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Due to increased public outcry against the
declining performance in public examinations and the high incidence of
examination malpractices, the federal government said it is now ready
to revamp the examination sub-sector.

Ruqquayatu Rufa’I, the Minister of Education, said plans are underway to review the examination policy in Nigeria.

Speaking yesterday at the National
Examination Summit held in Abuja, the minister said the new arrangement
would be for students to register for subjects that will help them gain
admission into tertiary institutions.

“The policy on registration for
examination will be reviewed to allow candidates to have the option to
register for only the subjects they need to qualify for admission,”
Mrs. Rufa’I said.

“The appalling performance by students
is not without causes, which apparently include gaps in the curriculum,
poor teaching methods, non availability of syllabuses in some schools,
government policies on compulsory registration for all subjects by
candidates who require just one or two subjects to qualify for
admission,” she said.

Mrs. Rufai therefore, directed the
Education Trust Fund as a matter of urgency, to liaise with the
Nigerian Education Research and Development Council, West African
Examination Council, Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, and the
National Examination Council to produce copies of national syllabus and
the school curriculum and pass to primary and secondary schools
nationwide.

This, she said, is necessary as the
unfolding worrisome scenario in the examination sub-sector calls for
urgent attention in order to revamp the sub-sector and reduce the high
failure rate recorded in public examination.

She added that “the poor results of
candidates announced by NECO recently whereby only 1.75 percent of the
candidates that sat for the November/December Senior Secondary School
Certificate private examinations in 2009 had five credits and above,
while in the June/ July SSCE school examinations for the same year only
10.53 percent of the students also had five credits and above,
including English and Mathematics, were obviously symptomatic of an
ailing education sector, which requires urgent intellectual diagnosis
by education experts and valuable solution.”

Pai Obanya, an international education strategist, in his remark at
the summit, said another way out of the ruts is to make curriculum
development participatory; as well as explore online examination
option. He also stated that government should start to invest in
education.

The Nigeria Labour
Congress has advised President Goodluck Jonathan to stop consulting
former President Olusegun Obasanjo on issues of national importance,
claiming that Mr. Obasanjo has done more harm to the current democratic
process than good.

Speaking with
journalists at a session held yesterday at the Labour house in Abuja to
celebrate Maurice Iwu’s removal as the Independent National Electoral
Commission chairman, the labour union’s chairman, Abdulwahed Omar, also
said that the group will mobilise to resist the appointment of any
partisan personality as the new chairman of the electoral body.

“We will not
dictate to Mr President whom to relate with or whom to consult on
matters of national interest, we wish to also categorically state, like
many concerned patriots, that we are very uncomfortable with Mr.
President’s seeming romance with former President Obasanjo,” he said.

“If President
Jonathan desires the trust and confidence of Nigerians, he must stop
hobnobbing with Obasanjo for he represents the most formidable danger
to the future of our democracy.”

According to the
union, “recent media reports which tend to suggest that Mr President is
considering the appointment of personalities that are clearly partisan
and known card carrying members of political parties or who had served
or are still serving the PDP government is disturbing.

“We will not, and
Nigerian people will never accept such characters to head our electoral
body. We will mobilise to resist any such appointment.”

The group also
asked Mr. Jonathan to respect Nigerians view on the kind of personality
to bring into the office, stating that though his removal of “Professor
Maurice Iwu despite the obvious diabolical backing by former President
Obasanjo is commendable, we want to make it clear that Iwu’s removal is
merely the beginning of the journey to credible elections.”

It further called
for the implementation of the Uwais panel recommendations to ensure
that electoral process in the country is credible, while stating the
position of an acting chairman in person of Solomon Soyebi should
quickly be addressed to assure a good preparation ahead of 2011
elections.

Jibola Olanipekun,
who died seven years ago, regained 20 acres of land yesterday through
the order of an Oyo State High Court. Mr Olanipekun was murdered in his
Ibadan residence on June 20, 2003 and there is still no clue regarding
who might have been the perpetrators.

He had acquired the
piece of land at Podo area of Ibadan and been duly issued a Certificate
of Occupancy by the then military government of Oyo State. According to
available records, the Certificate of Occupancy was dated August 11,
1988, and was issued through the Lands Registry, Ibadan.

But, Khadijat
Olanipekun, the deceased’s widow, in the statements of claims filed in
court, alleged that a former governor of the state, Lam Adesina,
approved another Certificate of Occupancy in respect of the same parcel
of land, in favour of his wife Modupe Adeola Sarat Adesina.

