Nigeria Universities Updates

They were three occasions all rolled into one at the second Founder’s Day of the Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti last Friday. A distinguished lecture, scholarship and merit awards, and matriculation.

To crown it all, a former military Head of State General Yakubu Gowon (rtd) delivered the university’s distinguished lecture at the Owolabi Hall of ABUAD. The 613 students (327 males and 286 females) who took the matriculation oath not filled the hall, parents, and an array of traditional rulers and personalities within the education sector were there too.

Traditional rulers in attendance include the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba lamidi Adeyemi; Ewi of Ado-Ekiti Oba Rufus Aladesanmi Adejugbe, the Olugbo of Ugbo land, Oba Fredrick Obateru Akinruntan; the Osemawe of Ondo Oba Dr Victor Kiladejo; Aloko of Iloko Oba Oladele Olashore; Deji of Akure Oba Adebiyi Adesida; and Alara of Aramoko Ekiti Oba Olu Adeyemi.

Others were the Governor Fayemi of Ekiti State and his predecessor Mr Segun Oni; first military administrator of Ekiti State Lt. Gen. Inuwa Bawa; Vice-Chancellor University of Ado-Ekiti Prof Dipo Kolawole Babalola and wife of the founder Chief Modupe Bablola

The Vice Chancellor of ABUAD Prof Sidi Osho, said the philosophy behind the ABUAD annual Founder’s day, is to sustain the key philosophy of the founder Chief Afe Babalola which is to ‘reform education’ and ‘lead by example’

Justifying the theme of the lecture,’Falling Standard of Education in Nigeria: The Way Forward’, Prof Osho urged guests to once again reflect on the current worrisome state of education in Nigeria.

“Today, there is no genuine patriot who is not worried about the state of decline in the standard of education in Nigeria. The quality of teaching and learning has declined; the quality of degrees awarded is compromised. A large number of graduates from our universities are a shame to showcase anywhere. Most of them cannot justify the award of their degrees.”

General Gowon’s intimidating achievements which, according to Prof Osho, include among other things, the youngest military Chief of Staff at the age of 32; the initiator of the national Youth Service Corps (NYSC), creation of 12 states and originator of a development Master Plan in as well as his choice to attain higher education (first degree, Masters and Ph.D) after leaving the military, made him, an irresistible icon.

While the scholarship and merit award, was to fire the zeal of both staff and students to be more hardworking, the lecture, was to once again delve into the challenges affecting the education sector and finding lasting panacea Prof Osho stressed, adding that the matriculation was as usual, the official ritual of formally accepting matriculants as bonafide students of the institution.

The Minister of State for Education Kenneth Gbagi, who spoke briefly described his attendance as a way to honour Chief Babalola to whom he (Gbagi) has profited tremendously from as junior lawyer, and to express his admiration for the legal luminary in his capacity as the minister.

Chairman of the occasion Yinka Ayoola a retired Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, said the choice of General Gowon was not misplaced describing him, (Gowon) as a ‘hero’ and role model. He also attributed ABUAD great feats as a testimony of Chief Babalola’s passion for education.

“General Gowon is thus not only a hero, but also a role model for all times. There are many who seek education merely and solely for the purpose of earning a living, but only a few in Nigeria, today, seek education for the joy of acquiring knowledge. General Gowon had no need to, and did not, seek education and knowledge as a meal ticket.

He continued: “While many in Nigeria today seek education as a means of wealth acquisition, Aare Afe Babalola by his industry and academic and professional excellence, has made money to promote and develop education. He has selflessly committed his wealth to the promotion of education and knowledge. This is a great lesson that Nigerians young and old must learn if Nigeria is to be transformed.

Akinola, nonetheless, warned the university not to offer handouts, but a holistic education for her students.

Founder and Chancellor ABUAD Chief Afe Babalola, said the choice of Gowon was in line with ABUAD’s tradition of building on the standard it set at its inception last year when Prof Arther Sussam, Dean of Faculty of Law, Chicago University delivered ABUAD’s first distinguished lecture.

Chief Babalola, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, recalled how he was reluctant to speak with General Gowon whom he last interacted with about 10 years ago.

“Honestly, I hesitated to call him (Gen. Gowon) I do not want to be seen as a person who would call only when I need a favour. I summed up enough courage and phoned him but I did with some trepidation. To my surprise, he agreed to deliver the lecture and wrote a beautiful letter describing ABUAD as the 21st Century university with fine repute.’

Chief Babalola said he established ABUAD as a non-profit making university which, according to him, is the only private university so registered, noting that the thrust was to gradually nurture the university into a world-class status.

