THE EDUCATIONAL SECTOR

The indescribable challenges facing education in Nigeria can be seen as an endless misfortune to the growth of the educational sector. Over the last decades, Nigeria’s expotential growth in population has put immense pressure in improving the sector in terms of various factors affecting it.

However, the educational sector seems to have escaped critical observation from its mis-management which makes it growing at a low pace. In this regard, the mis-management of the sector is caused by appropriate bodies that manage it; which has come has a result of regular strike, and being jinxed with constant calendar change of institutions.

The development of the educational sector in Nigeria has been bedeviled by a variety of challenges in which the problem of diverstication, control and poor financing needs to be considered; the ordinary man cannot afford private institutions due to how expensive it is, and are exclusively established for the riches not the less privileged.

Your Excellency, we Nigerians have constantly cried out for a rapid change and improvement in the sector for wider reach and easier access to the rights of being educated in order to be liberated.

                                                                                                                                                               

 Yours Faithfully

                                                                                                                           Famuyiwa Damilare.s

UNIJOS GRIEVED OVER SEVEN BLASTED VICTIMS

 

 

The seven victims of the unijos blast

Jos, the Plateau State capital, was in the news last week, following the twin blasts at the Terminus Market. No fewer than 118 people, mainly traders, died in the blasts; scores were injured.
The University of Jos (UNIJOS) lost seven final year Medical Laboratory Science students – Francisca Nwafor, Oluwadolapo Komolafe, Vivian Chioma Obilor, Mike Ogbole, Millicent Yusuf, Monday Wingak and Doris Udegbunem.
That fateful day, the late Mike called out Christian faithful in the hostels for prayer – he had been doing this for years as a member of the G-Force Fellowship. After the prayer, he left for lectures. By 1pm, he was done and he headed home to eat. That was the last his classmates saw of him.
The late Millicent was said to have got up early to prepare her eight-month-old baby for the crèche. She left for school afterwards. By 1:30pm, the lectures were over. The late Millicent, according to her classmates, left the school immediately to take her baby and return to her off-campus hostel.
The late Francisca, the late Lydia, the late Vivian, the late Monday and the late Doris also had one or two things to do that day. They might have looked forward to returning home to rest, but they never had that chance. About 30 minutes after Haematology lecture, they left for the Terminus Market, close to the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH), where medical students receive lectures. They all died in the blasts.
Some of their colleagues were still in the classroom when the incident occurred.
Following the blasts, CAMPUSLIFE gathered that Daisy Odey, the victims’ classmate, told others that the deceased would have been on the scene. She mobilised others to search for their seven classmates.
The late Mike, who hailed from Benue State, was described as a “dedicated Christian” by hostel mates, who were still in shock when they spoke to our correspondent.
His close friend, Hendrick Idajo, who was in tears, said: “If I were to receive virtues from you, I would have your zeal to serve God, moral decency and wisdom to handle issues. I love you, Mike, but God loves you more.”
A classmate of the late Mike, who did not give his name, wrote on the board: “Mike, to think you are no more is rather shocking. What a life you have lived. Since our paths crossed in 100-Level, you became my Bible teacher. It was just like yesterday. It is so hard to believe you are gone. You were an icon; the bearer of the light. I will continue to remember you until we meet to part no more.”
Mike’s remains were buried last Thursday in Benue State.
The late Monday was also a member of the G-Force Fellowship. The late Francisca was described as a “beautiful scientist” by classmates.
Unlike others, the late Doris and the late Millicent left behind babies whose ages are between eight months and one year. The duo got married before their final year.
While others seem to have accepted their fate, friends and family members of the late Vivian  believe she is not dead. To them, she is missing and admitted in a hospital where she has not been identified among the charred bodies removed from the scene.
Chizaram Orji wrote on the late Vivian’s Facebook page: “My sister cannot die now. It is not yet her time. I believe she is somewhere. She is not dead. She is still alive. May Almighty God protect her and make her to find her way back home, in Jesus Name. Amen.”
In honour of the late students, the UNIJOS management declared last Friday a lecture–free day. The  Students’ Union Government (SUG) urged the Federal Government to find the masterminds of the blasts, urging proactive steps in dealing with the rising menace.
The Deputy Registrar (Information), Steve Otowo, urged members of the university community to be security-conscious.

Source: Campus Life

OSUN STATE UNIVERSITY APPEAR AS THE SECOND RUNNER UP

 

The Osun State University (UNIOSUN) has emerged the second runner up in the 2014 Africa Regional Inter-University Debate Competition organised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Institute for African Culture and International Understanding in partnership with the Centre for Human Security and Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library.

