Greensprings wins AISEN Key Stage Three Five-Aside tourney

GREENSPRINGS Schools at the weekend 29 January 2015 emerged winners of the Association of International School Educators of Nigeria (AISEN)

Key Stage Three Five-Aside Boys and Girls football tournament, which featured over 20 schools at Lekki Campus of the institution.

Among the schools at the event were
Greensprings School Anthony and Lekki
Campuses, 
Corona School Agbara,
Childrens’ International School,
Lekki, British International School, Victoria Island,
Childville School Ogudu,
Emerald School, Lagos,
Meadow Hall School, Lekki,
Temple School, Ikeja,
Avi Cenna School,
Ikeja, Rainbow College,
Supreme Educational
Foundation, Magodo,
Lead Forthgate School, Lekki,
Grace High School Gbagada,
Edgewood College Lekki, and British International School
Lekki.

Others were Lagos Preparatory School,
Ikoyi, Chrisland Schools Idimu and Ikeja,
Westmills British Secondary School Apapa, and White Dove School Lekki.

At the end of the tournament, Greensprings School Lekki won the boys’ event, beating Lekki British International School to the second position, while Supreme Educational Foundation, Magodo took the third position.

In the girls’ event, Greensprings School Lekki took the first position ahead of
Corona Secondary School, Agbara (second) and its sister school, Greensprings School, Anthony, which came third.

Among the dignitaries at the event were Mr. McFaul, who is the Director of Education, Greensprings School and also President, Association of International School Educators of Nigeria (AISEN) and Mr. Opesan, Head of School, Meadow Hall School.

Mr McFaul later presented the medals and trophies to the winning schools. One major achievement of this year’s competition is that medals and trophies were presented to the winning teams.

Topaz retains Atlantic Hall School Sports title

THE defending champion of the Atlantic Hall School, Poka, Epe, Lagos, Topaz House, has once again reclaimed the trophy by winning the 21st edition of the inter-house sports competition held at the weekend 23 January 2015 in the school.

With 25 gold, 16 silver and 20 bronze medals, Topaz House, beat Emerald House to the second position (18 gold, 32 silver and 27 bronze medals). Garnet House and Sapphire House took the third and fourth positions with 15 gold, 12 silver, 12 bronze, and 14 gold, 18 silver, 11 bronze medals respectively.

Despite a good start by the Emerald team, the athletes could maintain their lead, allowing Topaz to outshine them in the 200m, 100m, 4x100m, Long jump, and the march past events.
It was indeed an exciting moment for the
students, teachers and guardians who came out en masse to cheer up their teams.

At the end of the event, Odunsi Kiki and
Gbadamosi Rasheedat from Topaz House, clinched the Best Athletes (boys and girls), just as Queens College, Yaba, Trinity College, and Corona Secondary School, came first, second and third respectively in the girls invitational
relay.

Speaking after the prize presentation, the
principal of the school, Andrew Jedras,
commended the school teachers, parents and the participants for their efforts, while stressing the importance of sports in the educational curricula.

According to him, “for us here at Atlantic Hall, it has become imperative to instill into our wards different knowledge, and sports happens to be one of them. Sports helps the student tovfocus and think more, that is why we made it mandatory for everybody to participate in this competition.”

School gets Hybrid Library by Oil firm

Texaco Nigeria Outershelf at the weekend in Agenebode, Etsako East Local Council of Edo state donates a hybrid library to St. Peters Grammar School, a project it said  was to enhance learning capacity of students and teachers.

At the ceremony, Director Deepwater and PSCS, Jeffrey Ewing represented by Tom Akhagbosu, said the  project was part of the company's investment plan"and it has been implemented worth the support of the government and people of Edo state".

He said partnership was one of the core values in Chevron companies adding that other education initiatives include scholarship scheme for secondary school and university students. Every year no fewer than 6,000 students including the visually impaired, benefit from the NNPC/ Chevron Scholarship awards.

He said the library is equipped with 21 internet ready computers, server database of electronic books stored locally on the server, VSAT internet connection which he said is intended to "connect this school with its peers internationally.
On its part, Group General Manager (GGM) National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), Jonathan Okey, represented by Ahmed Abdulahi, said one of the major challenge in the oil sector is the dearth of skilled manpower adding that the project was a successful partnership that could reduce the challenge.

Meanwhile, as part of activities to encourage youths on skill acquisition, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)  House of Representative candidate for Akoko-Edo federal constituency, Oladele-Bankole Balogun, weekend commenced the training and empowerment of 200 youths on various skills.

Speaking at the commencement programme at the Civic Center in Ibillo, Akoko-Edo Local Council, he said he was moved to sponsor the programme because of his natural love for youths and the desire to create employment opportunity for youths in the locality.

NDE empowers 20 graduates on Solar energy scheme in Ondo

The National Directorate of Employment (NDE) on Wednesday 28 of January 2015, in Akure, the capital of Ondo state, graduated 20 unemployed graduates in the Solar Energy Training Scheme (SETS) to improve on the erractic power supply and provide opportunities for self- reliance.

This Scheme was initiated to empower the unemployed youths in the country and to provide an alternative for the erratic power supply of the nation that would cater for the needs of the people at large.

The Director-General of rhe Directorate, Mallam Abubakar Mohammed, stated that SETS was one of the renewable energy training schemes designed to generate employment for unemployed graduates of tertiary institutions across Nigeria, which would in diverse ways improve the economy of the nation.

The Ondo State Coordinator of NDE, Joseph Olayinka said tje schemes were also to explore new areas of job creation for youths to develop crtical sectors of the economy and meet multiple needs.

According to him, "Energy is one of the essential infrastructure components needed for urban and rural  economic development and there is rhe enormous demands for it in Nigeria and the sector potential for employment.

So, NDE sought for other means of energy production and adopted Renewable energy Training Scheme as one of its strategies for employment generation."

He explained further that SETS equips unemployed graduates with skills for energy harvest, installation and maintenance of solar power facilities for sustainable self-reliance and to improve electricity power generation for economic development in Nigeria.

"Tosay, a number of 700 unemployed grafuates across the federation are trained in the design, procurement, installation and maintenance of solar equipment for its harvesting foe electricity generation.

This is our modest contribution of relevant skilled manpower to development and improvement of our energy sector, so i urge the graduats to become vibrant wmployers of labour that will positively affect theis generation," he said.

BECOME A TRAINEE, visit the website to view thier Trainee Programs and fill our Online Registration Form. National Directorate of Employment Official Website
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ASUU splits over LASU crisis

CITING several problems facing the Lagos State
University (LASU), the Academic Staff Union of
Universities (ASUU), Lagos Zone, on Tuesday 27 January
called on the State governor and Visitor to the
institution, Babatunde Fashola (SAN) to send
visitation panel to LASU.
Addressing reporters at the University of Lagos
(UNILAG) ASUU secretariat, the Zonal
Coordinator, Dr. Adeola Nassir, said that the
situation in LASU had worsened, even as the
institution is gradually sliding into chaos.
But as this was ongoing in UNILAG, Akoka,
another faction of ASUU in LASU, at a briefing
held on the Ojo campus of the institution,
disassociated themselves on Wednesday 28 of january 2015 #8217;s
protest.

The group, allegedly loyal to the Vice
Chancellor, Prof. John Obafunwa, claimed there
is peace in the university, except for “some
external forces” trying to instigate some
disgruntled members of the union to foment
trouble and distabilise the system.
Nassir informed that the Vice Chancellor of the
institution, Obafunwa, had defiled several efforts
to restore peace and remove LASU from the
map of crises.

He expressed disappointment that the visitor
to LASU (Fashola) has still not yielded to
several calls made by the union to investigate
the crises at the institution.

According to him, “Developments at LASU have
since gone from bad to worse due to what we
perceived as witch-hunting of our members by
the LASU administration coupled with crass
incompetence, borne out of poor vision and
warped mindset of the vice chancellor.
“Ranging from the issue of withholding of
ASUU-LASU check-off dues, to irregular
appointments and promotions; interdiction of
Prof Tunde Fatunde; withdrawal of Ph.D
certificates of ASUU-LASU chairman, Dr.
Adekunle Idris; interference with the union’s
internal matters and denial of regularisation
interview to two temporary appointees.”
Other issues as raised by the union includes,
violations of rules and regulations governing the
university; the state of LASU consult and
ventures; and his full time tenure offices as the
vice chancellor and Chief Medical Examiner of
Lagos State.

“With this double standards, how can he
(Obafunwa) sits down and think out progressive
idea on how to move LASU forward? It is clear
to us that Obafunwa is never tired of instigating
crises for LASU and government just cover his
incompetence.

