A recently graduated student of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Mr. Bimbo Amusan has put smile on faces of children of Rock of Ages Orphanage at Ajebamidele in Ife North Local government area of Osun state.

Amusan who studied Law at the university was at the orphanage to celebrate his birthday anniversary with the children of the home as a way of giving back to the society. The event took place on Sunday last week as part of activities to mark his birthday, which he termed “Weekend of impact.”

Amusan, who said the gesture was to contribute meaningfully to lives of the less privileged orphans donated some food items and other gifts to the people of the home and promised to do better in future.

All started two days earlier with a carrier talk organized for students of Glorious Hope College, a private secondary school in Modakeke, Osun State where Amusa grew up.

The talk centered on leadership and career enlightenment with trio of Caleb Adebayo, Dare Eluyemi and Bimbo Amusan served as resource persons.

Adebayo, a law graduating student from the same university with the celebrator spoke on “The ABC of leadership,” while Dare Eluyemi, a consultant on youth and children development as well as Bimbo Amusan spoke on “Education and Career” and “Career choice and the power of the mind,” respectively.

Bimbo shared the story of how the fire of entrepreneurship spirit ignited in him even when he was just nine years old back in the secondary school, describing as entrepreneur as somebody who sees problems and able to provide solutions.

He also told his audience success stories of few Nigerians who grew up in rural communities like theirs and able to make it to top of their career ladder.

“That is why I would want you to believe in yourselves and follow your passion,” he stressed.

In her remark, the principal of host institution, Mrs. Olabode appreciated the birthday boy for putting up such an enlightenment programme, saying it would go a long in academic and other endeavours of the students.

Bimbo also organised what he called a tweet conference with many youth entrepreneurs in attendance. They include the Chief Executive Officers of OYA Magazine, a magazine which started at OUA and now spread to five others campuses; Ajayi Adebiyi, a public speaker; Ademola Adeyeye; Emmanuel Olabode and Dare Eluyemi.

The conference was centered on “Entrepreneurship and academics, politics and youth” with participants shared their entrepreneurship experiences even when they were students without one affecting the other negatively.

Rector of the Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin, Alhaji Mas’ud Elelu has ascribed the seemingly unconstitutional dichotomy created between university and polytechnic graduates to absence of industries caused by some people in Nigeria for their own selfish interest.

Just as he pointed out that this act has also led to the death of technical education which is causing the country more harm than good economically. Elelu in an exclusive chat with National Mirror pointed out that the dichotomy became visible when manufacturing companies that hitherto looked out to employ polytechnic graduates started folding up.

He noted that there shouldn’t be an issue on the discrepancies because each certificate should carve a niche for itself based on the difference in the method of acquiring knowledge.

“The kind of knowledge been impacted in the polytechnics is purely practical oriented which enables the students to have hands on experience on what they are being taught in the classrooms, while the university knowledge is largely theoretical.

“We should not be talking about disparities because each based on how the curriculum is designed should carve a niche for itself in the economy. If the economy of the country is buoyant enough as it used to be in the 70’s, no polytechnic graduates will be looking for job in the public sector.

“In the 70’s polytechnic graduates does not compete with University graduates in the public sectors rather they were being sought after by the private sectors i.e Lever brothers, Nigerian Breweries Dunlop and what have you and were earning more than the University graduates,” he pointed.

He argued that the absence of industries to accommodate the technical graduates being churned out by different institutions has resulted for them to be looking for jobs elsewhere to make ends meet.

“The cry for parity now is because many of the polytechnic graduates have found themselves also in the public sector and are also saying, if they spend same number of years studying as University graduates they should be earning the same thing

…as varsity warns admission seekers against fraudsters

No fewer than 167 impersonators were apprehended at the just concluded post- Universal Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME) organized by Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, authorities of the institution have revealed.

According to the management, the apprehended impersonators who have been handed over to security agencies will be prosecuted.

In a press release by the Director of Information and Public Relations of the university, Dr. Emmanuel Ojukwu out of 30,477 candidates who enrolled on the university’s portal for the post UTM screening, only 28,233 candidates turned up for the one week exercise.

He disclosed that the remaining 2,244 candidates might not turn up for the test when they learnt about the stringent measures which the university had put in place to fore-stall malpractice, especially impersonation.