The ‘C of O’ was processed in file LUD 75/7c, dated May 28, 2001, which was relied on to encroach on the disputed land then.

The widow said the
former governor and Deed Registrar, Lands Registry, Ministry of Lands,
Oyo State, who are the second and third respondents in the suit,
‘failed or refused to correct the wrong deliberately made’ despite
series of protests.

Speaking through
Agboola Olaleye, her lawyer, Mrs Olanipekun prayed the court to issue
against Sarat Adesina, her husband (Mr Adesina) and the Ministry of
Lands the following: “A declaration that the purported grant of
certificate of occupancy dated 28 May, 2001 N0. 41, page 41, Volume
3390 of the Register of Deeds to the first defendant (Modupe Sarat) is
invalid, ineffective, made malafide without regard and or due regard to
the principles of natural justice and is therefore null and void and of
no effect; an order setting aside the Certificate of Occupancy dated 28
May, 2001; and an order that the Certificate of Occupancy dated 11 May,
1988 is viable and subsisting”.

Mrs Adesina’s lawyer, G.F. Ido, who also represented the then Commissioner for Justice,

Bayo Lawal, had
pleaded the court to get the judgment arrested, but the presiding
judge, Segun Olagunju, said, “It is too late in the day to arrest the
judgment.”

The court, instead,
granted all the plaintiff’s prayers, arguing that it was the business
of the defendants to file their statements of defence while the matter
lasted.

He told them to go
to the Appeal Court if they had anything against the judgment. Instead
of the N5, 000 the plaintiff’s counsel asked from the court as cost,
the judge awarded N2, 500 each against the defendant, and in favour of
the plaintiff.

In
an attempt to rid Benin City of the mentally ill roaming its streets,
no fewer than 50 people were taken off the streets at the weekend by
officials of the ministry of women affairs and social development.

The raid was
carried out around Ring Road, Mission Road, Ramat Park, New Benin
Iyaro, along Urubi Street, and Ugbowo areas of the city.

At the end of the
exercise, which lasted several hours, a total of 43 men and eight women
were taken off the streets. The Director of Rehabilitation of the
Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Olorunfemi Oikeh,
disclosed that they will be handed over to the 14 government approved
traditional herbal healing homes for confinement, treatment and cure,
after which they will be re-united with their families.

He further stated
that the exercise is one of the routine duties of his department and
called on members of the public to report the presence of any mentally
ill people in their environs.

Some of the
traditional healers who took part in the raid commended the state
government for keeping the streets of Benin clean and free of the
danger the mentally ill pose to the society.

They, however, appealed to the state government to increase their
monthly subvention, which they claimed was grossly inadequate, adding
that mentally ill persons are voracious eaters.

Investigators at
the site of Saturday’s plane crash in India found the cockpit voice
recorder, which may help uncover the cause of the disaster as search
for the flight data recorder continues. The investigators scoured the
slopes of a ravine in southern India on Sunday looking for the black
box of the Boeing 737-800 that crashed off a hilltop runway, killing
158 people.

Crash site experts
sifted through the wreckage and collected some parts, but were still to
find the flight data recorder which could provide clues about
Saturday’s crash.

The Air India
Express flight carrying 166 people, including the crew from Dubai,
crashed while negotiating a tricky landing at Mangalore city’s
‘table-top’ airport overlooking a ravine. Eight people survived, mostly
by jumping out of the plane that broke into two after crashing.

“It is not
possible to give any reason for the crash unless we find the black
box,” Peter Abraham, Mangalore airport director, told news agency.

About a dozen
experts were seen examining the jet’s mangled hull. At a distance,
workers used bulldozers and metal-cutters to clear debris. A US
forensic team arrived in India to help the investigations, officials
said. A Boeing team is also expected.

“It is better to
have an independent view and understand what has happened,” said Arvind
Jadhav, chief of the state-run Air India. Air India Express is the
budget arm of Air India.

Although it was not clear what caused the crash, some Indian TV channels focussed on the possibility of human error.

India’s Civil
Aviation Minister Praful Patel said there were no indications of any
trouble during the plane’s landing. The weather and visibility was
good, he said.

“All other
parameters like the aircraft functions and the runway looked to be very
normal, so it should have been a normal landing,” he said. “But I do
not want to speculate on the cause.”

India has seen a
boom in private carriers due to growing demand from India’s middle
class. It was the first big crash in more than a decade but a series of
near misses at airports, including Delhi and Mumbai, have caused
concern India’s creaking infrastructure was failing to keep pace with
an economic boom.

