The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Tests

  • Firm offers e-books, tests, for N450

    With N450 only, secondary school pupils will be able to read a textbook, take tests, watch videos on topics in the curriculum for one year.

    The platform, created by AFRICLEARN, a digital education solutions provider, was launched last Friday at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Ikeja.

    AFRICLEARN CEO, Mr Femi Sanusi, said the platform offers resources useful to individual learners in SS1-SS3, teachers, and school managers.

    While individuals could buy access codes to log in and get access to reading materials, tests and best open courseware videos, Sanusi said AFRICLEARN could customise the platform for use by schools such that the teachers and/or proprietors or managers can monitor performance of individual learners.

    For teachers, Sanusi said they get support materials on the platform to prepare their lesson notes.

    Sanusi, a graduate of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, said unlike other solutions that work with only customised tablets or computers, the AFRICLEARN environment can operate on any device.

    He said the platform came loaded with numerous solutions because his firm did six years of research to understudy the technological educational needs of the Nigerian education system before launching its product.

    “AFRICLEARN is a flexible technology that allows textbooks and other contents to be easily aligned with the requirements of individual readers, teaching establishments and various curriculums. You can use your phone, tablets and computer to access it. It is also the first solution in Nigeria that brings in rich educational content. It is not just for students alone but for teachers, parents and school frameworks. It allows students and teachers to be able to effectively transform the way they learn,

    “The platform will also allow government to know where they need to impact or add additional value to the educational agenda whether in schools or framework or within school association,” he said.

    While students pay N450 per textbooks, Sanusi said schools or public libraries would be billed differently based on their needs.

    He said the firm partnered foreign publishers to adapt content of various subjects to the Nigerian and IGCSE curriculums because local publishers were wary of piracy.  He, however, assured that textbooks posted on its platform could not be pirated as the firm had taken special care to prevent downloads.

    In the next few years, Sanusi said the AFRICLEARN platform would feature animations for all subjects covered.

    He also said the firm was developing textbooks for tertiary education sector, which has suffered from a perennial shortage of textbooks for years

  • Shell stops Arctic exploration after ‘disappointing’ tests

    Royal Dutch Shell has stopped Arctic oil and gas exploration off the coast of Alaska after “disappointing” results from a key well in the Chukchi Sea.

    In a surprise announcement, the company said it would end exploration off Alaska “for the foreseeable future”.

    Shell said it did not find sufficient amounts of oil and gas in the Burger J well to warrant further exploration.

    The company has spent about $7billion (£4.5billion) on Arctic offshore development in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas.

    “Shell continues to see important exploration potential in the basin, and the area is likely to ultimately be of strategic importance to Alaska and the US,” said Marvin Odum, president of Shell USA.

    “However, this is a clearly disappointing exploration outcome for this part of the basin.”

    Lord Browne, former BP boss and government adviser, told the BBC that the Arctic “is a very risky place [to explore] and very expensive to develop, so there are probably easier places to go”.

    Indeed some analysts suggested Shell might give up on the Arctic completely.

    “It is possible that Shell might almost be relieved as they can stop exploration for a legitimate operational reason, rather than being seen to bow to environmental pressure,” Stuart Elliott from energy information group Platts told the BBC.

    “With the oil price around $50 a barrel, it was a risky endeavour with no guarantee of success.

    “You could argue that this has been bad for Shell’s reputation and it wouldn’t be a big surprise if they abandoned Arctic drilling altogether.”

    Certainly, the first findings from the Burger J exploration well 150 miles off the Alaskan coast were not promising.

    Second, although President Barack Obama had given the necessary permissions for drilling to start again following the problems of rig fires in 2012, Mrs Clinton’s tweet revealed that political risks were still substantial.

    Shell is not the only company to explore for oil offshore in the Arctic region – Italian energy group Eni could soon start producing oil from a field in the Barents Sea within weeks.

    There is also one field in operation in the Russian Arctic owned by Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Russian energy giant Gazprom. Last year, a joint drilling project between Rosneft and Exxon was stopped due to sanctions placed on Russia.

    A number of additional exploration permits have also been issued by Moscow, but none have yet been taken up due to the current low price of oil, which has halved in the past year.

     

    The US Geological Survey estimates that the Arctic holds about 30 per cent of the world’s undiscovered natural gas, as well as 13 per cent of its oil.

    According to Shell, this amounts to around 400 billion barrels of oil equivalent, 10 times the total oil and gas produced in the North Sea to date.

    Image caption Shell has come under a lot of pressure from environmental groups to stop drilling

    However, environmental groups oppose Arctic offshore drilling, saying it will pollute and damage a natural wilderness largely untouched by human activity. They also argue that fossil fuels such as oil and gas must be left in the ground if the world is to avoid dangerous climate change.

