The University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) has made adequate preparations for the successful conduct of the Harmattan Semester examinations, which will begin on January 25. Professor Albert Olayemi, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Management Services) spoke in his office last Thursday while commenting on the university’s readiness for the exams and the expectations from students. Urging students to be studious as there is no short-cut to success, the DVC also remarked that all university rules governing the conduct of examinations still subsist, and no honest effort should be spared by students in working hard to ensure academic success. We at Frangeovic Blog wishes al

Members of staff and students of the Faculty of Dentistry, College of Medicine, University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus, were filled with joy recently when the institution’s management commissioned a multi-million naira faculty building complex at the permanent site of the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH) Ituku-Ozalla, Enugu State. The event has brought great relief to many lecturers and members of staff who had no offices at the UNTH old site, which they had used for over 15 years. Speaking on the occasion, the Dean of the Faculty, UNN, Prof. Etisiobi Ndiokwelu, said the new building would boost learning and research in the institution as the lecturers and members of the faculty would now be sure of offices for the proper co-ordination of their academic work. Ndiokwelu, who commended First Bank for donating the one storey building, explained that with such an edifice, the faculty would not have accreditation difficulties. The dean also announced that with the commissioning of the building, the faculty would soon relocate from the old site to the permanent site at UNTH, Ituku-Ozalla. Earlier, the Vice-Chancellor of UNN, Prof. Bartholomew Okolo, canvassed the participation of the private sector in the funding of the education sector in the country, saying government could not solve the enormous challenges alone. He said with the rising cost of tertiary education in Nigeria, the involvement of the corporate society had become inevitable to save it from collapse and urged corporate bodies to borrow a leaf from the First Bank example and contribute their quota to the educational development of the country. The ceremony was attended by principal officers of the University including Provost, College of Medicine, UNN, Prof. Den Onwubere; former Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Bede Ibe; former Provost College of Medicine UNN, Prof Chukwuma Ozumba and the chief Medical Director , UNTH, Dr. Anthony Mba.

A new Rector has been appointed for the Federal Polytechnic, Idah. He is Mr Matthew Itopa Akpata. His appointment, approved by President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, was contained in a letter signed on behalf of the President by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Abuja, Prof .O.A. Afolabi. The appointment which took effect from December 23, 2009, is for four years in the first instance and renewable for another four years. Akpata was named the Deputy Rector of the Polytechnic in June, 2005, after which he became the Ag. Rector on May 22, 2008- a position he held until his new appointment. Born on June 20, 1958, Akpata, who hails from Oboroke-Ihima in Okehi Local Government of Kogi State, attended R.C.M Primary School, Oboroke-Ihima between 1963 and 1969, and later moved to Lennon Memorial College, Ageva-Okene, from 1972 to 1976. He earned his Bachelors in Chemistry from the Bayero University, Kano (between 1976 and 1981), and in 1988, got his Masters in the same field from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Akpata is the Rector of the Polytechnic which was established in 1977, and the first to be appointed as such from within the polytechnic. He joined the services of the Polytechnic in 1981 as a Youth Corps member, after which he was employed as Lecturer III in 1982. Since then, has risen to the rank of Chief Lecturer (the highest in the academic cadre), and had served the Polytechnic in various capacities, including being the Head of Department of Science Laboratory Technology (1999-2003); Dean, School of Technology (2001-2003), and Director of Academic Planning, the last position he held before becoming the Deputy Rector. Mr. Akpata, who also served either as a member or Chairman of various crucial committees in the Polytechnic was onetime Chairman, Kogi State Chapter of the Chemical Society of Nigeria. He is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Chemist of Nigeria (ICCON). He has many published papers published in both national and international Journals. Akpata is an elder of the Evangelical Church of West Africa (ECWA), and happily married to Abigail with four children.

