The Nation Newspaper

Tag: SON

  • I will not grant my son admission if unqualified, says UNIJOS VC

    I will not grant my son admission if unqualified, says UNIJOS VC

    PRESSURE to admit students gives the Vice-Chancellor, University of Jos (UNIJOS), Prof Hayward Babale Mafuyai greater headache than insufficient funds.

    Addressing journalists at a pre-convocation briefing, Mafuyai said the age long Nigerian tradition of parents influencing the university to admit their wards is the beginning of decline of quality education.

    The VC noted that the most difficult challenge facing universities in Nigeria is not how to manage inadequate fund but how to manage long lists of request from various authorities every year for admission. He said he would no longer honour such requests.

    He said: “I have made it a policy to change this aged long tradition, I have insisted on admission on merit. If the university will admit on request from above, then I will be compromising quality and causing serious problems for the school.

    “I never got admission into the university by request in those days, I got it because I merited it, so I will not encourage granting admission on request. I have made up my mind, I will not even grant my son admission here if he does not have the maximum qualification”.

    “I want to use the opportunity to appeal to those in authorities, friends and staff of the university, government officials that the best contribution they can make to the growth of the school is to ensure their wards pass through the due process, subject themselves to quality test to earn the admission.

    “They should understand that my headache is that list, quality should not be compromised when it comes to admission of students, there are laid down criteria, minimum qualification benchmark and maximum qualification benchmark, anything outside that is fraud.

    “So let it be known that University of Jos does not admit students through request and we will further advise candidates to come with maximum qualification scores if they want to make it. Minimum qualification is not a guarantee for admission.

    “Any candidate who tried once and failed should try again. Do not compel or influence us to admit you through another means other than merit.

    “This is a standing policy of the institution because we want to continue to produce quality graduates who will do the university proud any where in the world, and we can achieve that by ensuring only those with merit come in. We don’t encourage garbage in, garbage out”

     

  • Reason I’ve refused to support my son —Daddy Showkey

    Reason I’ve refused to support my son —Daddy Showkey

    Diana crooner Daddy Showkey is back on the music scene. The Ajegunle music star, who will be having his recent first major performance in Abuja at the Tyme Out with Tee-A Live Edition Concert, in an interview with MERCY MICHAEL, opened up on sundry issues: His disappearance from the music scene, career and his son’s, Ramond, music dream. The Delta State-born act also speaks on the Delta flood of October 2012.

     

    YOU’VE been scarce on the music scene lately. What brings you here today?

    As you can see, we artistes are gathered together to deliberate on how we can help the flood victims in Delta State. Like my place Isoko in general is affected. I’m from Delta State. And you see, sometimes we ignore things. If when things become a problem that’s when we start coming together. But why I’m happy that we are even coming together is the fact that beyond talking we are actually working out modalities on how we can help these displaced people. We as artistes, we need to learn how to use our star power to help the society and that’s what we are doing.

    What has been happening to you?

    I’ve been going through some things in recent time but I thank God I’ve overcome them. Some people were after my life to kill me. I could not go on stage to perform because of the fear of being shot. But I thank God that God has taken control of that.

    Who are they and why are they after your life?

    It’s a long story. Besides, I’m not a policeman. I can’t pinpoint that this is where it is coming from but investigation is still ongoing. It all started in 2011 when two persons suspected to be hired assassins shot at me twice at close range before escaping on a motorcycle.

    I was on a queue to buy fuel at the Mobil petrol station along Agindigbi Road, Ikeja, when the incident happened. A guy tapped on the window of my Range Rover SUV. Thinking he was one of my fans, I wound down the glass to attend to him. He told me that I had a flat tyre. And as soon as I alighted from the car, the young’ man pulled a gun and shot at me twice.

    He muttered: “No be you be this Daddy Showkey? Immediately his first shot missed me, I quickly grabbed him. As I wrestled him to the ground with the hope of retrieving the gun, a second person who was already poised to escape on his motorcycle released another bullet, this time he aimed at my head. Fortunately, he missed the mark; it was Providence that saved me from the assassins’ bullets. Sensing that the crowd that had dispersed at the blast of the first gunshot would rally support for me, the two guys quickly scampered away on their motorcycle.