    Over the summer, protesters in kayaks unsuccessfully tried to block Arctic-bound Shell vessels in Seattle and Portland, Oregon.

    “Big oil has sustained an unmitigated defeat,” said Greenpeace UK executive director John Sauven.

    “The Save the Arctic movement has exacted a huge reputational price from Shell for its Arctic drilling programme, and as the company went another year without striking oil, that price finally became too high.”

    Shell had continued to explore for oil despite the slump in the price of oil. Other oil and gas majors have shelved expensive exploration projects but, having invested billions of dollars in its Arctic project, Shell persisted, believing that Arctic oil would be competitive in the longer term.

    This is why the announcement came as such a surprise.

    Shell said it would take financial charges as a result of halting exploration, which it would disclose during its third quarter results. The company has existing contracts for rigs, ships and other assets.

     

  • Oliseh tests more players against Niger

    Oliseh tests more players against Niger

    Coach Sunday Oliseh will get a good chance to test more players when the Super Eagles of Nigeria welcome next-door neighbours Niger in a friendly today in Port Harcourt.

    “We need to play more friendly matches like the one against Niger as this will help the players fully understand the new system the coach is bringing to the Super Eagles,” said top team official Tijjani Babangida.

    The disappointing draw by Nigeria in Tanzania was worsened by the 5-1 spanking Egypt handed down to home team Chad on Sunday to open a two-point gap at the top of the qualifying series for the 2017 AFCON.

    The midfield remains a big concern for Oliseh after Obiora Nwankwo and Izunna Uzochukwu failed to rise to the occasion in Dar es Salaam at the weekend as they did not carve out chances for the strikers upfront.

    That explained why Bature Yaro (Nasarawa United) and Paul Onobi (Sunshine Stars), both midfielders, were handed late call-ups to the squad.

    But the search for top-class midfielders will continue as Nigeria now play catch-up with group leaders Egypt in the race for an automatic place to Gabon 2017.

    The return of Lazio youngster Ogenyi Onazi, who was suspended for the Tanzania match, and the injury-prone Joel Obi will be most welcomed.

    Home-based Chima Akas, Usman Mohammed and Prince Aggreh are all expected to have run-out against a Niger side, who are still smarting from a 2-0 loss in an AFCON qualifier in Burundi this past weekend.

    Foreign-based Godfrey Oboabona and Rabiu Ibrahim will also get a chance to prove themselves to the new boss after they saw no action in the Tanzania game.

    Nigeria plan a top friendly against the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon next month and Oliseh will therefore play the Niger game with an eye on this proposed clash of rivals in Europe as well as a CHAN qualifier against Burkina Faso also in October.

  • Free tests, drugs for the sick

    Free tests, drugs for the sick

    More than 350 residents of Ago-Egun community in Ilaje, Bariga Local Government Area of Lagos State have benefitted from the free health mission of the council’s immediate past Supervisory Councilor for Health, Hon. Babatunde Osinbajo.

    The beneficiaries, especially children and adults, underwent tests on hypertension, diabetes and blood pressure, among others. They also got free drugs.

    Osinbajo, a younger brother to the vice presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, also donated a water borehole to the community.

    Hon. Osinbajo, who was there to monitor the exercise, told The Nation: “We started these projects early in 2013 out of my deep passion for the welfare of the less-privileged. I can’t stand seeing people suffer around me. I derive fulfilment in putting smiles on the faces of the have-nots. It is a rare spirit that runs in our family.

    “I’m from Ward ‘E’. I have taken my time to traverse every nook and cranny of the entire council area and have found out what the challenges of majority of our people are. I, therefore, felt the bounden burden to do the best I could to lessen their sufferings within the ambit of my God-given enablement. It is a divine calling that must be shared by the privileged few among us across the country to make Nigeria better.”

    Asked if he had any political ambition, the philanthropist replied: “I nurse no political ambition. What I have done for my people so far and what I will still do by God’s grace, are being activated by divine instruction. You don’t need to expect something back from the people before lifting them from the claws of deprivations. After all, what did Jesus Christ demand for all He did for us? So, it is about our attitude to life and how much we care for our fellowmen.”

    He said he had plans to use his non-governmental charity organisation to do more for the people in other areas.

    A beneficiary, Mrs Esther Ukpodeyi, praised saying, she had long grappled with diabetes without the financial wherewithal to tackle it. “May he (Osinbajo) never suffer any ailment,” she prayed.

    Another resident, who preferred anonymity, said: “I know one thing about the Osinbajos – they have the spirit of giving. The family has a school at Obanikoro, where tuition is free.”