Twenty-One-year old Deborah Ayodele, from the Department of Geography, was the cynosure of all eyes at the 43rd graduation of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka, Lagos, where she emerged the overall best graduating  student. Deborah, who was radiating in joy came out with First Class Division with a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 4.96 points. She led her other 86 colleagues who obtained First Class Division at the institution’s convocation tagged: “A Dream Come True, Not a Nightmare”, held at the Muti-Purpose Hall, Akoka main campus of the 48-year old institution. No fewer than 6, 134 graduating students received their scrolls at the two-day event from Faculties of Arts, Education, Social Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Sciences, Medicine, Business Administration, Pharmacy, Law, Engineering and Distance Learning Institute (DLI). For her brilliance, Deborah, a native of Ajowa-Akoko in Akoko-North West Local Government Area of Ondo State, got N100,000 cheque, presented to her  by the institution’s alumni association and other undisclosed prizes. Basking in the euphoria of her performance, Deborah, who dedicated her success to God, recalled how she had to sacrifice her social life for academic work and fellowship. In fact, she thanked her parents, Mr and Mrs Rufus Ayodele for the discipline instilled in her and described them as tonic that spurred her to succeed in her quest to achieve academic excellence. Her words: “What ever success recorded by me today is dedicated to God. It was His support that encouraged me to believe in myself that there is noting that is impossible. The secret of achieving this is hard work and sacrifice. It is important that students should understand that through discipline, hard work and support of God, that one could break even. The journey to my success began during our orientation programme in 2005, when I met an undergraduate who had 5.00 (CGPA) and I said to myself that I can also achieve this feat. That was how I determined to work towards it with prayers.” According to Deborah, her father is a civil servant while her mother is a teacher at Aje Comprehensive High School, Sabo, Yaba, Lagos. Noting that the encouragement she got from her parents and other members of the family assisted her to achieve success, Deborah urged other students to inculcate the virtues of discipline, hard work, commitment and honesty. She said: “I would like to encourage other undergraduates to always give glory to God; as He is the only one Who can give the power to succeed. The desire to excel, passion for success, determination, diligence, discipline and the ability to attain the zenith of one’s career are keys to success.” On how to tackle challenges facing students in the course of the studies, she urged the government to improve the level of infrastructure in the institutions, by building more lecture theatres, laboratories and hostels in order to put in place a congenial learning environment for enhanced learning. Mr Ayodele, who flanked his proud daughter at the event, said the burden of providing sound education should be the responsibility of parents and guardians by instilling in their children high level of discipline that will go a long way in making them shun all forms of anti-social vices. Advising parents and guardians to monitor their wards activities and education at school and home, Ayodele, who warned against leaving the children like sheep without a shepherd, noted that such could be counterproductive.

For fresh students into the Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH), Ikorodu, Lagos, to enjoy their stay and complete their studies in the institution, they are to shun cultism and other anti-social behaviour on campus. The Rector, Mr Babatunde Ayodeji Iginla, gave the warning while administering the polytechnic matriculation oath on no fewer than 10,000 students admitted into the institution for the 2009/2010 academic session. Describing the ceremony as admission rite, he urged them to acquaint themselves with the polytechnic’s rules and regulations, even as he added that the institution has zero tolerance for indiscipline. “I warn you to face your studies and shun all forms of vices that could negatively affect your  education  in the polytechnic,” Iginla said,  stressing that they should shun those acts that are capable of disrupting normal academic calender of the institution. His words: “I urge you to shun any unproductive pastimes that may distract attention away from your primary objective in the polytechnic. You must, by now, be familiar with the history and structure of the polytechnic as well as its rules and regulations during the orientation programmes held for you. “We urge you to keep this information at your fingers tips for your guidance throughout your stay in the polytechnic.” Expressing the readiness of his management team to improve the polytechnic website, the Rector said  it would upload with students’ registration, semester results’ processing and processing of the transcripts of academic records. He, however, spoke of plans by the polytechnic to introduce modern teaching technology, through  computerised interactive boards, multimedia projectors and computer system, which according to him, would go a long way to improve learning. Iginla urged the students to make effective use of the designated institution’s telephone lines and e-mail address to lodge their complaints with a view to dialoguing with the management. Advising his colleagues, Efosa Imasu, a freshers at the Department of Estate Management, spoke on the need by his colleagues not to be carried away by any social life,  even as he urged them to face their academic work. Principal officers at the event include Alhaji Nurudeen Olatunde Bashorun, the Deputy-Rector;  Princess Adetope Kosoko, Registrar; Mrs Charis Akinsanya,  Bursar and Mrs Olaide Amole, the polytechnic Librarian.

