The Nation Newspaper

Tag: University of Port Harcourt

  • UNIPORT four: Victim’s father hails court judgment

    UNIPORT four: Victim’s father hails court judgment

    Mr Messiah Obuzor, father of one of the four University of Port Harcourt students murdered in 2012 has hailed the court for sentencing the  three killers  to death.

    Obuzor said in an interview with newsmen in Port Harcourt on Tuesday that the court’s judgment had removed the tag of criminality on the late students.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that a Port Harcourt High Court on Monday sentenced three persons facing trial in the murder of the students to death.

    The court presided over by Letam Nyordee, sentenced a Police Sergeant, Mr. Lucky Orji and two others, David Ogbada and Ikechukwu Amadi to death.

    Obuzor said the court’s verdict showed that his son, the late Ugonna Obuzor and his friends had no criminal dent, but were murdered extra-judicially.

    “”The eyes of the court saw an overwhelming proof that my son and the others were murdered unjustifiably.

    “By what the court has pronounced, it is clear that the act is condemnable, illegal and barbaric,’’ he said.

    NAN recalls that Lloyd Toku-Mike, Ugonna Obuzor, Tekena Elkanah and Chiadaka Biringa were murdered in Omuokiri, Aluu, a neighbouring community to the university on Friday, Oct. 5, 2012.

  • Divorce: Priest advocates for law empowering children to sue parents for damages

    A Catholic Priest, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Oluolu, has called for a legislation that will power children who are victims of divorce, to sue their parents for damages.

    Oluolu, a Senior Lecturer at  the University of Port Harcourt,  made the remark while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Port Harcourt on Tuesday.

    He decried the high rate of divorce in Nigeria and said that children were the major victims of such disagreements.

    According to him, when there is divorce, it is only the man and the woman that think about themselves and they forget the children, the consequences, the pain and the burden on them (children).

    “And children are not even consulted, they go ahead and say ‘look, divorce’ and as children grow up, they find themselves in a precarious situation.

    “My humble idea is that if there will be a law that would permit the children when they grow up to say ‘no, I would sue my parents for subjecting us to this situation in life;

    “May be, that could in one way or the other slow down this quick process of divorce that is becoming the order of the day,” he said.

    Oluolu, who is the parish priest of St. Raphael Catholic Church, Rukpokwu in Obio/Akpor local government area, advised parents to exercise patience, endurance and tolerance in marriage at least for the sake of the children.

    “A lot of children are suffering today because the mother and father are no longer together;
    there is need for patience, endurance and tolerance.”

    The priest urged couples to avoid taking any action swiftly which they might regret later in life.

    According to him, when you just act in a swift moment and say, “no I don’t want, especially when deep down, there are some other intervening variables, at the end of the day, sometimes you regret your actions later in life.

    “You would ask yourself, ‘why did I do this?’ A simple thing that could have been solved and resolved amicably, out of temperament, it was blown up,” he said.

    Oluolu,  also the Spiritual Director of the Knights of St Mulumba, Mater Mesierecordia Sub-Council, Port Harcourt, however,condemned taking the children to grandparents as a result of divorce.

    He said that parents should train their children by themselves and not allowing their own respective people to train them due to their selfishness that resulted in divorce.

     

  • UNIPORT graduates 18,378 students, 78 bag first class degrees

    UNIPORT graduates 18,378 students, 78 bag first class degrees

    The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt, Prof. Ndowa Lale, said on Friday that 78 of its 18, 378 graduating students finished in the First Class Division.

    Lale, who disclosed this at the 31th convocation news briefing in Port Harcourt, said the conferment of degrees, higher degrees, diploma, certificates and prizes would hold at the university from March 24 to March 25.

    He said that 14,715 students would be awarded with first degree certificates while 1,109 would receive Post-Graduate Diploma certificates.

    According to him, 2,223 candidates will receive Masters Degree and 331 students will be conferred with Doctorate degree.

    The Vice-Chancellor said that the 14,715 graduating students from 10 Faculties were drawn from 2014 to 2016 academic sessions.

    The faculties include Faculty of Science, Faculty of Humanities, Faculty of Education, Faculty of Management Sciences and Faculty of Social Sciences.

    Others are School of Science Laboratory Technology, Faculty of Engineering, and College of Health Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture and Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

    Lale said the convocation would kick-off with a lecture by Prof. Jonas Redwood-Sawyer, Vice-Chancellor of University of Sierra Leone and Chairman of the Board of the West African Examinations Council on March 23.

    The lecture is titled: “The Mandate of Higher Educational Institutions and Global Expectations.”

    He said that UNIPORT would continue to produce quality graduates that would compete favorably with their counterparts locally and internationally.

    The Vice-Chancellor said that since he took office as Vice-Chancellor that several programmes had been introduced with focus to making UNIPORT a world class university in academics, research and development, and in infrastructure.

    According to him, the university was faced with dwindling statutory allocations compounded by the Treasure Single Account (TSA) which had made running of the university a daunting task.

    “In spite this challenge, we have completed rehabilitation of 15 hostel accommodations; nine lecture halls and classrooms in collaboration with the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS).

    “Work is currently at various stages of completion on the 32-staff housing unit at the university park, among other project which are ongoing.

    “Also, efforts are being made to move from collegiate system to faculty system of education for efficient coordination of academic and administrative activities and to reduce bureaucratic bottlenecks,” he said.

