By Kingsley Okoye

The Management of Bayelsa-based Hensard University, says its focus via learning, training, research and mentorship, is to produce global leaders, entrepreneurs, and champions of economic and social change for the good of society.

The Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Dileep Kumar, said this in a statement in Toru-Orua and made available to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Wednesday.

He said Hensard students at all levels of learning would be taught entrepreneurship and encouraged to become real entrepreneurs while in school, through exposure to practical involvement in running, overseeing and management of businesses in their chosen fields.

According to him, the students, while undertaking their entrepreneurial study, will be under the guidance and mentorship of the school authorities.

He said the unique international, industrial, advisory boards and linkages available to the school, would help to facilitate effective mentorship, to avail students with current knowledge for them to become global citizens.

The vice chancellor said Hensard University was committed to its vision and mission of comprehensive development of the human being, impact society in a transformational way locally, nationally, and worldwide.

The school, he said, was also committed to transforming students through innovative teaching and entrepreneurial involvements promoting life-long learning.

“It strives for the highest standards in academics, research and innovation, but it places emphases on character, morality, and spirituality without which academic qualification or life, by Hensard University standards, is incomplete.”

According to Prof. Kumar, the school is ultimately targeted at producing ethical students and leaders with sound personality, character, enduring emotions, and sound intellect for better service to society.

“The school encourages research and development for the progress of society and inclusive sustainable development,” the vice chancellor said.

According to him, the school is also poised to collaborate with prestigious national and international institutions to share ground-breaking research, teaching and learning experiences.

He said this was to encourage research and development for the progress of society and inclusive sustainable development.

According to the professor, the university is Bayelsa’s first private institution licensed by the Federal Government.

“Sen. Seriake Dickson, Chairman of the University’s Board of Trustees, Hensard University was founded through the Henry Seriake Dickson Foundation, as a special institution to drive entrepreneurship.

Hensard will, through leadership, skills maximisation and knowledge, create a new generation of leaders with the requisite character and passion to improve the society.

“Hensard is established to pursue academic excellence, character formation, discipline and commitment to service.”

Its founding vision is to bridge the gaps between academic certification, leadership and skills development and practical industrial application of knowledge for society’s development,” he said. (NAN)(www.nanews.ng)

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Edited by Idris Abdulrahman

By Uche Bibilari

The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, has described literature as a vital tools for promoting understanding and cultural values.

Mamman said this in Abuja on Tuesday at the 13th Literature in Northern Nigeria Conference with theme “Literature and Environment in Northern Nigeria.

The minister, represented by Dr Yusuf Saeed, the Director, Reform Coordination and Service Improvement in the ministry, said the conference would go a long way in promoting the country’s cultural values.

He said that it was heartwarming that scholars were beginning to look at the ignored and silent aspect of knowledge and research.

In his remarks, Prof. Abdul-Rasheed Na’allah, the Vice Chancellor, University of Abuja (UniAbuja), said that people were trained within the scope of their languages, culture and folklore.

According to him, cultural productions, values, language and folklore represent everything about people and environment where they come from.

“The language we speak helps to tell who we are and how we behave and represent our environment.

“The way we are trained is within the scope of our language, culture and our folklore.

“When you go to our folklore, you will see element of science, technology, values and expectations of the society in you.”

The vice chancellor said that cultural innovations had always been there, adding that, innovation was not anything new to Nigerian culture.

“Innovation should be inward. Think about what we need to advance within our cultural realities and bring out innovations that will suit our ways of life,” he said.

According to him, novelists, singers and folklore should be able to represent what is happening in the society in their books and songs.

Similar, Dr Bukar Usman, President, Nigeria Folklore Society said there was a great relationship between literature and the environment.

According to him, this is because we invariably a product of our environment.

Usman said that a vivid and classic example of the relationship between literature and environment could be found in folktale narratives.

According to him, these narratives invariably use animals or objects commonly found in our environment to depict and inculcate societal values in child upbringing.

“The issue of relationship between literature and environment remains ever constant in the determinants of literature content and thrust.

“Until recently, Northern Nigeria is notable for radio listening habit over reading. This stems largely from the previous prevalence of low literacy in Western education compared to other parts of the federation.

“Although huge gains have been made in the acceptance and spread of western education in the North, the number of out-of-school children remains disturbingly high,”he said.

Usman stressed the need to upscale reading and writing in Northern Nigeria, adding that television viewing, social media are posing varied challenges to fostering the reading habit.

He said there was need for a sustained and all round concerted effort to uplift the provision of Western education in Northern Nigeria.

