UNITED KINGDOM MAY DEPORT NIGERIAN STUDENTS

More than 100 Nigerian students on scholarship in the United Kingdom universities could be deported home as early as this week except their fees are settled immediately, according to The Telegraph of London.

The students are said to be sponsored by a regional agency and some of them are saddled with debts of up to £20,000.

The name of the sponsor agency was not given in the report.

The report described the students as “some of the Nigeria’s brightest undergraduates.”

They have been told that they will not receive their degree certification even though many of them completed their courses in the last academic year.

The newspaper said some of the affected students claimed they have been warned they could be deported by Friday, October 20.

It said the Nigerian High Commission in London confirmed that 152 students had been caught up in the scandal and that the sponsoring agency had been left with a “draught of funding” due to a slump in Nigeria’s oil revenues.

The High Commission said in a statement that additional funding had been approved for 87 students.

There was no mention of how soon the bill would be paid.

The universities of Leeds and Essex said they “sympathised” with the affected students but declined to say whether their visas would be revoked.

They said that they were working closely with the Nigerian High Commission to resolve the dispute.

The University of Sussex claimed it had allowed one student to graduate, but declined to comment on whether their transcript had been withheld. It added that it had been providing “some financial assistance for living costs in cases of particular hardship.”

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OAU STUDENTS - WE ARE NOT CRIMINALS

Students of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, who were recently suspended by the management of the institution, have kicked against the allegation that they were involved in criminal activities.

The leadership of the Students’ Union of the university, who spoke on their behalf on Monday, said the suspended students did not engage in any criminal activity.

The student leaders argued that the affected students were suspended for expressing their displeasure over the poor welfare conditions on the university campus.

They said this in a press statement jointly signed by the President of the union, Oyekan Ibukun; its Secretary-General, Boluwajaiye Adeoluwa, and Public Relations Officer, Okediji Simon.

The OAU authority on Friday announced the suspension of four undergraduates of the university over alleged involvement in criminal activities and a breach of the university’s code of conduct, among other offences.

The students, who condemned the suspension, complained that two postgraduate students were also suspended for also protesting.

REBUILDING THE EDUCATIONAL SECTOR

 

 Education according to Wikipedia, is “an act or process of developing and cultivating (whether physically or mentally or morally) one’s mental activity or senses; the expansion, strengthening, and discipline of one’s mind, faculty, etc.; the forming and regulation of principles and character in order to prepare and fit for any calling or business by systematic instruction.

Nigeria ranks as the tenth largest nation in the world, and by far the largest nation in Africa, with an estimated population of 150,000,000 people. Located north of the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa, Nigeria is bordered on the east by Cameroon, on the northeast by Chad, on the north by Niger, and on the west by the Republic of Benin. Land features change dramatically in Nigeria, from rain forests along the coast to rolling savanna hills about 200 miles north of the coastline. The savanna extends another 200 miles northward across the Niger and Benue Rivers. In the northeast, mountains form the border between Cameroon and Nigeria. The central and western part of northern Nigeria is a flat, semi-desert land called the Sahel. The Sahara Desert expands southward into the northern edges of Nigeria. The total land area is 356,669 square miles (923,773 square kilometers).

THE POWER AND PLACE OF A TEACHER CAN NOT BE UNDER ESTMATED
IN THE GROWTH OF A NATION

THE PLIGHT OF THE NIGERIAN TEACHER

The way people perceive teachers varies from one society and culture to the other. To the Jews, he is known as “Rabbi” (the great scholar) while Indians refer to him as “Brahman” (the esteemed one). In Athens, he is referred to as ‘prodigy’, that is, the most intelligent one in the community while in Rome; a teacher is a ‘pedagogo’, meaning a slave whose duty is to teach the young ones. Back home in Nigeria, it is believed in some quarters that teachers are generally wretched and miserly persons who measure yams with a ruler or foodstuff  such as garri (cassava flour), rice, beans, etc. so as to determine the quantity to be cooked. As evident in our society, teachers are usually sneered at for their not too comfortable and favourable social status. Worst still, while others readily get their own share of the national cake while still alive, teachers are to wait for their own reward in heaven!

The role of the teacher is multi-faceted, comprising academic, pedagogical and social roles. The academic role comprises teaching, counselling and supervisory roles. The pedagogical roles includes instructional, evaluation and facilitating roles. The teacher as a facilitator is involved on motivating pupils to learn, maintaining classroom and school control and creating a condusive environment for learning to take place. Social roles includes socializing activities which prepare students for the society's way of life. Other roles include reference roles, detective roles, parent surrogate, confidant and affectionate roles.

AUCHI POLY STUDENTS PROTEST

Students of Auchi Polytechnic, Edo State, on Monday, have staged a protest against the management for non-conduct of students’ union election in the institution.

The students’ protest, it was gathered, disrupted the second semester examination which commenced on Monday, and other activities on the campus.

The protest, it was gathered, started as earlier as 7.00a.m, forcing the acting Rector, Dr. Sanusi Jimah, to invite soldiers and policemen to be station at the two gates leading into the institution. The security operatives were also said to have patrolled the school’s campus.

As a result of the students protest, the 2016/2017 second semester examination, academic and administrative have been crippled on the campus as workers refused to enter the campus for fear of being cut in the crisis particularly with the presence of soldiers and policemen.

NON TEACHING STAFF TO MEET FG OVER STRIKE

The non-teaching members of staff of Nigerian universities on Monday said they would meet to decide on a date to meet with the Federal Government over the indefinite strike embarked upon by the unions.

The non-teaching members of staff of universities under the auspices of the Joint Action Committee had threatened to embark on an indefinite strike from September 11 over the non-implementation of the 2009 agreement.

The President of Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, Mr. Samson Ugwoke, made this known in a phone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Monday in Abuja.

“We have commenced the strike today (Monday); the strike is total, comprehensive and indefinite. We only just got a letter from the Ministry of Labour and Employment inviting us for a meeting today.

“But, it is not something I alone can decide but the JAC as it involves other unions, we have to come together and take that decision on when to meet with the Federal Government,” he said.

The unions under the JAC are the National Association of Academic Technologists, Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and the Associated Institutions and SSANU.

The demands of the unions include the payment of earned allowances to members, a review of the governance system in universities, improved funding in line with UNESCO recommendations, provisions of infrastructure in universities, payment of salary shortfall being owed members and the implementation of the National Industrial Court judgment on university staff schools, registration of NUPEMCO.

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