According to him, the university has just acquired biometric data capturing machines and made it compulsory for every candidate for the exam to pass through the fingerprint capturing process to confirm their authenticity as recorded during registration.

While disclosing that the results of the exercise had since been uploaded on the school’s website for candidates to check, he decried situation whereby some parents aided their children to cheat.

“Some of those who we caught revealed that their parents actually looked for their impersonators and paid for the service,” he stressed.

Ojukwu however noted that candidates who chose affiliated institutions such as Federal College of Education (Technical) Umunze, Enugu State College of Education (Technical), Auchi Polytechnic, and Pope John Paul II Major Seminary Okpuno were not part of the exam as they would be screened separately at a later date.

In furtherance to the Ogun State Government determination to create more employment opportunities for its citizens, the state Civil Service Commission has conducted a written examination for 3,435 candidates shortlisted for employment in the model colleges spread across the state.

The Chairman of the Commission, Dr. Susan Folarin stated this at the Baptist Girls College and Lisabi Grammar School in Abeokuta, venue of the examination conducted to ensure that the best candidates were selected for interview.

“The examination is not only for teachers but other professionals like nurses, bursars and accountants, among others.

The aim of the exam is to determine the best, so it is when we have marked the papers that the best of these categories would be called for the next stage which is the oral interview,” Folarin said.

The chairman assured that the model schools would meet up with 2015/2016 academic session as machinery had been put in place to ensure this, adding that immediately the model schools were declared open, academic activities would resume.

One of the participants at the Lisabi Grammar School, Mr. Olatunbosun Ogundare said the exercise was challenging and equally eventful, adding that there was no doubting the capability of the state government at ensuring selection based on merit.

A corps member serving in Lafia Local Government area of Nasarawa State, Mr. Lateef Babatunde has extended his hand of humanity to the pupils of Mararaba Primary School, Lafia by renovating the entire block of two classrooms in the school and equipped them with 40 desks for use by students.

Babatunde studied Political Science at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife.

National Mirror gathered that the facility was with no roof, windows, doors, chairs nor desks and because of that abandoned for over six years causing untold hardship for pupils of the only functional primary school in the three communities of Mararaba, Gandu and Akunza in the area.

The project which has been inaugurated for use last two weeks gulped up to 352,000 according to Babatunde.

Speaking at the ceremony, the Deputy Governor of the state, Mr. Silas Agara represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of the Environment, Mrs. phoede onje gywado said the corps member had done well to serve the country despite many challenges.

“We really appreciate your kind gesture towards the community. This will serve as a landmark achievement and a testimony that you have done well in serving your fatherland,” he said.

Recalling the inability of his office to render financial assistance to the corps member while the project was on, the deputy governor appreciated him for his doggedness and resilience in carrying out the project.

Also speaking, the Vice- Chancellor of the University of Lafia where Lateef is observing his primary assignment, Prof Ekanel Braide, represented by Dr. Chris Echeta said that every corps member and youth in the country should learn from Babatunde.

He said “If there were to be 1,000 corps members like Babatunde in the country, Nigeria would have been better than this. Babatunde is not from this part of the country but used his energy and initiative to develop another man’s community. I think he should be well rewarded for this gesture.”

The Zonal Inspector of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) at the local government, Mr. Felix Tomori in his commendation said he was glad that Babatunde executed the project despite daunting financial challenges in the land.

He charged the people of the community, especially their leaders to always render assistance to corps members so as to be able to carry out many developmental projects in their communities.

Expressing his appreciation to God for making the project a reality, the donor said he was more particularly happy for God to have used him to solve the six-year-old accommodation problem permanently.

He recalled that apart from paucity of funds, it was also difficult somehow to combine the supervision of the project with his work at the place of his primary assignment.

The Ondo State government has confirmed the appointment of Prof. Adegoke Adegbite as the acting Vice- Chancellor of Ondo State university of Science and Technology, OSUSTECH, Okitipupa.

He replaced the pioneer Vice Chancellor, Prof Tolu Odugbemi who has completed his five years tenure.

Adegbite, a Professor of Botany, aged 56, obtained his first degree from the then University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Osun State. He had his Masters of Science and Doctorate Degrees from the same university.

Until his appointment, Prof. Adegbite was the Head of Department of Biological Sciences at OSUSTECH. He was before then Managing Director, OSUSTECH Consult; and Director, OSUSTECH Centre for Entrepreneurship and Leadership Training.

