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  • Lagos adopts STEAM to promote education

    Lagos adopts STEAM to promote education

    Determined to transition Lagos from a consumption-based economy to a productive, innovation-driven one, Lagos State Government has adopted the Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) programme to promote education and skill acquisition in science.

    Marking the second edition of the Innovate Eko STEAM Day at the Government College, Lagos, Eric-Moore, the Office of the Senior Special Assistant on Basic and Secondary Education, Lagos State Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, held a sensitisation exercise aimed at promoting and integrating creativity and critical thinking into STEAM education.

    Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Mr. Jamiu Alli-Balogun, highlighted the importance of collaboration, accessibility, career guidance and educator support in harnessing technology to drive societal change and equip students with problem-solving skills.

    “Our focus in Lagos State is on having science-oriented students. In the past three years, we have prioritised recruiting science-oriented teachers because we believe the future starts from now.” Alli-Balogun said.

    He said the state was not just ensuring improvement in teaching and learning outcomes, but was also committed to nurturing students who were confident, courageous, and who could define their career paths while still in school.

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    Recounting the state’s achievements in STEAM education, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, Mrs. Abisola Dokunmu-Adegbite, said the Ministry had witnessed a 25 per cent increase in enrolment of STEAM subjects in participating schools.

    She said Lagos State had dominated in STEAM education nationally, with its students winning top spots in the National Engineers and Scientists Competition organised by the Federal Ministry of Education.

    She said in the 2024 High State Assessment, 70 per cent of tracked primary school girls scored 70 per cent or above in STEAM-related subjects.

    “This is a testament to our success in dismantling barriers and engaging our young girls as future scientists and engineers”, she stressed.

    Mrs. Dokunmu-Adegbite said since 2021, Lagos State had developed over a hundred students’ innovations, including prototypes for green energy and AI-driven tools.

    She added that about 30 per cent of the innovations had advanced to the patent stage through dedicated funding from the Lagos State Research and Innovation Council.

    She noted that the researches were not just statistics, it was proof that the youth were prepared for global issues, from climate change to digital development.

    “This search is interesting as it directly correlates to the ministry’s shift, through enquiry-based, hands-on delivery and funding of student-led projects that tackle our local challenges, like urban sustainability and digital inclusion,” she said.

    Renowned educationist and former Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Professor Peter Okebukola, called for a complete overhaul of teaching and learning methods in Nigeria, insisting that the future of African development lied in a robust Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) ecosystem.

    Delivering a keynote address at a high-profile education summit in Lagos with the theme: “Rethink, Recycle, Innovate,” Prof. Okebukola declared that “STEAM education demands that we rethink outdated pedagogies, recreate collaborative learning ecosystems, and innovate with technology to empower the next generation of African problem-solvers.”

    Mr. Opeyemi Eniola, the senior special assistant on Basic and Secondary Education, and convener of the programme, affirmed the demonstration of Lagos State in tackling challenges and preparing children for the future, adding that the platform aimed at inspiring creativity, encouraging problem-solving, and celebrating ‘’the ingenuity of our students.’’

  • Pupils thrill audience with STEAM projects

    Pupils thrill audience with STEAM projects

    Pupils of Whistles Children’s School, Lekki, Lagos, thrilled the audience with some hands-on projects that integrated coding, art, robotics at the school’s 2025 STEAM Exhibition 2.0.

    The exhibition uncovered the impacts of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM), when introduced at early age in foundational classes.

    Some of these projects exhibited by the pupils were dyed clothes, Smart Glasses with Arduino, DIV vacuum cleaner, delivery robot, Robot Crane, DIV Hydroponic system, table fan, smart bin, Obstacle Avoidance Robot, hydro-solar power, wind generator, among other products.

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    The projects were created to solve problems such as easy movement of items from one place to another; enabling people see clearer, growing plants without soil, ventilation of room temperature, electricity supply, turning wind into electricity, designs on clothes and materials.

    Head of Whistles Children’s School, Director Yetunde Adebiyi, noted that getting younger ones involved in STEAM, requires hands-on experiences, engaging activities and real-world applications.

    According to Adebiyi, structured approach was introduced to the pupils by simplifying concepts – breaking down complex ideas into smaller relatable tasks, providing step-by-step demonstrations and practical sessions, allowing students to explore their own solutions rather than just following instructions and using locally sourced or low-cost materials to make projects accessible.

    “We should show students how STEM applies to everyday life and career opportunities. Encourage inquiry and curiosity – allow students to ask questions and explore answers through experimentation. There is need to foster a growth mindset by teaching students that failure is a learning opportunity.

