OAU Non-Teaching staffs protest over new VC's appointment

All activities at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife were paralysed on Wednesday when the non-teaching staffs of the university locked down the instituton to protest over the appointment of the new vice chancellor, Prof Ayobami Taofeek Salami for the Institution despite court order restraining it.

The Governing Council of the OAU had on Tuesday announced the appointment of Professor Ayobami Salami as the new vice chancellor of the institution.

Vehicular movement came to a halt and was disrupted causing traffic gridlock for over three hours within the institution.

The protest which is the second in less than a week was started around 8:30 am, which was led by the Chairman of Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities, (SSANU), Comrade Ademola Oketunde and Chairman Non Academic Staff Union of Universities, (NASUy, Comrade Wole Odewumi.

The two union leaders expressed shock at the violation of court order by by the Governing Council.

The protest started in February this year when eligible candidates were signifying interest in the post of the new VC which became vacant on the 23rd of this month.

The protest after some hours turned to a prayer session where they were calling for God's intervention.

The union members also later staged their protest to the house of the VC, which was alleged to have been renovated with N150 million.

Addressing the it's members, Comrade Oketunde described the appointment of Prof Salami as the new VC of the university as a 'contempt of court order'.

"We started this protest since Tuesday when we heard that the university governing council has appointed a new VC without waiting for the court judgement we filled against them. ‎The court has ordered them not to appoint any VC until they give their judgement but they went ahead to fault this order" he said

Oketunde disclosed that the union has filled a contempt of court against the university management and it's governing council, adding that the case will be for hearing on Friday.

Efforts of the outgoing VC, Prof Bamitale Omole and the Chairman of the Institution's Governing Council, Prof Ndoma Egba to douse the tension, were not successful,

However, Public Relations Officer, OAU,Abiodun Olanrewaju said the guidelines for appointment of the new VC was never violated.

Olarewaju noted that the institution's council followed due process and ensured transparency in‎ the appointment of Prof Salami as the new VC.

Ibadan School inaugurates Think Tank Group

The Ibadan School of Government and Public Policy (ISGPP) has inaugurated its multi-disciplinary Technical Core Think Tank.

The group, which has 25 members, was inaugurated on Wednesday at the school’s board room in Bodija, Ibadan.

The Think Tank is made up of experts on governance, media, institutional reform, macroeconomics, energy economics, trade and tariff policy, demography, social statistics, local government and rural development, legal reforms and jurisprudence, science and technology policy, crime, criminality and security, foreign policy, labour and industrial relations, education, youth activism, gender, ICT, spirituality, religion and ethics, entrepreneurship, business and investment analysis, banking and finance, among others.

While inaugurating the body, the school’s Executive Vice Chairman, Dr. Tunji Olaopa, explained the mission of the school which he said was to rethink the governance space in Nigeria and Africa, so as to “get government to work better.”

According to him, in this era of change when the nation is seeking to migrate from the bad policies of the past, the school, which he said is research-driven, will mobilize expertise to get those in government to perform optimally.

Dr. Olaopa said the aim of the school was to grow to become a national think tank and resource centre for policy makers.

He said that The Think Tank was at two difference levels, one with Professor Akin Mabogunje as chairman and the other which was being inaugurated.

Among others, he said, the terms of reference of the group was to “brainstorm on topical issues deemed relevant for understanding of Nigeria’s development and democratic challenges and rethinking the direction around which issues of development and democracy can be crafted.”

The technical core group is made up of such scholars and practitioners as Professor CBN Ogbogbo of the Department of History, University of Ibadan; Professor Ayo Olukotun, Dr. Stephen Lawani, Dr. Festus Adedayo, Dr. Omo Aregbeyen of the Department of Economics, University of Ibadan, Dr. Adesina Afolayan of the Department of Philosophy of the same university, Dr. Akeem Amodu of the Lead City University, among others. 

157 years of Secondary School education in Nigeria

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 The CMS Grammar School in Bariga, a suburb of Lagos in Lagos State, is the oldest secondary school in Nigeria, founded on 6 June 1859 by the Church Missionary Society. For decades it was the main source of African clergymen and administrators in the Lagos Colony.

