Nigeria Content Online

The Nigerian
Universities Commission and the British Council are partnering to boost
Open and Distance Learning education in the country.

This involves
training a select number of instructors from six Nigerian Universities
who will in turn build capacity of their ODL teachers in their
institutions.

Suleiman
Rahmon-Yusuf, Deputy Director, Open and Distance Learning at the
Nigerian Universities Commission said training the ODL instructors is a
project that the commission feel is so important to Nigeria from the
point of view of our perennial problem of inadequate access to
university education.

“This project is
aimed basically at bringing the status of distance learning in Nigeria
up to the standard of best practice,” he said.

“So this ODL
programme aims at building capacities for individual and institutions.
The teacher needs to have the skill which is required in using ICT and
new media. It is a series of capacity building workshop to train
academic staff of participating universities.” The selected
institutions are Universities of Ibadan, Lagos , Abuja, Ife, Maiduguri
and University of Nigeria Nsukka.

Mr Rahmon-Yusu who
spoke yesterday in Abuja during the 3rd train the trainer workshop for
ODL instructors in Abuja added that they have selected a group of
people called national trainers which we trained over the years and
there is evidence that people acquired requisite skills to be able to
deliver distant learning materials using modern media.

Amir Ramzam, Deputy
Country Director of the British Council said they are investing the sum
of 200,000 USD on the project. “We are supporting this initiative as a
way of increasing access to higher education among Nigerian youth,” he
said.

Steve Swethenby,
Director of Open University of the United Kingdom said millions of
students can benefit ODL but called for the rebuilding of higher
education sector in Nigeria.

“Few years from now
there will half a million students studying by this method. I am
encouraged by the quality I see. Very good academic ideas to provide
not a second best but super flexible education.” He equally wants
Nigeria to make good use of mobile phones in learning. This is known as
m-education.

“It is interesting for Nigeria for to take a lead in the educational
exploitation of mobile phones.” Mr Rahmon-Yusuf further said that
Nigeria cannot do without this weapon of mass instruction considering
that Nigeria has a higher education participation rate of only 8.1 per
cent this means that only eight out of one hundred Nigerians between
the ages of 18 and 35 are in higher education. “This is poor. It
involves extending education to hard to reach areas,” he said.

The National
Assembly has agreed to postpone next year’s elections, as requested by
the Independent National Electoral Commission. It, however, warned that
it will not grant any further demands from the electoral body as it
prepares for the polls.

The lawmakers said
they view INEC’s latest appeal, that elections be moved from January to
April next year, as a challenge that will be met as Nigeria hopes to
attain credible elections in 2011.

“We are prepared
to go the whole hog to give INEC what it takes to do a good job. Let me
assure that we will always find solutions to what confronts us as a
nation,” the deputy Senate president, Ike Ekweremadu, said.

The electoral body
had requested that the elections be moved to April 2011, to allow more
time for preparations, and at a press briefing yesterday, the chairman,
Attahiru Jega, pointedly urged the National Assembly to find ways of
meeting the demand.

Last week, the INEC chairman admitted to NEXT that he can only guarantee a credible election if he is given more time.

Work to be done

The lawmakers yesterday met with the INEC chairman, Attahiru Jega, and the Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke.

The meeting was
attended by Mr. Ekweremadu; the Speaker of the House of
Representatives, Dimeji Bankole; deputy Speaker, Usman Nafada; and
members of the constitution review committee of both chambers of the
National Assembly.

Mr. Bankole and
Mr. Nafada said while the National Assembly is prepared to “find
solutions” to the demand of the commission, further requests from a
body seen to be asking for too much may not be met.

“The National
Assembly has always responded to issues of the constitution and we have
proven that this year,” Mr. Bankole said at the meeting.

“This is just
another one, and we will come up with a solution. However, my advice to
chairman Jega is that after this presentation, we pray that we will not
have another presentation,” he said.

No suspension

The lawmakers rejected the option of suspending the Constitution until 2015, advocating for an outright change of dates.

“We know that it
is legislatively impossible to suspend a Constitution that is already
running,” the deputy Senate president said.

The decision means
that the current Constitution will have to be amended again to provide
new dates. This will also require the support of two-thirds of the
states Houses of Assembly. The lawmakers did not commit to any
particular date at the meeting, but later met with the commission
officials, where, according to Mr. Ekweremadu, the commission was asked
to submit a timeline that indicates how it arrived at the April date.