  • Minister urges schools to embrace STEAM programme

    Minister urges schools to embrace STEAM programme

    The Minister of State for Police Affairs, Hajiya Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim has urged schools in the country to embrace the Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) programme.

    Sulaiman-Ibrahim said this during an inspection of the STEAM programme for pupils of Police Primary School held at Police Secondary School in Abuja.

    The STEAM programme was put together by the minister’s office and the Police Officers Wives Association (POWA) in partnership with the Peace Institute led by Professor Hauwa Ibrahim.

    The minister stated that the programme was meant to encourage and promote children to be serious about their education, increase their imagination, creativity, and improve on their can-do attitude as well as thinking big toward the future.

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    She said: “The future of learning revolves around STEAM, and adding art to it was to carry along the children who are not science-oriented.

    “We look forward to expanding the training to accommodate more students as we are continuing with the training of teachers to transfer the skills and impact more on the students.”

    According to her, the summer lesson message was to demonstrate the ongoing Renewed Hope Police Reforms within the primary and secondary schools in the Police ecosystem as a strong commitment of the government to drive excellence in the police institutions and make them a choice school in two years. The Mandate Secretary of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Mrs Adebayo Benjamins-Laniyi disclosed that the FCT just concluded the STEAM programme in four wards of the city namely Kagini, Karu, Kwasah, and Karamajiji.

  • W.TEC empowers, graduates girls in STEAM

    W.TEC empowers, graduates girls in STEAM

    No fewer than 19 girls graduated at the just concluded 17th edition of a residential Science and Mentoring Programme on Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts & Mathematic (STEAM) ‘She Creates Camp’, organised by a non-profit organisation, Women Technology Empowerment Centre (W.TEC).

    The programme, which was designed for secondary school girls between the ages of 13 and 17 years, was made to create useful solutions and technologies for everyday living through the application of engineering and scientific concepts, programming, mobile application development and digital content development.

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    The girls before graduation, participated in a two-week residential camp, where they took part in workshops on Artificial Intelligence, Electronics, Software Innovation, Hands-on Projects, Team building, Career-talk sessions, Excursions, Entrepreneurial Skills, Introduction to Marine Engineering, Recycling workshop & Upcycling, Introduction to Bio-gas, Waste management, Solar power technology and electronics, Alternative Power supply, Creative Design using Ai, among others.

    The participants, during their excursion, were privileged to visit Wecyclers Collection and Recycling Centre and Sonnex Packaging Nigeria Ltd, where they learnt and had a first-hand experience about the importance of having more contributions and participation in the Earth tech space and were shown the finest organisation of a factory and its best setup fit for anyone to work there safely and effectively.

  • Straighten velvet outfits with steam

    You intend to wear a lovely velvet outfit to an event, but it’s rumpled, and ironing can’t get out the wrinkles. What do you do?

    Simply hold the outfit over a pot of boiling water, or leave in your sauna for five minutes, and it will be as good as new. Why? The steam raises the pile of the fabric, making it look as smooth and lustrous as it was when you bought it.

