to store.  Literacy also enables you to repackage the information and convey it to the audience so that they will understand and appreciate what you are doing.  In other words, without literacy you are lost, you cannot understand, you can’t have the knowledge, you can’t have the right attitude.  You can’t have the skill to relate with the outside world.  I believe that if you are a potter, you know how to make clays.  Then from clays you can make pots and you make more things.

    Yes, if we then give you literacy empowerment, you will now be in a better position to compare skills, your pottery skills, with the skills of other potters in other lands.  That will now help you to be in a position to re-modify, to recreate and to reevaluate.  That is why, for national development, the education we are packaging for that purpose will be practically meaningless and useless without literacy.  That is why here in Anambra State and then in Ekiti State, I and my team, we have been engaging ourselves in this process of literacy campaign and education.  It is a project in which we make literacy the cornerstone of magnificent education in the schools system.  We engage in efficient mode of education to give back to the society what the society has given to us.  This way the society is more programmed and better positioned for effective national development.

    What role then does public reading play in improving the level of education and literacy in the society?

    Oh yes, let me give you a kind of personal example.  In 1964, I graduated from secondary school.  I had grade one, with 5 As and two credits.  My family wanted me to read medicine.  Unfortunately there was no money for me to go to Government College, Umuahia.  So, I had to wait to study and work for a year or two, to save the money to go to Government College, Umuahia to do Biology, Chemistry and Physics.  This will prepare me to read medicine.  In the process of waiting, I made use of the Eastern Nigerian library at Enugu.  First of all, I registered with a college in London.  When I did that, I paid to study English Literature, History and Religious Studies for the time being, so that I would not be idle.  But then before the civil war, the Eastern region had a powerful library system.  The library at Enugu was all-encompassing.  It was fantastic.  There was also the British library at Enugu.  So, I would travel all the way from Abakaliki where I was working to Enugu to read in these two libraries.  It was then that I gained the knowledge and the skills that enabled me to sit for GCE A’ Level without going to a higher school.  So, I sat for GCE A’ Level at home.  I passed all the three papers at first sitting, which was extraordinary.  What made it possible was the impetus I got from public reading; from the Eastern Nigerian Library Service at Enugu, at Abakaliki.  At Abakaliki, there was a mobile library run by the Eastern Nigerian Library Service on Thursdays every week.  You’d bring back books and then you borrow again.  If there is a particular book you do not have, you’ll apply.  Then when they get back to Enugu they would bring it for you to borrow.  That is to say it was that reading that made me to survive, to be who I am today.  What happened to me, can happen to any other person.  If I had not been adequately trained to read, where would I have been?  Some teachers also taught me how to read and how to write.  So public reading empowers the individual to have the knowledge.  Public reading empowers the individual to have the skill; to have the right attitude for personal development, self-esteem, the attitude to relate to the society.  If we are able to promote reading and make our people avid readers, most of the things we have in our curriculum should not be there.  Our curriculum is overloaded and our children are confused.  This is so because what they should normally read on their own, the teachers are then telling them, teaching them what they should know and learn on their own.

    In other words, if we give our children in schools the empowerment to be able to relate their reading to writing, to speaking, to hearing, then you have reading empowerment that cuts across the whole school curriculum.  Thus they will be able on their own to survive.  There is usually no time for our children to read on their own, no time to revise.  They are often loaded with lessons and teachers that they cannot indeed think on their own.  They should be allowed to read and write and make mistakes.  They have to learn from their mistakes.  So the child is handicapped and the ability to survey the world is not there.  We think we are doing well, but we are not, by helping them not to think well, we are not helping them at all.  By this, we destroy these children, whereas if we give them the empowerment to read on their own and produce the books they need they will grow faster and deeper in knowledge.  Then provide library services around the communities.  And not only the library at home, each local government area, should provide libraries for the public, for our children.  When we do this the scenario in the country will change; the adults will be empowered, the youths will be empowered and will be a better position to move this country forward.  Now, we don’t read, at home we are not allowed to read, in the classroom, it is the same thing.  Because of this, we discover that we are failing.  We have exam malpractice because the children have no confidence in themselves.  In those days by the time you were in form 4, you will be adequately prepared to take your GCE exam with the guidance of your teacher.  We were not afraid of WAEC or GCE because we were adequately prepared to face the exam.

    You are involved in literacy empowerment for prison inmates.  How does this operate?

