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How is the British Council different from the British High Commission?

The British Council
is the United Kingdom’s international organisation for education and
cultural relations. We focus on projects that enable social and
educational development, particularly in three areas: Art; English;
Education and Society. We are a nonpolitical organisation and while
some of our funding comes from a grant from the United Kingdom, we also
source for funding, such as from the contract work that we do, our
exams and teaching (teaching not in Nigeria but we have teaching
centres in some countries across the world).

We are not the
British High Commission and I know that a number of people confuse us.
Our work involves people and sometimes to get to people, we also use
institutions like what we are doing under our English area of work.

For example, we are
training teachers in the country and to do that, we are working with
institutions, through the government organisations in various states.
For instance, working through them to sponsor the training of teachers
in their states. We are working with the Universal Basic Education
Commission and the states’ Universal Basic Education Board to train
even more teachers across the country. We are working with universities
in Nigeria to link them with the universities in the UK. We are working
with secondary schools, linking them with secondary schools in the UK,
and that is about building skills and exchange of ideas so that both
parties can learn from each other – which is a major part of our work:
building understanding between different cultures, between people in
the UK and people in Nigeria.

In the area of Art,
we are doing the same thing: connecting creative people with skill to
schools, to mentors, to develop their skills as they move from one life
stage to the other. Under our educational society work, we are doing
various programmes involving youth groups, involving NGOs, a big
portion of our work involves the exam services that we deliver.

Last year, we
delivered over 60,000 exams to over 20,000 candidates. We are also
running some state contracts on behalf of organisations such as the
Department for International Development where we are working in areas
of security in justice.

There is a project
we are doing called Africa Knowledge Transfer Partnership (AKTP); what
we doing in that project is connecting academia to business so we are
drawing from science departments in universities connecting them to
industries in Nigeria such that what goes on at universities can ease
into business.

What you find is
that you have universities doing their researches on their own,
businessmen running their businesses can benefit from real life
experience but there is nothing linking them together.

The African
Knowledge Transfer Partnership (AKTP) project bring them together so we
have for instance we have the Bayero University in link to the tannery
in Kano. So the tannery is the business but it is benefiting from the
research done by the chemistry department in the school and they the
university have somebody in the tannery learning to see how that
resource is actually transformed into improved finished product. So
that one way we are linking them together. And that is building
research from science.

Apart from your work in the arts what are you doing in the area of science?

More of what we do mainly is connecting for development. So even our
work we creative people, we realise it is not enough for them to have
talent alone, they need business skills and entrepreneurial skills that
will help them not only to develop their creativity but to build the
business around them.

Sponsors of the
controversial bill that canvassed for inclusion of lawmakers as members
of the executive councils of political party have said the move was to
save the parties from “dictatorial and tyrannical” management.

The lead sponsors
of the Electoral Act (amendment) Bill, Igo Aguma and Cyril Maduabum in
separate interviews in Abuja on Sunday explained why “the vexed clause
87 which sought to include federal lawmakers as members of the NEC of
their respective parties was inserted in the draft legislation”.

The lawmakers
argued that the draft legislation was not intended to serve their
personal interest but to attain a level-playing field for all political
actors.

Mr. Aguma (PDP –
Rivers) recalled that during the Second Republic, members of parliament
were also members of the NEC of their respective political parties.

He said the
arrangement enabled federal lawmakers articulate their party policies
and manifestoes in a near fanatical manner because they were involved
at the formulation stage.

Not presidential ploy

The lawmaker, who
equally advocated for the adoption of Option A4 voting formula, where
the electorate would queue directly behind the candidate of their
choice in any election, decried lack of internal democracy in the
parties.

Mr. Aguma said that in spite of its constitutional provisions, parties had shunned direct primaries in election of candidates.

He, however,
distanced President Goodluck Jonathan from the Bill, saying that the
relationship between the President and the National Assembly had been
frosty lately as reflected in the rejection of two executive bills on
the World Bank loan request and the Electoral Act amendment.

He also denied the
inclusion of what has been termed “right of first refusal” in the
amendment, saying it was the height of mischief for certain individuals
to label a noble legislation in a bad light just because their hold on
the parties would be adversely affected.

Already existing

He also said some
of the parties like ANPP already had such provision in its
constitution, wondering why ACN, which had about 40 representatives in
both chambers of the National Assembly should convince Nigerians how
the number could make its NEC “unwieldy”.

The legislator
however said only dictators had something to fear about the draft
legislation, assuring Nigerians on the genuine intentions of proponents
of the amendment.

