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Tag: UNILAG

  • UNILAG shines at varsities’ debate

    The University of Lagos, (UNILAG) represented by the duo of Nathan Odiase and Temitope Ojelade, has won the Second All Nigerian Universities Debating Championship (ANUDC).

    University of Calabar (UNICAL) emerged second while the Imo State University (IMSU) came third.

    The one-week competition, which ended last Thursday at the Multi-Purpose Hall of the university, featured 17 universities across Nigeria.

    In the debate, the UNILAG team opposed the topic: “The House will ban Political Parties in Nigeria”.

    The team argued that the eradication of political parties in Nigeria’s system of government would only result in chaos.

    Supporting Speaker for UNILAG, Temitope, a 500-level student of Physiotherapy said she was not surprised  that her school won because she was really prepared, coupled with the fact that she had gained experience from past competitions,

    “I was the training coordinator for my team. I realised that training people actually made me better because I could actually see the way they analysed issues.  Also my partner and I, apart from the training we do together, set time aside to work on our own research and argument analysis.   Then we decided to put in our best and it was actually a wonderful experience,” she said.

    Nathan, a 200-Level Psychology student of UNILAG, who won the Public Speaking category, said it was a dream come true having been forced to accept second position in many competitions he had participated in previously.

    “The tournament was really competitive. I knew for my speech to stand out I had to put extra effort. I was expecting to be among the best but certainly not the first.  I never saw it coming.  This particular competition was quite special to me because I could be very pessimistic when it comes to my performance; I have a very high standard of judging how I perform; I am not always happy after my performance.

    “I worked very hard. I had sleepless nights to be here. When my name was mentioned, seriously it was just strange because I have been to series of competitions where I came second  or third; I had never come out first. But this time around I broke that record, so  I feel  really happy and fulfilled.”

    David Ogbokiri, who represented IMSU, had mixed feelings about his performance. He won the Best Debate Speaker and came second in the Public Speaking category. He had hoped to go home with the overall trophy but to his dismay, his school came third.

    “From my performance, I knew I was going to be the winner. I came out second in the preliminary stage and it was obvious for me that I would emerge the best debate speaker.  I was very happy when my name was called out but to my dismay, my school came third.

    “It is painful because I was prepared enough to get to the top. But all the same it is a good thing that my school came this far in the competition.  This competition has really harnessed my ability to prepare myself for the future,” he said.

    Mr Ndubuisi Osagwu, a UNICAL lecturer, and former Director, ANUDC,  said he was happy that his institution made it to the final. He said  debating is a culture in his school.

    Speaking on the ideals behind the contest, he said it is to inculcate the culture of discussion as a solution to resolving conflicts in the Nigerian youth.

    He said: “Where you have difficulties is where one person is talking and  not giving the other person  an opportunity to talk; there is no discussion, no dialogue, all you have is monologue; and there can’t be peace in that kind of situation.  We believe that if we catch the Nigerian youth through the universities, and these are the future leaders of this country, we should then be able to get to a point where we shall not be relying on thuggery and other vices; we should then get to a point where we discuss our problems and resolve it without having to go to war. Once one engages in discussion and we listen to each other we will be able to resolve our problems.”

    He advised universities to key into the competition and urged the Federal Ministry of Education and the National Universities Commission (NUC) to fund it so as to give students a more-rounded education.

    The UNILAG Vice Chancellor, Prof Rahamon Bello, congratulated the participating schools and declared them winners for participating in the contest.

    Also, the Dean, Students’ Affairs, UNILAG, Prof Tunde Babawale, expressed joy that UNILAG successfully hosted the competition. He noted that the Championship provided a platform for UNILAG students to sharpen their skills within the limited available resources.

    Mr Victor Onuoha, who represented the NUC Executive Secretary, Prof Julius Okojie, underscored the importance of the championship. He applauded the adjudicators, participants, and UNILAG for being wonderful hosts.

     

  • UNILAG union is back

    • An opportunity to revive the conscience and culture of old

    The idea of banning student unionism in universities, ordinarily, is anti-intellectual. After all, that platform should provide an opportunity for competition and cross-fertilisation of ideas. Again, a ban, other things being equal, is also anti-social; because, universities are centres for learning and moulding of character. That is why before a degree is awarded, a recipient must be found worthy in learning and character. Considering that a student union should be an avenue for the development of character, it is strange that the University of Lagos banned student unionism in the institution, for the past 10 years.

    One plausible reason for such an anomaly may be that most of the student unions across the country have been hijacked by reactionary elements, within or outside the citadels of learning. The result is that now, many of the unions have turned to outposts for political interests, such that the unions are now more concerned with lucre, than the pursuit of the welfare of their members and the larger society, as we witnessed in the past. Indeed, in many institutions, the unions have become like a cult, foisted on the students by external forces, most times from government houses.