    Also twice last year, suspected assassins stormed my Ojodu residence. The first time they came, they succeeded in killing a close associate of mine, but their second attempt was repelled by the combined efforts of the local vigilante and men of the Nigeria Police. The matter has since been reported to the police. So, really for a long time now, you can see I’ve not been in circulation but I had to come out for this purpose because it touches me a lot to see people being displaced, stranded and nowhere to lay their heads. They are poor people and now they are homeless. Some of them that have farms, their farms are gone. Their livelihood is gone. So that’s why we are coming together to see what we can do and that’s why I came out of my shell.

    So, all the while that you were missing on the music scene, what were you doing?

    Business, but it’s not something I want to talk about.

    So, musically, what is the next thing for you?

    Just watch and see because right now I cannot tell you that this is what is coming, but just watch and see.

    Are you working on any album at the moment?

    Yes, right now I’m working on a single, and immediately I’m done with that an album will follow.

    Your son, Raymond, 15 years, I learnt, is showing interest in music but that he does not have your support. Why?

    You see, first of all, he should concentrate on his education because let me tell you even though you want to became a musician, education is the first thing. When I was little, I knew what my mother went through to get me to concentrate on my education but I was stubborn; I allowed music to take me away from education. Although I succeeded, but education-wise I know how it has affected me.

    That is why I made it as a mandate, if you want to do music, first of all concentrate on education because music is a powerful spirit, it might take him away from his education. Entertainment in general is a powerful spirit. Like me, I started entertainment when I was small but I will get my son not to make my mistake. That is the reason.

    Do you think your level of education is affecting your career?

    I can read and write but sometimes I feel that I should have been in this position or that position. But one thing that people don’t know also about education is that education is life; what you experience every day. I’m more educated than so many people that are graduates. But what I want for my son to understand is that there is time for everything. When I was small, I used to play truancy. I would run out of school and go and do music. My mother would come there to beat me.

    I don’t want my son to go through all those things. You see music is a gift. I put it to you that I can decide not to release an album in 10 years, the day I will release one, dem no go tell una now because it is a gift. I did not learn it. Entertainment generally is not what you learn per se; it is a gift. But education is what you learn. So there is time for everything and that’s what I want my son to know. There is time to be a child and there is time to grow up and be a man. And there is time of music and there’s time for education. If I allow him right now he will lose focus. Right now, he sings in church; that, I am okay with but I make sure education is his priority for now and I will guide him to the maximum.

    But your wife has been a great support to him. Does she see it differently?

    Ehnnnn, my wife has been a great support to me too musically (laughs). She’s the mother of the house; she knows what’s good for everyone but I’ve told her too that she should give her support with wisdom because I know what I want for my son. When the time comes he will do music. I’m not against his dream of becoming a musician but for now education comes first and so he should concentrate hundred percent on education.

    Your genre of music has not been growing. What are you doing to sustain the brand?

    You see music is about style. Sometimes style changes, so you have to learn to adapt to the way it’s changing. I started music from comedy, entertaining people in my neighbourhood. And my song, when I started, I was trying to differentiate the mainstream reggae music from what I do. I can sing, I can rap but I decided to build something my people can identify with. So I came up with singing in broken English. But to your question, there are people that emulate you; if they cannot meet up with what you are doing they are bound to leave. But Ajegunle music cannot fade away because it’s music from the street.

    As a pioneer of Ajegunle music, do you think you have been encouraging artistes who do that style of music enough?

    Yes, people look up to me. But truth is I have had my issues too for sometime but I thank God those issues are being taken care of. A lot will be coming out from Ajegunle soon. Don’t worry, just watch out.

    Are you going to ever cut your dreadlock?

    Don’t ask me that one. I no fit tire for dis dreadlocks. The dreadlocks is my image and I don’t want to cut it.

    You are so big now. What have you been doing to yourself?

    Na so you be before? First of all I used to be muscle, but now I have a lot on my head. But before I drop my next album I will work it out.