The Education Minister, Dr. Sam Egwu has re-affirmed government promise to amicably resolve the demand for pay rise by unions in polytechnics and colleges of education sub-sector without discrimination. This is as it assures that the same principles used in fixing the new pay package for university unions will be adopted. Egwu stated this in Abuja at a meeting with the FGN/Unions in polytechnics, colleges of education sub-sector negotiating teams. Egwu explained at the meeting that the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission had been directed to produce the new salary table for staff in the two sectors within the shortest possible time to allow for signing of an agreement to that effect. Egwu commended the maturity of the staff of the aforementioned institutions for heeding government’s appeal which ensured that there was no much crises in their sectors while the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike lasted. According to him, the government has kept faith with its earlier promise that the outcome of the negotiation with ASUU would be extended to the sectors, stressing that the action goes to show that it is not only by confrontation that unions can negotiate to get something for their members. The minister enjoined National Salaries and Wages Commission to handle the assignment with utmost seriousness, noting that the union’s cooperation was not a mark of weakness and should not be taken for granted. The National President of Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union, Mohammed Ibrahim said the impeccable disposition of Mr. Egwu to fairness which have manifested many times, sustained the confidence of his members in the minister all along and urged him to closely monitor the process of computing the new salary table to ensure that the final out-put is a true reflection of what has been generally agreed to.

The crisis that has forced the closure of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) last Friday would have been averted if the management had taken intelligence reports seriously. The Nation gathered from a source that there was tension in the air even before the resumption of classes after the three-month strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) last November. However, the management, led by the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Batholomew Okolo, did not act on reports of dissatisfaction with new fees regime introduced by the university. Though admitting that the management had prior knowledge of the impending demonstration through reports, of the institution security lamented the failure of the Nsukka Police Command to nip the crisis in the bud despite several calls to them. The reason behind the riot has become a subject of controversy as the Vice-Chancellor has denied that the students went on rampage because of fees hike. He said during a press briefing held at Enugu Campus of the university that some “miscreant staff” instigated the students to violence, which led to the vandalisation of the pro-chancellor’s and vice-chancellor’s lodges, 22 brand new cars and buses among other properties belonging to the university. “The students who were involved in the rampage were used by some elements in the university community to cause disorder,” he said. The vice-chancellor explained that there could not have been any increase since the university council saddled with such process has not taken such decision. He also accused the media for misrepresentation of the real issue on ground, adding that the media was working in concert with those disgruntled elements in the university community. Okolo, whose appointment six months ago has been raising a lot of dust, flatly denied that there was no increase in the fees being paid by students in the university. He argued that there is no such thing like tuition fees, but closed his eyes to the various levies and accommodation charges that were increased arbitrarily. According to sources at UNN, fresh students were to pay N85,000. This excludes N5,000 screening fee for the post-UME examination, N10,000 shopping fee and N25,000 acceptance fee for those offered admission. Convocation fee for graduating students was increased from N6,000 to N40,000, tuition from N38,000 to N75,000, accommodation from N11,000 to N30,000 and students who did not want hostel accommodation would be charged “a pay off fee” of N10,000. Before the news of the new fee regime got round, pupils of the UNN Secondary School had embarked on a demonstration against demand that they should pay N30,000 extra in addition to their school fees of N35,000 for the second and third terms. A copy of the letter to the parents made available to The Nation and signed by the principal of the school, Mrs. Ebele Erojikwe, reads in part: “I wish to inform you that the Board of Governors of the school had its letter to the principal dated January 13, 2010, directed that every student of the school should pay an emergency N30, 000 per term for the second and third terms of the 2009/2010 session”. She clarified that “this levy is in addition to the students’ second and third term fees”. However, it was gathered that the Board had not agreed to the increase. During the protest, which led to the closure of the school penultimate week, the pupils also destroyed the school property. The new fee regime did not get the blessings of the local ASUU chapter. Chairman of the union, Dr. Anselm Ibeanu said: “We are opposed to these astronomical increases in fees and if our congress meets it will be a very volatile situation because I know it had opposed the increases introduced in the primary school last year.” Okolo does not have the favour of the senator representing Nsukka senatorial zone, Ayogu Eze as well. Eze, who chairs the Senate Committee on Information, blamed the Vice-Chancellor for the violent protest, accusing him of being inaccessible to the students. “I have, however, studied the situation leading to this sad development and I have found out that the management of the university has a lot of questions to answer. The Vice Chancellor, Prof. Bartholomew Okolo has been most inaccessible to the Students’ Union leadership and where he is, has been most intransigent in dealing with issues of administration. The immediate cause of the riot is an attempt to raise school fees by as high as 150 percent without, as it were, taking all stakeholders on board,” he said.