The commission is to return with the proposal on Wednesday.

“We want to ensure that there is no further extension of time,” Mr. Jega told reporters after the closed-door session.

He said the lawmakers supported INEC’s position that in the event of extension, the May 29 inauguration date be kept untouched.

While lawmakers
await the return of the commission on Wednesday, they will meet with
the 36 states legislature leaders and governors on Tuesday night, Mr.
Ekweremadu said.

He also said the
National Assembly will commence amendments procedures “immediately
thereafter”, receiving the position of the electoral body on Wednesday.
“We have committed ourselves to doing this judiciously,” he said.

Earlier, Mr. Jega
told reporters that contracts for the Direct Data Capture machines have
been awarded, saying the final contract will be signed later in the
week. He said further information on the deal will be released to the
public after the signing.

Ayoka Adebayo, the Resident Electoral
Commissioner for Ondo State, on Monday, indicted political parties over
the electoral debacle that left Ekiti State’s gubernatorial election
the only one still being contested in court.

“I think politicians should do their
role first by enlightening their members,” she said while responding to
agitations by Ondo residents for her to be redeployed at a consultative
forum, organised by the Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC), for state leaders of political parties in Oyo, Ogun, Lagos, and
Ondo States. The forum was facilitated by the International Republican
Institute, “a non-profit, nonpartisan organisation, that works to
advance freedom and democracy worldwide by developing political
parties, civic institutions, open elections, good governance and the
rule of law.” “I am not the one who invited thugs neither am I the one
that gave them guns,” she said, implying that she worked as Resident
Electoral Commissioner in Ekiti at gunpoint.

Free and fair polls

While advising political parties to be
fair and free, she made a bold claim that, in Ondo, her present
assignment, “Ayoka Adebayo will be free and fair to all the political
parties.” The forum, according to Adedeji Soyebi, an INEC’s National
Commissioner who represented the INEC chairman, Attahiru Jega, is to
further engage political parties at zonal level. Mr Adedeji told the
gathering that INEC has procured completed the procurement process for
the voters’ registration equipment and has commenced the process of
recruiting 360,000 adhoc officials for the exercise. He said INEC has
also procured a software that will be used for the exercise. “The
significance of the new software, which is being rigorously tested, is
that it will tackle many of the lingering challenges that had
questioned the credibility of our voters’ register,” he said.

He charged the participants to “fully
take ownership of the electoral process” because INEC has only focused
its energy on making the process a foolproof system. “If you are to
consider people that will work the system, we will not even have
election because people are different and we are talking of party
agents, which may run into millions, INEC staff and others. What INEC
has done is to design a foolproof process,” he said. “The reason the
commission decided to engage Nigerians openly about the challenges
confronting it was a commitment to ensuring the ownership of electoral
process by ordinary people who through their contributions can make a
difference between what has gone before and what we are trying to do
now,” he said.

The INEC chairman, in his speech,
advised the parties to be wholly guided by the provisions of the 2010
Electoral Acts. Mr Adedeji, in the no-holds-barred interactive forum,
answered all the questions of the participants, who at the end of the
meeting, generally believe that it is now the responsibility of the
political parties to ensure the conduct of a credible election. “Now, I
believe INEC is ready to conduct a credible election, though there are
still a few issues yet unsettled but I think the ball is now in court
to play by the regulations” said Alatise James, the Lagos chairman of
the Action Party of Nigeria.

Earlier in his welcome address, the Lagos INEC Resident Electoral
Commissioner, Adekunle Ogunmola, said that the commission needed the
corporation and support of all stakeholders. Mr Ogunmola said that the
entire world was focusing attention on Nigeria and it was their
expectation that Nigeria would live up to the name “giant of Africa,”
by conducting free, fair and acceptable election.

The Progressive
People’s Alliance (PPA) has fixed its nomination fee for presidential
aspirants on the party’s platform in the 2011 general elections at
N500,000, and rolled out details of its primaries.

The party made this
known in a statement on Monday signed by its Director Mobilisation for
Youth Affairs, Ken Nze, who said the fee was an indication of interest
by aspirants to contest under PPA for an elective position. The fee for
the governorship elections goes for N200,000 while that of Senate
stands at N100,000.