“Our union is disturbed that the Lagos State
government has continued to turn its face away
from these brazen anomalies. We therefore
wondered what level of crisis would prompt
government to act right and act fast in arresting
the drift at LASU.

“For the umpteenth time, we are asking that
the governor should call Obafunwa to order
whilst at the same time setting up visitation to
LASU immediately. The alternative is to watch
LASU snowball into more crises with the
attendant implications.”

To make their dissatisfaction known to the
state government and the public, the group in
yesterday’s protest at Alausa described
Obafunwa’s administration as anti-intellectual
and autocratic, challenging Fashola to call the
VC to order before the situation becomes
uncontrollable.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the ASUU-LASU
Caretaker Committee, Ayodele Asokere, at the
Ojo briefing, dissociated his group from the
protests.
Asokere said the protest was uncalled for and
should be disregarded, saying “it is a ploy to
lure the LASU students into political thuggery
and violence.

According to him, “I want to quickly address
the call to yesterday’s protest by one Comrade
Aremu of JAF. Many text messages have been
circulated in the last few days by one unknown
Dr. Idris, giving reasons for the protest.
“Some of the reasons given were victimisation
of students and lecturers. Secondly, they cited
an intention to increase LASU school fees and
thirdly they mentioned disruption of academic
freedom.

“We are constrained to state that such a rally
is not justified for now especially since the
university has just begun a new academic
session after the smooth and successful
completion of the 2013/2014 session.”
The ASUU-LASU said their findings after so
much consultation have not revealed any
intention to hike LASU fees, even as he said no
case of victimization have been established and
that academic freedom in the university is
guaranteed.
Asokere said: “Therefore, all the reasons stated
in the text messages are baseless and
unfounded. It is clear that some mischievous
individuals are bent on disrupting the peace and
progress in LASU and this individuals are
colluding with external agents to achieve their
devilish ends.”

The ASUU-LASU leadership enjoined LASU
students to steer clear of the planned protest
and avoid anything that could jeopardise their
future as well as the smooth running of the
university’s academic calendar.

“Students need to be informed that political
thuggery may come in different guises including
this one that wears the cloak of a peaceful rally.
Parents are therefore advised not to allow their
children and wards to be used by agents of
political parties who are disguising to be
unionists.

“Parents, please be alerted that those who are
calling for the disruption of academic calender in
LASU do not have their children or wards in
LASU but in private universities in the country
where they pay astronomical fees. Please, do
not be used by some insincere individuals to
achieve some selfish ends,” Asokere said.

'30 per cent budget on education’

Since the Coordinating Minister of the Economy,
Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, presented the 2015
budget estimates of about N4.358trillion to the
National Assembly out of which N492, 034billion
was proposed for education, some observers
have contended that the vote still fell short of
UNESCO’s 26 per cent recommendation and
was not likely to effect change in the troubled
sector. However, former Executive Secretary,
National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof
Peter Okebukola in this interview with UJUNWA
ATUEYI clarified the true stance of the budget.
Okebukola who is also the President of UNESCO
Global University Network for Innovation (GUNI)
Africa and Chairman of Council of University of
West Africa, advised that the budget proposal
be raised to 30 per cent, among other issues.
Excerpts:
THE 2015 budget as revealed by the Federal
Government showed a proposal of N492,
034billion for education out of N4.3trillion
national budget. In the 2011 budget,
N306.3bn was allocated to education; in
2012(N400.15bn); in 2013(N426.53bn); and (N
493b) in 2014 representing 10.7 per cent of the
N4.6tn national budget in that year. Looking at
this analysis, what is your perception about this
trend?
The trend of course is far from encouraging
considering the deplorable state of our
education system. We need to at least triple the
current allocation to shake off the ignoble state
of the system by applying the funds largely to
significantly improve facilities for teaching and
learning, teacher quality and welfare and
curriculum delivery. We need the funds to break
down obstacles to access of over 10 million
out-of-school children. We need the funds to
improve school safety. We need the funds to
improve reading culture among our youths and
for overall improvement in the quality of delivery
of education.
I should stress that the 10.7 per cent you
quoted only gives a narrow view of the
anticipated picture of funding education in
Nigeria in 2015. My research group estimates
the proportion, nationally, to be above 20 per
cent, when we factor in budgets from state
governments and from budgets of intervention
agencies notably the Universal Basic Education
Commission (UBEC) and Tertiary Education
Trust Fund (TETFund).
In 2015, UBEC and TETFund alone will inject
not less than N100 billion into basic and higher
education respectively which are not captured in
the regular national budget which you are
referring to. This is aside from funds which
SURE-P will provide to support education.
We also need to realise that the budget
proposal of N492,034 bn for education going to
the national assembly for appropriation is only
for funding education at the federal level. This
will service only federal tertiary institutions
(about a third of the total number in Nigeria),
104 Unity Colleges (less than 0.002 per cent of
the national total), 25 parastatals of the Federal
Ministry of Education and the Federal Ministry of
Education itself. Each of the 36 states and the
FCT will also present their education budgets to
their respective State Assemblies. When
aggregated together alongside the contribution
of the intervention agencies, we will have a
proportion in the neighbourhood of 23 per cent.
Does it mean that the 26 per cent United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organisation (UNESCO) recommendation is not
realisable?
The 26 per cent figure often ascribed to
UNESCO is mythical. It only exists in the
Nigerian literature on education. I suspect that
it is a figure that arose out of a
recommendation of a localised UNESCO
meeting, which probably held in Nigeria
sometime in the past and does not bind the
entire organisation. I have had to ask two
Directors-General of UNESCO about this figure
and they claim not to be aware of it. For
Nigeria, I believe we should strive for a minimum
of 30 per cent for the next 20 years to clear the
mess in the sector.
Clearly, 30 per cent is realisable for if there is
a will, there is a way. Lip service in funding is
what education generously gets in Nigeria. I am
aware that other sectors such as health,
agriculture and security are important and will
also desire generous funding. What our leaders
fail to realise and appreciate is that education is
the antidote to challenges in all other sectors. It
is often said that education cannot solve all of
society’s problems but without education no
solution is possible.
What we should do in my view is to elevate
funding to education at the federal, state and
local government levels for the next 20 years
with the collateral effect of lowering funding in
other sectors. After 20 years when quality
education is on solid ground for all citizens, the
allocation to education can then slide
downwards for other sectors to enjoy a hike in
their budgetary allocation. It is a matter of
careful planning and continuity in the
implementation of government policies on
education at all levels.
One important point to note as I conclude my
answer to this question is the judicious use of
the funds, albeit meagre, which is allocated and
released for education. There is a lot of leakage
and corruption in the system that the more we
throw money into the sector, the more money
becomes available to be “chopped”. There is the
need, therefore, to install a robust accountability
and probity mechanism into the financial
operations in the sector (and of course, other
sectors) so that as much as possible, all
financial leakages are plugged.
With these allocations, what is the place of
Nigeria (being the Giant of Africa) when
compared to other African countries?
Let me answer this question with some
empirical data. As leader of an African Union-
European Union project, which studied the
quality of university education in 2014, my team
found a generally poor quality of higher
education systems in all 54 African countries
that we studied in comparison with Europe and
North America. Within this gloomy picture, it is
bittersweet to note that the Nigerian university
system rated among the best in Africa. It is
proverbially said that if you have not visited the
farm of others, you will believe that your
father’s farm is either the best or the worst.
Aside from South Africa and Egypt, our data
showed that no other national university system
in Africa matched the quality of curriculum, staff
and students of the Nigerian university system.
At international conferences, Nigerian scholars
are rated among the best in terms of quality of
participation. Students trained in Nigerian
universities are highly sought after for
postgraduate studies in European and North
American universities and during postgraduate
training, they perform among the best.
On the not-so-pleasing side, our data revealed
that relative to many other countries in Africa,
Europe and North America, Nigerian universities
are poor in infrastructure, reading culture is poor
among students and research culture among
staff is weak. If we elevate the performance of
our universities on the variables of quality of
infrastructure, quality of research and improve
reading culture among our students, no nation
in Africa will come anywhere near the tall
standing of the Nigerian university system in
terms of the quality of process and quality of
products.
This is the task for those who will be steering
governance in Nigeria after the February 2015
elections. We need to balance quality with
quantity in delivering university education. The
rate of expansion in enrolment should match the
rate of provision of facilities and human
resources. We need to reduce financial leakages
and profligate spending by political and other
office holders so as to free funds for better
funding of our universities.
If the Nigerian university system is rated among
the best in Africa as you said, despite the
shortfall in funding, what kind of system do you
think we will have if education in general is
adequately funded?
If education in general in Nigeria were better
funded, we will have a country that will parade
the best statistics in the world in health,
education, security, economy, environment,
agriculture, science and technology and in other
sectors. We will have a country, which the
Chairman of the NUC Board while I was
Executive Secretary, Alhaji Maitama Sule,
envisions to be paradise on earth. We will have
a country that will lead Africa to claim the 21st
century. As Executive Secretary of NUC between
2001 and 2006, I confirm that the Obasanjo
administration ensured a huge jump in funding
of our universities which translated to
significant improvement in the global ranking of
our universities in 2007. Since we did this
before, we can do it again across the education
sector.
I should stress that the condition of adequate
funding is only just necessary to make us get to
that dreamland. It is not sufficient. It will
become sufficient when we have truly
nationalistic, corruption-intolerant and God-
fearing leaders at all levels of governance and in
both the public and private sectors. I am not
talking about the president or state governors or
managing directors of private companies. I am
talking about these and all those who are in
leadership including vice-chancellors, principals
of secondary schools, head teachers of primary
schools, heads of academic departments in
universities, polytechnics and colleges of
education. May God give us such worthy
leaders.
Would you say that the present administration
has shown serious attention to educational
development?
No doubt, the present administration has done
well in many areas on education development.
Several areas notably access and quality are
still struggling to be served. You know I am not
a politician but an academic, so I will provide an
unbiased assessment.
Let us take 2014 as example. There were at
least 12 defining events in the education sector
in Nigeria in 2014. It is possible to cluster these
as the good, the bad and the ugly. On the good
and positive entries in the report card are the
improved performance of candidates in the May/
June Senior School Certificate examination
conducted by WAEC; increase in access as
additional 982,000 were enrolled nationwide in
the basic education system and the carrying
capacity of the 129 universities leapt to about
1,000,000. Recall that the present
administration established 12 new federal
universities and the Presidential Special
Scholarship Scheme for Innovation and
Development.
We also had the establishment of more Almajiri
schools to depress the number of out-of-school
children, which was put at about 10 million. The
curriculum at all levels enjoyed some positive
tweaking by NERDC, NCCE, NBTE, and NUC.
NUC’s action was particularly striking in
entrenching an improved entrepreneurship
studies programme in Nigerian universities
whose positive impact showed during the
national entrepreneurship fair in December 2014.
Funding for physical development and research
by TETFund was above the N80 billion mark
during the year. These six events were blue
marks on the report card.
On the “bad” and negative (red) entries in the
education report card in 2014 are four notable
events. The woeful performance of candidates in
the November/December senior school
certificate examination with more than 50 per
cent failing to earn five credits in English,
Mathematics and three other subjects is one.
Also, teacher quality across all levels of the
education system remained generally shameful
and unacceptably low. Quality of buildings and
other teaching-learning infrastructure did not
significantly improve and so is the poor reading
culture among students.
The “ugly” entry on the report card on school
safety has put Nigeria on the dark side of the
world map. This entry includes the alleged
slaughter by Boko Haram of 43 secondary
school students in Federal Government College,
Buni Yadi in February and the abduction in April
of about 200 girls from Government Secondary
School in Chibok. Taken together, the overall
score shown in the education report card at the
state and federal levels is far from the pass
grade. If I were the class teacher of this student
known as Nigeria, I will make the following
closing comments on the 2014 performance in
education: “You need to buckle up next session.
You were rather too laid back with severe
consequences for your future. Work harder in
the area of access, teacher quality and
facilities.”
The 2015 general elections will commence in
less than one month, what advice do you have
for Nigerians as regards electing credible
leaders.
I will advise Nigerians including myself to “shine
our eyes” and not be fooled or hoodwinked by
sweet talks of the politicians who are interested
only in their pockets. We should vote according
to our conscience and in line with what we
believe the politician can deliver by way of
dividends of democracy. This is why education
is important. With a current illiterate population
of about 30 per cent, more will be hoodwinked.
With more money to education, illiteracy rate
will depress and the electorate will be wiser
when casting votes and selecting their leaders.