He is a member of Botanical Society of Nigeria, Nigerian Field Society, and Genetics Society of Nigeria.

It would be recalled that the institution which ought to have churned out its first set of graduate in July this year has been shut by the state government since June over unresolved crises.

Rector Kwara State Polytechnic Alhaji Mas’ud Elelu ascribed the seemingly peaceful atmosphere and reduction of vices in the institution to the inclusion of students in the scheme of things that affects them in the institution

Elelu disclosed it is a common phenomenon in Nigerian higher institutions that Students Union Election is usually brutal because of vested interest from certain quarters, but since the assumption in 2009, about five SUG elections had been held under peaceful atmosphere because the management gave them free hands to choose their leaders.

He pointed that the institution always take part in the election of union leaders by supervision the whole process from beginning to the end, where elections were held in auditorium, ballot boxes were placed in front of the Rector and the counting done in the full glare of the students.

According to him, “After the process the losers will openly congratulate the winners of the elections which are keenly contested.

“The Management did not only give them free hand but went a little bit beyond that, especially in the area of managing their funds and instilled the sense of responsibility in every SUG government in such a way that the SUG levy is put as part of school fees.

“The leadership of the Polytechnic do ask for the SUG budget to know what they want to do after the approval of the parliament, they are then advised to do something for the Polytechnic from the budget thereby teaching them the value of social responsibility.

“Management handover the money but always task them to present a proposal on how the money will be spent, and they have been forthcoming embarking on numerous projects within the school for the usage and benefits of the students,” he stated.

Elelu also added that as part of the institution’s effort to improve students’ welfare and ensure they had a conducive environment for learning, all full-time students of Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin, now have access to quality healthcare services through registration in the National Health Insurance Scheme, NHIS.

The management, staff and students of Federal College of Education (Technical), Umunze, Anambra State has been thrown into mourning as they buried the institution’s spokesman, Mr Humphrey Sunday Ike who died on Sunday, 5th July, 2015 as a result of an injury inflicted on him by gunmen who stormed his residence at Amaokwu-Umunze in Orumba South Local Government area of Anambra State.

The burial which started with a high mass at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Umunze saw dignitaries from all walks of life, notable among whom were top government officials, members of academia, Rev. Fathers/Sisters, among others.

In his homily, the Auxiliary Bishop of Awka Diocese, Most Rev Jonas-Benson Okoye described death as a necessary end, charged

Christians to get prepared at all times by always seeking the face of God and explained that death was a source of liberation for man from total damnation.

He described the late PRO as rare gem and veritable tools which God used to further the propagation of the doctrine and message of Jesus Christ.

On his part, the Provost of the college, Prof. Josephat Ogbuagu described the deceased as an astute administrator, prolific writer, quintessential public relations practitioner and counselor whom according to him was dedicated to his work and discharged his responsibilities with unequalled forthrightness, loyalty and commitment to the service of the college.

“We will greatly miss him. Our hearts and thoughts go out to his family as we pray God to give them the fortitude to bear this great loss. He radiated intelligence, exemplary conduct in both public and private life. He was a team player who brought meaning to hard work. He was focused and determined to make positive difference. We shall miss him. No doubt he left a vacuum that would be too hard to fill.” Ogbuagu stated. He however prayed for the repose of his soul.

In an interview, a staff attached to the Information and Public Relations Unit of the college, Miss Lovelyn Ojimba described the late spokesman as a role model whom according to her, taught them diligence in labour, love, humility, resilience and never to be daunted with by any challenges. “We mourn a man who fashioned his life to upholding justice, a man of tremendous integrity and principles. We pray God to give his family the fortitude to bear the loss, Amen”

The Vice-Chancellor, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Ogun State, Prof. Olusola Oyewole has stressed the need to incorporate academic and vocational programmes in institutions of higher learning in the country in order to produce sound graduates.

He said this at the 3-day workshop on “Enterprise ‘Start Up’ Initiatives for Job and Wealth Creation among FUNAAB Youth Entrepreneurs,” organised by the Gender Issues and Youth Development (GIYD) Programme of the University.

According to the vicechancellor, for the country to overcome the high rate of youth unemployment, increased rate of enterprise failure and abject poverty, especially among Nigerian graduates, academic education must be complemented with skill acquisition, entrepreneurship and vocational education. Professor Oyewole, who is also the President of the Association of African Universities (AAU), lamented the fact that millions of Nigerian youths acquire education without knowing what the future holds for them, due to high unemployment in the country.