The statement said
the amount payable for expression of interest for House of
Representatives was N75,000 while that for House of Assembly was
N25,000. The party also announced that it would commence its primaries
with the State Houses of Assembly elections on October 9, adding that
the date was in accordance with INEC’s timetable and schedule of
activities for the 2011 general elections. State House elections will
be followed by State House of Assembly Appeal Panels on October 10, the
statement read.

It added that the
primaries for governorship elections would hold on October 15, followed
by its appeal panels the next day in various states. While the National
Assembly primaries would begin on October 21 with the national appeal
panels on the following day, October 22.

The statement explained that presidential primaries for all states
and the FCT would hold on October 27, with the national appeals on
October 28. It added that the National Convention for the ratification
of presidential nomination would hold on October 29.

The Nigerian Bar Association yesterday warned that
results of the 2011 elections may be negatively affected if corruption
within the judiciary is not effectively tackled.

President of the NBA, Joe Daudu, said this at the
valedictory court session, in honour of Ikechi Ogbuagu as he retires
from the Supreme Court.

“One point is, however, clear, if the warning signal
raised on the issue of corruption is not heeded, jurisdiction may one
day be taken away from regular courts on election matters,” Mr. Daudu
said.

“Seats and offices have therefore been awarded
unmeritorious in the past. The desperation of most Nigerian politicians
knows no bounds. If electoral officials can be influenced to alter
election results, is it Judges and Justices that will not be sought
after for influence?”

Specifically, he said about two weeks ago, the Chief
Justice of Nigeria swore in two additional entrants into the exalted
bench of the apex court and commented on the growing accusations of
corruption levelled against the judiciary by some eminent jurist and
the bar leaders.

“I cannot and do not wish to join issues with your
lordship on the remarks you made thereon. However, when eminent jurists
such as the retired Hon Esho, Hon Akambi and many others charge that
the judiciary is getting irredeemably corrupt; such claims ought to be
taken very seriously.”

Mr. Daudu, said that the CJN served notice of
intention to bring the apex court to its full complement, saying that
it is a good step in the right direction.

“A situation where about 6 Justices will be appointed to the Supreme
Court bench I on behalf of the NBA enjoin your lordship to make history
by making appointments straight from the Bar (i.e. from the rank of
Senior Advocates) from renowned members of the academia, from the court
of Appeal and from deserving members of the rank of Chief Judges of the
High Court bench.”

Nigeria’s
university system will continue to grapple with inadequate funding
until the sector is opened up for more participation of stakeholders
who will provide adequate funding, says Julius Okojie, Executive
Secretary of the Nigeria Universities Commission.

He spoke to
journalists at end of the opening ceremony of the International
Conference on 50 Years of University Education in Nigeria and
presentation of a book on 50 Years of University Education in Nigeria,
held in Abuja.

“As long as we
think that it is government’s full responsibility to provide funding,
we are going to have problems,” he said. “There is what is called cost
sharing in many parts of the world. We are not going to make progress
without this. We are not saying that those who are poor cannot go to
school but we will make provision for scholarship bursaries and loans.
University should be for the best.”

He said local and
state governments should identify best brains in the area and sponsor
them to universities. “Under no situation should a child who deserves
to have university education not have. Everybody should bear the cost,”
he said.

Deregulation of education

Kenneth Gbagi,
Minister of State for Education who had at a recent event muted the
idea of deregulation of education in Nigeria, urged Nigerian
universities, Vice-Chancellors to proffer practicable ways of funding
education, especially university education in the country, saying that
the running of university education cannot be left to the government
alone.

He said that until
the Vice-Chancellors show more commitment of ‘ownership’ of the
universities, university education system will remain the way it is. He
wondered why there are not many foreign students studying in the
Nigerian Universities today as in the 70s and early 80s.

The minister said
it is regrettable that today, many well-to-do Nigerians send their
children abroad for university education, owing to instability of the
university calendar in our country.

He said there is an
urgent need for the professors in the university system to make
themselves stakeholders in the educational system in our country. “They
must be part and parcel of universities, that way the issues of strike,
salary increase will be a thing of the past, as it is elsewhere in the
world,” he said.