Written by UJUNWA ATUEYI

http://m.ngrguardiannews.com

Endless Youth Media Creativity Summit 2015

Education in the early part of the twentieth century tended to focus on the acquisition of basic skills and content knowledge, like reading, writing, calculation, history or science. 

Many experts believe that success in the twenty-first century depends on education that treats higher order skills, like the ability to think, solve complex problems or interact critically through language and media.

 The 10th Summit (ENDLESS YOUTH MEDIA CREATIVITY, 

http://iyms.info/iyms will be held in Belgrade, Serbia (July 27th to August 7th 2015). 

The Summit will be focused on intercultural, innovative and interactive educational technologies, media and information literacy and the development of film, TV, radio and Internet tools for communication, cooperation and positive change in society. Our goal is to work on Media like tool for Conflict Resolution, to include as many young people as possible from the Western Balkans Region (especially from marginalized groups of young people, rural population, sexual minorities, the Roma population, young people with disabilities etc.).

 Also, we would like to promote (multi) media education as the best tool for development in a sustainable society (fast, understandable and exchangeable), supporting social justice in a multicultural environment and building interactive educational platforms for effective social inclusion, to help in understanding differences, to uphold the right to participate and to build New Media Pedagogy. 

 Call for participation: International Youth Media Summit is Global Youth Movement, an autonomous and inclusive charity association of civil society organizations, including individuals, private companies, corporations and associations, active in the field of new models of Education, Media, Intercultural Dialogue and Cultural Diversity, working in close partnership with the UN Alliance of Civilizations, its mission, its programs and its partners and with permanent cooperation with UNESCO and their Section for Media Development and Society!

 REGULATORY PRINCIPALS, COMMITMENTS to: 

 . important role of youth in shaping future; 

 . new models of interactive education like the most important tool for changing;

 . Media, Information and Peace Literacy; . diversity, peace, progress; 

 . cultural rights, human rights and justice; 

 . honesty, openness and accountability; 

 . collaboration between the members at Country level, the Countries on the Continental level, and the Members on the Global level; 

 . socially responsible entrepreneurship. 

 JOIN US!MORE at http://iyms.info/iyms Best regards, Miomir Rajcevic Executive Director, 

International Youth Media Summit Headquarter:

 Obilicev venac 21, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia  www.iyms.info

N10,000 entrance exam fee into Lagos model schools condemned

*Govt begins sales of forms
THE Education Rights Campaign (ERC) has
called on Lagos State Government to reverse the
N10,000 placement test fee for pupils seeking
admission into the state’s Model Colleges/
Upgraded Junior Secondary Schools (JSSI) for
the 2015/2016 academic session.
Al statement made available to The Guardian
and signed by the National Coordinator, Hassan
Taiwo Soweto
and National Secretary, Michael Ogundele,
informed that the
b decision of Governor Fashola led administration
to charge parents and guardians N10, 000 fee
for screening test into the state’s Model schools
is unlawful.
social responsibility and given the glaring deficit
in Nigeria’s school population especially to the
disadvantage of the girl child, it is expected that
government would make effort to ensure that
less of the cost of education is put on parents
and guardians in order to promote enrolment.
We demand that the decision to charge the said
amount be immediately reversed in the interest
of the good people of the State.”
“It is unfortunate that soon after the Lagos
State University (LASU) was rescued from a
debilitating astronomical hike in fees, the Lagos
State government is looking towards the Junior
Secondary subsector to implement its anti-poor
motives and agenda for public education.”
“We urge the State government to live up to its
much-advertised free education policy. It is
nothing but a show of shame when a
government claims to be implementing free
education while it at the same time imposes on
parents and guardians all kinds of charges
running into thousands.”
Meanwhile a statement previously released by
the State’s Ministry of Education, informed that
the State has commenced the sales of forms for
the screening test for admission of primary six
pupils into JSS1 of its Model Colleges/Upgraded
Junior Secondary Schools for the 2015/2016
academic session.
The State Commissioner for Education, Mrs.
Olayinka Oladunjoye, in the statement, explained
that two versions of the screening tests will be
adopted this year adding that there will be the
Computer Based Test (CBT), open to only about
b 20 to 30 interested candidates that will like to
participate in the pilot scheme and the regular
Pencil Based Test (PBT) with computer answer
sheet.
She informed that the registration of
candidates could be done through a customised
CD that will be issued to candidates by the
State Examination Board upon the payment of
the sum of N10,000 per candidate payable into
any branch of Fidelity bank with account number
5030000739, agency code 4280011 and revenue
code 40200045; Skye bank with account number
1770602459, agency code 280011 and revenue
code 40200045; and FCMB with account number
L 0135582205, agency code 4280011 and revenue
code 40200045.
She further stated that the screening test is
the only yardstick for admission of pupils into
JSS1 in any of the state’s 15 Model Colleges
across the six education districts.
The screening test is scheduled to hold on
Saturday, May 9, 2015 at the various designated
centers, while the pilot scheme of the CBT will
hold at the ICT/Computer Centre of the State
Examinations Board, Agege.
She urged members of the public, parents,
guardians, head teachers, proprietors and
proprietress of primary schools in the state to
beware of the information and be guided
accordingly.
The 15 Model Colleges/Upgraded Schools
include Lagos State Model Junior College,
Meiran; Vetland Junior Grammar School, Ifako
Iyaiye; Lagos State Model Junior College,
Igbokuta; Lagos State Civil Service Model Junior
College, Igbogbo; Oriwu Model Junior College,
Ikorodu; Government Junior College, Ikorodu;
Eva Adelaja Memorial Junior Secondary School,
Bariga; Lagos State Model Junior College,
Badore; Lagos State Model Junior College,
Igbonla; and Lagos State Model Junior College,
Agbowa.
Others are Government Junior College, Ketu-Epe;
Epe Junior Grammar School, Epe; Lagos State
Model Junior College, Kankon; Lagos State
Model Junior College, Ojo; and Badagry Junior
Grammar School, Badagry.
The sales of forms will close on Friday, April 3,
2015.