    Against better judgment, instead of student unions being breeding grounds for moulding socio-political behaviours, many have become a den for delinquent and anti-social behaviours, with many of the leaders unabashedly turning to promoters of oppressive regimes. The result is that many of the students have no interest in the existence of the unions. Indeed, for many students, student unions are no better than clogs in the wheel of academic development, considering that most times, they are either in the forefront of organising or promoting one meaningless strike or another.

    The cause of these delinquent behaviours within the student union is largely the quest for corrupt enrichment, just like in the larger society. Many of the union leaders see their positions as an opportunity to acquire material wealth, at all cost. So, once they are ‘elected’, they are driven by no other interest than the desire to hobnob with political leaders, even at the detriment of their primary constituency, the students. With such untoward desire, many student elections are no better than the ones in the larger society.

    But despite these anomalies, student unionism remains a veritable training ground for leadership. It should be an opportunity to tame political temperaments; an opportunity to exhibit and hone political skills; an opportunity to test sportsmanship and character, particularly when under pressure. It should also provide the basic requirement of allowing an aggregation of the interests of students, vis-à-vis that of the university authorities. Where appropriately organised, the ideas distilled from a student union will help the school authorities and government, organise a better society.

    We recall with nostalgia, the good old days, when the voice of students represented the voice of the masses. One of such critical interventions of the student union was the ‘Ali Must Go’ march, which shook the military government of General Olusegun Obasanjo. Another was during the anti-Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) riots, and the June 12 debacle, which witnessed a mobilised citizenry march in defence of the economy and political impulses of their country, against the duplicitous regime of General Ibrahim Babangida.

    There were other great marches, against the obnoxious policies of government, which showed the meteor of genuine student unionism, in Nigeria. Considering the enormous advantages from a purposeful student unionism, we are excited that the University of Lagos has restored life to that veritable training ground. What is expected is that the students and the union officials should be on guard against dubious infiltrations and interests.

  • UNILAG seeks help to recover N600m

    The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Prof Rahamon Bello, has lamented the paucity of funds to the university occasioned by the incomplete release of approved budget by the government.

    Bello said this when House of Representatives Committee of Education visited the university last Wednesday.

    For instance, in 2013, Bello said the university was forced to pay workers from Internally-Generated Revenue because its allocation was short by N600 million and unpaid to date.

    Responding to the VC’s complaint, Chairman of the committee, Honourable Aminu Suleiman, said the case should be investigated.

    He said the committee was in the university as part of its oversight function and urged government agencies to be patient with its efforts to scrutinize their budgets as it is to ensure that things are done right.

    In the past, he said this role had helped uncover fraud in budget implementations by government agencies.

    “That is how bad the situation has always been and we would like to seek the understanding of the public whenever we are spending much time on budget scrutiny, these are the kinds of things we usually discover and we can all imagine the impact of such kind of avoidable wastes on our economy,” he said.

    The committee praised the UNILAG management for maintaining the standard the university is known for.

    In his presentation, Prof Bello had said the university achieved a lot with the grant it received from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) for 2012.

    Bello said projects carried out with the grant included: Construction with Furnishing of Creative Arts Building, Module A2 and B, Construction with Furnishing of Block of Offices and Classrooms for the Faculty of Engineering, Construction of Entrepreneurship Centre, and Procurement and Installation of Various Teaching and Research Equipment for the College of Medicine, procurement of various furniture items, including 300 units of classroom student desk and chair for the faculty of social sciences, procurement of various furniture items, including 260units of furniture for lecture theatre in the faculty of engineering, faculty of basic sciences, school of radiography among others.

    He however said that lack of land was hindering plans to build accommodation for students and members of staff.  He also complained that the university was expending at least N40 million on power supply.

     

  • UNILAG plans to transform waste to wealth

    UNILAG plans to transform waste to wealth

    The University of Lagos (UNILAG) prides itself as the “university of First Choice and the nation’s pride”.  In this interview with KOFOWOROLA BELO-OSAGIE, the Vice Chancellor, Prof Rahamon Bello, shares his thoughts about the future development of the university. Excerpts:

    Research no longer to  remain on the shelf

    Last year, we made some strides.  We have exposed the university community to more opportunities to research. During the last convocation the General Overseer of Mountain of Fire Ministries (MFM), Dr. Daniel Olukoya, gave us a central research laboratory, a three-floor building, very massive. We have started equipping it.

    And to complement research, we have set up a research and innovations office. This will put together our researches in such a way that the researches will not just be limited to the individual researcher. We can now start having more of collaborative researches, ones that we need to complement the economic growth of the nation.

    Secondly, the research result that we get will not just remain on the shelf; the innovation desk of that office will now market the result to the end users – be it in any field of study. That office has taken off fully now; and we are hoping that the innovation end of that office in the future will lead to what we call the technology village where we can have our incubation section to try out research at the pilot scale before they become big manufacturing concerns.

    That is the vision that we have for UNILAG, we hope to carry on so that this university will live truly as the first in the nation and not only the nation but also moving to the international arena. We also in the year have made progress in student unionism.