He, however, urged parents to cooperate with the university authorities towards the success of their wards, and to also key into the philosophy of ABUAD.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Students of the first private university in Ibadan, Oyo State, the Lead City University, on Monday, went on the rampage in protest against the ongoing face-off between the school authorities and the National Universities Commission (NUC), destroying property worth several millions of naira.

During the protest, the Nigerian Tribune learnt that some of the students caught in the melee were said to have sustained varying degrees of injury, while some of them chose to go to their various homes to treat their wounds, others were rushed to neighbouring hospitals, depending on the degree of the injuries sustained.

It was gathered that the students got injured while they were reportedly scampering for safety.

Some properties of the school were also vandalised while the confusion lasted.

The sliding doors and windows of the institution’s Faculty of Law building, all made of glass were also destroyed by the irate students.

A student of the school, who pleaded anonymity, told the Nigerian Tribune that a public notice published by the NUC in some national newspapers concerning the university’s Faculty of Law on Friday, led to the protest by the students.

According to the publications, the NUC had claimed that the university had no accreditation for its Law, Nursing and Postgraduate programmes and, therefore, directed that the school should discontinue the programmes forthwith.

The publication further warned that the commission would not hesitate to begin the process of withdrawing the university’s operating licence if the school failed to show proof that it had discontinued the programmes within six weeks of the announcement.

The threat reportedly forced the irate students to embark on the protest against what they saw as their bleak future if the face-off was not resolved in time.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Oyo State government, on Friday, disclosed that the Faculty of Education of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) would in June commence academic activities in Iseyin.

The institution’s acting vice chancellor, Professor Moshood Nassir, during a visit to the Aseyin of Iseyin, Oba Abdul Ganiy Salau, said that the visit was a step towards giving credibility and fulfillment to the promise of Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala, during his official visit to Iseyin that a campus of the university would be sited in the ancient town.

He said that with the visit, the people of Iseyin and indeed Oke Ogun area of the state could be assured that all machineries were being put in motion to ensure that students were admitted into the proposed campus.

He called on the traditional ruler to provide the institution with a site and all other enabling facilities that would make the take off of the campus a reality.

According to him, the most important thing was the need for cheap and affordable accommodation for both the staff and students of the university.

While noting that the people of Iseyin were known to be caring and accommodating, he said that it was expected that the security of the students and staff would be of priority to the people of the town.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Definitely, the Master of Science programme in Media and Communication at the Pan- African University, Lagos is an idea that may not fade for years to come. This is because of the methodology being employed by the institution to produce its own set of communicators.

The programme was created to find solution to the problems of the country. It is a different idea because it was created to produce a model to redefine the future of the country.

As the Vice Chancellor of the university, Professor Albert Alos, put it, the school is an idea because the current trends in the world had shown that the media industry had a major influence in shaping societal values and in affecting the way people work and live.

”That is why the university is responding now because we could well say that the future of Nigeria depends to a large extent on the quality of the media. Our School of Media and Communication is a response to the needs of society and a contribution to building the future of Nigeria.”

On Saturday, the institution rolled out 24 creative, innovative and talented young people, who had successfully completed the 12-month Master of Science programme in Media and Communication. They were the first set of communication graduates of the university.

The programme is unique because the students had brought in their experiences, skills and challenges from the field to the academic arena. Unlike in most universities where students only listen to the teachers, the fresh graduates of Pan-African University interacted freely with their teachers to develop models to dissolve most of their challenges.

A visit to their class sometimes ago revealed a great level of interaction between the academics and the post graduate students. In his congratulatory message to the students, Alos said that much of the success recorded in the programme depended on the level of participation and quality of experience that the students brought to class discussion.

He posited, “These graduates are the architects of their success. They have helped the institution to fulfill its mission and sustain its reputation of providing leaders for Nigeria’s development.”

To Alos, the graduation of students from the School of Media and Communication is a landmark in the pathway of development of Pan-African University, adding that the graduates would serve as a model for entrepreneurs in the country.

Beside the School of Media and Communication, the university also awarded 96 graduates with Master of Business Administration. According to the vice chancellor, 62 of them are executives who had undergone rigorous 24-month part-time Executive MBA programme while 34 were young men and women who for 21 months had confronted successfully the challenge of developing their potential to the full through a rigorous full time academic programme.

However, in his presentation, the Guest Speaker, the Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission, Professor Julius Okojie advised the university not to rest on its oars but continue to create models to address the problems in the country.

Okojie who spoke on “The role of private universities in human capital development in Nigeria “, said that for the country to realise its vision 20-2020, it must develop its human capacity, which he described as very poor at present.