    Are you having any collaboration on your forth-coming album?

    Everything about my forth-coming album I have decided to keep close to my heart.

    You were among the artistes that campaigned for President Jonathan. At the last rally in Ojota you said you regretted campaigning for him; how would you balance that?

    First of all a president is elected by the people. Sometimes, your decisions might not favour the people but I stand on the side of the people when it comes to that subsidy removal. Sometimes, the problem we have in our country is that when we want to take decision we don’t consider people’s plight. We go ahead and take decision without debating it. That time they did what was wrong. I have no regret campaigning for Jonathan. I would be honest with you but I have a right to my feeling. If I feel the decision that they are taking is wrong I have the right to come and say it.

    And that is why I made that statement because if people that elected you into office say they don’t want something, first of all, you consider their feelings then come back and now let them know the reason why it has to be the way you have suggested it. Trust me, Nigerians will tell you to go ahead, then you will do it. So why would I not say I regretted campaigning for him when the people that elected you have pains in them and you damned them.

  • Man sells son for N350,000

    WHAT is the worth of a baby boy? To Mr. Onyekachi Ekwelum (26), it is N350,000. That was the cash he got for his only son, who he sold to procure a visa to Greece.

    Ekwelum’s 20-year-old wife, Ozioma, blew the lid off the scandal by reporting to the police that her husband had sold their six-month-old son.

    Abia State Police Commissioner Usman Tilli Abubakar told reporters that Mrs. Ekwelum reported the case to them and, after investigations, the boy was rescued from his “buyers” and handed over to his mother in good health.

    The commissioner said all the suspects in connection with the incident had been arrested.

    Abubakar said the suspects would soon be charged to court.

    The police chief also said Mr. Chidiebere Samuel of Ovurungwu village in Isiala Ngwa South Local Government Area reported to the police on March 4 that his wife, Odinakachi, connived with a nurse to sell a baby girl she was delivered of.

    The nurse, who delivered Odinikachi of the baby, was identified as Monica Benjamin.

    According to him, the baby was sold for N150,000. He said the police have recovered the baby and arrested the suspects.

    Abubakar said another case of child trafficking was reported to the police by Mr. Oluchukwu Ogidi of Anayo Nkwogu Amaoji in Ngwa, Isiala Ngwa North, who alleged that his wife, Kelechi, connived with Dr. Williams Oruwa, who delivered her of a baby boy, to sell the baby for N300,000.

    He said during their raid on the hospital, three expectant women – Blessing Okwu (21), Janet Ogbonna (20) and Chinenye Onuoha (23) – being harboured by the doctor were arrested.

    Abubakar said they are the prosecution’s witnesses in the trial of the suspects.

    He said all the suspects had been charged to court.

    The police commissioner spoke of Uchechukwu Gabriel and his wife, Nneoma, who were arrested for selling their baby girl to an unknown buyer for N200,000.

    The buyer has not been identified.

     

  • Rest well, great son of Africa

    I am heartbroken, really broken. Chinua Achebe, that illustrious pan-African writer of Nigerian parentage, is no more. It is a very dark day for Africa, darker for those of us who were raised on the staple of literature, foundationally English, transformationally African.

    And to speak of African literature was to begin with Amos Tutuola and his Palm Wine Drinkard. What a short beginning for Africa, unlike Daniel Defoe, the father of the English novel who detains you for quite a while.

    The African writer started with a dither, expectedly so, what with a new language, a new genre and an anaemic and amorphous reader. But before long, you would realise Tutuola is in fact being polite, immodestly consigning himself to a small desert that swiftly courses down the throat, making way to a real big, tasty dish gingerly tackled from the margin, like hot pepe.

    And Ah, what a dish, from the brewmaster, Chinua, son of Achebe! You began with Things Fall Apart, hurry too forward to No Longer At Ease, before realizing you skipped that key juncture where the rain began to beat us as Africans. So you pulled back, retreated to Arrow of God, that fiesta of African wisdom overflowing the brim of the English bowel, itself too shallow to contain, let alone carry bounty African thought.

