The Nation Newspaper

Tag: undergraduates

  • CSO trains undergraduates on technology

    A pan-African social enterprise working on digital rights and digital inclusion, Paradigm Initiative (PI) has commenced a tuition-free programme to empower undergraduates with Python programming skills.

    The first edition of the training was held last Saturday with 36 trainees from three higher institutions in Lagos – University of Lagos (UNILAG), Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH) and Lagos State University (LASU).

    Paradigm Initiative said the training is in conjunction with the Python Nigeria group.

    A statement by PI Communications Officer Sodiq Alabi quoted its official, Olayinka Taiwo, as saying: “We are pleased to welcome 36 students to the first edition of this important training program. 12 students will be trained on Python for Data Science while 24 undergraduates will be trained on Python for Web. The training is under our Techtiary programme which is dedicated to helping undergraduates acquire technical expertise before they graduate.”

    Taiwo added: “By learning Python, beneficiaries can position themselves for various opportunities in the ever-expanding information communication technology space. Python has been lauded as one of the most lucrative programming languages to learn and its applications are wide-ranging. With the faculty support from the good people of Python Nigeria, we are excited to be introducing this language to more young Nigerians.”

     

  • Ajimobi seeks review of curriculum for undergraduates

    Ajimobi seeks review of curriculum for undergraduates

    GOVERNOR Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State has advocated a review and redesign of the nation’s education curriculum towards creating entrepreneurship driven graduates as a way of addressing youth unemployment in the country. Ajimobi made the statement while playing host to the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Paul Arkwright who paid him a courtesy visit in his office, noting that imbuing graduates with a mindset to create jobs themselves would help reduce the high rate of unemployed graduates, pointing out that, the current education system is more civil service orientated. While advocating for more involvement of the British government in the development of the middle level manpower and entrepreneurs, Ajimobi maintained that the government is assiduously working to create the enabling environment for jobs to thrive in the country. He said: “Youths constitute about 60 percent of our population and we need to concentrate on developing entrepreneurs. The education we have in Nigeria today appears to be supportive of civil/public service not much of entrepreneurship. I believe Britain can help us develop middle level manpower.

  • ESSAY FOR UNDERGRADUATES

    African Liberty Organisation for Development (ALOD) is calling for entries into its 2017 Adam Smith Essay Contest. The contest is being held in honour of Adam Smith, the late English economist and foremost free market advocate.

    The essay is organised with the objective to give young people opportunity to study the position of Adam Smith on the market process and dynamics.

     

    Question

    Drawing from Adam Smith’s propositions, explain how free market promotes equal opportunities.

     

    • All entries must be submitted to: essay@alodpolicy.org
    • Submission deadline is July 31, 2017 and winners will be announced on August 11, 2017.

     

    Essay Guideline

    Participant must be a student in any tertiary institutions (university, polytechnic, college of education and technical schools) in Nigeria. The format of the text should be in Microsoft Word document and not more than 500 words.

     

    For useful background materials on the theme of this contest, interested student can visit alodpolicy.org/resources to read ebook.

     

    No participant is allowed to lift materials directly from the works of any author and claim to be his/her own. Plagiarism automatically disqualifies any entry, which contains works of another author .If any text or sentence is copied from another author’s work, it must be shown in quotation marks and writer must credit the original author at the bottom of the paper.

     

    On the first page of the completed essay, every participant must write his/her full names, department, and year of study, name and country of institution, gender and age. Also include your email address and functional mobile phone number.

     

    Top five entries will be awarded cash prizes and full scholarship to attend ALOD Summer Camp in Abuja in September.

     

    Prizes

    1st – N30,000 and scholarship to two-day Liberty Camp in Abuja

    2nd – N20,000 and scholarship to two-day Liberty Camp in Abuja

    3rd  – N10,000 and scholarship to two-day Liberty Camp in Abuja

    4th to 10th – N5,000 each and scholarship to two-day Liberty Camp in Abuja

     

    All qualified entries will receive a compact disc on Ideas For A Free Society.

     

    The essay contest is supported by Network for Free Society, Language of Liberty Institute, Kids4Biz, and

    Institute for Economic Affairs.