    Lale said the university was mainly focused on research and development aimed to ensure that research results do not serve purpose of academic promotion alone.

    He said that under a new security arrangement, kidnapping of staffers and visitors had reduced in the university and host communities.

  • COREN to make public accreditation status of universities

    COREN to make public accreditation status of universities

    The Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) has approved the annual publication of accreditation status of universities running engineering programmes in the country.

    Mr. Kashim Ali, the President of COREN, stated this on Thursday in Abuja at the end of council’s 2017 first quarter meeting.

    Ali said the council had also agreed that reminders be issued to concerned Vice Chancellors on the implications of running unaccredited or expired programmes.

    “Annually, we will publish the status of every university in Nigeria that is offering engineering programme so that parent will have information before they send their children and wards to the universities.

    “We also approved that before the commencement of this, a letter will be sent to the Vice chancellors of all universities for them to understand the implication of the action we are taking.

    “And for those that have outstanding unaccredited programme to submit them for valuation and accreditation where found worthy before the publication is done,’’ he said.

    He added that the council also considered the accreditation report from the University of Port Harcourt and Bayero University, Kano.

    The COREN president said nine out of the 11 programmes considered were given full accreditation while the remaining two were given pre-accreditation.

    Kashim called for the resuscitation of Technical Colleges across the country to ensure that craftsmen were adequately trained to meet the desired needs of the country.

    He blamed the current recession in the country on lack of opportunities for artisans to express themselves and contribute to the growth of the economy.

    According to him, the advocacy to resuscitate Technical Colleges started many years ago because a developing nation’s economy thrives mainly on small industries. 

  • ‘Modular refineries will enliven Niger Delta’

    A University lecturer, Prof. Okey Onuchukwu, says establishing modular refineries in the Niger Delta will enliven the economy of the area and end youth restiveness.

    Onuchukwu, an Econometrist who teaches at the University of Port Harcourt, made the suggestion in an interview with journalists in Port Harcourt on Tuesday.

    The Acting President Yemi Osinbajo recently in a meeting with Niger Delta leaders in Port Harcourt announced that the Federal Government planned to establish modular refineries.

    A modular refinery is a processing plant that has been constructed entirely on skid mounted structures. Each structure contains a portion of the entire process plant, and through interstitial piping, the components link together to form an easily manageable process.

    The don also said the establishment of modular refineries would make the youth in the Niger Delta more meaningfully occupied, productive and enterprising.

    “The meaning is that we shall have modular refineries along the creeks, with such development; the youth will become more productive.

    “The economy will become more vibrant, more money will legitimately be put in their pockets, this to me is a good omen,’’ he said.

    Onuchukwu further said that the crises plaguing the Niger Delta would be reduced if the move to establish modular refineries was implemented.

    He further said that when implemented, modular refineries would close the gap in the petrol consumption need of the country.

    “Apart from that, it will also make more products available for sales outside the shores of the country,” Onuchukwu said.

    He said that the move was to meaningfully engage youths involved in illegal oil refining in the region.

    Illegal refinery operation nicknamed ‘Kpo Fire’, is a major activity in the region, with products such as diesel and kerosene being produced for household consumption.

    Scientists say the black soot being witnessed in some parts of the region is as a result of the activities of illegal refiners.

     

  • Gunmen kidnap Uniport lecturer

    …Demands N2m ransom

    A Lecturer in the Department of Biochemistry, University of Port Harcourt, Dr. Reginald Ohiri has been kidnapped by unknown gunmen.

    Dr. Ohiri was reportedly kidnapped from his resident in Aluu, UNIPORT host Community Monday night.

    The state Police command could not confirm the incident as at the time of filing this report, Tuesday evening, but the Public Relation Officer of the University, Dr. Williams Wodi said it was true, but said details of the abduction was still sketchy to him as at the time of confirmation.

    But sources said his kidnappers have contacted the family members and placed a demand for N2 million to let the University Don off the hooks.

    His family members could also not be reached for their reactions.

    It was learnt that they intended to maintain sealed lips on the abduction, and probably also didn’t want to involve the security agencies.

    UNIPORT have witnessed several cases of abduction of its Lecturers in the past few years, especially last year.

     

  • On the Port Harcourt horror show

    Last week, a mob descended on four undergraduates of the University of Port Harcourt – beat them to death and burnt their bodies. They allegedly stole some cell phones.

    The lynching in the Aluu community of Port Harcourt was said to have been overseen by the traditional ruler who in a moment of madness appointed him not as only as judge and juror, but must have so fancied his own eminence he was deluded into thinking he had the power to take life.

    This act of impunity which has filled the entire country with revulsion is just a mirror of how we take the law into our hands in this country. In Nigeria, every man is a law unto himself.

    As though that was not bad enough, we are reveling in new levels of bestiality that it is amazing some us still have the capacity to be shocked. Last week, unknown gunmen slaughtered over 40 students in Mubi. Shortly after this new outrage at Aluu. Add all of that to the regular diet about ritual killings in the newspapers.

    Surely, Nigeria is very sick. A society where a baying mob can gleefully burn four youngsters who have not committed murder, but may or may not have stolen cell phones, needs urgent self examination. Aluu shows us how low we have fallen. The question this morning is we can we descend any lower? I answer with trepidation: in present day Nigeria anything is possible.