    In Arrow of God, you feel pity for the English language, you hear its creaks, see it pitifully get prostrated by the master’s artful stretching of a language the British Queen so mistakenly took to be her own. In spite of its finicky brittleness, its rule-laid fastidiousness — phonetic and syntactical — this Igbo prodigy was able to bridle this English language to womanly submissiveness.

    In Achebe’s darning hand, English spectacularly lost its imperial mastery, traded its much-vaunted majesty for pimpish coquetry. Achebe harnessed and humbled it, thereby giving all of us the first line of imperial defeat. Before losing colony, England first lost her tongue. And Achebe led the assault.

    Master polemicist

    You moved on, reconnecting with the interrupted sequence. A Man of the People followed. Then Anthills of the Savannah. In between Girls at War, Beware, Soul Brother, The Sacrificial Egg and Other Stories, Chike and the River, The Flute, The Drum — all these marking a huge mind in a playful interlude, between, before more huge tasks.

    And if you are cerebral, quarrelsome like Manheru, you sought and found satiety in his most engaging polemics: the seminal Morning Yet On Creation Day. The waspish powder keg, The Trouble With Nigeria. Or the granary of polemical thought, Hopes and Impediments which carries Achebe’s most celebrated, choicest harvests over his long career.

    Carries the giant yams the size of a man’s head. Oh Chinua! Of course I will not leave out Conversations with Chinua Achebe. Then you have what for me is Achebe at his most compelling: “The Education of a British-Protected Child.” It is a narrative which is both historical and philosophical, a narrative with enough barbs to expiate the African cynic, enough of gentle rebuke to show a writer mellowed by time and tribulation, a writer after a harsh altercation with society, now drifting towards a reconstructive mode.

    His latest offering — by this death now turned valedictory — is “There was a Country” published in 2012. Frankly, I did not enjoy this latest offering which points to a rueful Achebe, a rueful Igbo nationalist when in fact I was expecting a disappointed Nigerian, a continental seer angry at African creation.

    In this autobiographical book, Achebe explores and exposes the seething anger of his tribe, clearly showing that it is one wound which wrinkles of time will not fold, which his continental eye will not gloss over.

    True, the Igbos were hurt during Biafra, ironically a post-independence conflict which negatively linked the leader of the Biafrans, Ojukwu, to this our country, then colonially known as Rhodesia. Apparently Ojukwu got arms from Rhodesia, and used them against the newly independent state of Nigeria.

    Whatever his cause, whatever the cause of his people — the Igbos — this transforming of Rhodesians into quartermasters of his cause soiled him.

    It was a foul blot on Biafrans escutcheon, which is why Africa never embraced this secessionist war.

    Although this last offering by Achebe looks at the conflict from the angle of a grieving private citizen caught in the maelstrom of a post-independence bloody experimentation in nationhood, overall it reads like this great man of letters stumbles on one of Africa’s narrowest social foci, indeed doffs to narrow loyalty using a medium, genre that abhors parochialism. For as an art form, the novel is universal. I don’t grieve over this stumble.

    It does not lessen Chinua, merely makes a being of sins, of common foibles that we all are. Go well, rest well, great son of Africa.

     

    •Nathaniel Manheru wrote this tribute for New Zimbabwe

     

  • Police hunt for killers of Oba’s son in Ondo community

    Police hunt for killers of Oba’s son in Ondo community

    Security agencies are on the trail of unknown gunmen that killed the 23-year first child of the Olikan-elect of Itikan in Ilaje local government area of Ondo State, late Orioye Oyetakin.

    The killing of Oyetakin on December 27 was the second in the community in the past few months.

    The Regent of the town, Elder Shem Omoreigha, was reportedly killed barely eight months ago by yet to be apprehended killers.

    The Olikan-elect, Prince Adeleke Oyetakin, said the crisis started in the community after the selection process which led to his emergence.

    He said the kingmakers concluded the selection process in October last year when he defeated his main contestant, Prince Busayo Oroyo.

    According to him, some people who were not satisfied with the outcome of the process are allegedly behind the crisis that engulfed the town.