The university was represented by Temiloluwa Ogundele, a 200-Level Law student,  and Olusegun Faleyimu, a 200-Level Languages and Linguistics student.

The objective of the debate was to enhance communication and literary skills of African students and provide a scholarship platform with a long-term benefit of promoting African unity and derive solutions to developmental challenges facing African countries.

Thirteen African countries, including Benin Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Mozambique, Niger Republic, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Nigeria participated in the debate. Crawford University and Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone, Freetown, Sierra Leone won first and second positions respectively, while UNIOSUN came third.

Temiloluwa was adjudged the best speaker in one of the sessions. The award was presented by the Chairman of the Governing Board of the Centre for Human Security, Professor Akin Mabogunje.

The event was attended by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, Prof Hassana Alidou, Director of UNESCO Regional Multi-Sectorial Office for West Africa, Dr Minkailu Bah; Minister of Education, Science and Technology in Sierra Leone, Prof Juma Shabani, Prof Tunde Babawale, Prof Peter Okebukola, Dr Mary Khimulu and Dr Christopher Kolade.

Source: Campus Life

 

UNKNOWN GUNMEN KILLED STRICT LECTURER

 

•The late Dr Iwatt

Hoodlums suspected to be students of the University of Calabar (UNICAL) have killed Dr Godwin Iwatt, a lecturer at the Department of Microbiology, known for his uprightness and principle.

It was 2:30pm last Tuesday and the Department of Microbiology of the University of Calabar (UNICAL) was brimming with life. Some students were writing their examination; others milled around, chatting.

Suddenly, gunshots rang out from an office. There was bedlam. Exam supervisors, lecturers and students ran out of the exam hall. Some ran into the Centre for Educational Services (CES) building; others ran into the nearby Physics Department

When all was calm, a lecturer, Dr Godwin Iwatt, was found in a pool of his own blood. He was reportedly shot at close range by two assailants suspected to be students of the institution. The assailants, CAMPUSLIFE gathered, escaped from the scene immediately.

The Head of Department (HOD), Dr B. E. Asikong, who rushed to the scene, found Dr Iwatt screaming for help. He was rushed to the medical centre from where he was transferred to the UNICAL Teaching Hospital (UCTH).

Days after he was said to be responding to treatment, Dr Iwatt died from injuries sustained in the attack. He was said to have been hit on his left thoracic cavity.

When news of his death hit the campus, the department was paralysed. The late Dr  Iwatt’s colleagues gathered to mourn him. Students were shocked.

Why must Dr Iwatt be killed? Could it be because of his straight-forwardness and discipline? These are some of the questions students were asking.

The late Dr Iwatt taught Virology and Microbial Ecology. He was described as “too strict”. He was recently appointed the university’s Examination Officer.

Before the incident, it was gathered that Iwatt received several threat messages from unidentified persons. A source told our correspondent that, two weeks ago, some people visited the late Dr Iwatt’s private laboratory to attack him, but  he “escaped miraculously”.

Johnpaul Otobong, a 300-Level Zoology and Environmental Science student, told CAMPUSLIFE that he overheard some students a few weeks ago saying the late Iwatt boasted in the lecture room that nobody could kill him.

The late Dr Iwatt’s home was attacked by unknown assailants the night before he was killed in his office. But he was said not to have reported the incident to the security unit.

“With all the threats, we still don’t know why an educated man of the status of Dr Iwatt would toy with his life. He never deemed it necessary to report the threat messages he had been receiving to us,” a high ranking university security officer said.

The Chief Security Officer, Mr Boniface Adie, declined comments, referring our reporters to the Information Officer, Mr Effioing Eyo.

Eyo, in a statement, confirmed that the late Iwatt was shot at close range in his office by two unknown assailants suspected to be students of the university. He gave their ages to be between 22 and 28. He said the assailants took  to their heels immediately and mixed with other students.

He said: “The problem we have at the moment is that we have not yet ascertained who the assailants are. We learnt that the assailants did not only threaten the late Dr Iwatt, they also threatened another lecturer, Dr. Maurice Ekpenyong, in the same department. It is disheartening that a lecturer has been sacrificed so brutally in the course of carrying out his duty. The murdered lecturer was only abiding by the school’s rules and regulations.”

The management has vowed to apprehend the unknown assailants.

 Source: Campus Life