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Tag: pupils

  • You’re Nigeria’s future, Obi tells pupils

    Former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi has urged students and pupils to remain focused in their endeavours.

    Obi spoke yesterday when he visited St. Peter’s Secondary School, Garaku, Nasarawa State. He donated N1 million to the school for improvement and ate lunch with the pupils.

    He told the pupils that as the future of the country, they should factor themselves into being a part of the future by making personal efforts at the growth and development of the country nurtured through education.

    The ex-governor described education as the most potent tool for anyone to compete well in the world.

    He said: “We live in a country where, rather than take the money committed to education as an investment, Nigerian leaders consider it as expenditure, thus removing it from being treated as a necessity.”

    The Catholic Bishop of Lafia, who was represented by the head teacher, Fr. Marcellinus Sa’aondo, thanked Obi for the visit.

    He said: “We are privileged to host a modest man of high pedigree, whose accomplishments have proven him to be the leading light of modern Nigeria’s democratic leadership.”

  • Pupils, landlords protest citing of market in Onitsha

    •Lawyers petition Obiano, police, others

    Pupils of Berth-Roots Schools in Onitsha, Anambra State, yesterday held a peaceful protest against the citing of a market near their school.

    They said their lives would be endangered, if the market was cited near their school.

    Also, the landlords’ association of Victory Estate 3-3 in the area said they would not allow their lives to be destroyed through the action of “a selfish man”.

    Lawyers to the school and the landlords’ association – Valentine Emeka Utulu and K. C. Ezeanyika – have petitioned Governor Willie Obiano and the police commissioner for their intervention.

    Copies of the petition sent to the Director of the Department of State Services (DSS), the Presidency, the Minister of Education, the Commissioner for Education were given to reporters yesterday in Onitsha.

    The petition reads: “There is no provision made in the master plan to accommodate the huge traffic of vehicles the proposed market will attract and it will greatly and adversely affect the quality of life of residents, pupils and those merely driving through.

    “It is wrong to cite a market next to a school, any school, for that matter. It destroys the serenity of the academic environment painstakingly created for learning.

    “It will pose a serious security challenge to the safety of the children in the schools. Our client’s school is co-educational while Federal Government Girls’ College is a girls-only school.

    “If this market is allowed, the pupils will be exposed to the dangers of rape, physical attacks by louts, who are usually attracted to markets, and kidnapping, which is rife in Anambra State.”

    During the protest, the pupils, who carried placards with various inscriptions, noted that some people in the market smoked dangerous substances.

    One of them, who identified herself simply as Vivian, said the pupils feared to pass through the market road for fear of being harmed or harassed.

    Some of the placards read: “We are pride of our parents and the nation”; “Respect our rights to education”; “Save our souls”; “Live and let live”; “Our future is worth more than money” and “No market near our school.”

    But a manager at the market, Mr Ifeanyi Nwokwu, said shops and market have no connection with the school.

    He said children of traders in the market also attended the school.

    The businessman said those complaining were merely disturbing themselves because it was from the market the traders made the money to pay the children’s school fees.

     

  • ‘Don’t stop pupils from speaking Yoruba’

    Osun State government has urged teachers not to stop pupils from speaking Yoruba.

    The Permanent Secretary, State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Mr. Fatai Kolawole, speaking at a news conference in Osogbo on the 2nd edition of Asa Day, said the government was not happy that pupils could not speak Yoruba fluently.

    He said it would be a shame for Nigerians to travel to Europe and America in future before learning indigenous languages, which he noted are being taught abroad, “while our people are allowing their languages and culture to go into extinction.”

    Kolawole said promoting Yoruba language and culture would have positive effects on “our economy, as sales of cultural products will be boosted.”

    The permanent secretary, who said part of the six integral action plans of the Governor Rauf Aregbesola administration was to provide functional education for pupils, added that the introduction of a cultural event tagged: ‘Asa Day’, two years ago, by the government was designed to revive Yoruba culture.

    He said: “Pupils of grades 1 to 9 in public schools are the target of our cultural project. The annual cultural fiesta (Asa Day) is aimed at promoting and sustaining rich Yoruba culture, values and tradition. It is designed to discover hidden talents and cultural potentials among basic school pupils.