In a statement
entitled: “The Reasons for seeking to amend the Electoral Act 2010′,
Mr. Maduabum, (PDP-Anambra) also decried the lack of internal democracy
in the parties which he said have been hijacked largely by some state
executives and political god-fathers.

He said that the
amendment would provide a level playing field for all aspirants to
elective offices and that a situation where a few individuals hijacked
political parties and dictated to the rest of the country `who gets
what and how’ was no longer acceptable to majority of the
progressive-minded members of the National Assembly.

“The dictatorial,
tyrannical, capricious, whimsical and discretionary manner in which
some political parties are run in the country today is cause for worry.

“There is absolute
lack of internal democracy in many political parties. A few people have
hijacked the political parties, they dictate to the rest of the country
who gets what and how. There is no form of democracy or representation
of the interests of the people,” he said. NAN

Nigerian pilgrims
for this year’s Hajj started returning to Nigeria at the weekend as 510
pilgrims from Sokoto State on Sunday departed the King Abdulaziz
International Airport back to Nigeria after successfully performing the
2010 hajj.

Sahabi Gada, the
Amirul Hajj for the state, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in
Makkah, Saudi Arabia, that four of the pilgrims, accompanied by a
doctor, were suffering from ill-health.

Mr. Gada commended
Max Airline for making available its aircraft for the smooth
transportation of the pilgrims. He expressed delight at the exemplary
conduct exhibited by the pilgrims during the hajj and said the
delegation was working round the clock to ensure the smooth return of
the remaining pilgrims.

“We will do all
that we can to ensure we meet the deadline given to us for the
transportation of our pilgrims back home,” the head of the delegation
said.

Mr Gada called for
special prayers by the pilgrims and the citizens at home for God’s
guidance to enable the delegation to succeed in its work.

The Sultan of
Sokoto, Saad Abubakar III who is also the Head of the Federal
Government delegation to the hajj told newsmen that adequate
arrangements have been made to ensure the operation went on smoothly.
He said pilgrims would be brought to the airport only when the aircraft
to convey them was on the ground as part of measures aimed at ensuring
that pilgrims were not made to suffer while waiting for their departure.

The return comes
amidst an advice from Lanre Badmus, Leader of Kwara pilgrims to this
year’s hajj, that the official delegation’s tents be set up close to
those of other Nigerian pilgrims. He said the practice where such
tents, in Muna and Arafat, were cited far away from those of ordinary
pilgrims pose difficulty in monitoring of the pilgrims. He said the
tent to be used by the Amirul Hajj and his team must be placed in the
centre of the other pilgrims’ tents to enable the team to attend to the
problems being faced by the pilgrims.

“The present tent
is far away from the pilgrims and the Sultan of Sokoto, who is the
leader of the federal government delegation, is opposed to this
arrangement and wants it abolished, “he said.

Mr Abubakar, however, urged pilgrims to fully cooperate with
officials and conduct themselves in an orderly manner to ensure
hitch-free operation. The last flight of the operation is expected on
December 16

President Goodluck
Jonathan has directed all federal government parastatals and ministries
to initiate plans to be in their own buildings in the next four years,
saying it is a burden and an embarassment for (Ministry Departments
& Agencies)MDA’s to be housed in private buildings on which they
pay rent.

Speaking at the
commissioning of the office complex of the military pension board in
Abuja at the weekend, Mr. Jonathan urged other government agencies to
toe the line of the board. He said such a move would correct the
current trend of MDA’s being housed in places that are not in
conformity with their operations.

“We now want all
parastatals and ministries to live in their own buildings, I believe in
the next four years all government parastatals should plan their own
building and leave the private buildings,” he said.He directed the
minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Bala Mohammed to allocate
more lands to the Military Pension Board to develop a housing scheme
for its staff.The president also asked the Minister of State for the
FCT, Kayode Olubolade to meet with the FCT minister to include the road
projects to link the Military Pension Board and Cadastral lanes in the
FCT, in its 2011 budget.The military pensions board was relocated from
Lagos to Abuja in 2005.

Due to the hurried
relocation,the Ministry of Defence (MOD) rented a temporary
accommodation which was grossly inadequate as it was originally
designed as a residential accommodation.The new complex took 18 months
to get to completion.

Cutting edge

The complex, which
has a robust computer section, archive and residence for officers and
the inclusion of biometrics in the database is designed in such a way
that the pensioners will be attended to by at least one computer and
operator for each state.