     

    Our plan to transform waste to wealth

    You will see that our environment is getting better.The waste management has been managed in such a way that we have commenced sorting. We have started sorting all our waste with the aim of recycling. The intention is that when the waste gets large enough to support a recycling plant, as a university and a research institution, we will be piloting what we need to do with the waste that are not in use nationally so that those that are carrying out research on waste now have appropriate types of waste to use.

    If you move around the campus, you will see that some of the waste bins are now categorised into plastics, glass and paper and other waste so that people will start learning how to sort waste and make the environment much cleaner so UNILAG will live up to its bill as the numero uno institution – as one that will set a pace in various area of endeavours.

    We have a strategic plan which we are following to a letter. The last council before this one set up the plan and we in place a 25-year strategic plan. I am working the first segment of strategic plan.  So all I have been mentioning are in that plan and the essence is that we want to see what will happen in the next 25 years in this university. We have as a target that this university must be numero in Africa at least by that time.

    Future buildings to be taller

    UNILAG is not like other universities in the interior where you find virgin lands are still available for use. We are restricted to this part of Lagos and we are pushed into the lagoon. Of course the lagoon is a very big asset to us because we are the only university sited by a lagoon and the fresh air from the lagoon gives us that extra flavour to have cool heads.

    But being in a city and being already enclosed by the development, we do not really have any other place to expand to. That is the unfortunate aspect of our location here and quite a large portion of our land – more than 40 per cent – is marshy area, which is not easily developed.  So, when a project for universities in the country is conceived, the execution at UNILAG is far higher because you have to look at the issue of foundation.

    In the light of dwindling land resources, management conceived, and council has approved, that we have to take the bull by the horn; we have to live like a city university.  We are going to be growing taller because we cannot spread.  These are part of the things you will be seeing in the next few years. It is going to be vertical buildings because that is the only way that we can still be on this site and grow to what we want to be in the future.

    In this light most of all the buildings will be higher and we are commencing with about five of them. I think in the next three to six months the first one would commence – the new university library. The library would have 10 floors. The design has been completed, while the designs of the remaining four are in the offing; and these are facilities for the Distance Learning Institute (DLI), the Postgraduate School, Faculty of Education, and the Faculty of Law. We are looking for the funding of some of them. From now, the foundation of any building would be designed to hold at least 12 floors.

     

    Distance Learning, the way to go

    DLI is going to be another major outpost of this university. Today, it has a population of about 17,000 but it has been designed to carry about 50,000 in the next couple of years because it is going to become a real distance learning institution.

    At present, they mix both open/distance learning with face-to-face.  We are going to remove the face-to-face and they will be mainly interfacing on the internet.  All those facilities are being put in place.  That is why they are going to have a large massive building to support their needs in that place. A lot of workers have been recruited for them.  There are now going to ensure that the programme is properly strengthened. They are going to be expanding some, have new courses added to what they are doing at the moment and so it will serve the needs of Lagosians.

    The (DLI) programme started with the university because the founding fathers realised that people working with government and other companies within Lagos would need to have continuing education programmes.

     

  • RESURRECTED Strange diseases staging comeback

    RESURRECTED Strange diseases staging comeback

    In this report Medinat Kanabe talks to medical experts about diseases that had hitherto become extinct but are staging a return.

    When Nigeria defeated the Ebola Virus Disease many turned the victory into a joke by saying Nigerians are so terrible they have ‘eaten’ the virus when other countries affected by it have been struggling to curb the spread. Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea are still battling with the scourge rolling back years of economic struggle.

    Although Nigeria has been declared EVD free by the World Health Organisation (WHO), its representative in Nigeria Rui Gama Vaz said: “The virus is gone for now. The outbreak in Nigeria has been defeated. This is a spectacular success story that shows to the world Ebola can be contained, but we must be clear that we have only won a battle. The war will only end when West Africa is declared free of Ebola.”

    The victory belongs to the people, leaders and institutions that pursued their mission with vigour led by the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola.

    Although some people lost their lives, including Dr. Stella Ameyo Adadevoh, the Senior Physician at the First Consultants Hospital, Obalende, Lagos, where the index case was discovered, Nigeria got praises from all over the world for its success in the fight against the disease.

    Not yet uhuru

    But to Akin Osibogun, a professor of Community Health, University of Lagos (UNILAG), it is not yet time to let down the guards. He advocates proper measures to consolidate the victory.

    Prof. Osibogun while delivering a paper: Emerging and re-emerging diseases- stopping the spread during the 2014 Health Week of the University, defines a re-emerging disease as one that was once was a major health problem in a particular country or globally, and then declined in incidence, but is again becoming a public health problem.