    He said, “The latest incident, which led to the death of my son started around 6pm on the fateful day at Ode-Itikan when the young man travelled home for the preparation of our family’s annual social gathering slated for December 30.”

    He said the hoodlums invaded the community and started shooting sporadically until they shot the victim dead.

    Oyetakin said the remains of his deceased son had been deposited at the Igbokoda General Hospital’s morgue while the matter was promptly reported to the police.

    He explained that some soldiers visited the town the following day of the incident and took away with them some items which could be useful in the course of the investigation.

    Oyetakin, however, said they were yet to hear from the Army, stressing that he had written the state Commissioner of Police that some of the items recovered by the soldiers at the scene of the incident could be useful during investigation.

    He lamented that the loss of lives and properties would have been avoided if the state government had presented him with the staff of office immediately after he was elected by the kingmakers.

    The struggle to occupy the throne which was vacant in 2009 following the demise of the former monarch had been tough between Oyetakin and Oroyo

    The State Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Aremu Adeniran, confirmed the development, saying the matter had been transferred to the state Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for proper investigation.

     

  • SON, firms sign MoU

    The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with four Independent Accredited Firms (IAFs) to reduce the importation of sub-standard products into the country. The firms will test the products and ensure the sealing of the container before shipping.

    The MoU is to rejig the objectives of SON Conformity Assessment Programme (SONCAP) which, observers say, failed in the past few years.

    The new process entails testing the products before they are loaded into containers, sealing the containers, issuance of SONCAP certificate by SON, and re-testing the products on arrival in the ports before clearance.

    SON’s Director-General, Dr. Joseph Odumodu, said the challenges of implementing the SONCAP objectives over the years bordered on less monitoring of the programme.

    He added that the processes for monitoring imported goods did not give the desired results.

    He said loopholes in the SONCAP programme would be plugged, adding that this would stop the importation of sub-standard products.

    The programme, he said, is being renewed to meet the increasing expectations of Nigerians and contribute its quota to the realisation of the broad economic programmes of the Fed Government.

    “For several times in the past, we have called to question the effectiveness of SONCAP for a number of reasons. Apart from the initial successes we recorded, the programme started having some challenges because we have not monitored the programme effectively, to ensure that we cover loopholes that are normally created by those who would rather prefer that such a programme does not exist. We have tried to address the challenges with the new SONCAP we are launching today. The new SONCAP will ensure the integrity of products that are imported by people in Nigeria and we will guarantee the integrity of these products.”

    The changes, according to him, will include sampling of most of the items that will be imported into the country.

    “Containers will be sealed in such a way that when they get to Nigeria, we will be able to establish the integrity of the goods before the containers leave the ports; and also the SON will be in the position to issue the SONCAP certificate here in Nigeria.

    “We went through rigorous process of accreditation to get the IAFs who have the technical competence to deliver the best for Nigerians, before we could shortlist four companies as service providers to handle the monitoring of products in which Intertek International Limited, SGS and Cotecna Trade Services are part of the four companies,” Odumodu said.

    Also, SON has also appointed four firms to accredit imported goods in line with the global best practices.

    He said they would not tolerate lapses by service providers.

    “They must adhere to the terms of agreement reached because our 2012 stance as far as this campaign is concerned is to reduce the incidence of substandard products by 30 per cent and if we are to achieve this target, all hands must be on decks. This means all service providers must play their parts effectively”, Odumodu warned.

    The Chief Operating Officer, Cotecna Trade Services, Mr Mattheiu Delorme said: “In the old system, goods that were checked are substituted but now the goods will be sealed and confirmed on arrival in Nigeria. It is a big challenge to us but we will be working with SON to block any loopholes as soon as we discovered. We are not new in Nigeria and we are conversant with the situation. We intend to protect Nigerians.”

  • Saraki the father, Saraki the son?

    Saraki the father, Saraki the son?

    There were at least two ennobling traits in the private life of Dr. Abubakar Olusola Saraki (1933-2012) that public figures today can imbibe to strengthen their homes and enrich the polity: religious tolerance and compassion.

