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Tag: Queen’s College

  • Queen’s College PTA hails govt’s findings on ‘sexual assault’

    Queen’s College PTA hails govt’s findings on ‘sexual assault’

    The Parent Teacher Association (PTA) of Queen’s College, Yaba, Lagos Mainland yesterday hailed the Federal Government for clearing its teacher Mr Olaseni Osifala, of alleged sexual harassment.

    It’s Chairperson, Mrs Beatrice Akhetuamen, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the government’s action was victory for the college.

    The Minister of State for Education, Prof. Anthony Anwukah, last Friday dismissed the allegation for lack of evidence against Osifala.

    Anwukah said the investigation committee did not establish any credible evidence against the teacher, noting that the pupil alleged to have been assaulted remained unidentified, faceless and inaccessible.

    An online blogger, OloriSupergal, had reported that a pupil was allegedly harassed sexually by Osifala, and that the college was trying to cover up the case.

    The report generated a row, following which the Federal Ministry of Education on March 22, set up a probe panel.

    According to Akhetuamen, the PTA was overwhelmed with joy when the government released its White Paper on the issue.

    She said: “I want to on behalf of the parents’ forum of this association commend the Federal Ministry of Education for doing a great job and intervening in the matter.

    “I feel particularly glad because to a large extent I have also been vindicated.

    “As the chairperson, I will always do all I can to protect the interest of the parents as well as the children under our care in this college.

    “I have always stood for the truth and I had vowed not to stop short at anything until we get to the root of this whole ugly incidence.

    “I still stand on my resolve that should any parent come forward with evidence over any of such issue, the PTA will rally round and give such parent all the necessary backing.”

    Akhetuamen said the school, as a premier all-girls college in the country, would continue do all it takes to promote girl-child education

     

  • Alleged sexual assault at Queens College: Panel lacks evidence to indict teacher

    The Ministry of Education, said the investigative panel into alleged sexual molestation on a female student of Queens College, Ikeja, Lagos could not establish any evidence to indict the accused teacher.

    The Minister of State for Education,  Prof Anthony Anwukah, who briefed newsmen on Friday in Abuja, said the mother of the victim failed to appear before the committee to prove her case.

    It will be recalled that Anwukah had on March 22, set up a committee to investigate the alleged sexual molestation of a student of the college.

    He said that the ministry would take appropriate actions following the recommendations of the committee.

    “The Investigation Committee did not establish any credible evidence against the accused teacher, considering the fact that Mrs Chinenye Okoye remained unidentified, faceless and inaccessible despite the committee’s best efforts and assurances to protect her identity and that of her daughter.

    “Consequently, the Investigation committee finds it difficult to recommend disciplinary action against the accused teacher as the complainant failed to come forward to prove this weighty accusation.

    “The committee could not establish any cover up of sexual molestation by the management of Queens College.

    “The Federal Ministry of Education notes and accepts all the recommendations of the committee and will take actions as appropriate,’’ he said.

    The minister asked anyone with information that could lead to the identification of the alleged victim or her mother or with any credible and substantiated evidence to approach the ministry.

  • Panel submits report on sexual assault claim at Queens College

    Panel submits report on sexual assault claim at Queens College

    The Federal Government yesterday received the report of the panel, which probed the sexual molestation allegation at Queens College, Yaba, Mainland, Lagos.

    The five-man panel was constituted last month to probe the allegation that a teacher, Mr Olaseni Oshifala, sexually assaulted an unnamed Junior Secondary Two (JSII) pupil.

    Her mother, who made the allegation on a blogger’s site, did not also give her name.

    The panel members were not named.

    Minister of State for Education Anthony Anwukah, who confirmed receipt of the report in an interview with reporters in Abuja yesterday, said the ministry would make its position known soon.

    Anwukah said: “I set up a committee as soon as that thing came up and the committee has been working and they have met their time frame. That is the report. The ministry will now look at the report and in the next couple of days be able to take a final action on that thing. The report by the committee I set was given to me this morning.”

    Anwukah also said the government would review the current education curriculum to embrace technical education.

    He explained that it was planning to include technical education and skill acquisition in the curriculum of primary and secondary schools because the current curriculum had not served Nigeria well.

  • Queens College: FG receives report of probe panel

    Queens College: FG receives report of probe panel

    The Federal Government said Monday that it has received the report of a probe panel set up to investigate alleged sexual molestation of a Junior Secondary Two (JSII) pupil at Queens College, Yaba, Mainland, Lagos.

    The Government had last month constituted a five-man panel to probe the sexual molestation allegation against a teacher, Mr Olaseni Oshifala.

    The panel members were not named.

    Minister of State for Education, Anthony Anwukah, who confirmed the receipt of the report in an interview to reporters in Abuja on Monday, added that the ministry would look into it and take necessary action.