    Quoted a United States Surgeon General, William Stewart who said, “We can now close the book on infectious disease,” he said: “When this declaration was followed in 1980 by Nigeria’s eradication of smallpox  a disease that killed as many as 500 million people in the 20th century alone- Nigerians had every reason to be confident. We had established the Germ Theory of disease and had discovered all kinds of antibiotics and technologies and we seem poised to permanently defeat the enemy.

    “With the benefit of hindsight, I think we must chide ourselves for jumping up too early and for ignoring the cautious words of Girolamo Frascatoro some 450 years ago when he spoke about Syphilis saying there will come yet other new and unusual ailments in the course of time. And this disease will pass away, but it later will be born again and be seen by our descendants. Frascatoro had warned us 450 years ago about the emergence and re-emergence of disease so we must be determined in our preparedness,” he said.

    Osibogun, who is also a Consultant Public Health Physical/Epidemiologist said, there will not be an end to emergence and re-emergence of diseases. “What we need to do is take steps that will help to minimise and contain these diseases so that our civilisation and race are not destroyed.” According to him, two major interrelated approaches will help in the prevention and control of EVD and they are the reduction of the likely occurrences of the diseases and stopping the spread of the diseases.

    He is of the opinion that the changing ecosystem and man’s activities of destroying some predators give room for population explosions  and where these preys harbour microbes that are transmissible to man, there then occur disease outbreaks in human population. He also says economic development and land use as well as massive deforestation programmes and implementation measures must be taken to mitigate likely impacts.

    The professor added that to be able to stop the spread of any emerging or re-emerging diseases there must be proper surveillance, investigation and early control, implementation or prevention measures as well as monitoring and evaluation.

    Guinea worm

    Nigeria was also certified as a guinea worm free country by the WHO this year. To many the eradication of this disease also known as dracunculiasis that has long plagued many parts of the country was long overdue.

    Nigeria had to establish the Nigeria Guinea Worm Eradication Programme (NIGEP) in 1988 and by November 2008 recorded its last case of the Guinea Worm Disease (GWD). Records showed that NIGEP started with 653,620 cases when it started operation in 1988.

    During the presentation of the certificate to President Goodluck Jonathan, by Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, former Health Minister, said just as the country fought the incidence of guinea worm and succeeded, his administration is also committed in its fight against many endemic diseases such as HIV/AIDS, Malaria, Tuberculosis and of course polio.

    “While polio is yet to be eliminated in our country, we have seen the impressive results in the control of wild polio virus type 3 transmission as well as reduction of about 50 per cent cases of wild polio type1 in 2013 compared to 2012. Similarly no new case of wild polio virus has been reported in the last three months. “We are hopeful that transmission of wild polio will be interrupted this year, at least before the end of the year,” the president said.

    Nigeria fought guinea worm through interventions in the areas of massive water supply, treatment of ponds and surveillance. The introduction of cash reward also provided an incentive for members of the public to report cases.

    Thousands of volunteer polio vaccinators also helped to check every household nationwide to ensure that there were no remaining cases.

    But just like Ebola, since neighbouring countries -Chad, Ethiopia, Mali and South Sudan still have on-going transmission of guinea-worm disease, Nigeria must continue to remain vigilant for cases that might cross the border.

    A reproductive rights campaigner Dr Ejike Oji, who spoke to The Nation said, “If we go back to the way we were doing things before, there might be a possibility of the disease coming back to Nigeria and Nigeria becoming a country with the worst case of guinea worm disease.”

    He said getting rid of the disease was through getting rid of the water that infects people. “You know guinea worm is usually in marshy water where you have the guinea worm larva and all that. So what happened was to reduce the exposure of people and use drugs. So as the water sanitation and potable water supply improves it makes guinea worm a remote possibility, then with the CADA foundation which did a lot of investments in Nigeria especially in the endemic areas of Ebonyi State where we had a lot of guinea worm infestation we were also able to fight it so maintaining this habit will keep the disease in the past,” he said.

    He said it is a public health thing advising that improvement of sanitation and water supply will keep the disease at bay.

    Polio

    Due to its record of only six cases of polio in two states so far in 2014, compared to 48 cases in nine states for the same period in 2013 and with efforts put in place by the WHO, the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), Rotary International, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, governments and many other partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative to eradicate polio globally, the Federal Government while receiving a certificate for being guinea worm free said it is targeting to gain a polio-free nation by the end of December this year.

    But the former Vice Chancellor of Redeemers University and Virologist, Professor Oyewale Tomori has cautioned against early celebrations since as such have caused distractions in anti-polio activities as commitment, advocacy and funds dry up or are diverted to other uses.

    “If you check the records, it is a pattern. But we all need to ask ourselves if we have learnt our lessons. Because in 2007 when we had the election, the number of polio cases went up, when we had the election in 2011, the number also went up and the reason is simple that, we diverted our attention into politics and campaign and election, especially the presidential election. When the new president settles in other things suffer including the polio eradication. Funds are not released on time, everyone is thinking of something else, they are battling who will be the next governor, the man who is the director is worried whether the new minister will take him so all those things makes us lose focus.