The seed funding for CMS Grammar School, Lagos was made possible by James Pinson Labulo Davies who in April 1859 provided Babington Macaulay with £50 (equivalent of ₦1.34 million as of 2014) to buy books and equipment for the school. With the seed funding Macaulay opened CMS Grammar School on June 6, 1859.

 In 1867, Davies contributed another £100 (₦2.68 million as of 2014) toward a CMS Grammar School Building Fund. 

Other contributors to the CMS Building Fund were non Saros such as Daniel Conrad Taiwo AKA Taiwo Olowo who contributed £50. Saro contributors also included men such as Moses Johnson, I.H. Willoughby, T.F. Cole, James George, and Charles Foresythe who contributed £40.[4] The CMS Grammar School in Freetown, founded in 1848, served as a model.

The school began with six students, all boarders in a small, single story building called the 'Cotton House' at Broad Street. The first pupils were destined to be clergymen. The curriculum included English, Logic, Greek, Arithmetic.

Geometry, Geography, History, Bible Knowledge and Latin. The first principal of the school was the scholar and theologian Babington Macaulay, who served until his death in 1878. He was the father of Herbert Macaulay.When the British colony of Lagos was established in 1861, the colonial authorities obtained most of their African clerical and administrative staff from the school.

Putting smile on the faces of these children

UNICEF & partners have reached 145,977 children (35% girls) with Education in Emergencies this year thanks to our donors.

FG cancels POST UTME ten years after

The Federal Government has scrapped post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations, UTME, as a pre-condition to gaining admission into universities in the country. The government and stakeholders in education sector also pegged 180 as the benchmark for 2016 admission into universities, polytechnics and colleges of education to improve the quality of education in Nigeria. 

These decisions were reached at the 2016 Combined Policy Meeting on Admissions to Universities, Polytechnics and other higher institutions in Nigeria. The Minister of Education , Malam Adamu Adamu,while declaring open the meeting, said since the federal government and stakeholders had confidence in the examinations conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriulation Board, JAMB, there was no need for other examinations to be conducted by universities after JAMB exams.

 He said: “As far as I am concerned, the nation has confidence in what JAMB is doing, the universities should not be holding another examinations and if the universities have any complain against JAMB, let them bring it and then we address it. 

’But if JAMB is qualified enough to conduct tests and they have conducted test, then there will be no need to conduct another test for students to gain admission. “The ministry expects that all candidates given admission must be from JAMB. but JAMB must stop issuing admission letters, JAMB should get in touch with institutions before offering admission to students. ‘’The closing date is November 30th and no university should exceed its admission capacity and any tertiary institution that doesn’t follow the rule, the ministry would start sanctioning them. 

‘’Institutions should stop admitting students into un-accredited courses in their institutions. The institutions should stop writing JAMB to increase their quotas because JAMB cannot do that.” 

The minister also said institutions should stop writing J AMB to increase their quotas as there were relevant agencies to do so. Adamu also reminded the stakeholders that the criteria for admission was still in force, and asked the institutions to adhere to it. “Merit is 45%, catchment area 35% and educational development in less developed states 20%, this is for federal universities and for states universities, merit 40%, catchment 40 % and less developed local governments get 20%,’’ he said. 

The Minister also asked the Joint Admissions Matriculation Board to stop extra charges on several categories of changes on admissions such as the change of course, change of school and others. The Registrar of JAMB, Professor Dibu Ojerinde, while talking to journalists after the meeting, said institutions were free to go above the 180 benchmark. “180 benchmark is even, no one will go below it this year. Universities can go above it.

 This year, we have more than enough candidates because over 1.2 million candidates scored above 180, so we have enough candidates this year. “There won’t be any written post-U TME but they would screen the candidates. It is a necessary thing to screen the candidates. ‘’We agree and the Minister of Education also agrees but the issue of taking another examination is no longer going to happen,” he said.