The conference, put together by the National Universities Commission
(NUC) and Association of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities
(AVCNU), is aimed at examining the concept of ‘World Class
Universities’ and outlining appropriate strategies for positioning
Nigerian universities on the path to World Class status.

Ondo State Governor, Olusegun Mimiko, yesterday
constituted the governing council of the Ondo State University of
Science and Technology (OSUTECH) with a promise to start operation at a
temporary site.

The Governor also said he would ensure that the institution becomes one of the best in science and technology in the country.

He noted that his administration would not allow its
commitment to the new university to affect the spate of development in
other institutions in the country.

While calling for cooperation among host communities
of the university, Mr. Mimiko said there could be no progress in an
environment of rancour .

He pointed out that with the caliber of people that
made up the governing council, the institution would be transformed
into a world class in a matter of time.

“If we cannot start the institution at the permanent
site, I can assure you that the institution will kick- off at the
temporary site. Our administration is committed to the development of
education”.

The National Universities Commission (NUC), had
withdrawn the operational license of the institution because of
concerns about the school’s academic performance and admissions
policies.

The Institution had not commenced academic activities
since it was formally recognised in 2008 and all application forms of
the school’s candidates had been sent to be absorbed by the nearby
Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko.

The school was set up by the Agagu-led government to
pacify the people from his area who were clamouring for the
establishment of a tertiary institution in their constituency.

Mr. Mimiko, however, said that his administration
would not go into negotiations with the striking unions in the state
owned Polytechnic, known as Rufus Giwa polytechnics Owo.

According to him, government will not enter into
negotiations with the unions because their demands were unnecessary at
this period.

He noted that despites assurances given to the unions in the institution, they have failed to reason with government.

“We will not enter into any negotiations with the
striking workers. If they like they should resume. They are demanding
for a new pay rise which has not been effected by any state,” Mr.
Mimiko added.

Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic [ASUP] and the
Non-Academic Staff Union [NASU] of the institution had few months ago
embarked on an indefinite strike over the failure of the state
government to effect the payment of their monetization arrears by the
college’s management.

At a round table discussion organized by the state
government, The polytechnic workers rejected the government offer on
the basis that their counterparts at the sister Adekunle Ajasin
University [AAU] Akungba-Akoko are enjoying the full payment of the
monetization since April.

The workers had insisted on full payment of 53.7
percent monetization, but the state government resolved on 35 percent.
In his speech, the chancellor of the institution, the Olugbo of Ugbo
kingdom, Federick Eniti Akinrutan urged indigenes of the university
community to contribute their quota to the development of the
institution.

Mr. Akinrutan said the state government that the
governing council of the institution would work assiduously towards the
development of the institution.

Atiku Abubakar, a
presidential aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has said
that Goodluck Jonathan’s claim that zoning does not exist is ludicrous.

The former Vice
President said the principle of zoning and rotation of power is the
very foundation upon which the PDP was built as a party.

“It is either
President Jonathan is not a member of the PDP or is living in denial of
the same principle of zoning which saw his emergence as Vice President
in 2007,” he said.

He said for
avoidance of doubt, the PDP Constitution is borrowed from the federal
character provision of the 1999 Constitution as amended.

He referred
President Jonathan to Section 7.2.C of the PDP Constitution, which
states “in pursuance of the principle of equity, justice and fairness,
the party shall adhere to the policy of rotation and zoning of party
and public elective offices, and it shall be enforced by the
appropriate executive committee at all levels.” He promised to mail a
copy of the PDP Constitution to the president.

Former governor of Oyo State, Rasidi
Ladoja, has described the current leadership of the state as
illiterates, saying his desire to dislodge the illiterates from the
state’s Government House informs his decision to contest in the next
governorship election.

Mr Ladoja, who was speaking at a
special lecture organized to mark his 66th birthday in Ibadan at the
weekend, said he was going to run for the office of state governor even
if the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), his current party, refuses him
the ticket.

“As I said, I have no choice nowadays, because of my children, to fight and get the glory of Oyo State back.

“If it is the quest of the people, at
the appropriate time, we will tell you the direction we are going. I
will contest. I will not loot the treasury. I will not betray your
trust. I will work assiduously for you all. I have said it; I will
contest with or without PDP,” he said.