    “But we are saying we hope we have learnt our lessons from the last two episodes of 2007 and 2011 so that we don’t between now and the next part of next year, divert our attention away from the fight. If we continue to do what we are doing, if the funds are there, if the vaccines are there and if people are not bothered about what the politicians are doing, I think we can certainly maintain the zero status next year”, he said.

    Asked if we can say Nigeria has eradicated the disease since we had only six cases, he said: “No, because we had six cases of polio this year, we cannot call that eradication. If we say we want polio eradicated by the end of this month like the president said, it means we will have nothing at all by this month which is not possible because we have already had six cases this year.

    “What eradication means is zero case. India was declared polio free this year because they had their last case three years ago. We need to have no case at all before you say we are free of polio. So if we still had six this year, we cannot say we are free.

    “So we have not met our target. We are close to it but we have not met it. If we have no case from next year till 2018 then we will be declared free of polio. So we still have three years to have no case of polio before we can say we are free so if we have only one, we are out.”

    He revealed that it is possible for Nigeria to go back to being one of the countries with the worst case of the disease after attaining its present status if the disease is ignored.

    “Until the last case of polio is eradicated in the world nobody is free. Just like the Ebola case, Nigeria is free but if we don’t keep our surveillance in place somebody can still come in from Liberia, Sierra-Leone, if we reduce our surveillance, like the check at the airports, then we can get back and get EVD so what we are saying is we are not yet out of the woods.

    “Remember what happened to America when Duncan came in, he was incubating the disease when he arrived and there was no fever so nobody knew he had the problem even when he went back to the hospital a week later, they still did not realize that it was Ebola until he was readmitted so the same thing is applicable to polio.

    “Pakistan has a lot of cases of polio right now so as long as there is polio in any part of the world, no part of the world is free. So a country that has been free for a very long time can still get polio. There are many cases of countries that had been free of polio and still got polio so we must continue to maintain our surveillance, monitoring until there is no case of polio anywhere in the world. It is possible that after being declared free a country can still get polio.

    “For example in Nigeria where we have over six to ten million children a year, if we don’t vaccinate those children, then we are increasing the number of people that are not protected, so all you need is to get someone to bring polio from another part of the world and then it will spread all over the place, then we can have a big epidemic after, so we must continue to maintain our coverage,” he advised.

    HIV/AIDS

    Since the HIV/AIDS pandemic got to Nigeria in 1986, it has affected all the social strata of the society, according to Helen Komolafe-Opadeji, Principal Librarian and Acting Medical Librarian, E. Latunde Odeku Medical Library, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, said the pandemic has been among the most serious natural disasters in recent centuries.

    She explained that the Nigerian situation is no better than in most African countries ravaged by the disease. “In a study, it was reported that out of the 20 million HIV cases in the world in December 1995, 11 million (35.5%) were from Sub-Saharan Africa, and 4.8 million (5.2%) Nigerians tested positive for HIV. As of January 1996, it was assumed that the reason for the staggering number of infected people was the lack of commitment from the Nigerian military leadership. By 1999, when the military rule gave way for democratic rule in Nigeria, hopes were high for a better health care system, and a well-funded public health sector with positive impact on the scourge of HIV/AIDS through public education.”

    She concluded that HIV/AIDS epidemic is complex and multifaceted. Groups and individuals must be ready to work together. She urged the media to do more in the awareness campaign.

    “A high frequency of easy-to-read reports can create more sensitivity and awareness. Journalists could work with health organizations for current information on the disease. Accurate press reports would help in immeasurable ways to correct myths about HIV/AIDS in Nigeria. Librarians can respond by finding relevant information and guiding users to resources.” For Dr Ejike Oji, no country can be declared HIV/AIDS free because it is an infection that can be latent without people knowing unless the country tests every single person they cannot say they are HIV/AIDS free. “We can only say that the number of full blown diseases has gone down but we cannot say that a country is HIV/AIDS free because of the nature of the disease,” he said.

    Although he assured Nigerians that because there has been a lot of information and sensitization, by the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) and many other non-government organisation that had HIV/AIDS in their front burner, there is a possibility of not having any new case of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria he added that this must go through proper monitoring and prevention of mother-to-child transmission. “Unless every single woman who is in ante-natal care has been properly tested, screened and make sure those with the disease are given proper care so that they don’t transfer it to their children, we might have new cases,” he added.

    He also noted that the country has not won the war yet adding that she is in fact far from winning the war because there are a lot of people that cannot access anti-retroviral drugs. “Nigeria is a huge country and it needs huge investment and I don’t think NACA is getting enough funds to do their jobs well. About two years ago, the Nigerian president said his administration would invest millions of dollars in HIV/AIDS eradication but that money has not come through yet. Most of the money we are getting is from global funding and the federal government is putting money it is not enough and with the cutting back on budget is also affecting the fight against HIV/AIDS. We are doing well but we still have to do more,” he said.