The VC, who was represented by Prof. Emmanuel Fakoya, the Director, Community- based Farming Scheme (COBFAS), called for the institution of vocational training and skills acquisition in Agribusiness for youths in tertiary institutions as a panacea to unemployment and job creation.

“It should be noted that the technical, vocational and entrepreneurship education has been an integral part of national development strategies in many societies because of its impact on productivity and economic development. Vocational education is another means of empowering people in order to better their lives, and holds the key to national development and also makes for youth self-reliance”.

In their usual manner, the students of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife on October 1st celebrated the Nigeria’s 55th independence on a glamorous and hilarious ways.

Dressed in pure white to symbolize peace, the students paraded all over six halls of residence starting from Awolowo Hall to Adekunle Fajuyi Hall. They were marching, singing as well as dancing all over the campus.

During their display of what they referred to as “aroism” (that is, rascality) at Akintola Hall, some of the female students who live in the hall did not want them to leave their hostel again as they expressed their pleasures laughing and begging them not to go.

“Please don’t go,” they were chorusing. “We won’t mind serving you foods and drink that will be enough if you want. We are really enjoying your performance.”

But because they had to continue, they left after spending more than the scheduled time.

One of the participants, Segun Ayodele said they came up with the programme as a way of replicating the live military parade taking place at the Presidential Aso Rock Villa Abuja at OAU campus.

He said it was a tradition for students of the institution to celebrate nation’s independence in their own style.

“That is what we met on ground and we believe incoming ones will carry on with the tradition,” he stressed.

On his own, another participant, Biodun Tayo said the programme was also used to ease them of the stress of sleepless nights that had during their examinations.

According to him, “everywhere is boring since we started our examination and with this programme, the campus comes alive again. Apart from fun and ecstasy that surround it, we also use the occasion to par for Nigeria.”

The great disparity in the quality of products of the Nigerian university system can be summed up as the astronomical difference in the aspirations of the founding fathers and the realities of the operational environment of the individual establishments. It is the difference between the lofty ideals of what a university could or should be, and the stack inescapable realities on ground.

These realities may be defined by any, or the combination of intellectual capabilities, perceptions, managerial aptitude, moral inclinations, and financial stability of the proprietors and the operators.

The potential interplay between these factors and the realization of the dreams of a new or established institution was brought to the fore by the seemingly conflicting stories in The Nation newspaper of October 1st, 2015, on the Ondo State University of Science and Technology. According to the foundation Vice Chancellor of the University, the goal of the administration was to fulfil the dreams of the founding fathers of the university, to make OSUSTECH one of the best universities of technology in the world. To this end, he declared that he had worked assiduously to ensure that OSUSTECH be ranked among the best universities of technology five years from now and to be named among the foremost in the world within a decade!

These are indeed noble and lofty dreams which are worthy of emulation.

The students, the supposed beneficiaries of this noble act, however, appeared to have a different opinion. Coincidentally, in the same national daily and in the same edition, they described OSUSTECH as “a university only in name” citing the absence of a governing council, the large number of uncompleted structures, the generally depressing environment and the inability of the foundation to students to graduate after seven years, among others as reasons for their pessimism!

Not unexpectedly, the university has not been able to attract the high calibre students required to translate the dreams of the founding fathers into reality. Statistics from the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board shows that patronage has been very poor with only 304 candidates subscribing to OSUSTECH as first choice university, and only 38 securing 50% score in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination conducted in 2015. Obviously, OSUSTECH does not have what it takes to attract the high calibre candidates required to transform the institution into a world class university.

Not surprising, the National Universities Commission ranked OSUSTECH in the 63rd position among Nigerian universities in January 2015 while the July 2015 edition of WEBOMETRICS world universities ranking placed it in the 84th position. Though, the outgoing Vice Chancellor spoke in glowing terms about providing modern laboratories equipped with state-of-the-art equipment, the students alleged that there were only three laboratories serving the ten departments in the Faculty of Science, the only surviving faculty of the university.

With only 29 academic staff (according to the NEEDS Assessment Report of 2012) serving 10 departments, it is obvious that the institution also had a problem recruiting qualified academic staff. The dream of becoming one of the foremost universities in the world within 10 years thus remains a figment of the imagination of the founding fathers as there is no movement towards its actualization.