     

    For questions, email: ibrahim.anoba@alodpolicy.org

  • Mobile firm sensitises undergraduates on drug abuse

    A leading mobile phones manufacturer, Itel Mobile,has introduced football competition to Nigerian campuses to sensitise students on the danger of drug abuse and how to prevent it.

    Tagged: ‘Powerball Tournament,’ the campaign forms part of the firm’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) aimed at arresting the worrisome rate of drug abuse among Nigerian undergraduates, said the firm’s Marketing Communications Manager Mr. Oke Umurhohwo,

    It would  be recalled that cases of drug abuses have become rampant on our campuses, with unhealthy practices causing deaths or deformations to many, while in some, cases  leading students to unwholesome behaviours that  threaten the peace and stability of the society.

    The edition held at the Federal College of Education (FCE), Akoka, Lagos State, had in attendance celebrities such as AY, Akpororo, Ehis, and Viktor amongst others, featuring in a five aside football match.

    Umurhohwo expressed optimism that the event which featured 10 universities, and four teams of celebrity, would provide young undergraduates with information on abstinence.

    “We sponsored powerball tournament- a five aside football tournament, to fight against drug abuse on our campuses,”  Umurhohwo began.

    “As a company that is committed to a healthy and safe society, we feel worried by the alarming trend of drug abuses on our campuses and we took up this campaign to make sure it stops.

    “You can see the level of attention given to the campaign by the students, an indication that many of them may be engaging in that habit because they don’t have information on the hazard; and once they get involved, many don’t know how to get out.

    “It is just pleasing that we took up this challenge, because the campaign has reclaimed many lives and given hope,” Umurhohwo concluded.

     

  • 18 undergraduates get Rotary scholarship

    18 undergraduates get Rotary scholarship

    Eighteen indigent undergraduates have benefitted from scholarships value at N100 000 each, courtesy of Rotary District 9110.
    The beneficiaries were presented with their cheques by District 9110 Educational &Welfare Endowment Fund (DEWEF), which cut across Lagos and Ogun states, at Rotary House, GRA Ikeja, last week.
    DEWEF Chairman, Adeniji Raji, thanked one of the club leaders, Adekunle Kukoyi, who initiated DEWEF in 1992 to encourage poor, but brilliant undergraduates whose cumulate grade points hover between 3.6 and 4.2.
    Adeniji recalled that the award eventually kicked off in 2009-2010 with three awardees, adding that the nimber of beneficiaries have continued to increase with each edition.
    “As you continue your journey through college and into the wider society, be reminded always that each of you therefore, has a role to play to make Nigeria better,” he urged.
    He added: “Bear in mind at all times that the purpose of human life is to serve and show compassion and the will to help others. I pray God to give that sense of humility to you so that you can know how to render help in your own way, according to your capacity for your own good and the benefit of others.”
    Past president and Chairman of the Scholarship Committee, Ebun Atinuke, recalled that the board received 68 applications. After screening, applicants were pruned to nine, Ebun said, adding that DEWES Board then decided in its wisdom to double the number.
    “We initially interviewed about 50 potential awardees, but I can categorically tell you that those you see here are the best,” Ebun said, referring to the 18 beneficiaries.
    He continued: “During the interview, they told us all we knew (about Rotary); some of which many of us have even forgotten. I will encourage you to imbibe this culture so that you can grow from Rotaractors to Rotarians.”
    One of the past presidents of Rotary Lagos, Adeoye Tugbogbo, whose tenure was between 1985 and 1986, in his goodwill message, said he was at the event to represent two of the beneficiaries from Ogun State. He has also been a member of DEWEF since inception,
    “I am here to support two awardees from Ogun State. Last year we had three out of nine awardees. I am happy for the progress we have made so far,” she said.
    Two of the beneficiaries, Ojo Owolabi and Bakenne Mariam, thanked DEWEF for the gesture.
    Ojo, a 200-Level Environmental Engineering undergraduate of University of Lagos, recounted his journey to being a beneficiary.
    “It was our departmental course representative who informed us about the scholarship with an instruction that we should write an essay justifying why we are from a poor background and why we needed this money. We submitted to Rotary District and we were all invited to a very strenuous screening. We were about 20, but it was only two that survived in the end.”
    “This scholarship will meet part of my fees and also propel me to be the best ,” he said.
    Bakenne, a 300-Level Marketing student of Lagos State University (LASU), and a two-time winner of the scholarship, expressed her happiness for qualifying, having met the 3.6 and 4.2 cumulate grade point benchmark by DEWEF.
    I want to buy a laptop. I shall soon be proceeding to my final year where I will begin my project, and I need to have a good laptop to do this,” Bakenne said on what she intended to do with the money.