Mr. Jonathan
commended the biometric payment system adopted by the board and urged
MDA’s to apply it in salaries and wages in other to save cost and
increase employment.

“I will urge all
government agencies to key in to this bio-metrix payment system, it
will save a lot of money and government will be able to employ more
people,” he said. He said such development could also ease out
corruption in the system.

He also noted that
the era of unpaid retirees roaming around the streets of the nation’s
capital is over, adding that it is now time for dependents of retirees
and fallen heroes to enjoy the labour of their heroes past.

The Minister of
Defence, Adetokunbo Kayode commended Mr. Jonathan in his swift clearing
of seven years arrears of military pensioners in the country. Mr Kayode
said the move showed the President’s commitment to welfare of the
retirees and men of the armed forces.

The national
chairman of the Labour Party (LP), Dan Nwanyanwu said on Sunday that
the party will head for court to challenge the proposed bill making
members of the National Assembly members of the national executive
committee (NEC), once it is passed into law.

Speaking with
journalists in Abuja, Mr Nwanyanwu said the party has already contacted
its lawyers to seek redress in court and that the court processes are
being drafted.”We will challenge in court , we can’t afford to fold our
hands and see this bill passed into law,these lawmakers are just
arrogant , they only want to allocate more powers to themselves.” he
said.

The LP boss
wondered why the federal lawmakers are desperate in processing
legislation that is self-serving and that will not stand the test of
time.Mr Nwanyanwu said, “You will recall we told them and drew their
attention to the fact that for any act of the National Assembly to
become law must have presidential assent, including alterations and
amendments to the Nigerian Constitution, they said no, but they now
know better, the court nullify their position. Though they have
appealed but they won’t go far. “This present NASS is the worst ever,
what baffles us most is that the NASS is headed by a highly experienced
and successful military general who has served this country in
different capacities, as a military man, even as a minister. For all
these illegalities to happen under his nose is most unfortunate.
Probably it is so because of the way and manner they all got elected.

“We can forgive
Bankole as the Speaker, who is a young man who just came back from
abroad without any work experience in Nigeria, but suddenly found
himself in a position of the speaker. The man that should have guided
him and give him direction is also involved in all these.”

Beyond comparison

He said the
present crop of federal legislators cannot be compared to those of the
Second Republic. According to him, Abraham Adesanya,Wali, Nathaniel
Anah, Basil Okwu, David Dafinone, Olusola Saraki, John Wash Pam and
others were great senators who had the interest of the country at heart
unlike the current ones.

Mr Nwayanwu,
however, said it is not too late for the lawmakers to withdraw the
bill, saying, “It is not too late for the present NASS leadership to
retrace their steps and do the right thing, which is the most
honourable thing for them because this path they are towing will put
them on the wrong side of history.”

Fishermen in Akwa Ibom State have commended the Joint
Military Task Force (JTF) for freeing 19 oil workers abducted by
militants in the Niger Delta.

They also lauded the force for taking over more than
10 camps of the militants. Welcoming the JTF onslaught in the area, the
fishermen under the auspices of Artisan Fishermen Association of
Nigeria (ARFAN), urged the JTF not to relent until the hoodlums were
flushed out and their camps “annexed”.

Samuel Ayadi, ARFAN Chairman in the state, told NAN
in Eket in Akwa Ibom that the renewed activities of the militants in
spite of the amnesty programme had made it insecure to return to the
waterways for fishing.

Fifteen oil workers were abducted in Mobil and Afren
oil rigs in Akwa Ibom coastal waters in the last three weeks. Those
kidnapped including the foreigners, were freed along with four others
by the JTF operatives who raided the camps of the militants on
Wednesday.

The chairman said that resurgence of criminal
activities in the creeks had made fishermen, who were gradually
resettling sequel to the amnesty programme, to abandon their
settlements and seek refuge elsewhere.

According to him “We hail the JTF for this bold step
in restoring hope to coastal communities after renewed criminal
activities of the militants in the waterways.

“We particularly commend the military operation
which led to the freeing of the19 hostages and the take-over of many
camps used by the militants. We are grateful to the JTF and the Federal
Government for that ‘victory’ because it will enable all fishermen in
the area to return to their fishing settlements, which were vacated
following the renewed militancy,” he said.

He expressed concern over the sustenance of peace in
the area, stating that his association had lost many members who were
displaced by the militants and dispossessed of their fishing boats and
thrown into the river.