Chaos at the morgue

Officials said all 158 bodies had been found.

At Mangalore’s A.J. hospital, two of the survivors were still to come to terms with their survival.

“I remembered when
a plane crashes it bursts into flames, so tried to get as far away as
possible,” Sabrina Haq, a 22-year-old medical intern told Reuters from
her hospital bed. “I don’t remember if someone picked me out or I fell
out of the plane. I didn’t want to die.” She suffered a broken leg and
had bruises on her face.

Some chaos was
seen at the hospital’s morgue. Wailing relatives crowded to claim the
bodies of their loved ones. But 12 bodies were still to be identified,
Jadhav said.

Doctors said they were conducting DNA tests on these bodies. Family
members of passengers killed in Saturday’s Air India plane crash are
being asked to give DNA samples as the grim task continues of
identifying the dead. Police kept away a crowd of reporters trying to
speak to the relatives. Dozens of grieving relatives of the victims
arrived on a special flight from Dubai.

One person was
seriously injured in Jos yesterday after some youth, in a procession to
mourn Saturday’s victims, went wild and attacked passersby.

Three Fulani
heardsmen, who were in search of their missing cows were killed
Saturday by people suspected to be Berom youth and badly burnt . Their
bodies were later deposited at the Nigerian Air Force base’s mortuary.

On Sunday,
relatives of the killed men approached the leadership of the Special
Task Force keeping peace in the city to collect their bodies for proper
burial. The soldiers subsequently released the bodies and escorted the
group to the mosque where prayers were conducted for the deceased and
their bodies were also prepared for burial.

However, as the
funeral procession left the mosque for the burial ground, some people
became scared and started running away. This emboldened some of the
youth in the procession to break away and attack people. One of those
attacked suffered a broken skull and was rushed to a hospital.

The state
government has however appealed to the people of the state to keep
calm. It assured them of government’s determination to ensure that
peace returns to the city.

Curfew in the state was lifted only last Wednesday by the state
government, which felt reassured by a long spell of calmness that peace
had returned to the area.

The Kano Zonal
Police office of the Criminal investigation Department (CID) have
arrested two leaders of the People Democratic Party (PDP), Jamilu
Dahiru Saude and AbdulKadir Musa, in connection with an alleged attack
on the Katsina State governor, Ibrahim Shehu Shema, during the recent
burial of late president Umar Musa Yar’Adua in Katsina.

Mr. Saude, who is
the younger brother of the chairman of Petroleum Trust Development
Fund, Muntaqa Rabe Darma, and Mr. Musa were arrested in Katsina by 7pm
on Friday and brought to Kano Zone 1 Police headquarters that same day
around 10.30pm local time.

They are said to be
both supporters of the late Yar’Adua, and are suspected to have
masterminded the attack on Mr. Shema and his other colleagues during
the burial of the late Yar’Adua. Security sources said that the duo
were quizzed and set free by the police over their alleged role shortly
after the incident, and have been regular callers at the Katsina State
police command headquarters until they were re-arrested last Friday and
brought to the Zonal CID.

Politically motivated?

Mr. Saude said the arrest was purely political because Mr. Shema had identified his elder brother as a potential threat.

“What I have been
going through in the hands of the police is politically motivated by
some forces who are scared of our influence in the state,” he said.

He further
explained that his ordeal is because of his repeated call on PDP
leaders to have respect for “internal democracy” in the state, adding
that his innocence will be established at the law courts.

Police officials at
the Zone 1 headquarters are, however, keeping sealed lips over the
arrest and detention of the high profile personalities in Katsina.

However, a top security chief in the zone confirmed the arrest of politicians but declined to comment on it.

“The guys are here with us based on instructions from the above and we are not allowed to comment on it for now,” he said.

Four
people have expressed their interest in contesting for Kano state
governorship seat next year. They include: Ibrahim Khaleel, an
influential Islamic cleric; Sani Lawan Kofar Mata, a former state
official; and the duo of Lawal Ja’afar Isa and Habibu Shuaibu, both
retired military officers.

Mr. Khaleel, whose
female supporters had last week protested the alleged imposition of a
candidate on the party, declared his intention at his new governorship
campaign office along Zaria road, Kano at the weekend.

He said he decided
to answer the call of many people to contest the governorship seat,
pointing out that biting poverty, unemployment, and the need to ensure
fairness and equity, were his reasons for joining the race.