    Prof. Anwukah said: “I set up a committee as soon as that thing came up and the committee has been working and they have met their time frame. This is the report. The ministry will now look at the report and in the next couple of days be able take a final action on it.

    “The report by the committee I set was given to me this morning.”

    Meanwhile, Prof. Anwukah has said that government will review the current education system in the country to embrace technical education.

    He explained that it was planning to include technical education and skill acquisition in the curriculum of primary and secondary schools.

    The minister noted that the current curriculum had not served Nigeria well.

    Prof. Anwuka said: “In fact there is going to be a new thrust of crafts; technical education, and skills acquisition will start taking a lion share in the primary and secondary curriculum. Entrepreneurship education is going to be the focus.

    “We have had enough of the academic subjects. We have seen how far they have carried us. Why must people from our neighbouring countries come here to do our POP, tiling?

    “So we must have to capture these skills back through what we do in our primary, secondary and in our polytechnics. That is it. The survival skills, we have thrown them away. They are no longer parts of our school system. We must go back to it.

    “The last batch of good artisans we had are the ones who worked with PwD. They are disappearing. Those skills must be thought in our school system.”

    The minister noted that Nigeria must work to reposition its education to compete with other developed countries by improving on the qualities of teachers it produces.

    According to him, the country must have quality teachers in its school systems who are well trained and ready to teach.

    “We are not doing badly but we are not there yet where the developed nations are. A few problems may be responsible for our not been at par with the rest of the world. Understanding, yes they have developed structures that have enabled them move on.

    “We are evolving a stable system. We are not yet evolved a stable system. For instance, our teacher education is not yet where it should be and I have been singing it as a song since I accepted this responsibility that we must have quality teachers in our school system.

    “We must have teachers who are trained to be teachers. The education system in terms of teachers is almost populated by more than 50 per cent of people who are not trained to be teachers through to teach in our schools. You must develop the art of teaching. You must be trained with the appropriate skills in teaching in other to become a teacher in our system and this runs from our primary school to the university system,” he added.

     

  • Queen’s College: PTA urges Oshifala’s accuser to come out

    Queen’s College: PTA urges Oshifala’s accuser to come out

    The Parents/Teachers Association (PTA) of Queen’s College, Yaba, has appealed to Chinenye Okoye, the supposed mother of the JSS2 pupil allegedly molested by a teacher, to come and pick her letter of invitation to appear before the ministerial panel set up to investigate the matter from its office.

    The panel set up by the Minister of State for Education, Prof. Anthony Onwuka, to investigate the allegation of sexual molestation leveled against Mr. Olaseni Oshifala, a biology teacher in the school, is to begin its investigation at the school on Wednesday.

    Chinenye Okoye, who sent the story to blogger, Olorisupergal, is one of those expected to appear before the panel to give evidence concerning the allegations.  The principal of the college, Dr Lami Amodu, other principal officers, leaders of the Association of the Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), the umbrella union of teachers of the school, the PTA, old girls, among others are also to appear before the panel.

    Chairman of the PTA, Mrs. Beatrice Akhetuamen and two other members of the executive, Mr Femi Agunu, and Mr. Richard Ugwuka, said Monday that a letter addressed to the woman has been sent to the PTA.

    However, Mrs. Akhetuamen said that the PTA has no record of Chinenye Okoye as a parent on its database, and therefore has no one to deliver the letter to.

    “There is one Okoye is JSS2 but her mother is not Chinenye. We are appealing to her to come and collect her letter,” she said.

    Mrs. Akhetuamen also questioned the authenticity of the story, which has gone viral since it was posted on the social media penultimate Saturday.

    She said if indeed the said pupil was attacked by Oshifala around 2am and was rescued by her classmates, not only the victim but others would have reported the case to their parents, who would have called her.

    On his part, Mr. Ugwuka said the case has made parents of the school really worried.  He said they have been questioning their wards but have no evidence of abuse so far.

    “We are really worried.  We have been questioning our girls. My wife and I woke our daughter in the middle of the night to tell us what is happening in her school.  We need this woman to please come out so we can work together and investigate the matter.  If we find that there is any wrong doing, we would shout because the welfare of our children is at stake,” he said.

  • Commissioner urges Queen’s College whistleblower to come out

    The Lagos State Commissioner for Youth and Social Development, Princess Uzamat Akinbile-Yussuf has urged those accusing Olaseni Oshifala, a Biology teacher at Queen’s College, of sexual harassment to come out of hiding.

    At a briefing yesterday at the ministry’s conference room at Alausa Secretariat, Ikeja, she said the victims’ testimonies were necessary, particularly as the school has refused to cooperate with the ministry.