  • NDDC rides on new vision and steam

    NDDC rides on new vision and steam

    On Thursday, January 26, the Governing Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, held its inaugural meeting at the commission’s headquarters, to begin a robust and vigorous implementation of its vision for Niger Delta development. It is not the first time the board would be meeting.
    Earlier in November 2016, they had held an extra-ordinary meeting where far-reaching decisions were taken and the commitment to develop new strategies, within old platforms of engagement, was affirmed. Within this commitment is what the board calls the 4-R Initiative. Rising from that Abuja meeting, the board’s chairman, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, SAN, had reassured it would not be business as usual and everything would be done within law, within budget and pursuant to its mandate, to change public perception of the 16-year-old interventionist agency and set forth a new narrative.
    “The Commission has not had the most edifying of public images,” Senator Ndoma-Egba said, “and that is because the procurement processes were opaque. That is why many contributors to the NDDC fund are in arrears. We will persuade those who are in arrears to pay and one of the easiest ways of getting them to pay is by ensuring that our processes were transparent.”
    At the meeting in Port Harcourt, the 4-R Initiative was expanded into a 21-Point agenda, in which the board reaffirmed the commitment to making the commission’s systems and processes more transparent for the sustainable development of the Niger Delta region. Senator Ndoma-Egba reiterated that it was imperative to create opportunities “for public participation to engender confidence in the activities of the commission by all stakeholders in the region.”
    Other points in the agenda include curtailing the indiscriminate award of contracts in the commission and that the board’s approval must be obtained for all procurement of projects and programmes. He said: “The board must adopt policies that would moderate or streamline the number of new procurements in the commission, given that as at today, NDDC has over 9000 (nine thousand)ongoing projects, most of which are experiencing funding, implementation and other challenges.
    “The board must determine the status of ongoing projects and programmes and put in place a mechanism to re-evaluate the viability of some projects, revise the scope of others, re-negotiate the cost of some and relocate or merge others, as well as evolve a strategy for settling verified debts.”
    Now, the journey towards the Niger Delta, promised in the NDDC Act of 2000, cranks into new gear. And to drive its implementation is the commission’s managing director and chief executive officer, Mr. Nsima Ekere, a man of uncommon vision, proven track record of achievement, humility and known commitment to ideals and improving the living conditions of the people of the Niger Delta and beyond.
    “We would have to do things differently,” Nsima Ekere says, “to improve the transparency of our processes, leverage technology to increase accountability and efficiency, consult stakeholders frequently, engage proactively and be creative about the programmes that we design, to uplift the people and the region.”
    Mr. Ekere, who comes with a rich pedigree in public administration, is brimming with energy, enthusiasm and ideas and gradually, they are beginning to crystalize into operational models for the transformation of the Niger Delta of over 40 million people, spread across 40 ethnic groups speaking 250 languages and dialects.
    At the core of the new thinking at the NDDC is a compass for change articulated by the governing board, anchored on restructuring the commission’s balance sheet, reforming the governance protocols, restoring the commission’s core mandate and reaffirming its commitment to doing what is right and proper.
    Ndoma-Egba, former Senate Leader, leads a field of high caliber professionals with track record of achievements, whose antecedents are already giving hope and confidence to many people in the region. It also heightens expectations.
    One of those who have expressed confidence in the team is Mr. Clement Ebri, a former Governor of Cross River State, who declared: “Ndoma-Egba and Nsima Ekere have the requisite experience required to perform creditably. I think we should be expecting a lot of development of infrastructure in the entire nine states of the Niger Delta. I have confidence that under their watch, every part of the region will witness tremendous development.”
    Since inauguration on November 4, 2016, the board has been engaging with stakeholders and familiarising itself with existing programmes and projects. And at each visit, new commitments are made to ensure that the new path being fashioned for the commission becomes clearer and is strengthened. And Mr. Ekere has also taken the opportunity to reflect on what must be done.
    While visiting the new headquarters of the commission, the managing director pointed out that the completion rate of NDDC projects was not encouraging. “I remember that shortly after our appointment, I met with some international funding partners and other stakeholders and everybody seem to be very concerned about the state of abandoned projects in the region.”
    Then he declared: “It is important to determine to determine the projects that the commission could afford to complete, depending on the ones that have the highest impact on communities. I don’t believe that there is any sense in starting a thousand projects and completing only one. So we will check the number of new projects and then concentrate on completing on-going ones. We want to complete our projects.”
    One of such projects is the 23.5-kilometre Otuasega – Obedum – Emelego road and bridges linking Bayelsa and Rivers states, through some of the Niger Delta’s more fertile lands. The opportunities and possibilities the road presents are enormous for the regional economy. Besides reducing the time of travel tremendously, the rich agricultural produce of the area will find an easier route for evacuation to bigger markets. That portends more socio-economic activities and wealth for the region’s predominantly farmer population, and improved livelihoods. That fits quite well within the global concept for sustainable development, and helps in the new board’s determination to restore the commission’s core mandate.
    Other such physical infrastructure abound, crying for attention. And that is what the NDDC, under its new leadership, is determined to do, underlying its mantra to make a difference in the Niger Delta, a region with a long history of false starts and failed promises. This time, with Nsima Ekere and the management piloting affairs, there is a stronger reason to hope. And the governing board just set the tone.

    •Amu-Nnadi is Head, Corporate Affairs of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC.

  • Students’ unionism is losing

    It is of uttermost importance for me to rise at such a time like this, being a leader rather than an impostor as opposed to what has come to characterise students’ movement in Nigeria. I believe strongly that there is no better time to revisit the role of students’ unionism in the Nigerian tertiary institutions.

    It is often said that when the purpose of a thing is not known, abuse is inevitable.Without doubt, the role of students in the success of university administration, especially in the age of democracy, cannot be overemphasised as the students’ body constitutes the critical mass of a university campus.

    In plain terms, student unionism is aimed at offering ideas, initiatives and perspectives that foster better conditions for students. It is a platform for addressing the problems of the Nigerian students and the effective running of the university administration as well asits implications for good governance in Nigeria.