“If you look at
what is happening today in our society, the level of moral decay among
our youths, you will agree with me that persons of religious background
like me [are needed] who will instil discipline among our teeming
youths,” he said. “I will provide education and employment for them.
Muslims and Christians; adults and children; the privileged and the
less privileged; are [all] guaranteed fair and just treatment.”

Supporting each other

Mr Khaleel’s
aspiration received the endorsement of Mr. Kofar Mata, who was
reportedly recently sacked as the director general of the state’s
Pilgrims Board because of his interest in the race.

The arrival of Mr.
Kofar Mata, who vehemently opposed the candidacy of Salihu Sagir Takai,
widely believed to be Governor Ibrahim Shekarau’s anointed candidate,
was enthusiastically applauded by the mammoth crowd of supporters at
the campaign headquarters of the Islamic cleric.

Mr. Khaleel, who
was apparently impressed with Mr Kofar Mata’s presence, stressed the
need for the party to allow internal democracy and the freedom to allow
supporters pick the candidate of their choice in the forth coming
primaries of the party.

Mr. Kofar Mata, in
turn, reiterated his resolve to vie for the governorship seat of the
state and expressed his readiness to support Mr. Khaleel if he fails to
pick the party’s ticket. A day before, he had launched his own
governorship campaign at the Marhaba Cinima, which was witnessed by a
large crowd. He later joined his supporters to drive round the ancient
city where they disrupted traffic flow for over six hours.

The posters of Mr.
Isa, a former military administrator of Kaduna state, have flooded the
Kano metropolis. The posters were sponsored by youth under the platform
of the Congress for Progressive Change.

‘The Babangida boys’

Efforts to speak to
the retired general were unsuccessful as calls made to his phone lines
could not connect, and when NEXT visited his residence in Kano, he was
said to be out of town.

Mr. Isa and Mr.
Shuaibu (a retired colonel) are part of the military officers group
popularly referred to as ‘the (Former military head of state) Ibrahim
Babangida’s boys.’

Mr. Shuaibu, who
was military administrator of Niger and Plateau States during the
regime of Mr. Babangida, also at the weekend declared to contest the
top job.

He contested the
Kano State Senatorial seat in 2003 under the platform of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) and lost to Rufai Sani Hanga of the All Nigeria
Peoples Party (ANPP).

Mr. Shuiabu said
the PDP leadership should support an experienced person like himself
that is capable of wrestling powers from the governing ANPP.

“I have been able to govern two different and difficult states in
the past successively,” he said. “If you talk about experience, I think
I don’t lack it. The situation in our beloved state is so pathetic and
calls for concern. That is why I’m out to put things right.”

Amnesty
International has called for the retrial of the seven Nigerians who
were convicted by a court in Equatorial Guinea for their alleged
involvement in an attempted coup in that country.

A court in the
capital city of Malabo, on April 5, sentenced the Nigerians, consisting
of six men and one woman, to 12 years imprisonment each, on charges of
attempting to assassinate Teodoro Nguema Mbasogo during an alleged
attack on the presidential palace last year.

“The Equatorial
Guinean authorities must take action to make sure these men receive a
fair trial,” said Tawanda Hondora, deputy Africa director of the human
rights’ organization. “They were denied access to proper legal
representation, and their complaints that they had been tortured in
custody have not been investigated. Neither has the death in custody of
one other Nigerian woman.”

Fishermen or coup plotters?

The accused
reportedly pleaded “not guilty” to the charges, and claimed to be
fishermen and traders who found themselves lost at sea and had drifted
into Equatorial Guinea waters where they were arrested by the navy.
Amnesty reports that a Nigerian woman also detained at sea has since
died in custody.

According to media
reports, gunmen in speedboats launched the attack on the presidential
palace in Malabo in the early hours of February 17, 2009. The
Equatorial Guinea government moved swiftly to blame the Movement for
the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, a militant group in southern
Nigeria for the attack.

The agency also
demanded that the Equatorial Guinea authorities release two members of
the country’s opposition party, the People’s Union, who have been kept
in prison six weeks after they were reportedly acquitted of all charges
levelled against them.

“Later on the day
of the attack, the Equatorial Guinean navy arrested the Nigerian men
and women in a boat in Equatorial Guinea territorial waters,” stated
Katy Pownall, Amnesty’s acting African press officer. “No weapons were
found in the boat.” Following their arrest, the Nigerians and the two
UP members were held incommunicado and without charge until mid-October
2009 in Black Beach prison in Malabo. All were reportedly tortured to
extract ‘confessions’ from them.”