  • KWASU’s alumni scholarship for undergraduates

    Vice Chancellor of the Kwara State University (KWASU), Prof AbdulRasheed Na’Allah, has identified volunteerism and selflessness as two virtues capable of enhancing Nigeria’s development.

    Na’Allah said this while presenting scholarship awards by Kwara State University Alumni Association to 10 outstanding undergraduates drawn from across the institution’s departments.

    Na’Allah explained that understanding the values of selfless services, volunteerism and patriotism would build a more virile Nigeria.

    Praising the alumni body for demonstrating exemplary qualities, he charged KWASU students to borrow a leaf by rendering selfless service to the university and humanity.

    He added that volunteerism allows students to garner experience across all fields of profession and pave the way for easy employment in future.

    Earlier, President of the alumni, Mr. Damilare Oyinloye, described the scholarship award as the ‘most consistent scholarship programme’ in the university since its establishment.

    Oyinloye noted that despite Nigeria’s economic recession, the alumni body still went ahead to support the students through scholarships that cover a part of beneficiaries’ tuition as well as educational endowment support services.

    He noted that beneficiaries were selected in a fair exercise, having been found worthy in learning and character.

  • Experts inspire undergraduates

    Experts inspire undergraduates

    Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, First Primus West Africa Limited, Otunba Seni Adetu, and the Executive Director, Education, Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), Dr. Noel Tagoe, have advised Nigerian students to be focused and strategic in applying their skills to be successful.

    Speaking at an Open Day organised for members of the CIMA Undergraduate Club from the University of Lagos (UNILAG) at the Lagos Headquarters of First Primus West Africa, Adetu and Tagoe said the youth must have not only have defined aspirations and objectives but define how they would like to achieve them.

    Adetu, a Director at Fidelity Bank, said education though crucial, is insufficient to determine a person’s success in life.

    He therefore advised the students to open minded in exploiting their skills in various ways irrespective of their education, citing his career success as an example.  Though trained as a Chemical Engineer, his is recognised more as a marketer.

    “It is no longer about what your first degree is. Increasingly, we are seeing that successful people in different positions today did not necessarily possess the background of the profession at the first instance. Increasingly, what we are seeing in the world is that with all honesty, education is only a tool to create the mind, to expand the mind, and open the mind for what is out there. So at times, it is about application,” he said.

    For Tagoe, to be successful, the students must be ambitious and think big.

    “We do not have a sense of this is what I can do. You can do whatever you want to do. You can become whatever you choose to become.  If you look at where I came from, it was a completely different situation.  I was comfortable where I was, but I just had ambition.  I just said I was going to take a risk. Be ruthlessly ambitious, think big, and in Africa now, we need big thinkers, especially in place of where we are now,” he said.

    He urged the students to act and learn from failure instead of procrastinatin.

    “Take action, just do it. All talk is nothing. You see, when you talk, it goes off, it does not establish anything. When you think, it’s only in your head. When you do it, it changes the fact on the ground,” Tagoe said.

    Adetu praised CIMA for setting up an undergraduate club across tertiary institutions in Nigeria. He said he was happy supporting the institute to equip the future generation with leadership skills to prepare them for the real world.

  • Undergraduates to participate in Lafarge yearly award

    Nigerian undergraduates and youths between 18 and 30, who are endowed with innovative and sustainable project ideas, are eligible to participate in the fifth international LafargeHolcim award.

    Lafarge Director of Aggregate and Concrete, Lafarge Africa Plc, Mr. Laren Zanin, made this known at a one-day workshop organised in Lagos to sensitise and mobilise stakeholders in the construction and building industry to participate in the award.

    Zanin described the award as the “most significant project competition in sustainable construction”, noting that it reinforces Lafarge’s commitment towards ensuring net positive contribution to society and nature. He explained that the workshop was meant to share not only the value with stakeholders, but also ensure that their efforts in sustainable construction earns a deserving global recognition.