    Dr. Saraki, a devout Muslim and an iconic figure in Kwara, married a Christian, Florence Morenike, in 1962, according to an interview he granted Tell magazine in March 2011.

    Kwara is a cultural mishmash, though being the southernmost outpost of old Sokoto Caliphate, has in Ilorin an Emirate, which links the local ruling theocracy right back to the ancestral capital of Usman Dan Fodio. As a symbol of power, therefore, Islam looms large; and its adherence or non-adherence may make or ruin many an aspiration to political leadership, even if the Nigerian state is officially secular.

    That Dr. Saraki practised his faith but left his wife to practice hers, so much so that between 1962 and his death in 2012, Mrs Saraki added to her name, another prefix of “Deaconess”, is a salute to religious tolerance that chides Nigerian Christian and Muslim fundamentalists in these troubled times. It simply shows that beyond the hot ardour of doctrine, God is one and the same.

    Then, compassion. Ripples’ first consciousness of Dr. Saraki, as a secondary school boy in the 1970s, was of a young medic who would die first, rather than turn his back on the less fortunate that needed help.

    So, when the man the Nigerian media would later dub the “Strongman of Kwara Politics” came onto his own, at the end of that decade and beginning of the Second Republic (1979-1983), Ripples knew his risen Kwara profile was just desert for years of compassionate investment, even if Ripples did not particularly care for Dr. Saraki’s peculiar politics of democratic feudalism, with all its telling oxymoron.

    So, when the Awoist Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) apparatchiks, with their famous four-cardinal programmes of free education, free health, mass shelter and integrated rural development were sneering at Saraki’s reported “feudal” opportunism, it was clear again it was empty gas driven by plain partisan envy.

    Saraki’s genuine compassion for the Kwara masses, long before any partisan kill could be made, was real. Saraki had planted slow and long. For him, it was political harvest time.

    But while these two fine traits laid the foundation for the Saraki ascendancy, his bid at democratic hegemony was clear – for in Saraki’s feudal political view loomed the rather undemocratic ethos that if a royal does not die, another does not bid for the throne.

    But unlike the rather incongruous but not unusual tenet of democratic royalty (with the likes of the Kennedys, the Bushes and to some extent, the Clintons in the United States), which throws up different figures from the same family over the ages to bid for the democratic throne (ah, another violent oxymoron!), the late Saraki was the Alpha and Omega of his own feudal universe. The Oloye was yesterday. The Oloye is today. And the Oloye would ever shall be, mortality or no!

    In such a paradise and hell of total domination (paradise for the Oloye, hell for his political rivals), the Ilorin democratic rabble, who the Oloye loved so dearly and who in return doted on their benefactor so completely, became at most times democratic zombies to be periodically pressed into devastating service to maintain the Oloye electoral mystique. Saraki’s opponents sneered this rabble was gorged silly on subversive generosity. But it was clear Saraki had trumped his political foes in real-politik.

    Still, if the Kwara masses had by and large been pacified, the elite never were so. That shaped the way for a Saraki-Kwara elite war of attrition, a war which Dr. Saraki won by and by, until he ran into the ambush of his own son, Bukola, ironically a beloved firstborn and another medic.

    While French Emperor, the great Napoleon Bonaparte met his waterloo in today’s Belgium, the great Oloye met his in the intimate mess of sibling political civil war, with the wise patriarch backing the clear wrong horse – or more appropriately, the wrong mare!

    How was Saraki supposed to triumph in that high-stake battle? He pulled his troops from the ruling state and federal party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for a new and unknown quantity, the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), faced the full wrath of combined state and national incumbency and threw up a woman, though darling daughter, Gbemisola, who the Oloye would willy-nilly install in a Kwara of conservative political temper and unfazed religious chauvinism. Besides, the Ilorin elite waited with bated breath for the Saraki denouement – and all the sweeter because the Saraki were cleaning themselves out!

    With all these odds, the old man still expected, at the roar of Baba Oloye, all these walls of Jericho would fall? Hubris never came in starker and more tantalising form!