But OSUSTECH is not the only university that has been caught thus day dreaming. Many much older universities that rank among the first ten in the country have poor academic performance indices. To date, many universities are plagued by acute shortages of classrooms and lecture theatres as a result of unplanned increase in admission quotas and establishment of new programmes. Existing classrooms are congested and overflowing with students while many lectures are conducted in convocation arenas, sporting complexes, and occasionally under trees in the absence of vacant class rooms and lecture theatres. No Nigerian university is among the top 10 in Africa!

Even a self acclaimed Entrepreneurial University in the South-South geopolitical region has absolutely no tradition of entrepreneurial excellence. With few exceptions, the teaching of entrepreneurial courses is mainly a ritual of textbook marketing by the teachers, a lot of personal study by the students followed by examination thereafter without the privilege of formal classroom, laboratory or industry based instructions. It is obvious that there is a huge chasm between the dreams of becoming a world class university and actually achieving the status.

The hurried establishment of new universities without adequate planning and infrastructural development would continue to create dysfunctional institutions. Apart from the infrastructural deficit, such institutions are often lacking in other important indices of academic excellence namely, qualified teachers, functional laboratories and equipment and even qualified students! These deficiencies are the main reasons why the products of our institutions remain unsuitable for nation building.

A moratorium on the establishment of new universities would be necessary while efforts are geared towards strengthening existing institution. Parochial political consideration must be laid aside in favour of academic excellence which should be nurtured in the overall interest of national goals.

The Second Republic Minister for Education, Mrs. Lucy Aluor has said the 6-3-3-4 education system had not achieved it purpose several years after introduction.

She made the observation during an exclusive chat with National Mirror in Makurdi, the Benue State capital on Tuesday, saying the policy was good but for poor implementation.

The former minister who also blamed parents and teachers for aiding children to cheat in examinations pointed out that the consequence of such attitude is the production of half-baked graduates who in turn reproduce themselves into the system.

She also decried the prevailing moral decadence, especially among children as well as the inability of many graduates to communicate effectively in simple grammar, saying all that ose nowhereby parents teachers also threw away morales to the dustbin leading to the introduction of ‘understanding fee’ for those who intend to pass exams by hook or crook with good grades .

She also stressed that unlike during the pre colonial era pupils in public schools from standard three and above can efficiently communicate both in written and vocal brilliance was an asset among peers.

The former Principal of Government College Makurdi stressed that all the core values of education has been thrown to the dustbin including their wards were after where they can secure good grades in exchange for monetization instead of learning to assimilate what has been taught.

When I look at the declining state of education these days it beats my imagination because people are lazy while many students have often complained of technological distractions which have further heighten the declining value of education in the country.

The “iron lady” as nick named by her admirers further buttressed that Some of the factors militating against the decay in education includes over indulgence in the social media, entertainment as well as the copy and paste attitude which computer and phones Internet connectivity has afforded this generation of youngsters.

The Proprietress of Our lady of Perpetual Help College maintained that drastic measures should be taken against people who cheat in examinations by outrightly dismissing such facilitators and also sanctioning the institution that perpetuates the act.

She decried the 6-3-3-4 system of education adding that the system has not achieved the desired purpose and called on the Federal government to revive the grade two teachers training colleges to revive the structure in the country.

A Professor of Strategy and Development at Oxford University, United Kingdom, Mr. Anthony Kila has urged Nigerian government at all levels to declare a state of emergency in the education sector, saying it was only through such radical step that the country could overcome its major challenges, especially unemployment, poverty, criminal activities and corruption.

He gave the advice in an exclusive interview with National Mirror in Lagos, arguing that it would be impossible for any country to grow economically and in other areas of life without providing sound education for citizenry.

Prof Kila who is also the Director of Studies at the Centre for International Advanced and Professional Studies, CIAPS in Lagos noted that sound education started with the types of curricula in operation from primary to tertiary education.

According to him, curricular at each level of education anywhere in the world ought to be tailored along the economic needs of such country with reference to global market by extension.

“But it is frightening that most times in Nigeria, we go after what type of educational certificates somebody acquired and not what the person can offer before hiring their services and that kind of thing cannot help us grow as a nation ,” he stressed.