    All said and done, what the health experts are saying is that it is not yet time to let off our guards, or else we are caught napping.

  • UNILAG holds health week

    The University of Lagos (UNILAG) has held its Health Week.

    The event, which took place between Monday and Wednesday penultimate week, aimed at educating the university’s community on some important health issues. It addressed some negative attitudes of some members of the community on health issues to engender positive behavioural change.

    In her opening remarks, Director of Medical Services, University of Lagos Dr. Ramota Apampa, said the event was in line with the medical centre’s vision to provide effective, appropriate and accessible comprehensive health care to members of the  institution, the community and beyond.

    She said the outfit had opened a platform for members to be well informed about their health and appreciate the relevance of the medical centre in the community.

    “Since the beginning of the celebration in 2012, we have experienced success in a number of our performances as we have been positively criticised and encouraged as well. Our promises have been to save lives and enhance professionalism,” she said.

    Continuing, Mrs Apanpa said the programme had made positive impact on the community, adding that such impact included sensitisation of the community and beyond towards proactive health behaviour.

    “We also provide free expert medical services to the community and beyond during the health week such as: voluntary counselling and testing for HIV and AIDS and diabetics, among others.

    “These are particularly for people who do not have access to health care. For example, taxi drivers, food vendors who find it difficult to get free access to medical care,” Apampa said.

    She further said Health Week Magazine which contains articles that provide the general public tips on healthy living, are also distributed. She advised the community to take part in subsequent exercises.

    Prof Akin Osibogun of the Community Health, UUNILAG and Consultant Public Health Physician/Epidemiologist, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), delivered a lecture, titled “Re-emerging Communicable Diseases-Stopping the Spread”.

     

  • UNILAG’s harsh policy on new students

    SIR: The screening exercise for fresh undergraduates recently carried out by the authorities of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) left much to be desired. There is no gainsaying that the institution is an attraction to many students from within and outside the shores of the nation. It has also made its mark among the tertiary institutions in the country, which belong to the old generation.

    I am inclined to suppose that the institution enjoy to a great extent, the monopoly of deciding on the manner and pattern of conducting the process of screening fresh students offered admission. Such policy, however should consider the safety and security of the students. From the admission stage, students had to shuttle Cybercafés to access information about screening which could have been better communicated through text messages via SMS. This made many fresh students to be late for the screening exercise.

    As a concerned parent, I particularly frown at the mode of screening. The students were required to be on campus for about three weeks to carry out the exercise. This was started with completion of form online to presentation of photocopies and originals of their credentials for sighting followed by payment of relevant fees and to enrolment as the final stage.

    The exercise was faulty because none of them could be carried out without being physically present on campus. I took some of the officials up on why it was not deferred till the students resume when accommodation for them could have been secured. The answers were not encouraging: UNILAG authorities did not want to admit students with deficient results; besides, it was a way of teaching them to stand on their own. What a hard way!

    The policy of the institution provides for admission of qualified candidate with a minimum age of 16 years old. At such a juvenile age, Nigerian law does not allow that they be accommodated in a hotel as a guest. They were not even entitled to travel by air unaccompanied. UNILAG however wanted them to come for the exercise without their parents. A pertinent question one may ask is, is the school meant for only people within Lagos State?

    As my son went to some of the designated centres for the screening, I observed some hostility in the eyes of the officials. Before you blink your eyes, he was requested to present a document which he had to go back to internet to produce; before he returned they had decided to call it a day. This is the plight of almost all of them. No amount of pleading would make such student not to come back the following day for the same thing which he was not sure would be accepted.

    The policy was not friendly. Such exercise should consider the interest of those who are not resident in Lagos and who probably have no relations in the city. At best it should be carried out only at the resumption of the students. If online screening should precede the physical aspect it should be all-embracing and adequate until the students resume.

    The institution may also wish to consider approving overtime allowances for all staff who would be engaged in the exercise during screening. It looks absurd and intimidating that after a child had stood on queue for a long time, he is greeted with stern directive of come tomorrow.  And these would be from officials who would not start the day’s work until 11 am. University of Lagos should please refrain from stressing fresh students with harsh policy in future.

     

    • Andrew Adedoyin,

  • UNILAG Staff School wins science contest

    Pupils of the University of Lagos Staff school emerged winner of the HEN Nigeria Science Festival oganised by the Science Ambassadors of Nigeria, held at the Indoor Sport Hall, UNILAG Yaba, Lagos.

    With its research on Petroleum Vaccine Jelly, the school slammed Dethos Model School (where) and Liham School, Lagos which emerged first and second runners up with their research works on revitalised water and automatic change over switch respectively.

    Students who have interest in studying science in higher institutions were given full scholarships. The programme witness parents, teachers, school proprietors, scientists, corporate bodies among others.

    Speaking at the event, the representative of UNILAG Staff School, Adeoluwa Ore, said the project which was initiated by the science teachers was a new discovery in the world of science, noting that he was very grateful to be part of the team that came up with it.