He therefore, urged the JTF to strengthen and sustain its present
posture in combating criminal activities in the coastal areas of the
region and pledged the support of fishermen in the state to the Federal
Government to maintain peace in the area “by reporting suspicious
movements and activities in the waterways to law enforcement agencies.</

Nigerian
universities should move from their traditional role of being ‘ivory
tower’ where knowledge is pursued for its own sake without it being
attuned to the immediate needs and developmental aspirations of the
society, Nigeria’s former Vice president, Atiku Abubakar has said.Mr.
Abubakar spoke over the weekend at the 5th annual founder’s day of the
American University of Nigeria, which he founded in 2005.

Speaking on the
theme, “Nigeria at 50, AUN at 5, : The Role of Universities in Solving
Societies problem,” Mr. Abubakar said the country’s attainment of the
golden age of 50 is worth celebrating, adding that the country has come
to stay.

“My position has
always been that despite the current challenges, the fact that the
various nationalities that make up the country have been together for
this long despite occasional hiccups is worth celebrating,” he
said.”Can you imagine 50 years of marriage without break up?

This is not to say
that the generalized frustration and rising incidence of poverty,
epileptic power supply, dilapidated infrastructure, collapse education
and pervasive insecurity are not justified, though.” Linking the
challenges facing the nation to the ill-preparedness of the country’s
universities to provide solution to the challenges, he stressed the
need for universities to be transformed to developmental institutions
to help arrest the decay in the country.

He said his
disenchantment with the country’s tertiary education system, which he
described as an “atmosphere where scholars engage in intellectual
pursuit but are disconnected from the practical concerns of everyday
life” was the main reason for the establishment of the AUN, which he
called a “developmental university” that which seeks to take active
participation in nation building.

Mr Abubakar said
the distinction between the traditional and developmental university
lies in the “consciousness” with which actively pursues its mission and
of being an active partner in the development process.

“In a developmental
university for instance, teaching and research are organized in such a
way as to consciously meet the development needs of a country” Mr.
Abubakar said.

Unaffordable luxury

Mr. Abubakar said
the notion of universities as ivory towers is a luxury we cannot afford
and called for universities in the country to move from their roles of
being traditional universities to one where they become “active
partners in both economic development and the nation building
processes”.

This founder’s day
was performed alongside the inauguration of the institution’s third
president, Margee Ensign. She joined the AUN in July 2010 from the
University of the Pacific, California, where she was dean of the school
of international studies.

Ms. Ensign, who
said her appointment is a great leap,announced the establishment of an
International centre for development and entrepreneur solutions and is
to be named after its founder, Mr. Abubakar.

Those at the event
are the deputy governor of Adamawa state, Bala James Ngillari; the
Lamido of Adamawa,Muhammadu Barkindo Aliyu Musdafa; Bamanga Tukur;
Ibrahim Bapetel; Dubem Onyia and Maxwell Gidado, among others.

Ahmed Joda,
chairman of the university’s Board of Trustees, said he was optimistic
the AUN would play a critical role in the country’s development.

Mr Ngillari said his adoption of the views espoused by Mr. Abubakar has made him a friend of the University.

The National
Information Technology Development Agency has trained at least 22,000
unemployed youths including graduates in Information Communication
Technology (ICT) over the past four years, Cleopas Angaye, its Director
General said at the weekend.

He said the agency works with states who have demonstrated willingness to develop the youth.

“The agency trained
15,000 people on basic computer appreciation skills, using mobile
internet units across various states/local government areas and
schools; 6,100 unemployed graduates on IT essentials; 600 graduates on
IT skilled acquisition and 100 primary school pupils in Niger State,”
he said.

“Niger state
responded and we trained 200 people from that state and provided all
the trainees with the laptops and printers. Other states did not
provide, but they made the training comfortable by providing some
subsidy for the participants, transported them and made them very
happy.”

He also said the
agency is also planning to train 750 lecturers from various tertiary
institutions drawn from the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory
(FCT) over the next six months in core IT curriculum.

He expressed concern over the unhelpful attitude of political leaders towards the development of ICT in the country.

Securing the Internet

Mr Angaye said the
agency has a target of training about 500,000 civil servants under the
ongoing Computer for All Nigerians Initiative (CANI) aimed at enabling
Nigerians to own personal computers at a cheap cost.

Mr Angaye added
that the agency also provided infrastructure backbone to networks and
connectivity for various MDAs at federal and state levels.