Okojie stated that the greatest challenge currently facing Nigeria was the lack of capacity to develop human capital, calling on private universities, including Pan-Africa to create a workforce that could compete in global economy.

“This is a task in which private universities are expected to take the lead. “It is in this context that private universities are expected to take a lead to constantly innovate their programmes and curricula while keeping the market in mind,” he said.

Okojie who spoke through the Chairman of Standing Committee of Private Universities, SCOPU, Professor Jibrilla Ami, charged private universities with special attention on Pan-African to make their institutions accessible for more students.

To him, access to university education should be at least 30 per cent of what is available. He charged Pan-African University not to only service post graduate students but to develop robust curricula for undergraduate programmes relevant to the nation’s manpower needs and global competitiveness.

While calling on the university not to base its income only on students’ fees, he charged the management to create endowments to increase the institution’s earnings.

As he put it, “Many universities in developed countries depend heavily on donations and endowments from alumni and friends to develop the institutions. I call on alumni of Pan-African University to do the same.”

Popularity: 1% [?]

THE authorities of the University of Benin (UNIBEN), has disclosed that over 35,000 candidates would be screened during the Post- Universities Matriculation Examinations (PUME) as a prelude to the admission of fresh students for the 2009/2010 academic session.

A statement in Benin yesterday by the University’s Head, Public Relatins and Protocol, Mr. Eddy Akpomera, said the candidates qualified for the screening exercise are those that have uploaded their information on the University’s website.

According to the statement, “ the University Management, consulted with the leadership of all the staff unions currently on industrial action in order to enlist their support for the imperativeness of the screening exercise, and decided to re-arranged the exercise from four days to two days, with the volume of candidates screened during morning and afternoon sessions.

“Besides, the Acting Vice-Chancellor, Professor Emmanuel Kubeyinje, directed that a four-day grace be granted to genuine candidates that had not logged in for the exercise to do so, so as to give optimum opportunities to all intending fresh students for the university that has Edo, and Delta as core catchment area” it said.

The statement quoted the Acting Vice-Chancellor as saying that adequate security arrangements had been concluded for the screening exercise in all the centres, and commended the key staff unions for their support in allowing the conduct of the exercise during this period.

THE University authorities also cautioned candidates that JAMB was the only agency that generates the authentic list of candidates that entered for their initial examinations, and that the university would not be liable for any omission of names from the official list of candidates from JAMB already on the web.

“The University of Benin had pioneered the Post – UME screening exercise amongst all federal universities in Nigeria four years ago as a strategic initiative to curb the fraudulent practices and fake scores paraded by some candidates” the statement said.

This is to inform all candidates who applied for the 2009/2010 post ume that it has been reschedule for 25th and 26th of August 2009. To know your exam date visit: www.uniben.waeup.org and reprint your acknowledgement slip.

Popularity: 16% [?]

1. Candidates are required to log in at Uniben Website http://uniben.waeup.org/ to check their Post-UME result / admission status and print out admission slip free of charge.
2. Only admitted candidates should proceed to the designated banks to pay acceptance fee of #20,250 made up as follows :
1. Access Card (#750.00)
2. Clearance Card (#14,500.00)
3. ICT Fee (# 5,000.00)
TOTAL – #20,250.00

Payments should be made at any of the underlisted Banks in Benin City only :
Diamond Bank Plc, Ugbowo Branch
First Bank Plc, Uniben Branch
Wema Bank Plc, Uniben Branch
Fidelity Bank Plc, Uniben Branch
Afribank Plc, Ekehuan Road Branch
Access Bank Plc, Uniben Branch
UBA Plc, UBTH Branch
Oceanic Bank Plc, Uselu Branch
GT Bank Plc, Ehehuan Road Branch
(Sales of scratch cards commence on Monday, 8th February, 2010)
4. With the access and clearance scratch cards, candidates should proceed to complete their Eligibility Forms online at http://uniben.waeup.org/ In addition to providing the information specified on the Eligibility Form, candidates are also required to scan and upload the following documents :
5. Certificates / Statements of result
6. Birth Certificate / Declaration of Age
7. Acceptance Letter
8. Guarantor’s Letter
9. Affidavit of Good Conduct
10. Affidavit of Non-Membership of Secret Cults.
(Please note that affidavit sworn to in any court of Law in Nigeria are acceptable)
3. Candidate who have successfully completed their Eligibility Forms online are required to print out the forms and present same to the Clearance Officers for signing during the physical clearance.
4. Physical clearance will be undertaken at a data to be announced later. Please watch out.

Popularity: 5% [?]