    A lecturer at the Department of Language and Literary Studies, Federal University, Ndufu-Alike, Ikwo in Ebonyi State, Prof Lucy Ekwueme said the need to stimulate young people’s interest in science and technology is germane for national development.

    She said: “Science and Technology is the bedrock of development in any society. It is life, and is about the society. We can only solve our problems through scientific discovery.”

    She frowned at the increasing number of foreign experts into the economy which according to her, requires urgent attention in the interest of today youths.

    “We don’t have to depend on foreign experts to take over our economy, we have to galvanise a new generation of young scientists that can help provide some solutions to our problems,” she added.

    Ekwueme appealed to school owners to put more effort in empowering young ones on various scientific pedagogy and system of inquiry instead of theory-oriented approach.

    In her speech, the coordinator of the festival, Mrs Nnabugwu Peace, said that the event was aimed at creating a platform for learning of practical application of science and technology among young people.

    Peace said the festival held in collaboration with the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS), forms a part of both organisations strategies to cultivate a general young student populace in Nigeria that are ‘informed by science, inspired by its wonder, convinced of its value, and prepared to engage with its implication for the future.’

     

  • Victims of wrong course choice

    Victims of wrong course choice

    Tolu George narrates the stories of some students in the University of Lagos (UNILAG) who are dispassionate about their course of study and how they are trudging on.

    When Uche Ohafia was admitted into UNILAG in 2011, his joy knew no bounds. He had gained admission to study computer science and was of the mindset that computer science was just about Microsoft word, power point and other routine packages.

    He was however shocked when he found out that computer science involved programming, web designing and much tougher things. Now in his third year Uche has lost all interest in being a computer scientist, he is so eager to finish his university education so that he can focus on music, his new found love. ‘’I love music so much. I remember when I was a child, my sisters used to listen to Back street boys, West life, Tony Braxton, and I used to sing along passionately, ’’ he told the Nation.

    Uche’s foray into music may however have met a brick wall as his father doesn’t want him to do music. ‘’When I was in secondary school, we had this group called cloud nine, we were involved in music and I remember singing a song which my dad got to know about. He told me that I should concentrate on my studies and ignore music. He said people that do music are always restless and carefree, that I should get into the University and concentrate on my studies,’’ Uche narrated.

    However, despite his father’s stern warning regarding music, Uche still dreams of having a live band to entertain people someday. To him making so much money from music is not as important as being able to pass good messages through music. ‘‘I’m not trying to become a big musician, I just want to sing. I don’t want to do music because I want to make so much money from it, but for the passion,’’ he said.

    Similarly, the story of Busola Omosipe may not be too different from Uche’s. His choice of civil engineering as a course of study seemed to have been as a result of improper research.

    He said; ‘’the day I decided to study civil engineering, I was in my Jamb tutorial center and the teacher was asking us for our future ambition. Right there and then I started thinking about studying Civil Engineering, since some people had told me that it was close to architecture (a course Busola had originally planned to study, but for lack of the required subjects). When it got to my turn, I just said I wanted to study civil engineering.’’

    Busola interestingly lived up to expectations as he made a first class result in his first year, but as semesters went by, his grades began to fall like a pack of cards. However, a programming course he took in his second year made him develop interest in programming. ‘’When I went to my first programming class, I had the mindset that it would be a very boring class, but when I got to the class and I saw what we were doing, I started developing interest. I began to find programming enjoyable, it wasn’t like solving. You just had to think and then make something out of some numbers and alphabets and if it works congratulations. It’s just like you are building your own man. Although I might not be good academically, programming has made me see that I can still do something useful with my life,’’ he said.

    Busola said that he would have come in to study a course related to programming, if he was more enlightened about courses to study right from secondary school.

    For Omolade Epebiyi, another student, though studying Finance, she has her eyes on interior decorating; she spoke of interior decorating as her dream career. ‘’I realized, as a child that I loved colours. When it came to beatifying the house, I could do that perfectly well. As at age 12, I could rearrange my room, make it look beautiful and also change curtains,” she said.

    Omolade however could not pursue a career in interior decorating because according to her, there were no proper schools which thought interior decorating in Nigeria; ‘’I realized that there was no tertiary institution that would afford me that opportunity to learn and get a certificate like a B.SC degree in interior Decorating. Even schools that claimed to study art didn’t offer courses in interior decorating. I also looked at my options outside the country and I knew it was going to cost me so much, and for someone that was young at that time and that just finished secondary school, travelling out of the country didn’t seem like the best thing to do,’’ she explained.

    But unlike Busola and Uche, studying finance is not a waste of time to Omolade; she believes that it would prove useful when setting up her business in interior decorating. She hopes to go on to be a big time interior decorator and also plans to set up good and well equipped schools where prospective interior decorators can attend.