    It is very, very interesting.  Again one of the challenges we have is that when an individual graduates from school with a false certificate because he was involved in exam malpractice and the child knows that he knows nothing.  Even when he does JAMB and passes through exam malpractice, by the time he goes to the university, he drops out early, because he knows he cannot cope.  When he or she does so, he cannot fit into the society.  Then he can take up a gun and go into crime.  Today, so many of the prison inmates  cannot read and write.  They are handicapped because the society did not bring them up well.  The second point is that the society gave them a wrong impression of themselves.  What I did through the literacy programme I had in the prisons was to empower prisoners on how to read, how to write; then how to relate their reading to their writing.  It was also to help them know how to think and be critically creative.  Many of them indeed ran foul of the law because they couldn’t read or write.  And so at Agodi prison in Ibadan, we made considerable progress and were able to supply books.  In Ife prison also we did so: we were also involved in literacy campaign for prisoners in Ilesa.  Particularly in Umuahia prison, we were so successful that we established a library and stockpiled books there.  They were provided with computer sets.  It was supplied through our programme in the prison.  The beauty of this is that the prison officials came to have confidence in us that they encouraged us and gave us a free hand to run the literacy empowerment programme.  At a point in time, we had to apply to WAEC to set up a place in Umuahia prison.  We also applied to NECO to do the same.  So this is one prison where candidates can sit for both WAEC and NECO exams.  Except for last year, I had always paid for their WAEC exam fees.  This was so because they lost touch with me.  Some of them have also acquired skills that when they left prison they were able to fit into the society.  At Agodi, one of the prison inmates became so interested that he joined our campaign.  Then the governor of the state who was once incarcerated by the Abacha regime in Agodi prison was encouraged by what this inmate was doing with us.  The young boy was given life jail but due to his enthusiasm, Lam Adesina, the governor gave him a parole.  He then joined us to promote literacy across prisons in the country.  We have been to Owerri, Aba, Okigwe, Kuje, Benin, Uyo and others I have mentioned before.

    When the boy learnt carpentry work through our help, we established a fantastic workshop for him.  But people who knew him as a former prison inmate could not patronize him.  We then asked him to choose another trade.  He was trained in computer for six months and he set up his own business.  He is on his own now, doing well.  He was even contracted to train Seventh day Adventist nurses at Ife.  He is married and today he is well-established. This is one of the many things we do to help those prisoners to be useful to themselves and to the society.

  • Ondo approves N1.5bn for cancer treatment centre

    The Ondo State Government said on Wednesday in Akure that it had approved N1.5 billion for the take off of a cancer treatment centre in the state.

    Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of Ondo stated this at the 5th Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference of Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN), Ondo State Hospital Chapter (ODSGH).

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme of the conference is: “Mental Health Disorders in a Depressed Economy”.

    Akeredolu said that the medical centre would reduce the incidence of travelling abroad for cancer related treatment from the state.

    The governor, who was represented by the state Commissioner for Health, Dr Wahab Adegbenro, noted that one way to tackle mental depression was by providing good healthcare services to citizens at affordable fees.

    Read Also: Ondo hosts National Council on Environment conference

    He said that the state government recently employed additional 15 medical consultants, adding that it would continue to provide quality healthcare to its citizens.

    According to him, the state government’s effort is also geared towards prompt payment of workers’ salaries to alleviate the suffering of people.

    The governor added that a lot of empowerment programmes were ongoing to get people engaged in meaningful economic activities.

    He, therefore, urged the medical personnel to do their jobs as expected for the sake of humanity, stressing that the government would continue to provide conducive working environment for them.

    Earlier, the Acting Chairman of MDCAN ODSGH, Dr Ishaq Ojodu, said the objective of the conference was to sensitise the public to the rising trend of mental disorders due to Nigeria’s poor economy.

    “We want people to know that the situation is worst but they can develop coping mechanism to deal with depression.

    ”They don’t need to go to the extreme and use drugs that can damage their mental capabilities permanently but instead they should engage in social activities.

    “We want families to be involved in creating supporting system which has broken down in Nigeria and we also want to sensitise the government of its roles to provide health insurance that will afford quality health services,” he said.

    The guest speaker, Dr Kolawole Mosaku, Head of Department of Mental Health, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile Ife, appealed to government to tackle mental depression through reduction of health inequalities.

    Mosaku, who was represented by Dr Olukayode Aloba, of the Department of Mental Health, OAU, said that social security and protections should be guaranteed to all citizens.

    According to him, youth employment must be a cardinal target of government as well as control of alcohol.

    He added that psychiatric care services must be available for easy access and welfare facilities provided for citizens.