According to him, this conference will provide the academic community, literary-minded individuals, groups the opportunity to appraise and upgrade the state of literature in Northern Nigeria. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

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Edited by Dorcas Jonah/Deji Abdulwahab

08035760502

By Kingsley Okoye

A bill seeking to establish the Federal University of Technology and Environmental Sciences, Iyin-Ekiti in Ekiti, has passed second reading in senate.

The passage followed the consideration of the bill at the plenary on Thursday.

Presenting the bill, its sponsor, Sen.Bamidele Opeyemi (APC-Ekiti) said the bill, when passed into law would develop world-class technologists, as well as the human resources needed to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Bamidele, who is the Senate Majority Leader said that the purpose of the bill is to create more access to university education in view of the large number of qualified candidates seeking university admission.

According to him, the applicants are annually stranded in their failed attempts to gain admission into universities in the country.

“The objectives of the university are, first and foremost, to set up an ultra-modern institution that will develop world-class technologists, as well as human resources that can sustainably manage our nation’s economy by providing technical and management expertise at the highest level.

“The university, when established, will further advance knowledge through research and nurture unique technological innovation, entrepreneurship and wealth management in its core area of interest.

“Mr. President, distinguished colleagues, the enactment of this bill will help in transforming the technological and educational fortune in producing the desired manpower and expertise that Nigeria is yearning for, to exponentially speed up our economic growth and ensure sustainable development,” he said.

Contributing, Sen.Ahmed Lawan (APC-Yobe) recalled that the bill was passed by the 9th National Assembly.

Lawan said, “I wholeheartedly support this bill, the bill is worthwhile because technology and environmental sciences are very important, indeed crucial, for every country worldwide, especially in the 21st Century.

“If we want to develop, like most countries are today, we have to move away from being extremely traditional. We cannot afford to continue with this basic things. In most cases, outdated courses are taught in our schools or universities.

“This is the 21st Century and human beings, more appropriately, human resources, should be the source of developing our country, we have had petroleum from the 1950s to date, ” he said.

The former senate president said that it was high time to establish institutions that are 21st Century inclined to engender knowledge-based economy.

“We are still grappling with poverty, unemployment and so on. Some countries have nothing, but human beings, yet they have made tremendous progress, a good example is Singapore.

“Aside, most countries are now embracing knowledge-based economies, I believe the time is right.

“When we establish a new institution, it should be an institution that will provide education and enlightenment for the 21st Century development agenda,” he added.

Corroborating Lawan’s position, Sen.Victor Umeh(LP-Anambra) said that the university would focus on technology and environmental sciences.

“In this country, Mr. President, time has come when we shall be establishing specialised universities to pursue certain areas and fields of knowledge.

“By focusing on the advancement of technology and environmental sciences, we are confining this university to these two important areas.

“When we produce graduates from this university, we will be thinking of graduates with excellent knowledge,” Umeh said.

The Deputy President of the Senate, Sen. Barau Jibrin, referred the bill to the Committee on Tertiary Institutions and Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) for further inputs.(NAN)

By Usman Aliyu

A don, Prof. Lucky Abdulsalami, has alerted that libraries may go into extinction unless librarians learn to adapt and seek out creative answers to societal change for effective library and information services marketing.

Abdulsalami, who is the Librarian of the Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo, stated this on Wednesday in Okada, while delivering the 23rd Inaugural Lecture of Nigeria’s premier private university.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the lecture is titled “Marketing of Library and Information Services: The Role of the Library”.

The don noted that though libraries remained the best source of wisdom and knowledge, the introduction of new technology and its application in libraries had opened up new avenues for marketing the library and its services.

“Libraries and library professionals are attempting to seize possibilities to beat out competitors – commercial vendors and technology specialists – in the age of competitive competition.

“Most libraries across the world have begun to sell library and information services, and have created a record for each event for accreditation.

“As a result, libraries are developing marketing and promotion strategies to provide suitable services that will satisfy the needs of current trends while respecting, identifying and changing demands of more difficult users,” said the university librarian.

Abdulsalami, who is the first to deliver an inaugural lecture from the Department of Library and Information Science of the institution, advocated excellent library services, and appropriate staffing and facilities in the context of marketing librarians and the services they provided.

“With increased alternatives for information, librarians must learn to gain a competitive edge and promote the added value in the services they provide.

“For effective information handling and management, effective marketing should be used to promote access to library and information services as a panacea towards sustainable libraries in the digital age,” he asserted.

Earlier, Prof. Lawrence Ezemonye, the Vice Chancellor of the university, said the occasion was significant in the career of an academic staff member and held to acknowledge appointment or promotion of full professors.

An inaugural lecture, the vice chancellor, said provided a platform for sharing discoveries, ideas and insights with the public and the larger academic community as well as engaging the town and gown.