    “The Osun SUBEB Asa Day 2018 has received the blessing of the government. The 2nd edition will be held on April 4. Stakeholders in education and lovers of arts and culture have agreed to attend.”

    Kolawole said Ijo Ibile, Iyere Ifa, Ayo Olopon, Ewi, Ijala, Ekun Iyawo, Egungun display, Ere Osuna, Ijakadi, Okiti Rita and I run Didi display are among traditional games and events scheduled for contest, adding that each event will attract prizes.

     

  • After 31 days in captivity, 104 Dapchi pupils back

    Barely days after Defence Minister Brig-Gen. Manzur Dan Alli assured of their release within two weeks, 104 of the 110 Dapchi schoolgirls were freed yesterday. They were driven back to freedom by their Boko Haram abductors in the wee-hour of yesterday.

    REACTIONS yesterday trailed the release of 104 of the 110 pupils abducted by Boko Haram insurgents from Dapchi Government Secondary School in Yobe State.

    The pupils were released by the insurgents after 31 as unwilling guests in the custody of the militants.

    The announcement of their release early yesterday drew reactions from many quarters. Many of those who reacted applauded the early release. Some alleged that the early release of the girls confirmed their suspicion that the abduction might have been stage-managed.

    Some of the reactions are captured below.

     

    Release of girls brightens our hope, say Chibok parents

     

    There was excitement in Dapchi yesterday, even as the release of 104 schoolgirls by insurgents brightened hope for Chibok parents, whose children have been missing since April 2014.

    One of the parents, Mrs. Yana Galang, who was in Dapchi, Yobe State, to offer condolences to those whose daughters were kidnapped by Boko Haram, was shocked when she met the people shouting with excitement.

    Mrs. Galang’s daughter, Rifkatu, is still missing nearly four years after she and over 200 of her classmates were abducted by Boko Haram militants from their dormitory in Government Girls’ Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State.

    The insurgents had four weeks ago, kidnapped 110 girls from a school in Dapchi in the biggest mass abduction since the Chibok capture which prompted international outrage and the global campaign #bringbackourgirls.

    Mrs. Galang, a mother of eight, said she had planned to tell the parents to be patient for their girls’ return as she had been.

    “When we asked why people were running, they told us that they were expecting their girls, that Boko Haram was bringing them home,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone.

    “Our visit became something else,” added Mrs. Galang, one of 30 Chibok parents who made the 11-hour trip to Dapchi the previous day to meet with the parents of the missing girls.

    The Federal Government yesterday confirmed that 104 of the girls seized in Dapchi on February 19 had been freed. It denied a ransom was paid for their release.

    Yakubu Nkeki, chairman of the Chibok parents’ association whose niece was abducted at Chibok, described the scene of jubilation after the girls were reunited with their families.

    “Right in front of us, the militants brought the girls and dropped them and then left,” he said.

    He said some of the girls, aged between 11 and 19, looked “panicked” initially and could barely respond to questions.

    No official details were given about those who did not return, but Mrs. Galang said she spoke with a number of the freed girls who told her that five of their schoolmates had died and one was held back because she refused to convert to Islam.

    “They said that three girls fell (out of the trucks) and into the river on their way to (the) Sambisa (forest hideout of Boko Haram). Two others died in the forest,” she said.

    She described how she wept watching the parents being reunited with their daughters as she still had no word about the fate of her own daughter.

    “I cried seriously,” she said.

    Campaigners welcomed the release of the girls while calling on the government to do more to ensure the release of the Chibok girls whose abduction was the biggest publicity coup of Boko Haram’s nine-year insurgency.

    The group has killed at least 20,000 people, made homeless more than 2.7 million and sparked one of the largest humanitarian crises in the world, according to aid agencies.

    “This is incredible news, and fortuitous at a time when the Chibok parents are visiting the Dapchi parents,” said Aisha Muhammed-Oyebode, head of the Murtala Muhammed Foundation which sponsored the Chibok parents’ trip to Dapchi.

    “However, it puts on us an even greater responsibility to ensure that all of the remaining Chibok girls are returned. Nearly four years in captivity is an outrage,” she said.