    The firm’s boss noted that the workshop was in accordance with the company’s vision of building a stronger Nigeria, safely, ethically and sustainably through innovative construction solutions.

    “We are ensuring this by creating an opportunity for Nigerians in the construction industry to participate in this award and leave a significant mark that will turn them into leaders and models for other countries,” Zanin said.

    Speaking to the participants, Lafarge Head, Sustainability and Corporate Brand, Mrs Temitope Oguntokun said the project ideas must showcase innovations which are at the cutting edge of sustainable construction, provide advanced response in terms of environmental and ethical performance, social responsibility, preservation of natural resources, economic growth, and a lasting aesthetic impact on the surrounding environment.

    She noted that efforts were being made to disseminate information about the award to more stakeholders in the building sector including undergraduates.

    In his remarks, a Higher National Diploma student of the Department of Architecture, Yaba College of Technology, Oscar Ernest, said the workshop has not only motivated his colleagues to develop interest in the award, but has also opened their minds to the use of eco-efficient materials in the construction of buildings.

    “It is a welcome development for me and my colleagues here today. This workshop has opened our minds to the fact that we need to use eco efficient materials in the construction of buildings.”

  • Shun cultism, malpractices, Rector urges undergraduates

    Shun cultism, malpractices, Rector urges undergraduates

    The Lagos State Polytechnic has again restated its zero tolerance for cultism on campus as expulsion awaits any student found wanting in this regard. The Rector of the institution, Samuel Oluyinka Sogunro, gave the warning recently while addressing new undergraduate students during their matriculation ceremony.

    Cautioning the fresh students to shun secret cults, the Rector, who tasked the matriculating students to be law abiding, said, “I will also strongly advise you to desist from joining unregistered and secret associations wherever they are because the penalty for this is nothing but expulsion    from    the Polytechnic.”

    He said that there was an immediate need for attitude change among young people because of the increasing involvement of students in social vices in Nigeria’s tertiary institutions. He asked the students to take their academics seriously in order to become better citizens who would contribute to the development of the country.

    Sogunro, who was recently appointed as the new helmsman of the institution told the students that he is also a fresher as the event was the first of its kind since his assumption of office.

    “I am also a fresher like you all. This is because this is the first matriculation I am also presiding over as Rector. So, I enjoin you all to be prepared for a lot of new things as we journey together. We must strive hard as a team to give the Polytechnic a new lease of life,” he said.

    In separate chats with The Nation, Maryam Odunuga and Kudirat Sanni, 200 level students of the Mass Communication department, said they are optimistic that the school will break new grounds during the new academic year.

    They re-echoed the Rector and appealed to fellow students to shun all forms of vices and concentrate on getting the best out of the opportunities available to them as undergraduates of the Polytechnic.

  • NDLEA arrests undergraduates, nursing mother

    The Akwa Ibom Command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), has arrested three undergraduates for trafficking substances suspected to be banned drugs, its Eket Area Commander, Mrs Imaette Umoumana, has said.

    Umoumana, who said the suspects were students of Maritime Academy, Oron; Heritage Polytechnic and Covenant University, said: “We arrested the students at different joints during the holidays. We also arrested nursing mothers with babies, who were caught selling substances suspected to be Indian hemp, were also arrested.”

    She said the suspects were arrested through “classified informantion” and routine surveillance by officers of the command, adding that their cases had been transferred to the state headquarters of the agency.

    Umoumana said the command had begun drug awareness guide for youths and drug dealers in the area, adding that the command was also counselling drug users to rehabilitate them.

    A physically challenged man, she also said, was arrested for cultivating Indian hemp farm in his premises at Esit Eket, adding that more than 10 “joints” where illicit substances were being smoked had been closed down by the command.

    At Afaha Eket Primary School, the Commander said a security officer, Ekemini Inyang, was arrested for selling illicit substances in the premises.

    The NDLEA boss also said the command had arrested 30 drug peddlers with 20.9 kilogramme of cannabis between March and now.

    She, however, expressed regret that some members of the public behave like “enemies” of the agency by allegedly hampering its operations, explaining: “When we go for arrests, some people will gather to fight us. Instead of appreciating our effort, they will come out and accuse us of spoiling their businesses.”

    She, therefore, advised communities to assist the agency with useful information that would enable it to perform its functions effectively.