Ezemonye, who recounted recent developments in the university, said the school had expanded its collaborative research with local and international partners to enhance knowledge production for national and global development. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola

By Ruth Oketunde

Stakeholders in the education sector have identified multiple school levies as one of the key factors driving Nigerian children out of school.

The stakeholders spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sidelines of a ground-breaking summit on Nigeria’s out-of-school crisis, hosted by the UK charity, IA-Foundation, which ended in Lagos on Sunday.

The theme of the summit was: “Street to School: Panacea to a Menace”.

In her contribution, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of IA-Foundation, Mrs Ibironke Adeagbo, argued that government at all levels should take immediate steps to discourage multiple levies in schools.

She said that multiple levies in schools were imposing heavy burdens on many parents, forcing them to resort to the option of withdrawing their children and wards from schools.

According to her it has become imperative to apply practical, proactive and pragmatic approaches for Nigeria to change the narrative in the out-of-school crisis.

The British-born Adeagbo, who has thrown her hat into the ring to make the difference in Nigeria’s education sector, lamented that having 20.2 million out-of-school children in Nigeria was distressing.

“In global comparison, one out of every five out-of-school children is in Nigeria.

“UNESCO says that Nigeria has 20.2 million children out of school, which give or take is 10 per cent of our population.

“If this does not keep you awake at night, I wonder what does.

“This menace should be a burning issue and should no longer be business as usual.

“Together, we shall strive to make a difference that will help change the current trajectory,” Adeagbo said.

On her part, Mrs Mojisola Hunponu-Wusu, a panelist at the event, said that everyone must contribute to the reduction of out-of-school children in Nigeria.

“Members of the family should realise that there must be a contribution to that and reallocation of what they consider a priority for children both male and female to be educated to optimal levels,” she added.

Also speaking, a traditional ruler, Oba Adedokun Abolarin, commended IA-Foundation for raising the bar by taking young Nigerian children back to school.

“I commend your vision for ensuring a better future for our country through the activities of IA-Foundation.

“I commend you for tenaciously doing what many of us ought to be doing as social entrepreneurs and as people who can pivot into the future using the past as a model,” he said.(NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

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Edited by Silas Nwoha

By Ruth Oketunde

Human rights lawyer and activist, Femi Falana has called on the National Assembly (NASS) to step into Nigeria’s worrisome out-of-school crisis, to save the future of the country.

Falana made the appeal in a speech he read at a Summit on Nigeria’s Out-of-School Crisis, hosted by the UK charity, IA-Foundation in Lagos at the weekend.

The outspoken activist said that refusal of state governments to make counterpart contributions to the Universal Basic Education Fund in the country was hampering access to basic education in Nigeria.

A 2022 UNESCO report had said that approximately 20 million children are out of school in Nigeria, which is Africa’s most populous nation.

Falana in his speech, made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Sunday, stressed the need for the NASS to act fast, lamenting that the number of out-of-school children in the country was alarming.

According to him, in pursuant to Section 2 of the Compulsory Free Universal Basic Education Act, it is important for the states governments to make counterpart contributions to the Universal Basic Education Fund, which has continually been ignored.

The activist argued that the NASS should ensure an amendment of the constitution to empower the accountant-general of the federation to deduct the counterpart fund payable by every state government from source.

“In June last year, the Executive Secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Mr Hamid Bobboyi, bemoaned the refusal of state governments to provide counterpart funding and access the annual matching grants given by the commission to develop their basic education system.

“The commission was particularly concerned that about N110 billion of the intervention funds accessed from UBEC were not utilised by the states in 2021, with the money left in the coffers of State Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEBs).

“Sometime in 2017, we learnt that the Federal Government had decided to refund state governments all monies so far deducted from their accounts to meet the London Paris Club obligations.

“We were able to convince the Federal Government to deduct the counterpart fund that the state governments had failed to contribute to the Universal Basic Education Fund.

“The suggestion was accepted by the Federal Government and that was how the sum of N71.3 billion was deducted from source and remitted to the account of UBEC.

“Thereafter, UBEC added the matching grant of N71.3 billion and the states received a total of N142.6bn for the provision of needed facilities in public primary and junior secondary schools in the country.

“What the National Assembly should do is to address the refusal of state governments to make counterpart contribution to the Universal Basic Education Fund pursuant to Section 2 of the Compulsory Free Universal Basic Education Act.’’

According to him, the National Assembly should as a matter of urgency, ensure the amendment of the constitution to empower the accountant-general of the federation to deduct the counterpart fund payable by every state government from source.