     

    MURIC laudsed Govt, military

     

    The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has reacted to the release of the abducted secondary schoolgirls in Dapchi, Yobe State.

    In a statement yesterday, MURIC’s Director Prof Ishaq Akintola, rejoiced with the parents and commended the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government and the Nigerian Army for the early return of the girls.

    The group, however, berated the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan for its slow response to the abduction of Chibok girls in 2014.

    The Muslim group also sympathized with the families of the five Dapchi schoolgirls who allegedly died in the attack.

    The MURIC statement reads: “Ex-President Goodluck Jonathan can now see the difference between action and inaction, between goodwill and bad faith and between lukewarm attitude and proactiveness.

    “Chibok and Dapchi are now reference points in a tale of two Commander-in-Chiefs: one who turns the other cheek, while his army turns and runs, and another who takes immediate action and puts insurgents on the run.

    “We therefore call on Nigerians to continue to support President Muhammadu Buhari.

    “We charge the Federal Government to ensure adequate protection for all the schools in the insurgency zone. Defeated, frustrated, bankrupt and hungry, Boko Haram is looking for ways of embarrassing the Federal Government, sourcing for food and ransom money. We must never be caught napping again.

    “However, we are saddened by the loss of five of the girls. We sympathise with their parents and pray that Allah will grant them Aljannah Firdaus.

    “We also pray that Almighty Allah will give the parents the strength to bear the loss.”

     

    UNFPA: we’ll offer

    psycho-social, reproductive healthcare support

     

    The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has said it is on standby to offer emergency reproductive healthcare and psycho-social counselling and support to the released Dapchi schoolgirls.

    In a statement issued in Abuja by its Media Adviser in Nigeria, Mrs. Kori Habib, UNFPA congratulated the Federal Government over the release of the girls after 30 days in captivity.

    Mrs. Habib stated that the UN agency was already in Yobe, providing psychosocial counselling to parents and families of the girls.

    She added that the Fund was on standby to support the government toward providing comprehensive psychosocial support and other specialised services.

    “UNFPA staff and supported health clinics are on standby to provide medical check-ups to the released Dapchi school girls,” she noted.

    Mrs. Habib also quoted the UNFPA Representative in Nigeria, Ms. Diene Keita, as commending the Federal Government for helping and protecting women and girls affected by the conflict in the Northeast.

    The Country Representative, however, expressed concern over what she described as “thousands of women and children still held in captivity by Boko Haram.”

    Ms. Keita, therefore, called for greater efforts to bring the women and children still held in captivity by Boko Haram to safety and home to their families.

    She said: “UNFPA condemns all forms of violation and calls on Boko Haram to end all grave violations against women and girls, especially the abduction and sexual abuse and forced marriage of girls.

    “UNFPA calls on government to ensure that schools remain in places of safety and security, where young girls and boys can learn and grow in peace.

    “Girls and young women must be allowed to go to school without fear of violence and unjust treatment so that they can play their rightful roles as equal citizens of the world.

    “There must be measures put in place to stop violation of the rights to education and dignity to women and girls in Nigeria as a whole.’’

    She added that since the insurgency in the Northeast started, six in 10 girls were reported to have experienced a form of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and many had limited access to reproductive healthcare.

    According to her, UNFPA and partners provided direct prevention and response services to over 200,000 women and girl survivors or at risk of GBV through the fund’s “safe spaces” and community outreach.

    She explained that over 3.5 million survivors were provided with sexual and reproductive health care services and psychosocial support and counselling.

    “UNFPA has a comprehensive response for women and girls affected by the conflict in the Northeast and works with national authorities to support women and girls who escaped or were released from Boko Haram,” she said.

     

    UNICEF pledges support to Youth ministry

     

    The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) has commended the Federal Government efforts at the return of the abducted Dapchi schoolgirls yesterday.

    In a statement, UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, Mohamed Fall, expressed delight over the report on return of the girls that were abducted on February 19 by suspected Boko Haram insurgents.