    Various students’ unions in tertiary institutions are expected to serve students and represent their interest in order to promote discipline, orderliness and oneness among students and their school authorities. That is, students’ union government were established in various institutions of higher learning to promote unity, orderliness and smooth relationship between students, school authorities and the state or federal government.

    As it stands, most students’ union government in Nigeria institutions have failed to understand the essence of their existence, resulting in a paralysed and polarised institutions. In recent times, we have witnessed large-scale violence leading to destruction of lives and properties and disruption of academic programmes. These are clearly not the original intent of students’ movements. So instead of alleviating the sufferings of students, the studentsend up bearing the brunt of their foolish actions as most times they are compelled to pay for the destroyed amenities during such protests.

    There was the golden era of unionism in Nigeria where intellectualism thrived. Students’ leaders of this era penned incisive articles that were stimulating and engaging. It was an era when oratory became the norm on campuses; an era when students even taught politicians how to practice democracy. There was a time when Nigerian students proudly held successive government accountable through incisive write-ups, debates and street protests which were held when necessary in a much civilised manner.

    But today, we see the defilement of the purpose of its establishment perpetrated by various tyrants who have adopted student unionism as a platform to display their hooliganism and lawlessness. The acts and attitudes of various union leaders and representatives have called to questions as to whether students’ movement is a platform for marauders and pretenders. It questions the state of mind of the so-called students whose actions give them away as miscreants.

    Education is not just about the claim to have passed through the best university in the nation or the number of certificates one has been able to accumulate but the ability to relate in the society as a responsible and God fearing students. Failure to understand this has led to various incidents of cultism, prostitution, arm robbery, drug addiction and other heinous crimes which now seem to be the hallmark of students and unionism on our campuses.

    Contrary to what we sing in our national anthem, we have been making the effort or labour of our past heroes to be in vain through our actions and I must confess that the horse of Nigeria unionism is hovering around the Bermuda triangle and if we continue to fail in taking measures, amendment and restitutions where necessary, unionism may become a thing of the past in our future generation.

    To avoid eventual collapse, all hands are needed on deck to ensure that we lay a solid foundation for an enduring democracy that would be the pride of future generations of Nigerians. The way to achieve the change that we desire is not just in chanting the change mantra. It is not just a declaration. But we can only have a foretaste of that glorious tomorrow through the way we conduct ourselves today by being always positive in all our approach and to be always true to what we say.

    We are meant to be nation builders and not devourers or destroyers.Let us therefore see ourselves as the future of the nation, for we must first develop ourselves before we can develop any nation. There must be a changed man with a changedmindset before we can have a changed nation. Let us purge ourselves of this prevailing indiscipline; let us make our unions credible enough for everyone to believe. Let us wisely use our discretions and stop playing into the hands of the dubious paymasters that we have today in various levels of the school administration by doing their bidding for a portion of pottage.

    Let us work together to ensure that students’ unionism achieve its aim of being the voice of the Nigerian helpless students who are suffering greatly in the hands of some heartless lecturers. Let us make our union an antagonist to corrupt or bad leadership, a no-go-area for retired touts and rusticated cultists who are the potential crime leaders. Let us make it a place to be for God fearing future leaders by staying committed to the path of truth and justice, righteousness and probity. Let us endeavour to make consultation before consolidation and even if we are to embark on confrontation after consolidation has failed to work, let us make it a peaceful one.

    Let us abstain from chaos that extends our four-year program to six and even seven years or even more. That way, we can look back when all is said and done and be proud of the history we have left behind so that people from afar may join us to sing halleluiah.

    Let us understand that the future of this nation and students unionism – as far as Nigeria is concerned – depend solely on us and the kind of approach with which we tackle issues facing us. Tomorrow belongs to us. Let us fight a just cause because posterity beckons.

     

    • Benson, is an Economics student of Adeyemi College of Education, Ondo State

     

     

  • Call for more states gathers steam

    Call for more states gathers steam

    Agitators for more states are working round the clock to ensure that their demands receive favourable consideration by the National Assembly. Senate President David Mark is under pressure from the Idoma to deliver on Apa State. His deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, who presides over the Constitution amendment process, has been given a pan Igbo mandate to ensure the creation of an additional state for the Southeast. Assistant Editor DADA ALADELOKUN reports the intrigues attending the process.

    To those who have remained implacable in their agitation for the creation of Ijebu State out of the present Ogun State, Senate President David Mark made their day last weekend.