He also stressed
the need for the National Assembly to expedite the consideration and
passage of the Anti Cybercrime bill to reduce the spate of cybercrime
in the country, just as he unveiled the agency’s plan to introduce
SCAN-ICT initiative in an effort to tackle the menace.

“NITDA has embarked on some initiatives to improve IT diffusion in the country,” Mr Angaye said.

The Adamawa State
chapter of the People’s Democratic Party at the weekend reconciled with
Atiku Abubakar when it welcomed the former vice president to its
secretariat in Yola.

The state chapter
of the PDP had been in a long battle with the former vice president and
resisted his return to the party he left to join the Action Congress.

Mr. Abubakar marked
his return to the party with a donation of N5 million, saying he has
put past bitterness behind him and was looking to embrace the future
that lays ahead, especially as he is one of the party’s presidential
candidates.

He also said he would work for the victory of the party in the next general elections.

The former number
two citizen, who was received by top echelon of the PDP in the state
led by its state secretary, P. P. Elisha, told the gathering that he
was fully back into the party and admonished its leaders to imbibe the
tenets of internal democracy.

He enjoined the
party leadership in the state to forget their differences, while on his
own part he said he has forgiven those who tried to prevent him from
rejoining the party in the state.

“Bygone is bygone.
Let us join hands to deliver the state and the country in the next
elections. Together we can join hands to make a turn around. Let us
forgive and forget our differences in opinion, but we should stand for
the party,” he said.

Politics without bitterness

He also asked his
supporters who have left the party to return and denied insinuations
that he had a hand in the court actions being instituted by some
members against the leadership of the party in the state, wherein they
are seeking the dissolution of the state executive on the grounds that
it is illegitimately constituted.

Mr Abubakar said he
could not be associated with such double dealings and advised the party
leadership to disregard the “baseless accusations”.

“All members
intending to return to the party should be allowed back into the party
without inhibition,” Mr. Abubakar said. “PDP is a very large family
that can accommodate everyone.”

Mr. Elisha
acknowledged Mr Abubakar as an accomplished politician who was among
the founding fathers of the party and as a party man had worked to
establish the party in the state.

He said the
presidential candidate, as an astute party man, should be emulated by
all as he exemplified the truism of “politics without bitterness”.

The chairman of the party, Mijinyawa Kugama was, however, absent at
the occasion. A statement from the party said he was away attending to
his sick son in a Maiduguri hospital.

Burkina Faso’s
leader Blaise Compaore appealed to voters on Sunday to cast their votes
amidst early signs of a weak turnout in a presidential poll where he is
seen as the clear favourite.

Compaore, 59, has
carved himself a niche as an important and sometimes a controversial
power-broker in the unstable West African region,with analysts in
particular citing his role in pushing for a return to civilian rule in
Guinea.

A Reuters witness
who toured the capital Ouagadougou noted only a trickle of early voters
and said a number of opposition parties had failed to place
representatives at polling stations to monitor the vote.”Voters should
turn out in large numbers for this election because it is an
opportunity for us to take stock and also to plan for the future,”
Compaore told reporters as he cast his vote in a booth in the capital
Ouagadougou.

Compaore seized
power in a 1987 coup. Despite allowing multi-party politics he has
faced little or no real opposition in a gold-mining and
cotton-producing country where income per head is half the average for
sub-Saharan Africa.

Compaore last won
election in 2005 with an overwhelming 80.3 percent. A weak turnout
among the 3.3 million registered voters would nonetheless undermine the
credibility of the poll result, which is due to be declared by November
25 at the latest.

A landlocked
country of 15 million people, Burkina Faso has avoided the instability
that has plagued its neighbours and has in recent years benefited from
high gold and cotton prices.But while Ouagadougou hosts a top African
film festival and has established itself as a venue for international
conferences,it is stuck at 161st place out of 169 countries on the
U.N.’s Human Development Index, a composite measure of life quality.

“It’s true, here,
we haven’t got anything but at least we have peace and that is the most
important thing,” said pensioner Alfred Ilboudo. “This isn’t perhaps
the best regime but I am voting for peace — just look around us.”
Others said they would vote against Compaore, but had little faith in
any of the six opposition candidates, none of whom has has had the
financial means to match a campaign that has seen him hold rallies in
even far-flung rural areas.

“It’s a foregone
conclusion,” said teacher Omar Tapsoba. “I am voting just to ease my
conscience because I don’t want to think that tomorrow this government
will still be in power because I didn’t cast my vote.”

REUTERS