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) will close its site to registration for the 2010 Universal Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) on Monday, February 15. By today, candidates who have waited until the last minute to register for the examination, which would give them the chance to gain admission into up to six tertiary institutions – universities, polytechnics and colleges of education, will be doing all they can to ensure they submit their applications before the deadline. Failure to do so would mean waiting an extra year to try again. The UTME has come to replace the Universities Matriculation Examination (UME) and the Monotechnics/Polytechnics and Colleges of Education Matriculation Examination (MPCEME), which were conducted annually for admission into various tertiary institutions until last year. It will serve as the sole matriculation examination for admission into tertiary institutions in Nigeria. JAMB started conducting entrance examinations for admission into the universities in 1978, and into polytechnics and colleges of education in 1989. For the UME, candidates wrote four objective papers in English and three other subjects relevant to their proposed course of study in the universities. For the MPCEME on the other hand, candidates wrote three subjects including English. For admission into the universities, candidates combined their UME result with five O Level subjects, while for the polytechnics, they used the MPCEME as well four O Level subjects. For the UTME, candidates are going to write four subjects including English. JAMB Registrar, Prof Dibu Ojerinde, said the curriculum has been modified such that they meet the standards of all the institutions the candidates have applied to. The new examination was introduced in the first quarter of last year to expand access to tertiary education and reduce discrimination against non-university graduates. Education Minister, Dr Sam Ominyi Egwu, said during the 2009 ministerial press briefing for the Federal Ministry of Education (FME) in Abuja, last Tuesday, that only six per cent of eligible candidates gain access to tertiary education. Since all the candidates would be writing the same examination irrespective of the institution they would attend, entry requirements will be the same, Egwu, Ojerinde and other egg heads in the FME expect that discrimination will reduce and candidates will become attracted to monotechnics, polytechnics and colleges of education. However, ultimately, Egwu said plans are in the pipeline for these institutions to also award degrees, which is the desired qualification the average applicant wishes to earn. Ojerinde confirmed this during the briefing when he said: “In the polytechnic, we will have B.Tech and in the Colleges of Education, B.Ed.” There have been concerns from candidates, lecturers, and parents on how the admission process will work out. Some critics have spoken of the likelihood of the best brains still going into the universities while those with poorer scores would end up in the polytechnics and colleges of education. Others are concerned that it will affect enrolment in these institutions in favour of the universities. During the briefing, Ojerinde heard from a teacher about a candidate who said he had written UME up to eight times but failed to gain admission. When registered for the UTME, the candidate refused to apply to the polytechnics and colleges of education, insisting that he must get a BSc. Findings by The Nation revealed a similar mindset among other candidates. Tolani Ojo told our reporter that she hopes to end up in either the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife or Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso which she made her first and second choices of universities. If luck doesn’t smile on her, she said she will go to the polytechnic, YABATECH specifically to read Urban and Regional Planning. But the choice of college of education does not feature in her calculations. Adebayo Ajibade, another candidate, would not negotiate for less than the  He said: “I am through with my registration and I know where I am going to. I will rather go for pre-degree instead of going to a college of education. I will rather wait for next year to re-write. But I know by the grace of God, my admission to the University of Lagos (UNILAG) will be through.” Another applicant, Tola Elegbede, who dreams of university admission only said she could not recall the colleges of education she filled in her UTME form. “I don’t even know what I filled for the colleges of education because God and I never signed for anything but the university. I chose University of Lagos (UNILAG) as my first and second choice but if it is college of education, I don’t think I will go for it,” she said. Mr Ojo Adeniyi, an educationist, believes nothing will come out of the UTME. His theory is that the dichotomy between the rich and the poor in the country more often than not determines which institution a child ends up. “If we consider the statistics, you will find out that children of the rich and middle class populate private and public universities most. Let me give you an example, if a child from a rich home did not make the UTME score that qualifies him into the university, his parents may either take him to a private university or asks him to stay at home to write another UTME the following year. “It is only the children of the poor who may want to settle for polytechnics or colleges of education if they don’t meet up the UTME cut off mark for universities. Children of the rich don’t think like that. Their parents are even worse because they believe their children being in universities will always boost their ego, so they will do anything possible to get their children there (universities).” Prof Anthony Oguntoye, Provost of Michael Otedola College of Primary Education (MOCPED), Norforija, Epe is concerned that with candidates’ mind set towards teacher education, enrolment may slide further in the institution. He said: “We are not sure of what will happen. Everybody is looking to see the outcome. We learnt that some candidates refused to choose colleges of education but only chose universities. They are saying those who don’t gain admission into the university will be told to go to the polytechnics and colleges of education they chose. But I wanted to tell them that even with the MPCEME we had problems getting enough students. The last time JAMB gave us a list of candidates who did not gain admission into the polytechnics, almost 4,000 of them. We wrote to them to offer them admission but at the end of the day, very few responded. If we don’t get enough candidates, we will go to JAMB and ask them what they expect us to do.” At the College’s matriculation last Wednesday, 307 full-time and 259 part-time students swore matriculation oaths of the institution. Oguntoye said the college would have been able to accommodate about twice the number for full-time programme alone. “We would have loved to have around 600 or 700 in the full-time programme alone. If we had enough full-time students, we may not bother about part-time,” he said. To attract students, the College started a sandwich degree programme with the University of Ado-Ekiti (UNAD) last year. Very soon, he said the full-time version of the degree programme would commence. Oguntoye added that the College has the required facilities and staff to run its own degree programme and is ultimately looking forward to transforming into a university. He counselled that the government should yield to the yearning of candidates and the society at large for university education. “At a meeting in Abuja, we (provosts of colleges of education) agreed that we should move closer to individual demand for education. It is very crucial. Government may be saying people should go to polytechnics and colleges of education but they prefer university degrees. We need to meet their demands. Most colleges of education and polytechnics now want to run their own degree programmes. To make it easier, they can run affiliations with existing universities and later award their own degrees,” he said. To make the polytechnics and colleges of education attractive, Prof Samuel Zelibe Provost, Federal College of Fisheries and Marine Technology (FCFMT), Victoria Island says the government needs to provide the institutions with quality teachers like their university counterparts to meet up with the new challenges. Narrowing it down to FCFMT, Zelibe said: “In particular reference to our college, we need quality lecturers compared to what we have in university. We recently advertised for PH.D holders while those in the system are also encouraged to go back for further studies,” he said. In the nearest future, according to the Roadmap, all the tertiary institutions will award degrees. However, they will still retain their uniqueness. Ojerinde said polytechnics will retain their National Diploma (ND) components such that those who want to earn B.Tech in the polytechnics will have to complete the two-year programme first. Executive Secretary of the National Board for Technical Education, Dr Nuru Yakubu said there is evidence to support the relevance of the ND programme as students with such qualifications in the sciences who successfully cross over to the university through direct entry, top their classes. “There is empirical evidence to show that those students that cross over to the university in the sciences, engineering and technology courses – even though they do not get admitted into the right level, they end up with first class,” he said.