    It was at this year’s Ojude-Oba Festival that held at the ancient town of Ijebu-Ode. Ovation rose to high heavens when the Senate President told the mammoth crowd what they had apparently longed to hear, expressing support for agitation for the creation of Ijebu State, among others. He minced no word in assuring that the National Assembly would create additional states in due course.

    Noting that new states would address the issue of marginalisation that is currently torturing minds in many parts of the country today, Mark added: “Creation of additional states can only make government closer to the people, contrary to the view in certain quarters that we do not need additional states in the federation.”

    Mark’s assurance came in obvious response to the quest of the Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru Adetona who, in his welcome address, had beseeched the National Assembly to address the alleged injustice against his kinsmen by ensuring the creation of Ijebu State.

    To drive home his request, the monarch had argued: “We have been on this issue of creation of Ijebu State since 1975. The justification for it is abundantly clear. The most worrisome aspect of it was the total neglect of Ijebu community in the state creation exercises that have taken place.

    “It is lamentable that Ijebu, which in the colonial era was one of the 24 provinces that made up Nigeria, cannot today boast being counted as one of the 36 states that presently constitute the country.”

    It perhaps goes without saying that the prolonged outcry over demand for additional states is a splitting headache for the Joint Committee on Constitution Review (JCCR) with the membership of Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Usman Nafada, and 13 others.

    Not long ago, Ekweremadu disclosed that the committee had been importuned with demand for no fewer than 45 more states from across the country.

    The vexed issue of states creation has remained prominent in virtually every national political discourse since the so-called need to address some perceived imbalance in the nation came into people’s consciousness.

    Human rights activist and legal practitioner of note, Festus Okoye, again, raised the thought-provoking issue at a media dialogue on the constitution amendment process last Tuesday in Lagos.

    The growing requests for additional states in the country, coupled with the way the Senate Constitution Review Committee (SCRC) was going about as though it could single-handedly midwife new states with their votes, must have caused Okoye exasperating angst.

    He had therefore come forth with a poser: “Are there new issues in the constitutional amendment apart from those set out in Section 8 of the 1999 Constitution?” Just what are new constitutional amendment issues?”

    Section 8 sets out the procedures that must be followed by those seeking additional states in their areas.

    The lawyer wondered whether the Committee had problems with those procedures and wants an amendment of such. Perhaps that is why it appears intoxicated with the issue of creating additional states.

    Both the Ekweremadu-led SCRC and the counterpart committee in the House of Representatives headed by Deputy Speaker Emeka Ihedioha once listed creation of additional states as one of the thematic issues. In fact, Ekweremadu it was, who once disclosed that out of the 231 memoranda that the Senate Committee had received, 56 bordered on creation of additional states.

    Premised on the provisions of Section 8 as regards the procedures to be followed in creating new states, many are of the opinion apostles of creation of new states are exercising their fundamental right of drawing attention to their heart desires in the belief that there would be enough national consensus to have it actualised.

    Indeed, Okoye is among them. He argued that to create additional states, there must be sufficient national consensus on the request, otherwise promoters of such ambition might be deemed to be shadow chasers.

    To Okoye and his like, a matter of state creation, according to Section 8 of the constitution, must proceed from the majority of the members representing the area demanding the new state in the Senate, House of Representatives, the House of Assembly and local councils in respect of the area. To them, it is after this that other states of the federation and the National Assembly will decide on the demand.

    Promoters of the new states are always quick to argue that only the military have created states in Nigeria’s history (with fiat, they created the present 36 states). To them, none has been added under any civilian dispensation.

    They are also quick to note that creating more states would, aside from ensuring a balance in the nation’s structure, complement councils’ efforts at bringing governance closer to the grassroots people.

    Sooner than later, proponents of the issue may have cause to smile. Not long ago, the Senate held a retreat at Asaba, Delta State; the issue enjoyed a pride of place in the lawmakers’ talk. So it was in Calabar, Cross River State capital, where a similar retreat was held by members of the House of Representatives.

    As reliably gathered, plans are afoot to create six additional states at last.

    As things stand, the composition of the zones is as follows: North East (Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba, Yobe); North West (Kaduna, Katsina, Kano, Kebbi, Sokoto, Jigawa, Zamfara); North Central (Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau) & FCT not a state; South East (Anambra, Enugu, Imo, Abia, Ebonyi); South West (Lagos, Ekiti, Oyo, Osun, Ondo, Ogun), and South-South (Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Edo, Delta, Rivers, Bayelsa).

    Now, the plan is aimed at ensuring that all the zones have seven states each, just like the Northeast that already has seven. But will it go down well with some of the zones that boast superior numerical strength? That may remain another hard nut for the authorities to crack when their efforts finally crystalise.