Prof. Kila, who bemoaned the poor state of Nigeria education 55 years after attaining political freedom however said all hands must have to be on deck to be able to move the sector the a desirable level.

Teachers according to him would need to be regularly upgraded with skills and knowledge that would make them impart meaningfully on their students while the government on their part to commit substantial resources and provide enabling environment in the sector.

While urging the students not only to improve on their reading habit but to read materials that would make their lives better, he said parents must not take a back seat in the development process.

The management of King’s College, Lagos has debunked a media report claiming that a section of the school was gutted by fire recently.

It will be recalled that a national daily and broadcast media had reported of case of fire incidence at King’s College without ascertaining a particular section and the period of the incident.

However, the Principal of the college, Otunba Dele Olapeju in a press release debunked the report, saying it was not true.

He pointed out that the report which he described as unfounded and imagination of the college’s detractors threw the parents and guardians of the students of the school as well as other members of the public into panicking as those among them who could not rush to the college made phone calls not only to sympathise but also to ask for their children safety.

Otunba cautioned journalists to always investigate and confirm the truth about information giving to them by would-be their sources before going to press, saying that was the only way to help the society.

In view of this, he said,”The King’s College management is using this medium to challenge those reporters behind the negative and distorted information about our school to proof their reports by showing the portion the fire gutted and if indeed there was any fire outbreak in the college,”

Otunba argued that while there was nothing to hide, the management would not be distracted from carrying on with its transformation agenda.

…want retirement age at 65

It is unarguable that teachers are not only a means to implement educational goals, they are also key to sustainability and national capacity in achieving learning and creating societies based on knowledge, values and ethics.

But as salient as their contributions are, their rewards are not the same across the nations of the world. While developed countries like the United Kingdom, US, Canada and China, among others make the profession attractive as other fields of endeavours by giving their teachers competitive salaries and welfare packages, among other benefits, the story is not the same in some countries like Nigeria

Here, teaching is not only unattractive as it has become a last resort for job seekers, teachers are poorly remunerated and equally confronted with lots of other challenges.

However, every October 5 has been set aside as a special day by the United Nation Education and Scientific Organisation (UNESCO) for teachers. On such occasion, they have the opportunity of highlighting their challenges and make demand on government and other relevant stakeholders to make the system better. They equally mark the day with march past and other activities. And this year’s edition with a slogan: “Empowering teachers, building sustainable societies” was held on Monday worldwide.

In Nigeria, the occasion was marked almost in the same way and with usual complains against the unfavorable state of the system under which they operate.

At the centre, the President of Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), Mr. Michael Olukoya on behalf of members identified many challenges confronting them.

He spoke about salary irregularity apart from not enough, lack of working tools, poor and inadequate facilities, policy inconsistency, corruption, and lack of political will.

Olukoga particularly frowned at some states which received bailout funds from the Federal Government to settle their workers including the teachers who are being owed several months salaries and yet divert the money to something else.

According to him, apart from the fact that non-payment of salaries to workers is a criminal offence, it is inhuman for any employer to deny his workers of their emolument for a month let alone for several months.

He also expressed concern over what he termed discrimination in the terminal salary grade levels between graduates who teach in the primary and those in the secondary schools in various states.

He argued that remuneration and career structures ought to be based according to qualification and not necessarily the level where one teaches.

According to him, while university graduates in primary schools cannot go beyond grade level 14 before retirement, their counterparts in the secondary get to 15 or at times 16 before retirement while those in the mainstream ministry even gets to the peak which is level 17.

To him, such treatment is not only condemnable, but totally unacceptable and therefore demanding justice, equity and fairplay from government and its

relevant agencies.

“Every graduate,” he said, “should be able to get to grade level 17 before retirement irrespective of level of education under which they work.”

The NUT boss also used the occasion to call on government to raise the retirement age of teachers by five years from the current 60 years, saying such increment would help retaining more experienced hands on the job.

“It is common knowledge that the more years a teacher spends on the job, the better in service delivery based on experience and age,” he stressed.

It is also important that teachers just like other professionals are retrained on the job to make them more effective. But many of them in Nigeria do not have such opportunity several years after employment.

Even UNESCO pointed to this fact during this year’s World Education Forum (WEF) in Islo in May, encouraging countries to “ensure that teachers and educators are empowered, well-trained, professionally qualified, motivated and supported within wellresourced, efficient and effectively governed systems.”