Social Media is interesting, lively, people are there for fun,social life, entertainment business #School #SocialMedia Some Organization Website's infor are obsolete,y nt use d Social Media 2b Global&save cost Mail: iseoluwa.iyiola@gmail.com

Nigeria and Social Media

With a population of 167 million and 56 million internet
users as at December 2012,

Nigeria is the biggest
internet market in Africa. Of the 115 million mobile
telephone subscribers in the country, 35 million use their
handheld devices to access internet data services.

Between 2000 and 2012, internet penetration grew from
a paltry 0.06 percent to 34 percent, and there are
indications that this trend will continue well into 2020.

Nigeria will remain the largest internet market on the
continent in the near future because it has a large youth
population (one-third of the population is between the
10-24 years age bracket) and a growing middle class
estimated at 23 percent (appx. 39 million) of the
population by Renaissance Capital in 2011.

Nigeria has
a fast-growing number of the two classes which
traditionally drive internet usage around the world.

In Nigeria, there is a draught in a comprehensive
attempt to profile Nigeria’s online users and to give a
description of what they do online, where they do it,
what devices they use to access the internet, and the
factors which affect what they do online at any
particular time.

Thus BusinessDay Research and
Intelligence Unit (BRIU) has investigated the trends and
has a comprehensive report on these behaviours.

Excerpts of the survey section of the report are detailed
below.

Survey methodology

Conducted between May and July 2013, the survey
randomly drew respondents from Lagos (82 percent),
the FCT, Delta, Edo, Ekiti, Imo, Kogi, Ogun and Rivers
online.

An online portal which was programmed to
reduce the incidence of multiple responses from single
individuals was deployed. Questionnaires were then
distributed across multiple channels including Facebook,
LinkedIn, Yahoo, Gmail and specific company email
addresses.

While an online survey methodology allows for
tremendous scale and reach, it provides a perspective
only on the habits of existing internet users, which are
the focus of the research. Additionally, survey responses
are based on claimed behaviour.

Most of the respondents are employees in the financial
services industry (29 percent), manufacturing outfits (5
percent), public sector/civil servants (20 percent),
agriculture (3 percent), while media, ICT and oil and gas
account for 45 percent.

More than half are mid-level management staff; senior
management staffs make up 16 percent of sampled
individuals, while non-management personnel make up
21 percent of respondents. Only 7 percent are business
owners.

Gadgets used to access the internet
There is a clear pattern in the distribution of gadgets
used to access the internet. Laptops are the most
popular.

They constitute 62 percent of gadgets used to
surf the web. Phones and desktops account for 49
percent and 47 percent of gadgets used, while tablets
account for the lowest percentage, 24 percent (most
respondents use a combination of gadgets).

We believe that the preponderance of mobile computers
has adversely affected the trend in gadgets used for
internet access as more and more individuals are
interested in platforms which avail them of the internet
on the “go”.

Based on this, we expect further increase in
the demand for more mobile computers as more
individuals transit from the traditional cathode ray tube
systems to lighter, more energy-efficient computers.

Also, we see an expansion of demand for mobile internet
bundles.

An examination of the responses based on gender
reveals that, apart from tablets, females are more likely
to use light gadgets than males, but there is no
significant difference in the percentage of usage across
gender.

But the preponderance of tablets is higher among males
than females. Response pattern does not show an
established variation between age and the type of
devices used to access the internet.

Brands used to surf the internet

Respondents were asked if they use particular brands
for online access. Their responses present a
kaleidoscope of information which gadget marketers and
makers can use for strategic campaigns. They were
asked along phone, laptop, desktop and tablet lines.

Phone brands

More than half of respondents use BlackBerry
smartphones for internet access while Nokia and
Samsung account for 24 percent and 19 percent,
respectively, of gadgets used to access the web. Other
important bands include the iPhone which is used by 5
percent of respondents, and Sony Ericsson, used by 2
percent of respondents.

We believe that the Sony Ericsson brand is yet to make
a major mark on the Nigerian phone user; also, though

Apple products are considered as premium in the
country and are thus used by a select few, pricing can,
however, tilt this equation in favour of the brand.
Both brands may gain more ground through advertising,
putting in place some price discrimination in favour of
the Nigerian market which is still very fruitful for
smartphone users.

For the low-end market, Nokia
phones seem to dominate the market with other brands,
mainly from Asia, making a significant entry into the
market.

When gender is factored into the equation, the picture
seems to be a little more detailed as a higher
percentage of females use BlackBerry smartphones than
males. Sixty-seven percent of phones used by females
and almost half (45 percent) of phones used by male
respondents to access the internet are BlackBerry
handsets.

For the male segment of the market, 21 percent use
Samsung smartphones while 17 percent of females who
took the survey use the Samsung brand for internet
access. Nokia accounts for 27 percent of phones used
by males for access while the brand accounts for 8
percent of phones used by females.

Laptop brands

Data from respondents shows that HP brand come top
among the brands used to access the internet by
respondents. We believe that this can be used as a
proxy for the most popular laptop brands in Nigeria.

The brand accounts for over a three quarter of laptops
used by respondents to access the internet and 61
percent of desktops used. Also, correlated with HP is
the Compaq brand which also accounts for a significant
portion (13 percent) of laptops which respondents say
they use online.

Dell is also a formidable brand in Nigeria as it accounts
for 13 percent of laptops and 18 percent of desktops
used to access the internet by respondents. Other
important brands which respondents indicate that they
use are Acer, Mac and Samsung. These brands
represent a minor percentage of computers used by
respondents.

It is not obvious that there is an age or gender bias to
the use of any particular brand. A male is equally likely
to use a HP laptop or desktop as a female. What is,
however, different is that males seem to exploit a more
assorted array of brands while females use the
traditionally known brands.

Tablets

The share of tablets as gadgets used to access the
internet relative to other gadgets is still small. However,
Samsung and Apple products account for all tablets
used by respondents.
For the males and females sampled, Samsung tablets
account for a higher portion of tablets in use. They
account for 60 percent of gadgets among males and 67
percent for females.

Thus for every one iPad in use,
there are at least two Samsung tablets. Difference
across the age brackets for particular brands is not
obvious.

How respondents use the internet

The main reason respondents browse the internet is to
search for information. Other major reasons include
sending emails and work.
As many as 84 percent are online for information
gathering purposes, 81 percent use the platform mainly
to send e-mails, while for 76 percent it is part of their
work tools.

Though social media is important to users,
only 45 percent of those sampled see it as the major
reason they go online.
From the responses, it can be inferred that there is less
buying and selling activity online among respondents
compared to other online activities. Only 7 percent of
them see buying and selling as a major reason they are
on the internet, while 19 percent see paying for services
as a major reason for being online.

Finally, 26 percent of
all respondents consider checking bank accounts as a
major reason for going online.
We believe there is a vacuum in online sales and
marketing in Nigeria even as internet penetration
continues to grow.

But there is evidence that more
individuals have embraced internet banking compared to
buying and selling online. Trust, access to online
payment infrastructure and knowledge of how these
processes work have been identified as clogs in the
wheel of online buying and selling business in Nigeria.

We believe that continued reinforcement of publicity on
how the whole process works and how safe and easy it
is can significantly tilt the equation in favour of online
buying and selling in the country.

Viewed from the point of view of gender, the major
activities carried out online are the same. But while 6
percent of females see buying items online as a major
reason for being on the internet, only 1 percent of males
have the same view. Also, while 8 percent of female
respondents see paying for services as a major reason
for being on the internet, only 4 percent of males have
the same view.

