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Daily Times Nigeria Wednesday, June 29, 2016
Education Times Æ s NUC, UNESCO partner on promotion of Gender parity Augustine Okezie Abuja
Ambode
LASU rewards 160 students for academic excellence Esther Taiwo Lagos State University has been described as a hub for academic excellence as the University Management rewarded 160 students for hard-work and academic excellence. This message was contained in the remarks of the Vice Chancellor, Professor ‘Lanre Fagbohun, at the Award ceremony for the University Scholars recently held at the 3-in-1 Auditorium, Faculty of Education, Main Campus, Ojo. Prof. Fagbohun enjoined the awardees not to rest on their oars and work harder to maintain a good academic grade. “We are very proud of you. You have justified that we can showcase you. Indeed, we are parading the very best. What we are doing today is that we are pushing the frontiers of excellence. I implore you to do more and same for those who are here to celebrate you, you need to work harder”. The Vice Chancellor stated that the vision of the University Management was for the students to compete with the best, not only in Nigeria, but, globally. He urged the students not only to be students by good Cumulative Grade Points Average, but, with good mannerism, behaviour and high values. He called on the recipients to be solution providers to societal problems. He equally added that they should always come up with ideas that can change the society at large. Acting Dean, Students’ Affairs, Dr. Olufemi Obayori, in his closing remarks, affirmed that the day was a promise fulfilled and thanked the Vice Chancellor and his team for making the event a reality.
The National Universities Commission (NUC), UNESCO and stakeholders in the Nigerian University System (NUS) and on Monday in Abuja started discussion on modalities for the adoption of Gender and Transformative Leadership (GTL) as a course in Nigerian universities. The three-day workshop titled: ``Workshop on Development of Benchmark Minimum Academic Standards (BMAS) for Gender and Transformative Leadership (GTL) as General Studies (GST) Course for Nigerian Universities, is organised by the National Universities Commission and UNESCO. In his opening speech at the occasion, the NUC’s Executive Secretary, Prof. Julius Okojie, who was represented by Prof. Chiedu Mafiana, Deputy Executive Secretary, said that the essence of the workshop was to sensitise stakeholders, harvest input from stakeholders and educate youths on gender attitude to gender issues. He added that the workshop was also to train the trainers that would achieve the GTL. He said: ``What we strive to achieve is to sensitise the youths who are the leaders of tomorrow to know that next person in equally as important. `The female gender is not given its right of place and so to begin to sensitise them at that level is
COVENANT
UNIVERSITY
Keynote speaker, Prof. Jerry Gana in handshake with Chancellor, Covenant University, Dr. David Oyedepo (2nd left), while Faith Oyedepo looks on, during the 11th convocation ceremony of the Covenant University, held at the University Chapel, Ota in Ogun State...recently.
important. ``Some of the cultural barriers placed on a particular gender could be detrimental to the growth of society. ``In terms of leadership, we are trying to see how we can transform the thinking of the young person. ``We feel it should go beyond the university system to the polytechnics and colleges of education; if you limit to a particular setting, it will not achieve its objective.’’ Okojie further maintained that GTL is going through a process
that all curriculums go through, adding that the workshop was the last step in the process as GTL would subsequently be brought to the management of the commission for ratification and that it might not be feasible for every university to readily adopt GTL as some credit units would be taken from some others courses. Also speaking, the Regional Director, UNESCO Office, Abuja, Dr. Benoit Sossou, said GTL curriculum had been developed and contextualised for Nigeria by 40 experts in 2014. He also noted said
that at the end of the workshop, it was expected that GTL will be introduced to all Gender and Development lecturers in Nigerian universities and adopted as a course. In her remark, Hajia Binta Garba, Chairman, Senate Committee on Higher Education and TETFund, said GTL would address gender issues in the Nigerian society. She said that contrary to insinuations, the Senate did not throw away the Gender bill but there were areas that needed to be finetuned.
JAMB has lost its credibility, says UNILAG DSA ÏG ƊƄ Ǝ ƃ ƃƄƉƉ ƎƆ ƅ ^ Ǝ énjL& Iniobong Iwok The Dean of Students Affairs, University of Lagos (UNILAG), Professor Olatunde Babawale, has lamented that the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) conducted by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) had in
recent years been characterised by malpractices and fraud, adding that the examination body has lost its credibility. Babawale stated this in a chart with the Daily Times, noting that several candidates who excel in the examination are often aided by ‘Miracle’ centres otherwise called Special centres, adding that most of the candidates perform poorly after securing admission into tertiary institutions. He noted that in spite of the
introduction of computer based test (CBT) in the conduct of the examination, recent examinations were still bedeviled with poor network and multiple results to candidates. He said: “Any honest Nigerian knows that JAMB has not been handling the exam very competently. There are miracle and study centres which are known to people where UTME take places and candidates pay and determine their scores. They register
their candidates and promise them high scores and because it has been working, the miracle centres have increased. “Look at the last JAMB examination; there are places where the examination took place where there were no computers or connectivity and there were problems with network which affected candidates’ performance. What would you call that? Is that an ideal environment to test students?