The newly inducted medical doctors of the Faculty of Medical Science, University of Jos, have been urged to uphold the ethics of their profession and lift the standard of medical practice to greater heights. The Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Sonny Tyoden, stated this in Jos at the induction of the 25th set of medical doctors trained by the institution. He said the university was sure of its investment in the 93 doctors. He said: “The university has invested so much in the training of the doctors and can attest to the high quality of knowledge and skills they have acquired and wish them to keep faith with the ethics of the profession,” he said. Having trained up to 25 sets of doctors, the Dean of the Faculty, Prof. Benjamin Ugwu, said the university’s medical faculty should be upgraded to a college. “The faculty has graduated 25 sets of highly qualified medical doctors since 1982 and should be elevated to the status of a College of Medical Sciences as University of Jos has remained the only federal owned medical school yet to be elevated to the status even after meeting all requirements,” he said. Responding on behalf of the graduands, class representative (2003-2009), Dr Omorede Osagie, thanked the authorities of the institution for “giving us the maximum support” and promised to uphold the ethics of the profession to the benefit of humanity.

It was a dream come true for no fewer than 2,600 freshers into the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) as they undertook the matriculation oath of the 26-year old institution. Administering the 26th matriculation oath on the students, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Adebisi Balogun, described the oath as a contract, which the students should never breach. According to him, any breach of the oath is contrary to the university’s laid down rules and regulations, which the institution not only holds in high esteem, but would spare no effort to guard against. The Vice-Chancellor, who admonished them not to join bad gangs or involve in secret cult activities, warned that the university degrees and certificates would only be awarded those who a worthy in learning and character. To this end, he said the university would not hesitate to sanction students who involve in examination malpractices, indecent dressing, stealing, harassment or assault on fellow students, fighting and other forms of anti-social behaviour. Urging the students to be more cautious in their dealings and entertain restraint in their activities, Balogun challenged the freshers to emulate those students who project the name of the university in the international community. For instance, he recalled how some student leaders, who went to the United Kingdom for an international summit distinguished themselves, while a group of students from the Department of Industrial Design, who also went to the Netherlands for an international workshop distinguished themselves and made the institution proud. Besides, Balagun recounted how some students who represented the university and the country in the Zain International Challenge that took place in Uganda, recorded tremendous success in the competition, while a student from the Department of Forestry and Wood Technology was also sponsored to Bulgaria in 2009 for a workshop. “These great feats and attainments were the expectations of the university from our students, particularly fresh students”, the Vice-Chancellor said.