Social media sites with the buzz

Across the website types, social media accounted for by
far more traffic. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, My Space,
Tumblr and Instagram were among the social media
platforms investigated in the survey. Of the lot, 73
percent of the respondents said they are active on

Facebook daily, 35 percent are active on Twitter, while
LinkedIn accounts for 25 percent of social media
presence. On the other hand, Tumblr, My Space and
Instagram are yet to make any impact on respondents.
Their combined patronage is less than 2 percent of
respondents.

All the females that took the survey say they visit
Facebook regularly, while more than a three quarter use
Tweeter. Sixty-four percent of respondents say they use
LinkedIn and Skype, respectively, while Google+ and
Whatsapp are used by half of female respondents,
respectively.

Less popular sites among females include
Instagram and Pintrest. Both sites account for less than
15 percent of female traffic.
We believe this information is important to brand
advertisers and publishers who work on female-sensitive
brands.

Targeting online advert in the direction of
websites with most of the female traffic will create the
level of brand resonance, reach and reaction which
advertisers seek. Since more women frequent these
sites, the probability that an online campaign targeted
through them will succeed is higher.

Not all male respondents visit Facebook. Only 97
percent of male respondents have Facebook accounts
and use them regularly, though this is significant.

LinkedIn is the second most important social media site
visited by males, more than half (56 percent) of all
respondents to the survey use it.

Google+, Y-Messenger, Skype, and Tweeter are used by
an average of 50 percent of respondents, while sites like

My Space and Instagram have very low penetration
among those sampled.
Advertisers and media executives who want to engender
brand awareness can use the information contained in
the complete report for selecting the best platform for
online ads.

What sites do people visit using mobile devices?

One important finding in the survey is that the amount
of traffic sites enjoyed is different depending on what
each site offers. But even among sites which offer the
same services, there are more hits for some sites than
others.

Respondents to the survey were asked about the
websites they visit most on their mobile phones and the
results show that Facebook, Yahoo, Google and
newspaper sites have the highest patronage.

As many as 73 percent of the respondents said they use
Facebook on the go, while Tweeter and LinkedIn have
35 percent and 30 percent of respondents’ attention.

The survey shows that MySpace, Instagram and Tumblr
have gained little ground in Nigeria. Their average
patronage is less than 2 percent of respondents.

Apart from social media, Yahoo, Gmail and newspaper
websites are the most frequented. Sixty-five percent of
respondents visit Yahoo daily, 44 percent of
respondents visit Gmail and newspaper websites sites
daily, while recruitment sites attract 13 percent of
traffic.

Also important is the level of attention received
by Nigerian and foreign corporate sites: they attract 12
percent and 19 percent of traffic, respectively.
Conclusion
Nigeria presents an exciting environment for ISP and
online advertisers. But understanding the dynamics of
the internet and the way those who use it do will go a
long way to engender their success. The online
environment is very dynamic and the most recent
information must be obtained as soon as it is available.

Courtesy: http://businessdayonline.com 2013

Researches shows girls lead boys in academicachievement globally

CONSIDERABLE attention has been paid to how
boys’ educational achievements in science and
math compare to girls’ accomplishments in
those areas, often leading to the assumption
that boys outperform girls in these areas.
Now, using international data, researchers
at the University of Missouri, United States, and
the University of Glasgow in Glasgow, Scotland,
have determined that girls outperform boys in
educational achievement in 70 per cent of the
countries they studied regardless of the level of
gender, political, economic or social equality.

Curators Professor of Psychological
Sciences in the College of Arts and Science at
MU, David Geary, said: “We studied the
educational achievement levels of 1.5 million
15-year-olds from around the world using data
collected between 2000 and 2010,” “Even in
countries where women’s liberties are severely
restricted, we found that girls are outperforming
boys in reading, mathematics, and science
literacy by age 15, regardless of political,
economic, social or gender equality issues and
policies found in those countries.”

According to the data, boys fall behind girls
in overall achievement across reading,
mathematics, and science in 70 percent of the
countries studied. Boys outperform girls in only
three countries or regions: Colombia, Costa Rica
and the Indian state, Himachal Pradesh. Boys
and girls had similar educational achievements
in the United States and United Kingdom.
In countries known for relatively low gender
equality ratings, such as Qatar, Jordan and the
United Arab Emirates, the educational
achievement gap is relatively large and favours
girls.

The one exception worldwide is among
students in economically developed nations
where high achieving boys outperform high
achieving girls, researchers said.
“With the exception of high-achievers, boys
have poorer educational outcomes than girls
around the world, independent of social equality
indicators,” said Gijsbert Stoet, reader in
psychology at the University of Glasgow.

“Results show that a commitment to gender
equality on its own is not enough to close the
achievement gaps in global education; the gap
is not increasing. Although it is vital that we
promote gender equality in schools, we also
need to make sure that we’re doing more to
understand why these gaps, especially among
boys, persist and what other policies we can
develop to close them.”

The study also has important implications for
educational policy, the researchers said.
“The data will influence how policymakers
think about the options available,” said Geary.

“For example, to increase levels of equal
opportunities in education. We believe that
policymakers and educators should not expect
that broad progress in social equality will
necessarily result in educational equality. In
fact, we found that with the exception of high
achievers, boys have poorer educational
outcomes than girls around the world,
independent of social equality indicators.

Therefore, in order to effectively close the gaps
in achievement, education policymakers should
consider factors other than political, economic
and social equality, and especially as related to
boys’ overall achievement and high-achieving
girls’ interest in mathematics and science.”

Graduate programme inpetroleum engineering will soon start in UNILAG

UNILAG to commence graduate programme in petroleum engineering in line with the transformation agenda of the Federal Government in area of effective teaching and learning of oil and gas courses, Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) has
reiterated its commitment to ensure a good number of Nigerian universities are upgraded to international standard.

Speaking shortly after a tour of facility at the Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Lagos (UNILAG), Executive Secretary of the Fund, Mr. Olufemi Ajayi, who led the PTDF inspection team, informed that in an effort to achieve the mandate of the Fund in the area of capacity building, the agency has embarked on human capacity building through institutional upgrade.

The Fund had in 2013 built and handed over a well-equipped structure and facilities worth N800 million to the Chemical Department of UNILAG to enhance teaching and learning and
ensure students in Nigerian universities received world-class training in the oil and gas sector.

The recent visit was to inspect and see if the facilities are being used to achieve the purpose of the Fund.

According to Ajayi: “The essence of the
upgrade is to make the Nigerian universities competitive by providing world class facilities comparable to any tertiary institution anywhere in the world.

We also want to multiply the
number of professionals in the oil and gas sector through the upscaling of Nigerian institutions. So far, these facilities at UNILAG had been replicated in 25 other universities across the country, and we will continue to deliver more.”

“From experience, what we have here is just almost as much as what we have in some of the universities in United Kingdom (UK) and in United States (U.S.) that I have visited, in terms of facilities. If what we have seen here is what is happening in 25 others, it means that PTDF, by extension of the Federal Government, is moving in the right direction.”

He continued: “If oil and gas is the main thing of our economy, if we are investing in chemical and petroleum engineering departments, we are just putting our money where our mouth is. We are doing what we supposed to be doing.

Rather than send students abroad, the training can be done within the shores of Nigeria and students would be able to study in universities here and get the same experience and quality of training.”

Ajayi said that the structures had been put in place to achieve the dream of the President, which is to ensure that Nigeria is one of the 20 most-advanced countries in the world.
“At the end of the day, capacity-building is the first step for any sustainable industrialisation.

If you don’t have manpower, you are just paying lip service to industrialization. As it is, we have taken the first step through the empowerment of all these 26 universities and many more to benefit.

“If all these universities are making active and gainful use of the facilities, you can imagine the spillover effect in the next few years. With this empowerment, the universities will perform maximally in the mandate they have been given
in the area of teaching, research and community service.

“Again, as an agency of government, we have a mandate to increase local content by way of the number of professionals who are involved in production and manufacturing, by way of trying
to encourage the development of local raw materials. So, whatever we produce here in Nigeria, the value that would be added would at least be up to 60 per cent.
“We want the raw materials to be sourced
from our environment, not entirely foreign made.

If we have very virile and effective chemical engineering department in our universities, to produce quality graduates, meaningfully engage in research, when any oil company has challenges, it will be referred to address such challenges rather than going to foreign countries
for solution. Our institutions should be able to address some of those challenges and solve problems that are peculiar to our environment, that is the main objective of this university upgrade.”

Meanwhile, Head, Department of Chemical Engineering, Prof. Adetokunbo Denloye, had announced the willingness of the department to commence graduate courses in Petroleum Engineering.
Denloye, who commended the Fund for its intervention, said with the support of the Fund, all is set for the take-off except for the manpower, which the university is working diligently to achieve.