    Now, all the old political friends turned fiends – Adamu Attah, Sha’aba Lafiagi, Mohammed Alabi Lawal, Salmon Adebayo, the senatorial surrogate who outsmarted Saraki but disappeared into oblivion after serving out a four-year term, et al – must have flit through the Oloye’s mind, as he faced the first major defeat of his political career and his eventual demystification.

    So, who carries the gospel of Saraki’s democratic feudalism to the next generation – Saraki the Son, Bukola, who vanquished his old man and seized the empire, even if he insists no regicide had taken place? Hardly!

    Hardly, because the political demographics have changed. The West Central State of 1967 is a different ball game from the Kwara of 2012. Besides, Saraki did not leave behind a comprehensive canon of work, ala Obafemi Awolowo, to articulate his vision and emblazon his philosophy – maybe he didn’t have one?

    And of course, because of the paternalistic megalomania of the late Saraki’s politics, he boasts no boisterous and winning disciples, ala Awoists, save, of course, Saraki the Son, albeit in a bitter-sweet form. How can Bukola politically slay his father and yet claim to continue with his legacy?

    It would therefore appear the passage of Baba Oloye has thrown the Kwara political firmament wide open. Kwara may be the southernmost horn of the old Sokoto Caliphate. But it is also the northernmost rim of the old Oyo Empire. So, it could well be a new and fierce ideological battle ground between the regnant Northern conservatism and looming South West’s social democracy.

    By the way, it would have been interesting what would have become of Kwara politics, had the Second Republic not aborted, and had three-month governor, Cornelius Adebayo, completed his term on UPN mandate.

    Whatever happens however, dogma would not win the next war. But earning the trust and reverence of the Kwara masses would. That is the abiding legacy of Baba Oloye, as Saraki the Son and his political foes lunge for the soul of Kwara, in the post-Saraki era.

     

  • SON seeks standards enforcement in construction sector

    SON seeks standards enforcement in construction sector

    The Director-General, Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), Dr Joseph Odumodu, has called on stakeholders in the building and construction industry to harmonise efforts to ensure that relevant standards are implemented and enforced in the construction sector of the economy.

    Speaking in Lagos at the first graduation of e-building artisan’s project in the country, he commended the artisans who enrolled for the programme to improve on their skills.

    Odumodu, who was represented by an officer of the agency, Mrs Cynthia Ifeagwu, said the diligent implementation of the National Building Code, which came into force since 2006, would help to reduce the incidence of building collapse and the attendant avoidable loss of lives and properties.

    Earlier in his speech, Executive Director of Shelter Watch Initiative, Mr Segun Olutade, said the recent clamp down on Okada riders in Lagos State, would be a blessing to the building/construction industry as good hands that have abandoned the sector would be forced to return.

    He, however, appealed to the Lagos State Government to assist in retraining this group of people to make them useful to the society.

    He regretted that the country loses over N900 billion to foreign governments through foreign artisans rather than ensuring that our ageing artisans are provided with facilities that would aid them in the discharge of their duties.

    He revealed that about 50 retrained artisans were carefully selected for the e-building artisan’s project, saying that they could compete with their foreign counterparts.

    Rector, Lagos State Polytechnic, Dr.  Abdulazeez  Abioye  Lawal, who was represented by Dr A. O. Abayomi, frowned at the over emphasis on certificates and urged  the graduates to be pain-staking in the performance of their duties.

  • Son relives Sheila Solarin’s last moment

    Son relives Sheila Solarin’s last moment

    •Jonathan Obasanjo, Fayemi, others eulogise educationist

     

    The remains of the late Mrs. Sheila Solarin, widow of the late Dr. Tai Solarin, will be interred in Ikenne, Ogun State, next month.

    Her son, Tunde, stated this yesterday.

    Mrs. Solarin died at the Babcock University Teaching Hospital (BUTH), Ilisan, on Sunday. She was 88.

    Tunde said she would be buried beside her husband, who died in 1994.

    He said he is “very proud” to be the late Sheila’s son and described her as a “great woman, teacher” and “humorous person”.

    Tunde added: “The family has not decided on the funeral date, but it will most likely be in the next two weeks. It will be announced as soon as the family decides.”