Just like Olukoga, some other teachers spoke to by National Mirror at the University of Lagos Sport Complex where the Lagos branch of NUT converged for the celebration also believe that their profession should be given due attention especially by government so as to attract more willing and competent hands.

Messrs Biodun Omotosho and Alli Babatunde of Reri Senior Secondary School, Oreta-Ikorodu and Surulere Community Junior School, Alimosho, respectively were both called for more funds from government and other stakeholders’ intervention. They also asked from the society due respect based on the importance of their services by producing every other professional.

They said apart from the fact teachers deserve to work in friendlier environment, they equally deserve rewards that will be commensurable to their efforts.

No fewer than five public secondary schools in Lagos will represent Nigeria at this year’s world Robot Olympiad (WRO) event in Doha, Qatar later in the year following their performances at the 2015 Robotics Competition organized by Arc Lights Limited.

Permanent Secretary, State Ministry of Education, Mrs. Olabisi Ariyo who disclosed in this Lagos today noted that the Schools are Ojota Senior High School, Ojota; Apapa Senior High School, Apapa; Army Cantonment Girls Senior High School, Ojo; Oke-Afa Junior College, Oke-Afa, Isolo; and Lagos State Junior Model College, Badore.

Ariyo noted that the robotics competition is aimed at making students to learn how to build and program robots while applying their knowledge of Mathematics, Sciences, Creative Art, Communication skills and all other things they have learned in the classroom to solve real life problems.

According to her, no fewer than 130 public and private schools nationwide participated in the Competition comprising of 31 senior secondary schools, 42 junior secondary schools and 57 primary schools.

She pointed out that the competition was contested in two categories namely open category involving primary, junior and senior secondary schools and the regular category involving junior and senior secondary schools.

In the open category competition, she averred that each school were asked to build a robot that performed certain tasks in accordance with the World Robot Olympiad (WRO) 2015 theme, Robots Explorers while in the regular category, two different tasks, treasure hunt and mountaineering, were given to the students.

The British Council is set to hold this year’s UK Postgraduate Exhibition in Nigeria.

The exhibition, which is the third in the series, will be held in Abuja and Lagos. While that of Abuja will be held on 4th of November, Lagos version is scheduled two days beginning from 6th of November.

The exhibition according to the organiser will provide a platform for prospective postgraduate students who want to study in the UK to meet with the representatives of no fewer than 30 tertiary institutions from the UK for direct advice on the opportunities available to them over there.

Sephora Imomoh, the Project Manager at the British Council disclosed that many Nigerians were being admitted into the UK tertiary schools through such forum on a yearly basis.

Explaining why UK is a popular destination for international students, the project manager said, “The UK’s excellent reputation for education leads to internationally recognised qualifications, with the result that students can look forward to good career prospects when they return home.”

Imomoh further states “With a strong reputation for research, innovation and creativity, UK universities and colleges attract some of the world’s leading academics and industry professionals. Students are encouraged to express their ideas and think for themselves”.

Former Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, has advocated mentoring of the younger generation as a way to ensure they reach their targets.

Nebo, a former Vice-Chancellor of University of Nigeria, Nsukka and Federal University of Oye Ekiti (FUOYE), who described mentoring as critical, said: “You could be very bright, but miss it if you don’t have a mentor who would guide you. Mentors are catalysts that help the mentored get to the top. I like to see young people mentored.”

The former VC spoke in Ado Ekiti after an inspection tour of FOUYE Faculty of Engineering at Ikole Ekiti, saying: “I think that one of the ways we can create a generation that is coming after us and would do better than we are doing now is to encourage them, and give them a shoulder they can lean on or a back they can climb on so that they can get their target.”

Nebo, who lauded the development in the university which he pioneered, said: “I can say that so far so good, FOUYE is being well managed. My concern is that this would continue. My dream before I was called to serve as minister was that I wanted to have a FUOYE finishing school.

“I wanted FUOYE graduates to be able to hold their own. I said my students would not graduate and go for an interview and other people would beat them, I didn’t like that. I didn’t want that to happen, so I was going to start a finishing school to make sure that we polish the final year students so that by the time they step out of this university, they will confidently stand before anybody and do very well. And I hope the current administration goes on with that,” the former VC said.