    Fall, who noted that the girls would have been exposed to physical and sexual violence, however expressed the commitment of the organisation to collaborate with the Yobe State Ministry of Youth to give necessary support to the girls and their families.

    He also commended the efforts of concerned authorities and all parties in ensuring the safe return of the girls to their families.

    Fall said: “We are pleased to see that the girls abducted in a school in Dapchi are back in the safe environment of their families.

    “UNICEF is working closely with the Ministry of Youth in Yobe state to provide the necessary support to the girls and their families.

    “Over the last one month, the girls may have been exposed to physical and sexual violence. They need the support of their families and communities to feel safe and return to school.

    “UNICEF is also working with civil society organisations to ensure that each girl receives individual attention from medical treatment to psychosocial support.”

    He condoled with the parents and families of five girls reported dead.

    The UNICEF representative reiterated that schools should be safe spaces and protected at all times.

    Fall noted: “Since the start of the insurgency in 2009, over 2,295 teachers have been killed and 19,000 displaced and almost 1,400 schools destroyed.”

  • Bayelsa suspends seven pupils

    Bayelsa State government has announced the indefinite suspension of seven senior secondary school pupils for allegedly engaging in cult-related activities.

    Education Commissioner Jonathan Obuebite, in a statement in Yenogoa at the weekend, said the pupils were reported to have allegedly attacked and injured a fellow pupil at Central Epie Secondary School, Opolo-Epie, Yenagoa.

    Obuebite, who did not name the pupils, said the suspected cultists did not only attack their victim, but also endangered the lives of other pupils.

    He alleged that they disrupted academic activities.

    The commissioner prohibited government schools from admitting the pupils without clearance from the Ministry of Education.

  • Obi to pupils: education will set you free

    Former Anambra State Governor Obi has advised pupils of Christ the King College, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State and Girls’ Secondary School, Agulu, Anambra State to focus on their education.

    He told them that education remained the greatest weapon to liberate people and society from ignorance, slavery and prepare them for competition in the world. Obi said this while celebrating “My Freedom Day”, with them.

    In his separate addresses to both schools, Obi who requested they remember Chibok and Dapchi girls in their prayers, ascribed those anti-social and grievous ills taking place in the society as borne out of lack of functional education that would have taught those engaging in such that it is suicidal destroying one’s society.

    Obi called on the students to always be of good behaviour and to choose reputable men with track record of achievements and decency in both public and private lives as role models.

    The high point of Obi’s visit was the presentation of N1 million cheque each to the two schools to support them in their infrastructural improvement.

    “My Freedom Day”, celebrated yearly on the 14th of March, is a CNN creation, to sensitize students on the importance of education as a veritable vehicle to fight slavery.

  • Two pupils held for burning school labs

    The police in Nasarawa State have detained two pupils of the Government Science School, Wamba, Nasarawa State, for burning their Biology and Home Economics laboratories.

    A part of the ‘Nasarawa House’ hostel was also burnt.

    Baba Anthony and Daniel Dogara, both in SS3, said they committed the act because their house master was harsh on them.

    It was gathered that the house master, who teaches biology, flogged the pupils for boycotting the routine evening games.

    The pupils in turn sneaked out of school and bought N100 worth of petrol which they used to set the buildings ablaze.

    The Paramount ruler of Wamba, Musa Nagogo, who visited the site with officials of the Ministry of Education, frowned at the act.

    He described the act as regrettable and unacceptable, saying stringent measures should be put in place to address the issue to deter others.

  • Three pupils die after allegedly eating biscuit in school

    Three pupils die after allegedly eating biscuit in school

    There was panic in Kubwa, a suburb town in the Federal Capital Territory, on Wednesday, following the death of four pupils of Local Education Authority II primary school.

    They were said to have fallen ill and died after allegedly eating biscuits.

    The biscuit was allegedly shared to the victims by an unidentifiable classmate on Tuesday.

    Two of the deceased who were said to be from the same family were said to have been buried on Wednesday afternoon in Kubwa.

    The late students identified as Na’imat Yahaya 14, of primary 4, and Yahaya Garba also 14 of primary four and Moses Sunday of primary one.
    Unconfirmed reports said the children who died in the school premises were bleeding from the mouth and ears, before they gave up the ghost.