    Reliving his mother’s last moment, he thanked Nigerians and the old students of Mayflower School for their support.

    Tunde said: “I was there a few minutes before she died and a moment after she passed away. Since I was not physically there at the moment she died, I can only describe what I saw half an hour before her death.

    “She was feverish and was trying to speak, while the doctors were trying to stabilise her, she had a heart monitoring machine on one side and the drip on the other.

    “There were a lot of medical equipment around her. The doctors did their best to save her, but the age at which she sustained such a serious injury made their job difficult.”

    President Goodluck Jonathan, former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi yesterday commiserated with the Solarin family on Sheila’s death.

    Jonathan, in a statement, described her death as “a big loss” to the nation.

    He said Mrs. Solarin’s death has left a big vacuum in the education sector, adding that the nation would miss the “unparalleled commitment, discipline, expertise, prowess and astuteness” she brought to bear on the teaching profession and school administration.

    Jonathan said: “Her remarkably long period in running the popular Mayflower School, Ikenne and teaching English in that school, left an indelible impact on the generations of students, who today occupy prominent positions in all sectors of the Nigerian society.”

    The President said: “Her decision to carry on with the legacy of her late husband, even up to a very advanced age, speaks a lot about her indomitable spirit and is a great lesson for others to emulate.”

    Obasanjo said the late Sheila dedicated her life to the education of Nigerian children.

    He said: “Not only was the late Mrs. Solarin a dedicated educationist, she showed deep love for her adopted Ogun State and country, Nigeria, which she served for about six decades.

    “The late Mrs. Solarin’s dedication is truly worthy of emulation. She will be greatly missed. I commiserate with her children and the extended family and those who knew and loved this remarkable lady.”

    Fayemi described the late Sheila as “a selfless woman, who dedicated her life to the cause of humanity”.

    He said she was “a virtuous woman, an amiable personality, humble to a fault and deeply committed to the cause of education and development”.

    The governor said the deceased spent her entire lifetime campaigning for a better and egalitarian society through advocacy and philanthropy.

    He said: “Our hearts go out to the Solarin family, the Ikenne community, the government and people of Ogun State on this great loss.”

    Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly Adeyemi Ikuforiji said: “Though Mrs. Solarin left us at a ripe age of 88, Nigerians would have loved to still have her around for more years, due to the marvelous way in which she carried on with the great job of empowering the nations youths, even after her husband passed on some years ago.”

    Ogun State Youths, in a statement, said: “This is a great loss to Ogun State and Nigeria. The late Mrs. Solarin, fondly called Mama, shaped the lives of thousands of Ogun youths in the right direction.

    “She was a disciplinarian and an educationist with great vision. She is an epitome of hard work and honesty, who speaks the truth no matter whose ox is gored. We commiserate with the family of the late Mrs. Solarin.”

    A political activist, Mr. Olawale Okunniyi, described the late Mrs. Solarin as an “unsung martyr”.

    He said: “At this glorious but painful exit of the true mother of the impoverished people of Nigeria, I solemnly celebrate the unwavering resilience of the English-born martyr Sheila, who was a dependable ally of her husband with whom she spent a lifetime fighting as a voice and defender of the Nigerian masses.”

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • SON’s maiden quality summit debuts in Lagos

    SON’s maiden quality summit debuts in Lagos

    The Standards Organisation of Nigeria, SON, is set to host the first Nigeria Quality Summit at the Transcorp Hilton hotel, Abuja, this Thursday.

    Tagged: “Less waste, better result: standards increase efficiency”, the one day event will attract captains of industries and agencies as well as quality control directors for the purpose of learning first hand from global authorities and quality assurance leaders from emerging markets.

    According to Mr. Abiola Komolafe, chairman, planning committee, global authorities including the standards bureau chiefs of Canada, Malaysia and Egypt will present papers. Discussants will also include Nigeria’s best minds in the various sectors of the economy.

    The summit, Komolafe further stressed, is coming against the urgent need of developing Nigerian brands that can compete effectively on the global markets.