    She said: “The concerned parent who wrote online has never come out to defend what she has written.  It is a serious problem; you have to stand by your words all the time. So, when we are investigating, we can say this is the person that told us. The Old Students’ Association confirmed it but nobody has come up to say, ‘okay it happened to me, and this is the way it happened.’  It is a serious case.  But, I believe the Federal Government will do everything within its reach because we are on it with them.”

    Investigation still ongoing, the ministry called on the Federal Government to suspend those indicted, and direct workers to cooperate with the ministry.

    “The Lagos State government has observed the uncooperative attitude of the school authority and call for the temporary removal of those concerned in the issue pending the outcome of the investigations.   Lagos State government will not stand by and watch, but will always act in accordance with the Child Rights Act,” she said.

    The Permanent Secretary,  Hakeem Muri Okunola, said social workers who visited the school were ignored.

    “Our social worker visited the school several times and they didn’t have any cooperation from the school authorities. The vice-principal who they met yesterday (Wednesday) said she wasn’t competent to speak even though there was no other person available to speak,” he said.

    Akinbile-Yussuf urged members of the public to speak out on child abuse issues in their domains, assuring that the ministry will swing into action.

     She gave phone contact as (08096777389) and an email address (mysd@lagosstate.gov.ng) for the public to reports such cases.

  • Queen’s College old girls call for calm as police investigates allegations

    Chairperson of the Queen’s College Old Girls Association investigative committee on the sexual assault allegation on Queen’s College teacher, Mr Oshifala, Mrs Laila St Matthews-Daniel has called for calm as investigations are ongoing on the case.

    She said the Old Girls’ investigative committee has completed their findings, compiled them and sent them to the appropriate authorities for further investigation.

    Mrs. St Matthews-Daniel, spoke with The Nation during a gender and equal opportunities Bill awareness walk she organised with other women at Alausa, on Wednesday.

    She, however, urged the accused to support the investigation in order to clear his name.

    “Yes, we are working on it. The committee has said the allegations are not unfounded. So we have given our findings to the police to do the investigation. We are not the investigators, it is a federal thing. Old girls who have spoken on the issue have caused there to be question marks, but then again, if I was the man, I would want an investigation.

    “Because this is the fourth or fifth time that such allegations have come through subsequent principals. I think the onus is on him now to even call everybody to come and investigate so that his name can be cleared. The same kind of reports over ten years? If he were my brother, I would tell him that he should let them investigate.”

    Meanwhile, she urged government to act upon the gender and equal opportunities bill, rather than let it remain only effective in the books.

    She condemned the senate committee’s joke where the lawmakers were reported to have said: “what else do they (women) want? If we can marry as many wives as we want, do they want to start marrying many husbands as well?”, holding that men and women deserved equal opportunities.

    Another member of the walk, Mrs Mosun Layode said: “It’s not about women taking the place of men but about being given the opportunity to achieve their full potential. What are the advantages to a nation when half of its population is marginalised and they are not empowered?”

  • Fed Govt probes sexual assault claim at Queen’s College

    Fed Govt probes sexual assault claim at Queen’s College

    •Panel to submit report in two weeks
    •Old girls: allegations not unfounded

    THE Federal Government yesterday constituted a five-man panel to probe the sexual molestation allegation against a teacher at Queen’s College in Yaba, Lagos Mainland.

    The panel members were not named.

    A statement by the Federal Ministry of Education (FMoE) Deputy Director of Press Bem Goong said the government was disturbed by the claim that a teacher, Mr Olaseni Oshifala, sexually molested a Junior School Two (JSII) pupil. The girl’s identity is yet to be unravelled.

    The claim of her mother, Chinenye Okoye, on a blog, Olorisupergal.com, that her daughter was sexually harassed by her teacher, outraged the public, which is demanding an investigation into the matter.

    The setting up of the panel came just as the Queens’ College Old Girls’ Association (QCOGA) declared that the allegations against Oshifala were “not unfounded”.

    Quoting the Minister of State for Education, Prof Anthony Anwukah, Goong said the panel has two weeks to submit its report.

    The panel is to recommend how to deal with the matter without fear or favour.

    The statement advised parents, guardians, students and staff of the college who have information to reach the committee on: 07034613096 and saniabdu59@yahoo.com.

    Anwukah assured parents whose children are in any of the Unity Schools and other Federal Government Colleges that the kids were in safe hands.

    The government will continue to do everything within the law to protect children in its schools nationwide, including Queen’s College.

    A statement by the QCOGA Fact Finding Committee chairperson Mrs Laila St. Matthew-Daniel, claimed that Oshifala has been harassing pupils of the school since 2005, adding that he was reported but never punished.

    The association sent a petition to Lagos State Commissioner of Police, seeking an investigation of the case.