Falana explained further that since each of the 36 states of the federation had adopted the Child’s Rights Act and enacted a Child’s Right Law, it had become the joint responsibility of the federal, state and local governments to ensure that every Nigerian child was given an opportunity to acquire free and compulsory education.

He added that the Discrimination Against Persons With Disabilities (Prohibition) Act, 2019 guaranteed free education up to senior secondary school level for every person with disability.

“In the same vain, all public schools, whether primary, secondary or tertiary shall have at least one personnel trained to cater for the educational development of persons with disabilities or special facilities for the effective education of persons with disabilities.

“These laws have been observed in their breach because the members of the political class, drawn from all registered political parties have not demonstrated any commitment to the education of every child in Nigeria.

“The members of the legislative and executive organs of governments have failed to appreciate the danger of having 18.5 million out-of-school children, the highest in the world.

“Therefore, amending the Compulsory Free Universal Basic Education Act to make it more stringent for parents will not work in a poverty-stricken environment,” Falana stated. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Silas Nwoha

By Angela Atabo

The European Union (EU) has announced the investment of an additional 5.4 million euros in building the capacity of teachers in the Northwest.

The EU Commissioner for International Partnerships, Jutta Urpilainen, made this known at the official launch of the 4O million Euro intervention programme on education and youth empowerment in North Western Nigeria through the Global Gateway initiative.

According to Urpilainen, the investment is in line with EU’s commitment to crash the high number of out of school children in the Northwest region of Nigeria by improving access to quality education and empowering youths in the region.

“This component is complemented by a 5.4 million euro separate programme that we signed today, which is dedicated to teachers aiming to build their resilience and capacity in challenging environments.

“We have to remember that there is no education without teachers and that’s why we also have to invest in teacher training.

“The third objective of our programme is really that it empowers youth with the skills they need, providing vocational education as promoting behavioral change campaigns to challenge harmful social norms and empower girls,” she said

Urpilainen said that the European Union was equally out to provide vocational education and training for Nigerian youths in order to equip them with the necessary skills required to excel in the Labour market.

“This ambitious programme launched today has been designed with Nigerian authorities to ensure the ownership and an adequate response to the local needs.

“The EU is not only targeting the youth through this specific programme, it is also bringing the youth to the driving seat and this is why as the EU, we set up the Youth Sounding Board, also here in Nigeria, as well as in many countries to make sure that what we do is for the youth but also by the youth.”

Urpilainen said that young people had to be included in decision making, creating spaces and structures where young people would feel visible.

She said that Nigeria was not only the economic powerhouse on the continent and the most populous country in Africa, but also a strategic partner of the EU in the West region.

She, therefore, said that the programme would focus on lifting out of school children off the streets to get the required education, especially girls through various components aimed at achieving one objective; access to quality education and youth empowerment.

“Education is the most transformative sector in which we can invest and it is the cornerstone for creating resilient societies and finding solutions to the biggest challenges of our time.

“So the EU investment on access, skills and quality education and youth empowerment in North-western Nigeria brings actually all these different components together. It will be deployed in Northwest Nigeria.”

Urpilainen said the programme launched, apart from tackling out of school children, would also include direct assistance to families, cash transfers, social protection, income generation, gifts and indirect assistance through agricultural practices.

She added that another objective of the programme is to promote validated teaching and learning in targeted schools.

She said the programme would support child centred medical, sexual reproductive health, racial gender equality training and support community-based and state-level capacities to deliver on education.”

Responding on behalf of the Northwest governors, Gov. Umar Namadi if Jigawa, commended the EU for supporting the region to address the scourge of out-of-school children .

“The Northwestern states have the highest population in the country, we are more disadvantaged when it comes to education so this support is coming at the right time.

“For each of us, education is a priority and we have decided collectively and individually to invest in education and we are ready to change the narrative in the next four years.

“This support has come at the right time and I assure you that this support will go a long way in helping us to revamp education in our various states.

“This intervention we will utilise in the best way possible and I assure you that the outcomes would be something commendable to improve our educational system and other aspects of social development,” he said.

The Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, said that education was key to development and that youths needed to be empowered to succeed .

“If our youths are not properly catered for, trained and empowered, we are toying with the future of the country. Not catering for them will allow poverty to grow and insecurity to foster.”

Mamman called on the state governors to focus on prioritising education and youth empowerment, adding that the soon to be released education sector roadmap covered the same objectives of the European Union in revamping the sector.

He said that the Ministry’s focus is to shift to basic education to tackle out-of-school children, adolescent girls who need to be trained and empowered.

He added that the government is ready to commit 25 per cent of the budget on education.

“All the President needs, according to him, are policies that will justify that budget and that is what we are working on,” Mamman said. (NAN)

Edited by Vincent Obi