By Ayodeji Alabi

Gov. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State has condoled with the family of Tosin Ogunbodede, his Chief of Protocol (COP), who died on Saturday, Jan.2, after an auto crash on Ilesa-Akure Road.

Mr Donald Ojogo, the state’s Commissioner for Information and Orientation, said this in a statement on Sunday in Akure.

Ojogo said that Ogunbodede, who was a lawyer by profession, died shortly after a visit to an uncle in Ibadan, Prof. Benjamin Ogunbodede, who has been ill.

“The remains of the Chief of Protocol will arrive Owo Local Government Area, his hometown today.

“This is necessary in order to commence preparations for his burial without further delay.

“Ogunbodede discharged his assigned duties with utmost attention and responsibility.

“Until his untimely death, he had been a very loyal political lieutenant of Gov. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, over the years. For the governor, this is a personal loss.

“It becomes more emotional when it’s recalled that the loyal and dedicated Tosin stopped by at the governor’s law hub, Ibadan, to greet his principal while returning to Akure from his uncle’s residence,” he said.

Ojogo said that the State Government would unveil his burial plans after consultations with the family.

By Abbas Bamalli

The sudden outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) which originated from the city of Wuhan, China, has become a major public health challenge for countries all over the world.

The pandemic led to the total lockdown of most of the human activities in various parts of the world, which also destablised academic activities in most parts of the world, including Nigeria.

The spread of the COVID-19 initially spared Nigeria, like many other African countries, with zero recorded cases as of Jan. 2020.

This luck, however, did not last. By the 28th of February, Nigeria reported its first case, and nearly two months later, 343 confirmed cases, 91 recoveries and 10 deaths were recorded.

The closure of schools, colleges, and universities by the Federal and State governments was an urgent need which prevailed in most States in Nigeria.

Nigerian Government started taking preventive decisions on COVID-19 just after the World Health Organisation (WHO) recognised it as a pandemic disease.

However, the shutdown of most schools and colleges in some states, including the FCT and Kano, in which the academic year was interrupted, had a tremendous effect on the academic syllabus.

Schools had to concentrate on scheduling their final exams before the lockdown commenced. The affected schools and institutions had to cancel or reschedule examination dates, and other school activities, so as to curtail the spread of the virus.

There is no doubt that the interference of the coronavirus pandemic has caused so many challenges in the Nigerian education system, which Kano State was not left behind.

In April 2020, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), with support from the World Bank, launched the COVID-19 National Longitudinal Phone Survey (NLPS); a monthly survey of a nationally representative sample of 1,950 households to monitor the socioeconomic impact of the pandemic and other shocks

Summary of the survey revealed that School attendance in October 2020 was substantially lower than in January/February 2019.

Among household members, aged 5-18 years, 59 per cent were attending school in October 2020 compared to 74 per cent in January/February 2019.

Following the outbreak, a total lockdown was declared in Kano also, to contain the spread of the disease after the mysterious deaths recorded within a short period.

The deaths have raised fears that the coronavirus pandemic could have spread far more than anyone expected in Africa’s most populous city.

Following the lockdown, all academic activities in the State were suspended, which also affected the academic calendars of schools, especially primary and secondary schools in the state.

Alhaji Abubakar Musa, a father of five children in one of the Public schools in Kano, described the situation occasioned by the pandemic as a great setback to the education sector.

According to him, the long stay at home by the students was terrible and it has really affected not only the children, but also the teachers and parents.

“The impact was more severe for disadvantaged children and their families, causing interrupted learning, compromised nutrition, childcare problems, and consequent economic cost to families who could not work.

“The lack of student to teacher interaction also led our children to feel less passionate about the integrity of their work.” he added.

Hajiya Halima Muhammad, another parent, said the closure of schools has exposed so many teachers, especially those teaching in private schools into a serious hardship which she said many of them have not recovered from yet.

“If you could remember, for over seven months, schools were closed, and parents were not paying school fees. With that situation, many private schools were not able to pay their teachers.

“It got to an extent where many good teachers lost their jobs because the school managements can not afford to pay them. This is also a setback to the education of the pupils,” she said.