    A graduate speaks

    Olayinka Oluseyi, a recent graduate of Accountancy turned musician partly blames his parents for making him study Accountancy.

    He said, ‘‘I won’t say my parents forced me to study Accountancy, but they conditioned me to having no other option. They suggested it to me, forced me to go to commercial class, and preached it into my subconscious which made me eventually go to study the course.”

    Seyi added; ‘‘I was in secondary school when I developed a passion for music and the passion has kept rising since then. In fact it was my way out of the bad feeling I was getting from doing accounting.’’

    On how he was able to balance his love for music with a course he didn’t like, Seyi said; ‘’I think the first thing is that God does not start a thing and not finish it, so if you start something you must finish. I took time out to do music. For me, music was something like a therapy for the sadness I felt studying Accountancy. A few times when I was down, I just sang the situation in music. It reminded me of the fact that there was a goal I was chasing.’’

    Seyi advised students who find themselves studying courses they don’t like, not to feel bad about the situation they find themselves. ‘‘My advice to them is just for them to enjoy themselves, they shouldn’t feel bad about what they are studying right now and whatever their grade is, they should just keep pushing. They shouldn’t feel like their life depends on what they are doing, their lecturers make it look that way, but that’s because sometimes most of these lecturers don’t know that much. The moment you start feeling good about yourself despite how bad things may be for you, everything will just follow in its default and you would feel at ease in spite of the fact that you are reading a course that you don’t like.”

    A parent’s advice

    Mrs. Olanrenwaju Adeoye, who has twin children playing active basketball in the United States, encouraged parents to allow their children follow their dream careers.

    She said; ‘’I allowed my two sons play basketball because I did sports back in my university days. I competed and won laurels and scholarship up to my PhD level, so I already knew the benefits of participating in sports. I made sure my children participated in sports.’’

    Continuing she said, ‘’It is a novice of a parent that would not encourage his/her child to study whatever course he or she wants to study. It is not the parent that would study the course for the child, it is the child. The child is the center, so why must a parent stop a child from doing what he or she likes. My parents didn’t deny me of my own liberty. When I wanted to go in for sport they allowed me and I encourage parents to please allow children to go into their careers of their choice.”

    Advice from counselor

    Mrs. Ronke Asiwaju, the school’s counselor believes that students should not feel bad when they find themselves studying courses they don’t like. She encouraged students who find themselves studying courses they don’t like to muster all the interest and energy they have and finish their degree. This, according to her, is because the first degree is just a foundation, after which a student can graduate and then train themselves in their first love. Asiwaju also advised parents to stop influencing their children in terms of career choices.

    ‘‘Parents should allow their children to live their lives. They shouldn’t allow their children lie in their shadows. Whatever dreams they couldn’t accomplish in their lives they should allow it rest, they shouldn’t push their children to fill that vacuum. They can educate and encourage their children to making right choices, but when it comes to choice making they should leave it between the child and their counselors for realistic assessment,’’ she advised.

    For parents who want their children to show interest in particular areas, Asiwaju advised that they should track the children from when they are young and get them interested in such areas.

    She spoke further, ‘‘May be you want your child to become a computer programmer, you can get computer related toys for him or her to play with. You should also ensure you encourage your child to do well in subjects that would qualify them for whatever he or she wants to become.’’

    She advised students who were forced by their parents to study particular courses to forgive their parents. ‘‘I would encourage them to forgive their parents because sometimes it is the anger that makes them not to cope. When you finish reading that course of study for your parents, you can go back to the university and do whatever you feel like doing. By that time you would not be under any body. What is important is that you deserve to have a good life,’’ she said.

  • UNILAG Creative Arts Dept hosts workshop

    The Department of Creative Arts of the University of Lagos, in collaboration with Omooba Yemisi Adedoyin Shilon Arts Foundation, has organised an entrepreneur workshop to encourage youths to sharpen their skills.

    According to the coordinator of the workshop, Akinwale Onipede, the forum should be seen as a great opportunity for participants to interact with professionals in their fields of learning.

    He said the workshop was to impact knowledge and to prepare the participant on how to be self-employed and believe in themselves that they can become employer of labour instead of looking for jobs.

    Onipede said: “At the end of this exercise, participants will be productive to the economy and will also put Nigeria on the better pedestral.

    Also, a lecturer at the Department of Creative Arts, Ogunwo Bolaji, said “the workshop is the third edition of its kind which is aimed at improving capacity of artists to enhance their in-built talent rather than waiting for white collar jobs before getting foods on their table.

    “One’s palm can never, in life deceive, one if every other thing does.”

    He further advised the participants “to be good ambassadors after the training and be ready to add value to the country with the skills acquired from the workshop. They should also make good impact on others.

    One of the participants, Folami Raski praised the organisers for making valuable impacts on the youth.

    He added that ‘’Being a partaker is a great opportunity for me to excel in my hand work and to  be more creative in my  field of learning,and inother to  impact to other peoples life.