He expressed worries that thugs have
taken over the running of the state, having successfully eased out the
best brains, urging the people to rise up to the task of taking the
power back from them.

“How did we get to this stage today?
The ball is in the court of all of us today. We must get them out of
that place. I told people that I am not afraid of death. The average
life-span in Nigeria is between 54 and 66. I am a father, I am a
grandfather. So I have decided that whatever is left for me will be
used on this struggle because I don’t want my grandchildren to be led
by thugs.

“One thing that I am grateful for is
that I gave good governance to the people of Oyo State when I was in
government. I did not add one block to my house, I did not add one
extra car to my fleet of cars and I did not add a plot to my estate. I
swear, I did not. So our intention is to let people know today that it
is a fight that we must fight, if we must get the government back from
the illiterates for the enlightened. We must be ready.” Rescue team
Adeniyi Akintola, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), who gave the
birthday lecture, however, scored all those who have governed of the
state in the last 12 years low in terms of quality governance,
suggesting that the state needs a rescue team to get it out of the
current doldrums.

In a lecture, titled “50 Years of
Independence in Nigeria, Oyo State as a Pace Setter”, Mr Akintola
traced the problem of Oyo State to leadership, stating that “no pace
has been set and none is being contemplated” for her.

Specifically speaking on the last 12
years of our nation’s democracy, the senior lawyer said Oyo has been
bedevilled by rudderless leadership, who have failed to give it any
meaningful development.

“Virtually all the development projects
the state can boast of presently are the legacies of the late Chief
Obafemi Awolowo, General David Jemibewon and Chief Bola Ige, all of
whom worked tirelessly to champion the cause of the sustainable growth
and development of the state during their respective eras,” he said.

“Frankly speaking, the present day Oyo
State only sets the pace in culpable atrocities and evil deeds,
unbridled official corruption, inept leadership, massive election
rigging, institutional decay and gross underdevelopment.” He noted
further that the state has received several billions of naira in
statutory allocations since 1999, without anything tangible to show for
it, saying “under the present dispensation, selfless service and
commitment to the cause of the state on the part of the leaders are now
a thing of the past, with an attendant leadership failure now
militating against the sustainable growth and development of the state”.

The only way out, he explained, was for the political elite in the
south-west of the country to wake up from their slumber and wrestle
power from the current crop of leaders who have failed to give the
state, the political headquarters of the region, the required direction.

A presidential
aspirant on the platform of Social Democratic Mega Party (SDMP), Pat
Utomi has expressed strong commitment to the initiative of a group of
24 political leaders of thought who plan to present common candidates
at the next general elections.

He also said that
though he is currently the party’s chairman, his presidential
aspiration and the platform for its actualization is purely dependent
on the success of the new alliance of progressive politicians in the
country.

Addressing Mega
Summit Strategy Team in Lagos at the weekend, Mr Utomi said he will be
making a formal declaration of his intent to run for office of the
president immediately after the meeting of progressive leaders of
thought to be hosted by Anthony Enahoro in Benin, Edo State capital on
October 7th.

He added that his
desire to run for the presidency would be predicated on the plan by
some political groups to present a formidable front in the presidential
elections.

“My desire to run
for the office of the president is predicated on the momentum that will
be generated by leaders of conscience towards producing formidable
front,” Mr Utomi said. “I have a duty to my conscience and posterity
and shall seek to prosecute that obligation in the present circumstance
on the granite coalition of genuine patriots and parties committed to
redeeming Nigeria.” Too weak to matter The presidential aspirant said
though he has been under pressure from many quarters to contest the
elections, no single force can dislodge the PDP from power.

“Though I appear to be under serious pressure from many quarters to
run, as things stand today, no single patriotic force can by itself
neutralize the antics of the ruling cabal in the country. So, we are
committed to the Kenya model of patriotic alliance that can provide a
granite coalition and formidable front capable of ousting the power
mongers in Nigeria.” Mr Utomi also announced the recent reconciliation
between the leadership of his party, Social Democratic Mega Party and
Rasheed Shitta Bey led Mega Party Progressive Platform, adding that the
two groups are already “perfecting strategies with other progressive
platforms to face the 2011 elections as a block.” He, however, promised
a coalition government of national unity if the patriotic alliance wins
the forthcoming presidential election.