    The statement reads: “allegations of sexual harassment, sexual impropriety and indecent treatment of children against Mr Oshifala are not unfounded; the allegations go as far back as 2005 when he was first employed; the allegations against Mr Oshifala and other male staff were consistently reported to current PQC (Principal, Queen’s College), current VPQCs, former PQCs and former VPQCs and no steps were taken to stop these dastardly acts.

    “There are male staff living in close proximity (within the hostel areas) whilst the girls move about in different stages of undress; Total neglect of the welfare of the girls as shown by their filthy hostel, with overflowing and smelly gutters, creating potential festering pools of disease.”

    The old girls demanded that the ministry “should immediately take steps to remove the alleged perpetrator from the school premises” and “investigate breaches of the Child Rights act.” They are also seeking the sanctioning of the school’s indicted principal officers.

    Also yesterday, Lagos State police chief Fatai Owoseni said the command was investigating the matter.

    He said: “The very senior police officers who can be best described as the backbone of the command’s intelligence base are on the case. Deputy Commissioner of Police Administration, Deputy Commissioner of Police Operations including the Officer in Charge of Public Complaints Bureau are involved in the case.”

    Owoseni spoke when the Nigeria Air Force Ikeja Base Commander Paul David Masiya visited him.

    He said security operatives, such as the military, Customs, Immigration and Police, among others, enjoyed cordial relations.

    Masiya said: “We want to join Lagos Police Command in its good work of keeping the state safe and I want to assure you that we will improve on the synergy already on ground”.

  • Ministerial Panel to probe alleged Queens College’s sexual assault

    Ministerial Panel to probe alleged Queens College’s sexual assault

    The Minister of State for Education, Professor Anthony Anwukah, has set up an investigative panel to look into the alleged case of sexual assault of a JSS II student of Queens College, Lagos by one of the teachers.

    In a statement endorsed by the by Deputy Director (Press) of the Ministry, Bem Goong, the Minister  charged members of the panel to do a thorough investigation to unravel the truth behind the allegations.

    The investigation panel has two weeks to submit its report.

    The minister charged the committee to make recommendations to the Federal Government on how to deal with the situation based on the principles of truth, justice and fairness to all parties.

    The statement advised parents, guardians, students and staff of the College who may have credible information on the matter to reach the committee on: 07034613096 and saniabdu59@yahoo.com.

    Professor  Anwukah assured the general public, particularly parents and guardians whose children are in any of the Unity Schools and other Federal Government Colleges that their children were in safe hands.

    He said that government will continue to do everything possible within the ambit of the law to protect children in all government schools across the country, including Queens College, Lagos.

    Prof. Anwukah advised parents to remain calm and avoid taking decisions that may affect their children adversely.

     

    End.

     

  • Ministry probes pupil’s sexual assault claim at Queens College

    Ministry probes pupil’s sexual assault claim at Queens College

    The Federal Ministry of Education (FMoE) has launched a probe into the sexual molestation allegation against a teacher in Queens College, Lagos.

    Some directors from the ministry, The Nation learnt yesterday, were in the school on Saturday to verify a pupil’s claim that she was sexually molested by her teacher, Mr Olaseni Oshifala.

    The School Based Management Committee (SBMC) met yesterday with the ministry’s officials on the matter, which has gone viral on the social media.

    In the school yesterday, some workers were seen discussing the issue as they headed towards where the SBMC was meeting.

    “Where are you? Come now, SBMC wants to see all of us. They want to have an interview with us,” a worker told the others on phone.

    Also yesterday, old girls of Queens College, from 1956 till date, also met in the School Hall on the matter.

    A senior member of teaching staff, who did not give his name, told The Nation that there were inconsistencies in Chinenye’s claim of sexual molestation.

    He said contrary to her claim, Osifala teaches Biology to senior secondary pupils and not Integrated Science/Basic Science at the junior level.

    The source claimed that Oshifala does not live in the school and could not have been on the premises late at night as claimed by his accuser.

    He also refuted claims that new security guards employed by the school were harassing students.

    The source, who refuted the story via his Whatsapp account, described it as the work of a mischief maker.

    He said: “Six reasons why the news about Oshii might be bad belle and half-cooked mischief.

    “Oshii does not live on the compound; he does not teach integrated science or basic science; he has no business being in the boarding house around the time mentioned except there is emergency; D. Lami Amodu – PQC could not have left such a sensitive matter uninvestigated; the new security guards had not been engaged as at December when the last Parent Teachers Association (PTA) meeting was held; there has not been any report that the new security guards are harassing the girls.

    “I am not a solicitor for Oshi but the facts as presented by the ‘Mrs Chinyere’ (the pupil’s mother)are far from the truth.”

    Called for his comment, to refute the allegations, the embattled Osifala promised to return the call, but he failed to do.

    The principal did not pick her calls nor respond to our reporter’s text messages.