Nebo, who expressed delight at the webometrics ranking of FUOYE as 16th best university in Nigeria took pride in the institution’s Engineering Faculty, said “70 per cent of the universities in Nigeria do not have as much as the facilities that a brand new university like it has. So, if the current administration hadn’t continued with zeal and zest, it would not have happened.

“FUOYE has the most elaborate and distinguished universal pencil testing machine in all the universities. No other university in Nigeria has the type that the FUOYE campus in Ikole has. That is progress. In the Humanities, Social Sciences and Agriculture, there is also progress. But there is a national problem –that is funding.

That problem affects not only FUOYE, but also other federal universities in the country,” the former minister said.

The former VC, however, advised that for the rating of Nigerian universities to improve in the webometrics ranking, “we need a lot more research. We need a lot more facilities in our laboratories, our machine shops, and in our workshops. So, you don’t ask our universities to compete globally, when they have nothing with which to do it.

“But one way you can leap frog is to ensure that our lecturers are better trained, that they are given more opportunities to improve themselves, acquire more skills, more didactic, of teaching skills and then do more research and then for our students to be encouraged, in other words, challenged.

“I don’t believe that a lecturer should feel inferior if your student shows that he is better than you in some way. That is the way, it should be, these students should be challenged, go to the internet, go to Google, download information, come to class, challenge your teacher, because many lecturers are idle, many of them are lazy and lousy. They are teaching stale knowledge to these students and selling worthless handouts.

“So, our students should be pep up, encouraged, any topic you get, go to Google, download it, we have Harvard University, Illinois, California Institute of Technology, they now have open course webs and universities can get these materials free of charge and use the same materials that the best universities are using in the world, to teach your own students. These things are possible,” Nebo said

The Executive Secretary of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFUND, Prof. Suleiman Bogoro has decried the manner by which Nigerians always emphasising teaching at the detriment of research development in the nation’s tertiary institutions.

He made the observation during a meeting with the Governor of Kebbi State, Atiku Bagudu in Abuja last week, saying research is one of the core mandates of any tertiary institution anywhere in the world.

Prof. Bogoro who commended some institutions of higher learning in the country for recording what he described as appreciable improvement on their ranking noted that Nigerian universities would soon be ranked among the world best.

On research, Bogoro disclosed that a limit of N50 million would be made available through the National Research Fund to researchers and research teams who are interested in developing product-based research rather than academic research.

According to him, the Board of Trustees for TETFund has approved a new priority which will enable each public tertiary institution to create research and development units in their respective schools.

Bogoro stressed that the only way to solve the nation’s economic crisis was by engaging and strengthening the capacity of development based research, especially within the tertiary institutions.

“We believe that it is in the area of research that Nigeria can strengthen its competitive capacity in the universities, polytechnics and colleges of education community,” he stressed.

He however expressed happiness that Nigerian universities are moving up the ladder of world ranking.

“About five years ago, there was no Nigerian university among the first 100 in Africa by ranking, but today the number is getting close to 28 or thereabout as of last month.

“Now we have up to two or three universities that are among the top 10 but we will not celebrate yet until we see that Nigeria appears soonest among the top 500 in the world,” he added

The TETFund boss further assured the visiting governor that all public institutions within his state would have access to tertiary education intervention.

In his response, the governor maintained that TETFund had made a positive impact in redefining the quality of education in tertiary institution in the country and therefore would continue to partner with the organisation in areas necessary.

The Federal Polytechnic, Idah has been cleared by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) to admit students into its engineering department.

The Deputy Public Relations officer of the institution, Mr. S. S Omale made this disclosure during a chat with National Mirror last weekend, saying the trouble between the two institutions is now over.

It will be recalled that NBTE was in June banned the polytechnic from admitting new students for its engineering programmes following the allegation by some students of the institution on SIWES programmes that the polytechnic’s laboratory and workshops were not functioning.

Omale noted that the nation’s polytechnics’ regulatory body lifted the ban after being satisfied with school’s explanation that the allegation was not true.

He noted that the board had also written a letter to the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board to allow the polytechnic admitting new students into the department.

The spokesman pointed out that while absolving the institution of any complicity, the board had admonished the management of the polytechnic not to see NBTE as its enemy but as a partner in progress.

He however declared that the polytechnic had since conducted the post UTM examinations in readiness to admit new students for all its engineering programmes.