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THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER • AUGUST 6, 2016
NEWS
News Editor Ahamefula Ogbu 08116759810 (sms only) Email ahamefula.ogbu@thisdaylive.com
WAEC Records Improved Performance in May/June WASSCE Uchechukwu Nnaike
The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has recorded an improved performance in this year's May/June West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), as a total of 878,040 candidates representing 52.97 per cent of the 1,544,234 candidates that sat for the examination, obtained credits in five subjects and above including English Language and Mathematics. In the 2014 and 2015 WASSCE, the percentage of candidates that obtained credits in five subjects and above, including English Language and Mathematics was 31.28 per cent and 38.68 per cent respectively. Announcing the release of the results in Lagos yesterday, the Head of the Nigeria National Office (HNO), Mr. Olu Adenipekun, attributed the improvement to the hard work and commitment of the students, teachers, government and other stakeholders in the education sector. He expressed hope that the trend would continue next year and beyond. He said out of the 1,544,234 candidates that sat for the examination, 1,393,907 candidates, representing 90.26
per cent had their results fully released, while 158,718 candidates, representing 9.74 per cent had a few of their subjects still being processed due to some errors mainly traceable to the candidates and schools in the course of registration or writing the examination. "Such errors are being corrected by the council to enable the affected candidates get their results fully processed and released subsequently." A further analysis showed that 1,014,573 candidates, representing 65.70 per cent obtained six credits and above; 1,167,484 candidates (75.60 per cent) obtained five credits and above; 1,282,204 candidates (83.03 per cent) obtained credit and above in four subjects; 1,370,094 (88.72 per cent) obtained credits and above in three subjects; while 1,438,679 candidates (93.16 per cent) obtained credits and above in two subjects. Adenipekun stated that a total of 133 visually challenged candidates registered and sat for the examination; out of who 23 candidates (17.29 per cent) obtained credit in five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics. According to him,
RESTRATEGISING FOR VICTORY... L-R: Former Deputy Governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Mukhtar Yero; Chairman, Board Of Trustee, People Democratic Party, Alhaji Wali Jubril and Former Senate Deputy President, Sen. Ibrahim Mantu, during PDP inaugural convention committee meetingheld in Abuja yesterday
candidates who sat for the examination would be able to check the details of
their performance on the council's results website www.waecdirect.org today.
However he said candidates whose state governments were still indebted
to the council would not be able to access their results immediately.
Nigeria Scales Up ANC Suffers Major Setback Nigeria Beats Japan 5-4 Nuclear Power Agenda in South Africa Elections Despite Delay Flight Patrick Ugeh in Abuja
As part of its incremental development of nuclear power, the Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission, NAEC, has scaled up the process with the signing of Memoranda of Understanding with six universities, one in each geopolitical zone, for manpower development. The latest of the educational institutions to benefit from the programme is the University of Abuja whose vice chancellor, Professor Michael Adikwu, and NAEC’s DG, Dr. Erepamo Osaisai, endorsed the document empowering them to collaborate. The other universities involved are Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife; Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria; University of Port Harcourt; University of Maiduguri and Federal University of Technology, Owerri. Under the agreement, Osaisai said, students of University of Abuja would be allowed to go to China for nuclear studies for between six months and one year. He said Nigeria was working towards using highly enriched uranium for different developmental purposes. In addition, the university and NAEC also agreed to exchange information in capacity building, enrich-
ing the contents of existing programmes in the physical sciences and engineering, as well as curriculum development in nuclear science and engineering. Other areas of cooperation are the implementation of the approved curricula by way of structured university degree programmes and establishment, development and operation of a network of physical facilities and devising appropriate mechanisms for sharing and effective utilisation of the resources. Staff development and exchange programmes; and conducting research and development activities for the purpose of manpower development are also part of the package. Hailing the partnership, the vice chancellor of University of Abuja, Prof. Adikwu, lamented that the bane of Nigeria was the desire by most people to want to go solo, saying collaborations such as that between his institution and NAEC were the way most great countries attained their level of development. He said he had already told his engineering staff to draw up a curriculum in nuclear engineering, and hoped that with the MoU, things would move faster.
South Africa's governing African National Congress (ANC) has suffered its worst electoral setback since apartheid ended in 1994. BBC reports that “With 98% of the votes counted after Wednesday's municipal elections, the party has lost the key battleground of Nelson Mandela Bay to the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA). “The two parties are in a close fight for Johannesburg and Pretoria. But the ANC is still in the lead nationally, with 54% of the vote.” The ANC is said to have won more than 60% of the vote at every national election since the end of apartheid more than two decades ago. Unemployment and corruption scandals surrounding President Jacob Zuma have tarnished the ANC's image. Named after ANC liberation hero and South Africa's first democratically elected president, the loss of Nelson Mandela Bay is a big blow to the party. Many of the leaders of the struggle against apartheid come from the area. The DA, which took 46.5% compared to the ANC's 41% in Nelson Mandela Bay, says it is in talks with other parties to form a coalition in the municipality on South Africa's southern coast. Its leader Mmusi Maimane
said Nelson Mandela Bay had voted for change. "I think that to me says that our message got through - it says our people heard us and South Africans still believe in a dream of a non-racial South Africa, South Africans still want our country to prosper," he said. The ANC has conceded defeat in Nelson Mandela Bay after initially saying it was going to challenge the result. Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa promised the party would learn from the experience: "They think that we are arrogant, they think that we are self-centered, they think that we are self-serving, and I'd like to dispute all of that and say we are a listening organisation." It looks like no party will win an outright majority in the economic hubs of Johannesburg or Tshwane, which includes the capital, Pretoria, and coalition negotiations are already underway. BBC South Africa analyst Farouk Chothia says the ANC's urban vote has collapsed with both black middle and working classes switching to DA. It is a historic moment showing the extent to which people are fed up with corruption and the ANC's failure to deliver on its promises, he said.
The Nigeria U-23 team against predictions in the early hours of yesterday defeated Japan 5-4 notwithstanding long delays in their flight from Atlanta, United States of America (USA) on Thursday night to Brazil. Apparently elated by their triumph in spite of the frustrating experience in their long tortuous journey to the Rio Olympic, Brazil, the four-goal-hero in the 5-4 victory of the Nigeria U-23 team against Japan, Oghenekaro Etebo has said his target was to help the team win the gold rather than pursuing the highest goal scorer award. Speaking at the post match press conference, Etebo who was given the match ball after the game, said: “Scoring all the goals in this competition and not winning the gold medal would have amounted to a waste of effort and that’s not my target. Yes, it would be great to see my efforts contributing to the success of the team, but if it will not lead us to the gold, then I do not want it.” Etebo disclosed that the motivat-
ing factor in the team was Coach Samson Siasia who had played the role of a father to the players even in times when they did not believe they could do it, adding that the players were motivated to win for him. Calling on Nigerians to continue to support them, the Portugal based marksman said they were happy to put smiles on the faces of Nigerians who they knew were awake all night to watch them play the Japanese. The team had been stranded in the United States of America where they kept camp due to paucity of funds and had to arrive at the venue of the match just hours before the match with Japan. Some pundits had predicted that the team would not be able to make it to the march venue before the blast of the referees whistle. However, an arrangement saw Delta Airlines lifting them to Rio at the last moment where the team went ahead to snatch victory from Japan which had been on ground and well rested for the encounter.
CORRIGENDUM In the promo section of an interview with the Managing Director/CEO of First Bank, Dr. Adesola Adeduntan, published in our edition of July 31, 2016, his name was wrongly spelt as Adedotun instead of Adeduntan. We regret the error.
Editor