According to him: “We intend to commence master’s and doctorate programmes in Petroleum Engineering and we require manpower in that department since we have enough members of staff for chemical engineering. We want to encourage our students to come on board. We are in the process of recruiting more members of staff, especially at the higher level, so that we can have someone who can provide academic leadership in the department.

“We are currently in the process. The position has been advertised and right now, we are in the review process and hopefully, before the end of this year, we should be through with that. We
intend to attract the best students and
encourage them to do the master programme and then Ph.D.”, he said.

On the relevance of the course to national
growth, he said: “Chemical Engineering is key, the nation depends mainly on sale of crude oil, what we have not done is to really exploit all the things that come from crude and that is the area which chemical engineering is so versatile.

They add value to crude products. If we have a virile petrochemical industry, it will be yielding significant revenue to the country.”

Lord’s Chosen Int’lSecondary School wins award

IN recognition of their academic prowess for
excellence both local and international, the
Lord’s Chosen International Secondary School,
based in Mgbidi in Oru West, Imo State, has
been given outstanding private schools merit
award.
Disclosing this before the mammoth crowd
that converged at the Chosen International
Secondary School, Mgbidi, for this year’s Mgbidi
crusade, tagged: “God will make you to rejoice”
the principal of the school, Sister Iheoma
Iwumba said: “this is not the first time that the
school is being recognised for its excellent
performance.”
Before she presented the plaque, which the
school won from the Federal Government, the
principal read out the inscription written on it
and it reads: “House of Representatives
Committee on Education in collaboration of with
Family Affairs Consultancy Services Limited
presents outstanding private schools merit
award to Chosen International Secondary
School, Mgbidi in Imo State, in recognition of
your remarkable standard in knowledge
impartation and effective school administration
this day 21, November 2014.”
She attributed the outstanding performance of
the school based on the declarations made by
the General Overseer of the Lord’s Chosen
Charismatic Revival Ministries, Pastor Lazarus
Muoka.
“This award came to us from the federal
government of Nigeria. It actually did not come
to me as a surprise because each time our
Daddy GO visits us here in the school, he would
declare that we are champions that every where
we go that we must surely excel even above our
equals. He has made several declarations about
us and the entire chosen International
secondary school, Mgbidi community,” she
said.
She added: “in fact, they said: “Chosen so you
made it.” I said yes, we made it because my
pastor has always declared that “where I am
not qualified” that his “God will qualify me” so
having anchored our faith in that declaration we
moved forward. What seemed difficult for others
to receive Chosen people received everything
even in excess.”
The school also participated in several other
competitions and won and their name for more
than two occasions entered into the Guinness
World Records.
According to the principal, “Apart from that,
last year, our school emerged the best school in
physics in the whole of Imo State. We also
emerged the best schools in junior science here
in Imo State. There are a whole lot of other
awards at the local government level.”

The Chosen International Secondary School is
a boarding school; where students are trained in
the best academic standard, instill discipline and
fear of God.

‘Nigeria should strive for a minimum of 30 per cent budget on education’

Since the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, presented the 2015 budget estimates of about N4.358trillion to the National Assembly out of which N492, 034billion was proposed for education, some observers have contended that the vote still fell short of UNESCO’s 26 per cent recommendation and was not likely to effect change in the troubled sector.

However, former Executive Secretary,
National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof Peter Okebukola in this interview with UJUNWA ATUEYI clarified the true stance of the budget.

Okebukola who is also the President of UNESCO Global University Network for Innovation (GUNI) Africa and Chairman of Council of University of
West Africa, advised that the budget proposal be raised to 30 per cent, among other issues.

Excerpts:

THE 2015 budget as revealed by the Federal Government showed a proposal of N492, 034billion for education out of N4.3trillion national budget.

In the 2011 budget, N306.3bn was allocated to education; in 2012(N400.15bn); in 2013(N426.53bn); and (N493b) in 2014 representing 10.7 per cent of the N4.6tn national budget in that year.

Looking at this analysis, what is your perception about this trend?

The trend of course is far from encouraging considering the deplorable state of our education system. We need to at least triple the current allocation to shake off the ignoble state of the system by applying the funds largely to significantly improve facilities for teaching and learning, teacher quality and welfare and curriculum delivery.

We need the funds to break down obstacles to access of over 10 million
out-of-school children. We need the funds to improve school safety. We need the funds to improve reading culture among our youths and for overall improvement in the quality of delivery of education.

I should stress that the 10.7 per cent you
quoted only gives a narrow view of the
anticipated picture of funding education in Nigeria in 2015.

My research group estimates the proportion, nationally, to be above 20 per cent, when we factor in budgets from state governments and from budgets of intervention agencies notably the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).

In 2015, UBEC and TETFund alone will inject not less than N100 billion into basic and higher education respectively which are not captured in the regular national budget which you are
referring to. This is aside from funds which SURE-P will provide to support education.

We also need to realise that the budget
proposal of N492,034 bn for education going to the national assembly for appropriation is only for funding education at the federal level.

This will service only federal tertiary institutions (about a third of the total number in Nigeria), 104 Unity Colleges (less than 0.002 per cent of the national total), 25 parastatals of the Federal Ministry of Education and the Federal Ministry of Education itself.

Each of the 36 states and the FCT will also present their education budgets to their respective State Assemblies. When
aggregated together alongside the contribution of the intervention agencies, we will have a proportion in the neighbourhood of 23 per cent.

Does it mean that the 26 per cent United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) recommendation is not realisable?

The 26 per cent figure often ascribed to
UNESCO is mythical. It only exists in the
Nigerian literature on education. I suspect that it is a figure that arose out of a recommendation of a localised UNESCO meeting, which probably held in Nigeria sometime in the past and does not bind the entire organisation. I have had to ask two Directors-General of UNESCO about this figure and they claim not to be aware of it.

For Nigeria, I believe we should strive for a minimum of 30 per cent for the next 20 years to clear the mess in the sector.

Clearly, 30 per cent is realisable for if there is a will, there is a way. Lip service in funding is what education generously gets in Nigeria.

I am aware that other sectors such as health, agriculture and security are important and will also desire generous funding. What our leaders fail to realise and appreciate is that education is the antidote to challenges in all other sectors.

It is often said that education cannot solve all of society’s problems but without education no solution is possible.
What we should do in my view is to elevate funding to education at the federal, state and local government levels for the next 20 years with the collateral effect of lowering funding in other sectors.

After 20 years when quality education is on solid ground for all citizens, the allocation to education can then slide downwards for other sectors to enjoy a hike in their budgetary allocation.

It is a matter of careful planning and continuity in the implementation of government policies on education at all levels.

One important point to note as I conclude my answer to this question is the judicious use of the funds, albeit meagre, which is allocated and released for education. There is a lot of leakage
and corruption in the system that the more we throw money into the sector, the more money becomes available to be “chopped”.

There is the need, therefore, to install a robust accountability and probity mechanism into the financial operations in the sector (and of course, other sectors) so that as much as possible, all financial leakages are plugged.

With these allocations, what is the place of Nigeria (being the Giant of Africa) when
compared to other African countries?

Let me answer this question with some
empirical data. As leader of an African Union- European Union project, which studied the
quality of university education in 2014, my team found a generally poor quality of higher education systems in all 54 African countries that we studied in comparison with Europe and North America.

Within this gloomy picture, it is
bittersweet to note that the Nigerian university system rated among the best in Africa. It is proverbially said that if you have not visited the farm of others, you will believe that your father’s farm is either the best or the worst.

Aside from South Africa and Egypt, our datashowed that no other national university system in Africa matched the quality of curriculum, staff and students of the Nigerian university system.

At international conferences, Nigerian scholars are rated among the best in terms of quality of participation. Students trained in Nigerian universities are highly sought after for postgraduate studies in European and North American universities and during postgraduate
training, they perform among the best.

On the not-so-pleasing side, our data revealed that relative to many other countries in Africa, Europe and North America, Nigerian universities
are poor in infrastructure, reading culture is poor among students and research culture among staff is weak.

If we elevate the performance of our universities on the variables of quality of infrastructure, quality of research and improve reading culture among our students, no nation in Africa will come anywhere near the tall standing of the Nigerian university system in terms of the quality of process and quality of products.

This is the task for those who will be steering governance in Nigeria after the February 2015 elections. We need to balance quality with quantity in delivering university education.

The
rate of expansion in enrolment should match the rate of provision of facilities and human resources. We need to reduce financial leakages and profligate spending by political and other office holders so as to free funds for better funding of our universities.

If the Nigerian university system is rated among the best in Africa as you said, despite the shortfall in funding, what kind of system do you think we will have if education in general is adequately funded?