    The incident spread panic in the community as parents and guardians rushed to the school and forcibly took away their children.

    Our correspondent who visited the school saw the teachers discussing the incident while the headmaster was giving an account of the tragedy to officials of the FCT Education Secretariat, Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), who were at the school on a fact-finding mission.
    Journalists were barred from the briefing and the headmaster whose name could not be immediately ascertained declined to comment on the incident.

    Giving her own side of the story, a teacher in the school who didn’t want her name in print said: “When we came this morning, a child from primary four was sick. The HOD noticed it and asked him to go home. The other child in primary five who happen to be from the same parent was sick also and on reaching home, early hours of today, they died.

    “Immediately we got the news, our headmaster called us and asked us if there was any celebration in any arm of the school and we said nothing like that happened.

    “A while after our headmaster briefed us, another news came that a child in primary one died. This one fought yesterday after closing and on reaching home, he was taken to the hospital and he died there.

    “After our headmaster addressed us, we went into our classes and before we knew it, Gbagi and Hausa people came into the school premises with stick, stones and bottle to come and attack teachers.

    “God helped us because the Area Council chairman came into the premises after hearing about it. He called the police and then, the situation was arrested. They later said we should allow the children to go home but we suggested that those whose parents might still be at their work place should be allowed to stay but that generated another crisis.

    “Some of the pupils ran to meet their elder ones in the secondary arm of the school while some ran out using the windows.”

    On whether biscuit was shared or not, the teacher said the school had barred pupils from bringing edible things to school during any celebration.

    A primary three pupil, Hasia Haruna, who allegedly partook of the biscuits was on admission at the emergency ward of the Kubwa General Hospital.

    Looking pale in her yellow and white checkered school uniform, she was lying in her side with her mother closely watching over her.

    The mother who looked troubled said she rushed Hasia, 13, to the Kubwa General Hospital, when she learnt that she partook of the biscuits at school.
    She explained that her daughter, a primary three pupil of LEA primary school, informed her that she was given the biscuit by “a Muslim sister.”

    The mother who spoke in Hausa, said, “There was a party in the school on Wednesday where my daughter ate biscuit with other pupils. We discovered that some pupils died at night.
    “So I asked her if she ate the biscuit and who gave her; She said it was shared to them by a Muslim sister and so I was satisfied with her explanation, but the Bwari Area Council chairman, Musa Dikko informed us that we should take her to the hospital because some pupils died, so I decided to bring her here (Kubwa General Hospital).”
    She said she gave Hasia some herbal concoction at home when she complained of stomach pains, adding that she was scared when she heard that Nahimah, a relation and a pupil of LEA primary school, had died.

    “When I heard that Naimat had died, I quickly brought my daughter to the hospital, but since we got here, nobody has attended to us,” she complained.

    But the Chief Medical Doctor of the Hospital, Dr. Lasisi Akinola, said the hospital had admitted some sick pupils which he described as nothing unusual.

    “We receive sick pupils and people all the time, so there is nothing unusual about that. I know we have the corpse of a pupil who died after a fight with another pupil, but I don’t have information on what you are talking about,” he stated.

    The FCT police spokesman, Anjuguri Manzah, said the police had opened an investigation into the incident, adding that the case would be transferred to the Command Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for discreet investigation.

  • Pupils assess govt at ‘Buharimeter’ contest

    A competition organised by the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) at Radio Lagos/Eko FM multipurpose hall, Agidingbi, Ikeja, challenged secondary school pupils in Lagos to investigate and rate the Federal Government according to the delivery of President Muhammadu Buhari’s campaign promises.

    The competition tagged “Buharimeter” featured a quiz and debate that tested how much the pupils, drawn from 14 secondary schools in Lagos, knew about government policies and programmes and how they were implemented.

    After tough competition, the team from Anwar ul Islam Model College, Agege, came first and got a computer, books and others for its efforts.  Igbobi College was second, while Holy Child College Ikoyi, came third.

    CDD Programme Officer, Dr Dotun Akanni, said the competition was organised to stimulate the interest of young people in governance with the aim of grooming them to be good citizens and leaders as adults as well as teaching them to hold the government accountable.