After the lockdown, and schools were opened, the state government ordered private schools in the state to reduce their third-term school fees by 25 per cent.

Mohammed Sanusi-Kiru, the Commissioner of Education, who announced this, said the decision was necessary to reduce the economic challenges parents experienced due to the COVID-19 lockdown.

The state government has remained silent on the enforcement committee set up to ensure the 25 per cent reduction in the third time school fees.

Kiru explained that the State government has the right and power to enforce the directive on any private school, but choose to negotiate with stakeholders.

“I want to inform you that we have 99 actions that can be taken on any private school owner that failed to comply with the directive. Even though over 80 per cent of them have complied.

“We set up an enforcement committee to go round all the private schools to ensure that they comply with our directive. We wanted to be fair to all, but some are trying to be stubborn.

“Even the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and the states have cancelled the third-term session, therefore we also have the right to do the same,” he said.

Also, the Deputy President, Association of Private Schools Owners of Nigeria, (APSON), Hajiya Maryam Magaji, said they have accepted the directive, designed to comply with the government directives for the reduction of school fees.

She said, “With a view to cushioning the effects of the economic hardship suffered because of the COVID-19 pandemic by parents in the state, the directive given to the proprietors for the reduction of the school fees was not intended by the Government to hurt anybody, but rather done in the best interest of the educational development of the state.”

However, another faction of the association, Joint Committee of Private and Voluntary Schools Association (JCPVSA), issued a statement saying they will not accept the government’s decision to reduce school fees.

By Chukwuemeka Opara

The Ebele and Anyi Chuks Foundation, a non-governmental organisation says it seeks to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor with its humanitarian activities.

Dr Ifeanyichukwu Odii, founder of the foundation made the disclosure at Isu, his hometown while distributing food items, cash among others to the people of the area to celebrate the Christmas and New Year.

Odii said that there was much gap between the rich and poor in the country, which has created inequality and discontent among the people.

“The foundation has been assisting the needy and empowering people for over 15 years and was motivated by God’s selflessness in sacrificing his only son to save mankind.

“We have built 77 houses for indigent persons, six churches to assist in propagating God’s word and a palace for the tradition ruler of the area.

“I have added another 23 houses to the 77 houses we built and they would soon be handed over to the beneficiaries,” he said.

The foundation’s founder said that he built the houses with the same quality he used in building his house in Lagos and this was to give the beneficiaries a sense of belonging.

“This is to make the children of the beneficiaries appreciate God’s kindness on them and make them offer nothing less when they want to assist others.

“Nigerians always offer leftovers to others, but at the Ebele and Anyi Chuks Foundation, we selflessly offer all we have with the fear of God,” he said.

He noted that the foundation’s activities do not have political undertones as the United Nations has always identified with its ideals.

“Everyone cannot be in the forefront of politics and there would be people who would operate at the home front to organise things.

“We pray for God’ continuous guidance and capacity to impact positively on the society and once such grace continues, our efforts would be relentless,” he said.

Odii said that the foundation’s activities extend beyond the frontiers of Ebonyi and Nigeria as it has supported people with empowerment packages, scholarships among others.

“We constructed over 2.2km of asphalted road with drainages in Magodo Estate Lagos, while distributing COVID-19 palliatives to people in 11 states of the country,” he said.

Mr Christian Onu, The foundation’s Coordinator in Ebonyi said that its staff were motivated by the zeal shown by the founder and his wife Ebele, to assist humanity.

“We are presently distributing over 15, 000 bags of rice, over 2000 bales of wrapper, cash running into millions of naira and also empowering youths to be self- dependent during this exercise,” he said.

He said that the foundation strictly observed COVID-19 protocols: use of face masks, hand washing and use of sanitisers during the distribution while restricting the number of attendees.

Sen. Amah Nnachi (PDP-Ebonyi South) commended the foundation for its philanthropy to people in his senatorial zone, noting that its gestures do not have political undertones.

“Dr Odii has done the senatorial zone proud and his actions should be emulated by all especially those involved in politics,” he said.

Mrs Vivian Nwaje, one of the beneficiaries thanked the foundation for the gesture and prayed that God gives it the enablement to sustain good works.