If education in general in Nigeria were better funded, we will have a country that will parade the best statistics in the world in health, education, security, economy, environment, agriculture, science and technology and in other sectors.

We will have a country, which the
Chairman of the NUC Board while I was
Executive Secretary, Alhaji Maitama Sule,
envisions to be paradise on earth. We will have a country that will lead Africa to claim the 21st century.

As Executive Secretary of NUC between
2001 and 2006, I confirm that the Obasanjo administration ensured a huge jump in funding of our universities which translated to significant improvement in the global ranking of our universities in 2007. Since we did this before, we can do it again across the education sector.

I should stress that the condition of adequate funding is only just necessary to make us get to that dreamland. It is not sufficient. It will become sufficient when we have truly
nationalistic, corruption-intolerant and God-
fearing leaders at all levels of governance and in
both the public and private sectors. I am not
talking about the president or state governors or
managing directors of private companies. I am
talking about these and all those who are in
leadership including vice-chancellors, principals
of secondary schools, head teachers of primary
schools, heads of academic departments in
universities, polytechnics and colleges of
education. May God give us such worthy
leaders.
Would you say that the present administration
has shown serious attention to educational
development?
No doubt, the present administration has done
well in many areas on education development.

Several areas notably access and quality are still struggling to be served. You know I am not a politician but an academic, so I will provide an unbiased assessment.
Let us take 2014 as example. There were at least 12 defining events in the education sector in Nigeria in 2014.

It is possible to cluster these as the good, the bad and the ugly. On the goodand positive entries in the report card are the improved performance of candidates in the May/June Senior School Certificate examination conducted by WAEC; increase in access as additional 982,000 were enrolled nationwide in the basic education system and the carrying capacity of the 129 universities leapt to about 1,000,000. Recall that the present administration established 12 new federal universities and the Presidential Special Scholarship Scheme for Innovation and Development.

We also had the establishment of more Almajiri schools to depress the number of out-of-school children, which was put at about 10 million. The curriculum at all levels enjoyed some positive tweaking by NERDC, NCCE, NBTE, and NUC.

NUC’s action was particularly striking in
entrenching an improved entrepreneurship studies programme in Nigerian universities whose positive impact showed during the national entrepreneurship fair in December 2014.

Funding for physical development and research by TETFund was above the N80 billion mark during the year. These six events were blue marks on the report card.

On the “bad” and negative (red) entries in the education report card in 2014 are four notable events.

The woeful performance of candidates in the November/December senior school
certificate examination with more than 50 per cent failing to earn five credits in English, Mathematics and three other subjects is one.

Also, teacher quality across all levels of the education system remained generally shameful and unacceptably low. Quality of buildings and other teaching-learning infrastructure did not significantly improve and so is the poor reading culture among students.

The “ugly” entry on the report card on school safety has put Nigeria on the dark side of the world map.

This entry includes the alleged slaughter by Boko Haram of 43 secondary school students in Federal Government College, Buni Yadi in February and the abduction in April of about 200 girls from Government Secondary School in Chibok.

Taken together, the overall score shown in the education report card at the state and federal levels is far from the pass grade. If I were the class teacher of this student known as Nigeria, I will make the following closing comments on the 2014 performance in education: “You need to buckle up next session.

You were rather too laid back with severe
consequences for your future. Work harder in
the area of access, teacher quality and
facilities.”

The 2015 general elections will commence in less than one month, what advice do you have for Nigerians as regards electing credible
leaders.

I will advise Nigerians including myself to “shine our eyes” and not be fooled or hoodwinked by sweet talks of the politicians who are interested only in their pockets. We should vote according to our conscience and in line with what we believe the politician can deliver by way of dividends of democracy. This is why education is important. With a current illiterate population of about 30 per cent, more will be hoodwinked.

With more money to education, illiteracy rate will depress and the electorate will be wiser when casting votes and selecting their leaders.

Written by UJUNWA ATUEYI

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DEEPEN seeks increase in media coverage of education

To facilitate a more enabling environment and a more effective market that would provide increased quality of education for private schools, Developing Effective Private Education Nigeria (DEEPEN), a programme funded by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), has identified the need for improved media coverage of education programmes.

This became imperative following a discovery that the private sector engages large chunk of pupils in Lagos Private Schools. In September 2013, DEEPEN embarked on a five-year programme on how the media market can help children, parents, teachers, policy makers, school owners and managers in getting quality information to make informed decision.

The innovative programme initiated by DFID was designed to use a market-development approach to improve learning outcomes in Lagos private schools, through making markets work for the poor methodology.
Speaking at a media forum tagged, “A
Commercially Viable Approach to Increasing Education Coverage in the Media”, Team Leader of DEEPEN, Mr. Gboyega Ilusanya, stated that recent analysis revealed that private schools are major players on the Lagos education scene, dominating at the pre-school and primary levels and serving children from all levels of household income.

He reminded that most of these private
schools, for several reasons, are not licensed to operate, yet they are found in the system delivering educational services to pupils and their parents. Thus the need for creating useful information and quality education programmes that would serve as a guide for all stakeholders.

He said: “With estimated five million Lagos parents with children in over 15,000 private schools and 2,000 public schools, the state has one of the largest private education markets in the world and credible effort to improve human capital clearly needs to include the private sector which is now the main provider of
education, even for children from low-income households.”

“The five-year project which will be concluded by 2018, is anticipating a vibrant and dynamic market for private education especially in low-cost schools across Lagos.

It is also expected that the sector would be characterised by learning innovations and quality improvement for children at all levels of household income, as well as to have a private school that responds to parental demands and adapt to meet their expectations for better education.”

To achieve these, Gboyega informed that the role of the media is very crucial, thus the need for increase in media education coverage to help parents make informed decision and spur school managers to best practices.

His words, “DEEPEN has conducted detailed market analysis to identify the main constraints and challenges for improved private education in Lagos, and as part of the five-year activities we are to work with the media, getting them to sit and discuss how education coverage in the media can be improved in a commercially viable way and what would be the necessary support.”

“A recent assessment of current practices
around the media coverage of education in Lagos showed a widespread of lack of dedicated education programmes on radio and Television but an appreciable and regular coverage of education by the print media.

“The assessment showed that the majority of broadcast media practitioners consider education programmes as mainly for children as part of their community service and corporate social responsibility; and as unpopular and commercially unattractive.

However, Deputy Team Leader, Stephen
Bayley, during the media workshop, remarked that the current low coverage of education by the media, especially the broadcast media, can be reversed not only to make relevant information available to education stakeholders but to generate revenue for media houses and supporting organisations.

There are millions of education stakeholders who are potential audience for issue based, quality education content. Parents need information that will aid their decision-making processes around their children’s education, they will welcome a platform to regularly discuss and debate education issues.

The media can help parents meet these needs and generate substantial revenue from advertisers and sponsors targeting this massive market.

“Our findings revealed that at least there are 26 radio, 12 television and 20print media currently operating regularly in Lagos; more than 50 per cent of broadcast media have no dedicated, issue-based education programme,
while appreciable, regular education coverage by print media

On his part, the Intervention Leader, Tolase Olatinwo charged participants to refocus on their target audience for education contents and programmes and engage in education programmes that could stimulate audience views, appeal to parents, as well as attract sponsors and advertisers, so as to build quality education system in Lagos state.

He said parents, children, schools and policy makers need information to add value to their work since relevant information helps in decision-making.

The forum was attended by education
correspondents in the print and broadcast
industry in Lagos State, who unanimously stated that entertainment has lessened the importance of education, as most sponsors and advertisers have interest in sponsoring entertainment programmes rather than educational programmes.

Etisalat calls for more funding of education sector

COMMITTED to promoting academic excellence among tertiary institution students in Nigeria, leading telecommunications giant, Etisalat recently rewarded some outstanding students of Nigerian higher institutions for their brave academic performances, through its education empowerment scheme, Etisalat Merit Awards that held at the Oriental Hotel Lagos.

Speaking at the event, the CEO Etisalat
Nigeria, Mr. Mathew Willsher said the award is a scholarship scheme designed to fulfill the company’s goal of empowering the society through knowledge acquisition and promoting education within Nigeria.

In his opening remarks, Willsher reiterated the importance of education and innovation to human development and improvement of the quality of human lives. He lamented the global illiteracy rate, which currently stands at one billion.

He also congratulated the 70 students drawn from seven universities in the country, describing them as the future of the Nigeria and adding that the country’s greatness in the area of innovation and scientific discoveries lay on their shoulders.

Speaking further, he canvassed private sector partnership for funding education in the country and argued that education is critical to development and should not be left exclusively to government to fund.

He added that this was why Etisalat Nigeria is involved with promoting education as part of the company’s corporate social responsibility.