  • Joel Obi relishes Real, Man Utd tests

    Joel Obi relishes Real, Man Utd tests

    Nigeria international Joel Obi has said pre-season matches against Real Madrid, Roma and Manchester United will test his Italian club Inter Milan ahead of the new season. Inter, who have won the Italian league championship 18 times, finished fifth last season.

    “I would say that once we’ve come this far in our preparations the friendly games can be of great help, also to see how we are in our physical condition in comparison to these great teams. Therefore it will be great tests for us,” said the Nigeria midfielder, who is back at the San Siro after a loan spell at Parma.

    “We will go there without being worried to give our all. We will play our game, then we will see how it goes.”

    The left-footed midfielder has not hidden his desire to play for Inter this season after completing another loan spell way from the San Siro.

  • No positive doping tests at World Cup, says FIFA

    A very player tested for drugs at the World Cup in Brazil has been cleared of doping after more than 1,000 tests came back negative, FIFA’s medical committee announced.

    Jiri Dvorak, FIFA’s chief medical officer, told a newsmen that every player on each of the 32 competing teams – 736 players in total – had provided blood and urine samples.

    Dvorak said 777 out-of-competition tests were conducted between March 1 and June 11 plus another 232, four from each of the first 58 matches played in Brazil, since the tournament kicked off on June 12, and all came back negative.

    “We have not found any prohibitive substances… either prior or during competition,” Dvorak said.

    FIFA said players from the four remaining teams left in the tournament would be subject to further random testing with the results expected before their team’s next game.

    The samples have all been flown across the Atlantic Ocean to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s laboratory in Switzerland after WADA revoked the accreditation of the drug-testing facility in Rio for failing to comply with international standards.

    The last time a player was caught doping at a World Cup was in 1994 when Argentina’s Diego Maradona tested positive for ephedrine and was sent home in disgrace.

    Football has long viewed itself as largely immune from the use of performance enhancing drugs which has badly tarnished other sports such as cycling.

    This week, Michel D’Hoogie, the chairman of FIFA’s Medical Committee, said he did not think the use of performance enhancing drugs was widespread in the game.

    “I will never say there is no doping in football, but I say there is no doping culture in football,” D’Hoogie told a news conference.

    FIFA has steadily stepped up its drug testing procedures over recent years, including the introduction of biological profiling of players to track changes in their blood samples.

    In conjunction with WADA, FIFA began building profiles on players in 2011 but this is the first time it has used it at the World Cup.

    WADA’s director general, David Howman, applauded FIFA for its tougher stance in a video. “Hats off to FIFA,” Howman said.

  • Litmus Tests

    Litmus Tests

    One dispiriting lesson from Chuck Hagel’s nomination for defense secretary is the extent to which the political space for discussing Israel forthrightly is shrinking. Republicans focused on Israel more than anything during his confirmation hearing, but they weren’t seeking to understand his views. All they cared about was bullying him into a rigid position on Israel policy. Enforcing that kind of orthodoxy is not in either America’s or Israel’s interest.

    Brooklyn College is facing a similar trial for scheduling an event on Thursday night with two speakers who support an international boycott to force Israel to end its occupation of the Palestinian territories. While this page has criticized Israeli settlements, we do not advocate a boycott. We do, however, strongly defend the decision by the college’s president, Karen Gould, to proceed with the event, despite withering criticism by opponents and threats by at least 10 City Council members to cut financing for the college. Such intimidation chills debate and makes a mockery of the ideals of academic freedom.

    Mr. Hagel, a former Republican senator, has repeatedly declared support for Israel and cited 12 years of pro-Israel votes in the Senate. But that didn’t matter to his opponents, who attacked him as insufficiently pro-Israel and refused to accept any deviation on any vote. Mr. Hagel was even forced to defend past expressions of concern for Palestinian victims of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

    In the Brooklyn College case, critics have used heated language to denigrate the speakers, Omar Barghouti, a leader of a movement called B.D.S., for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, that espouses “nonviolent punitive measures” to pressure Israel, and Judith Butler, a philosopher at the University of California, Berkeley, who is a member of the advisory board of Jewish Voice for Peace, a group that supports divestment and boycotts. Alan Dershowitz, a Brooklyn College graduate and Harvard law professor, has complained that the event is unbalanced and should not be co-sponsored by the college’s political science department. On Monday, Ms. Gould said other events offering alternative views are planned.

    The sad truth is that there is more honest discussion about American-Israeli policy in Israel than in this country. Too often in the United States, supporting Israel has come to mean meeting narrow ideological litmus tests. J Street, a liberal pro-Israel group that was formed as a counterpoint to conservative groups like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, has argued for vibrant debate and said “criticism of Israeli policy does not threaten the health of the state of Israel.” In fact, it is essential.

    – New York Times