The seven
Nigerians: Marck Etim Marck, Eyoh Okon Ikara, Eyon Kun Jhon, Effiong
Matew, Okokon Iyanam (aka Mintay), Isangadighi, and Ekaette Eyo Okon, a
woman, were tried between March 17 and 22, 2010, by a court of appeal
in Malabo, the Tribunal de Apelación de Malabo.

Denial of fair trail

“They were not
allowed access to a lawyer until a few days before the trial started
and were thus denied the right to present an effective defence,” stated
Amnesty International. “No weapon or other evidence was presented in
court to sustain the charges against the Nigerian nationals.
Nevertheless, the court dismissed their claims that they were fishermen
and traders and convicted them on the basis of weather reports for 16
and 17 February, 2009. According to the reports, the weather was good
and therefore, visibility was good so they could not have been lost in
fog and strayed into Equatorial Guinean waters.”

During their trial,
the defendants and their lawyers reportedly complained of torture,
including the death in custody of a Nigerian woman, but were stopped by
the president of the court who allegedly dismissed the claims as
irrelevant to the proceedings.

“The authorities must grant the Nigerian detainees access to
lawyers, consular personnel and any medical treatment they may
require,” said Mr Hondora.

In
the quest to consolidate on its victory in the south west during the
2007 general elections, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the
weekend officially received some new and returning members into its
folds in Ondo State.

Former president,
Olusegun Obasanjo, who spoke at the reception said the party would not
relent until it reclaimed the states it lost to the opposition.

Mr. Obasanjo, in
welcoming Jimoh Ibrahim and others into the party at the Akure town
hall, said he was shocked that the party lost Ondo State, and all
efforts must be made to regain the top spot in the ‘sunshine state.’
The rally which was attended by party members from all the 18 local
councils was however shunned by some prominent members. One of the
aggrieved members of the party and a former friend-turned foe of Mr
Obasanjo, Oyewole Fasawe who was conspicuously missing at the rally.

Some members of the
party who served as commissioners under Olusegun Agagu’s administration
in the state also refused to attend. Among the absentees were erstwhile
commissioner for finance, Tayo Alasoadura; former commissioner for
agriculture, Ayo Ifayefunmi and former secretary to the state
government, Isaacs Kekemeke.

We are ready for violence

Despite their
absence, members of the party were assured by Mr Obasanjo that the
party will be restructured ahead of the 2011 general elections to
reclaim the states it lost to the opposition parties.

While urging
members to be united and work as a team to dislodge other political
parties in future elections Mr. Obasanjo said, ‘there is a big task
ahead of the party in 2011, we must all work together to make sure that
PDP remains a formidable party in Nigeria. Our doors are open for those
who have defected to other political parties.

“I personally did
not expect what happened in Ondo state but we have put the issue behind
us. What we are doing today is not a rally alone but to welcome new
members to our party.” The former president, who charged members to
eschew violence, however said the party was battle ready to confront
any political party that is planning to unleash violence during the
next general elections.

He also admonished
aspirants vying for different positions in the party to do away with
any act that could lead to unnecessary division in the party, stressing
that in every contest there must be a winner.

“From the state
House of Assembly to the National Assembly, I want to appeal to all
aspirants not to nurse enmity against one another. You should not dump
the party because you were not given the ticket to represent the party,
rather you should work together as a family to wrestle power from the
opposition,” he said.

He charged members
not wait for the 2013 governorship election in the state but work to
win all the elective positions in the 2011 election as well.

Repositioning the party

The party’s
national vice chairman, south west, Tajudeen Oladipupo, said more heads
would roll in the process of repositioning the party, adding that the
cleansing would be extended to states, local governments and the
national levels of the executives. “There is the need for all leaders
of the party to make sacrifice in order to reposition the party in the
eyes of the general public. We also appeal to our aggrieved leaders to
bury the hatchet and work for the success of the party,” he said.

Mr. Oladipupo
commended the maturity exhibited by the former national chairman of the
party, Vincent Ogbulafor over allegation of financial misappropriation,
saying Mr Ogbulafor’s action has further proof that PDP is a credible
party.

“The decision to
resign when he was still being probed is a laudable development which
has further boosted the image of the party among Nigerians. Though, he
has not been found guilty, he demonstrated a good quality of a leader”
he said.

The former governor
of the state, Mr Agagu said the rally marked the turning point in
recovering the party’s stolen mandate in the state.

He accused the state government of abandoning the projects he was executing before he was sacked by the court of appeal.