    “Promoting self consciousness among youth to participate in governance is the reason why we are here today.  Inter-generational leadership is certain in a country with knowledgeable youth population.Youth population that are informed of their rights, abreast of what is happening within the polit and understand how to meaningfully engage to demand for good governance.  This quiz competition today is the first step,” he said.

    In an interview, Mr Sulaiman Arigbabu, the Executive Secretary, Human and Environmental Development Agenda, which hosted the competition on behalf of CDD, said the contest provided a veritable platform for the young ones to become politically aware.

    “This debate is to see how the youth are familiar with their world, their country and with the proper values and more importantly, to make them politically aware that government has a responsibility just as they too have responsibilities as citizens. We believe that every opportunity you have to expose young people to aptitude and attitude improvement is part of building leadership.”

    One of the participants, Miss Anabraba Divine from Methodist Girls High School, Yaba, said she learnt a lot from the programme.  She, however, scored the government low in service delivery.

    “I have learnt a lot of new things.  It has added to my knowledge of Government (as a subject).  It is like a revision for me.

    “I am not really satisfied with what the government has achieved because he (the President) only has six goals that he has fulfilled out of 200.  It is not really encouraging. I will advise that if he should go for second term, he should try to do much better than he did this tenure,” she said.

     

  • Pupils get 246 million Buhari’s meals, says presidency 

    Pupils get 246 million Buhari’s meals, says presidency 

    •More than 6m pupils in 20 states fed daily

    Over 246 million (246,355,190) meals have been served to primary pupils across 20 states in the country, the presidency disclosed yesterday.

    A statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Laolu Akande, said the first meal under the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP) was served in December 2016.

    According to him, the total figure is expected to reach 313,928,420 meals by the last week of February 2018.

    Akande added: “Also, the School Feeding Programme now feeds 6,044,625 pupils in 33,981 public primary schools across 20 states.

    “More states are expected to be added to the programme this year. The NHGSFP plans to implement feeding in a total of 28 States, while it aims to link farmers to school feeding markets.”

    He went on: “About 40,000 direct jobs have since been created from the School Feeding Programme across the participating states.

    “The 20 states that have so far been covered by the NHGSFP include Anambra, Enugu, Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Ebonyi, Zamfara, Delta, Abia, Benue, Plateau, Bauchi, Taraba, Kaduna, Akwa-Ibom, Cross River, Imo, Jigawa, Niger, and Kano.

    ”Also in 2017, the school feeding programme collaborated with the Federal Ministry of Health to deliver an integrated deworming programme for pupils in all public primary schools classes 1 to 6 across 17 states nationwide.

    “Meanwhile, the School Feeding programme now has a social media-based quality assurance tracking system, #TrackWithUs, ensuring that required standards for menu for pupils and meal distribution are adhered to across the states in a transparent manner.”

    On the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT), he said the scheme has recorded over 280,000 beneficiaries in 21 states “while about 300,000 Government Enterprise Empowerment Programme (GEEP) micro-credit, interest-free loans have been disbursed nationwide.”

    Akande added: “In the same vein, in 2017, the N-power scheme, which is targeted at providing jobs for unemployed young graduates, started its physical verification process for the 2017 applicants.

    “In 2018, more beneficiaries are expected to be added to about 200,000 young graduates currently employed under the scheme.” he said

    He noted a total of N900 billion was appropriated for the SIPs in 2016 and 2017 with N500 billion appropriated in 2016 and N400 billion in 2017.

    He however said that the total amount released was N110 billion for 2016 and 2017 while the total expenditure was N109 billion.

    “Below is a breakdown of the N109 billion released between October 2016 and November 2017 for the SIPs, namely: GEEP, CCT, NHGSFP, N-power, and general expenditure.

    “The GEEP expenditure was N11, 700,200,466, while the CCT gulped N5,235, 401,087.

    “In the same vein, between October 2016 and November 2017, N22, 370,719,017 was expended for the Home-grown School Feeding Programme (HGSFP); while N69, 731,256,122 was expended on N-power, which is the Job Creation component of the SIP, during the same period,” he said.