He said: “We are gathered here in recognition of the importance of education. It is sad that about one billion people can’t read globally. We
know that government is doing a lot in the area of funding and promoting education, but corporate organizations also have roles to play and this is why we focus on education as one of our corporate social responsibility initiatives.”

“The importance of education is further
underscored by the fact that studies have
shown that countries where less than 20 per cent go to school are less developed compared to others. Countries with less literacy rate miss out on a lot of things because they have a
community of people who can’t read,” he added.

Highpoints of the ceremony was the
innovation contest among the participating universities and the award ceremony proper.
Selected scholars of the five institutions made five-minute presentations of innovations of their choice.

Tagged The Etisalat Innovation Moment, the presentations were judged based on
adaptability, value, social impact, environmental impact and rate of feasibility. They were scored by a panel of judges.

The entry by Onohaebi Samuel, a 400-level undergraduate of Electrical and Electronic Engineering of the University of Benin was adjudged the best, and he emerged winner.

James Fagboun of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ile-Ife, and Eigbe Eghonghon of University of Lagos came second and third respectively.

While Samuel got N100, 000 and a HP
laptop for his efforts, Eghonghon and Fagboun won a Techno Phantom device each for their efforts. Besides, the participating students, 10 each from the seven schools that took part in
the contest, went home with N100, 000 each, while their schools were awarded N1.1 Million each courtesy of the telecommunication company.

Speaking after the ceremony, Samuel exuded happiness and said: “This is a dream come true for me. I have always wanted to be commended for my academic prowess and now that I have been so recognized, it would serve as a
motivation to do more, especially in the area of improving access to power for creative uses across all economic sectors.”

Taqwa School shines at global event, harps on research, technical skills

THE importance of research and technical skill acquisition among Muslim schools was recently stressed, as Taqwa Group of Schools lifted Nigeria’s image at the just-concluded international World Robot Olympiads, (WRO), competition held in Sochi, Russia.

The school represented Nigeria at the world stage after clinching the first position at the National Robotic Olympiads in the country.

The Managing Director, Taqwa Schools, Alhaja Maryam Alimi, who expressed her excitement about the feat, described the atmosphere in the schools as that of “complete education”.

According to her, it was a deserved honour for the school and students to have participated in a unique and important event organized for young inventors and constructors because it will
prepare them as future scientists and
researchers, who will surely make our world a better place and a more technologically- advanced nation.

Alimi also emphasised the need for Nigerians to pay more attention to the development of research and technical skills among children and young people.

“That is why besides the competition, Taqwa Schools engage the students in many other educational events expositions, cultural, research and entertainment,” she said.

The final competition in Russia brought
together participants from all over the world with great victories and spectacular ideas.

About 52 countries participated in the
competition. One of the participants, AbdulKadir Sayyidi, revealed that being part of the competition really helped in building his confidence. He, therefore,
called on other students to join the robotic club to increase their creative skills.

Also speaking, Ruqoyah Falade, a Basic5
pupil of the school said she was, indeed, elated to be among other participants from other countries all over the world and interact freely with them.

The Principal, Taqwa High School, Hajia
Qudrah Olaleye, stated that it is part of the school’s policy to involve the students in as many beneficial competitions as possible in order to build their physical and mental ability.

“It is a thing of joy to be part of the world
event. They took part last year, too, and it has been a good exposure for the students. We are the only Muslim school there and we were determined to win.”

She urged parents to give the needed support to help the children achieve their future careers.

She said: “In Taqwa Schools, it has never
been only academics as usual, the psychomotor domain of education was also given preference and we are very proud as we raised the bar by winning the Lagos State Private Schools Table Tennis “Talent Hunt” organized by Atico Global Concepts in May, 2014 with Gold Medal.

Written by Sulaimon Salau

http://m.ngrguardiannews.com

Pledge to restore discipline, revitalise learning at FSTC

Says school’s workshops in comatose
A RECENT visit at Federal Science and
Technical College (FSTC) Yaba, Lagos, revealed that the school is undergoing slight infrastructural and human transformation.

If only government and corporate bodies would liaise with the college, the new Director/ Principal, Chris Ugoji, said the culture and excellence, which unity schools are known for, would be restored.

When The Guardian sought the view of Ugoji, who is also a Director at the Federal Ministry of Education, in his Yaba office, he said the school’s infrastructure was in a sorry state when he assumed duty, but for the intervention of Parents Teachers Association (PTA).

Worse among all are the school’s workshops, about 12 of them, which he said, are up to standard compared to those in tertiary institutions but lack electricity to power the machines.

According to Ugoji: “When I assumed duty, I didn’t like what I saw, there was total indiscipline among the students coupled with the issue of inappropriate dressing, such as flying of shirts and wearing of slippers.

All these had been tackled heavily because they are not in the culture of unity schools.
“So, as a team, we agreed it cannot be
business as usual. We decided to inform the PTA of our mission to restore discipline because where there is indiscipline, there would be chaos and where there is chaos, academic activities will suffer.

Secondly, we discovered that some students are not paying school fees, and so we have introduced measures to ensure that students pay fees and every other thing and it’s been successful so far to the glory of God.”

He continued: “We have 12 workshops in FSTC Yaba that can compete favourably with any of the universities in the country.
These workshops are used to service 19 trades, although they are very powerful, but electricity to power them is a
major challenge.

So, we are seeking for assistance/partnership to power these
machines so that the workshops can be used to teach students and also to service the need of the country in technical and vocational education.”

Ugoji further stated that in the area of
infrastructure, the PTA has helped in decking the female hostel and also installing CCTV in the college, which has helped to improve the security so far, adding: “They also assisted with
classroom furniture, water, clinic, among
others.”

However, in spite of these shortfalls, Ugoji
hinted that the students’ academic prowess still gleams. He said: “At the yearly general meeting of
Federal Unity Colleges (FUC) held at Ilorin, the score card of FUC was made available an FSTC Yaba came overall second in the area of NABTEB. We also did exceptionally well in West
African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and National Examination Council (NECO).”

To achieve the objectives of the technical
session of the school, he said: “All we need to do is revive the workshop and power the machines. We already have competent, qualified, seasoned, administrators and members of staff
who can on their own head any school in this country.

We need facilities as we lack adequate infrastructure needed to impart the right skills and knowledge in a science and technical school.”

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Global standards for teaching and learning

HEAD of School, City of Knowledge Academy (CKA), Ogun State, Abiola Lamikanra, has urged education managers in the country to
incorporate global techniques in the routine of teaching and learning in all schools.

This, she said should be in tandem with regular training of teachers in contemporary trend and practices, arguing that they are the group that transfers knowledge to the students.

Addressing reporters shortly after a facility tour at the school, located at Itanrin, Ore-Sagamu expressway, Ijebu-Ode, Lamikanra stressed that the objective of every school should be, among others, prepare students that are global in orientation and at par with their counterparts around the world.

According to her, “Teaching children about global issues is very imperative and raising a child in a 21st century requires a common sense; one century is not different from another,
the only thing that happens now is that we are more global in perspective, we are all very connected, whatever happens in Australia in one minute, the whole world knows the next minute, so to be able to get our children participate globally we have to be very active in the use of technology and this should be the target of all education managers.”

“At CKA, while grooming our students with our ethical pillars which is culture, character and confidence, we also explore other avenues.

There is a programme we call Physical, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education, where they discuss personal responsibilities and other life skills.

“We pay a lot of attention to the acquisition of life and organisational skills, time management and interpersonal relationships. There are other programmes they take in conflict resolution, emotional intelligence, and fixed mindset versus growth mindset.

All these are designed to ensure our students are well equipped to cope
with future academic requirement, they are not examination subjects, we are simply teaching them the ABC’s of this life,” she said.

She further stated that there are virtual learning platforms, where teachers engages students and parents could as well access it, urging school managers to make effective use of such platforms.

She said, “In CKA, technology is used as a tool not for decoration, when the children are in class they make effective use of the interactive board, they have their netbook with them and as the teacher is interacting with them, they are exploring the Internet together.”

On the ethical pillars of the school, she said, “Our emphasis is also on culture, character and confidence. We have explored the dimensions of character in today’s world, in terms of accountability, honesty, responsibility and leadership. Having good character is important
to us all in maintaining a good position in a society.”

“For the culture, we do not want to produce children who do not have a trace of their culture, not just their culture but to also have respect for other people’s culture. On the aspect of confidence, our children have confidence in themselves, they can go anywhere in the world and participate actively in any programme.

We build their self-esteem and that is important in educating a child in today’s world.

However, after the tour of facility, which
revealed that the school is indeed a home of knowledge, some parents of the school who were present at the school’s open day ceremony, expressed joy at the tremendous academic and infrastructural achievement of the school.