Christian Medical Students Visit Oko Prison

OKO Prison located at Oko Ogba Road in Benin City was a beehive of activities, last Saturday, when members of the Christian Medical and Dental Association Students (CMDAS) of the University of Benin (UNIBEN) and Igbinedion University, Okada, (IUO) visited the inmates.

The students were conducted round the facilities, during which they were enlightened on the rules guiding prison yard.

The School Mission Secretary, Harry Ogodo, said, “the visit was part of the association’s mission to reach out to the needy.”

He urged inmates to make good use of their stay and apply the lessons they have learnt while in prison to their lives when are set free.

Delivering a talk titled, ‘Free At Last,’ Aisosa Guobadia, spoke to the inmates about Jesus Christ. Some of the prisoners accepted Christ and promised never to go back to crime.

The students gave toiletries, clothes and different food items to the inmates.

Rights Group Calls For Urgent
Reopening Of LASU
By Ujunwa Atueyi
THE Education Rights Campaign (ERC), has urged the Visitor to Lagos State University (LASU), Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola, and all key stakeholders of the school to urgently resolve the present impasse going on at the school and reopen it for academic activities.

National Coordinator of the group, Hassan Taiwo Soweto, said there is no justifiable reason for the school to remain closed after the general elections, which was the management’s reason for the closure.

The group appeals to authorities concerned to consider the students’ plight and reopen the school.

“LASU is the only university owned by the state government, we therefore expect that if LASU is confronted by internal crisis leading to its closure, as has happened for months now, the Lagos state government should be sensitive, particularly to the pains of the students and peacefully resolve the matter.

“Also the issues that led to the crisis have been in the public domain for months now and unless the governor becomes proactive over the crisis with a view to resolving it, to ensure that academic activities resume soonest, the public will be left with no choice than to believe the government’s inaction is because the vice chancellor, Prof John Oladapo Obafunwa enjoys so much support from Alausa.”

The group calls for an immediate reopening of the university and also an immediate halt to victimisation of staff and students. This requires that all punitive measures taken against members of staff be immediately reversed.

Lagos Based Industrialist Harps On Technical Education
By Omiko Awa
A LAGOS based industrialist, Chief Rasaki Akanni Okoya, has called on all levels of government and institutions of higher learning across the country to lay more emphasises on entrepreneurial and technical education, as key to industrialising the country.

Speaking after being honoured as a Leader Without Care For Title for his contribution to the manufacturing and real estate sectors of the economy, at the 20th edition of the Centre for Values in Leadership (CVL), recently in Lagos, Chief Okoya advised the youths to acquire technical skills and training that would make them job creators, rather than job seekers.

He observed that Nigeria is still relying on foreign countries for almost all its needs because government and institutions of higher learning are paying more attention to certificates at the expense of technical education, which is the hope of any nation.

Okoya said there is need for private individuals and organisations to support technical institutions and universities across the country, with funds and infrastructure, to enable them give youths qualitative training that would empower them to set up small firms and not depend on government for jobs, when they leave school.

Disclosing that about 70 per cent of Nigerian youths are either unemployed or under-employed, the industrialist called on well meaning Nigerians to create jobs and empower youths with technical skill to go into manufacturing, boost our economy and save the country from depending on foreign goods.

“If Nigeria must be industrialised like countries such as China, Japan and others, it must develop its youths, embrace technical education, encourage local production of goods and provide the enabling resources,” he said.

He, however, advised youths to inculcate hard work, be ready to learn and to be determined to succeed in life through legitimate means.

NOUN Student Treks To
Honour Governor-Elect
MR. JOSEPH Iyoke, of National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) has trekked from Aba in Abia State to Nsukka in Enugu State, to honour Mr. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, the Enugu State governor-elect.

Giving reasons for his action, Iyoke said, “I did it to honour the Enugu State governor-elect; we have been waiting for a long time to have someone from Nsukka become governor of the state.”

Sporting a polo T-shirt, a short and a pair of white canvass, Iyoke disclosed that Nsukka people had suffered marginalisation for a long time, adding that there are no good roads and meaningful development in the town. He noted that only someone from the area, who knows the problems, could solve them.

NBTE Expresses Worry Over
Illegal Polytechnics
THE National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) has expressed concern over the proliferation of illegal and unaccredited private monotechnics, polytechnics and Innovation Enterprise Institutions (IEIs) across the country.

According to the NBTE Executive Secretary, Dr. Manzuid Kazaure, over 65 of such schools are operating in different parts of the country, defrauding parents and students.

He disclosed that these illegal schools admit students for National Diploma (ND) and Higher National Diploma (HND) certificates, adding that security agencies have been alerted to close them and arrest the operators.

He revealed that some top officials of the Programmes Department of NBTE are presently being investigated over issuance of registration licences to some of the schools, adding that any NBTE officials culpable in the licensing of such schools would face the full wrath of the law.

Bida Poly Rector Bows Out In Style
By Mercy Ada
RECTOR of Federal Polytechnic, Bida, Niger State, Malam Abdullahi Sule, has bowed out of office after completion of his second term.

At a send forth dinner organised in his honour by the Students Union Government, the SUG President, Christopher Ejike Emmanuel, disclosed that Malam Sule’s tenure impacted positively on the lives of people within and outside the school.

He said: “There has been massive structural development in the campus. He completed the ICT centre, constructed many lecture halls, staff offices and renovated student hostels.

“It was during his tenure that the school hosted the 18th Nigeria Polytechnic Games, which enabled the school to have modern sporting facilities.

Deputy Rector of the School, Dr. Abubakar Dzukogi, noted that Sule is extremely tolerant of people’s views and behaviour, adding that there have been relatively peace in the school aside from the massive turnaround of facilities, he championed.

Other speakers, who showered encomiums on the former Rector, include the Registrar of the School, Chief Bisi Adeyemi; Comrade Muhammed Gbate and the School Bursar, Usman Buhari.

Speaking after handing over to his successor, Sule called on government to increase tertiary institutions funding across the country.

Malam Sule joined the Polytechnic in 1984 and rose within the ranks to the post of Rector.

Wise Word
“Action without thought is empty. Thought without action is blind,” Kwame Nkrumah
Education is the most powerful weapon, which you can use to change the world,” Nelson Mandela

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