Compensation row as students remember colleagues

Over one year after the death of eight students of the Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago Iwoye, Ogun State, in a road  crash, a row has broken out over the collection of compensation on their behalf. The Students’ Union Government (SUG) was said to have collected the compensation from the firm which owns the truck that killed the eight on the Benin-Sagamu Expressway. FESTUS OGUN reports.

Did the Students’ Union Government (SUG) leaders of Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) in Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State get compensation on behalf of their colleagues who died in an accident on the Benin-Shagamu Expressway, last year?

This is the puzzle students want unravelled amid claims that the union collected compensation from the company which owns the truck that crushed the victims..

The accident happened on June 26 last year. The students were travelling back home after their examination when the truck with number-plate BDG 779 XXE, skidded off its lane and crushed the bus in which the victims were travelling.

The victims were: Eunice Odubanjo Oluwadamilola, 200-Level Political Science, Mariam Ogunnoiki, 100-Level History, Elizabeth Aribiola, 100-Level Biochemistry, Suliat Adams, 100-Level Accounting, Latifat Pampam,  100-Level Chemical Science, Christianah Asade,  200-Level Law, and Olatunji Dairo, graduating Physics student. Four other bodies could not be identified.

Ibukun Akinbo, a 300-Level Chemical Science student, was the lone survivor. She was rushed to Babcock University Teaching Hospital in Ilishan Remo. CAMPUSLIFE learnt that the survivor has since been flown out of the country.

The compensation controversy was ignited last week during a remembrance service for the victims. The atmosphere on the campus was sobre, with students suspending all social activities and putting on black to remember the victims.

Many used the victims’ pictures as display picture on social media. The ongoing SUG electioneering was suspended on the day as a mark of respect for the deceased. The school was calm .

The Director of Media and Publicity of the union, Damilola Adelesi, described the deceased as “fallen heroes”, saying their death was a “huge loss” to the institution.

President of Department of Chemical Science, Temitope Alofe, confirmed Ibukun is not in the country.

As the sobre mood pervaded the campus, rumour milled round that the former union leaders led by Adenola Adegbesan got and misappropriated compensation allegedly paid by the company (name withheld) that owns the killer truck.

Dismissing the allegation in a telephone interview with CAMPUSLIFE, Adegbesan said no compensation was paid by the company. His words: “There is no iota of truth in the allegation that we collected compensation on behalf of the victims. The then students’ leaders, Director of Students Affairs (DSA) and some delegates selected by the school management met with the victims’ families and it was unanimously agreed that no compensation would be collected from the company. As such, no compensation was collected by anybody.”

Twelve months after the incident, there has not been conclusive report on the cause of the accident, which claims the students’ lives. This development did not go down well with the victim’s colleagues, who urged the police, government and the school management to investigate the matter and met out commensurate punishment to anyone found guilty.

This, they said, would show that their colleagues did not die in vain

China opens research centre at UNIZIK

Chinese Language Council International (HANBAN) and Xiamen University have donated Chinese Cultural Research Centre to the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK) in Awka, Anambra State.

The centre was opened last week by the Cultural Attache of the Chinese Embassy in Abuja, Mr. Xiang Dong.

Dong hailed UNIZIK management for keeping faith with the agreement, saying the centre would strengthen the Nigeria-China relationship. He said the Confucius Institute established at the university after signing the MoU has improved understanding of Chinese language among young people.

Disclosing that China’s investment in Nigeria would continue to grow, Dong said all the area of bilateral relation with Nigeria would be fulfilled, saying the centre would facilitate development in the country.

The Vice-Chancellor (VC), Prof Joseph Ahaneku, said the MoU was signed to promote research on China and scholarly exchanges between Nigeria and China. This, he said, includes teaching of Chinese language and culture in the university and conducting Chinese Language Proficiency Tests.

The VC stressed that implementation of the MoU had been smooth, noting that Chinese language and culture were being taught at diploma and degree levels.

Ahaneku said many students of the school are presently studying different disciplines in various Chinese universities through scholarships by Chinese government. He added that there had been staff exchange between the university and Xiamen University.

According to Ahaneku, arrangements are in top gear to deploy staff to teach Igbo language and culture in Xiamen University to reciprocate the gesture. He said UNIZIK was honoured to be first school to host Chinese Cultural Research Centre in Nigeria.

He promised that the university would develop the centre to a good standard, urging the Chinese government to see the centre as an avenue of strengthening its relationship with Nigeria by employing its graduates in its companies.

The Director of the Centre, Prof Caroline Umeobi, assured the Chinese government that the personnel working in the institute would live up to expectation.

Highpoints was the presentation of the key to the centre to the representative of Chinese government. A tree was jointly planted by Prof Ahaneku and Dong, which signified the strengthening of the relationship between China and Nigeria.

Muslim students seek support for project

The Lagos State Area Unit of the Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria (MSSN) has appealed to corporate organisations to assist the government in raising and equipping the youths with necessary skills in oder for the country to attain steady development.

The MSSN Amir (leader), Saheed Ashafa, made the appeal when he led members of the society in a visit to BUA International Limited in Victoria Island, Lagos.

Saheed said private firm needed to assist government in empowering the youths. One of the ways to do this, he said, is to support the actualisation of the Human Capital Development Centre (HCDC) project of the Muslim students’ group.

The HCDC facility, which is located at Noforija in Epe, is used in training Muslim youths during school holidays.

Ashafa said: “We appeal to corporate organisations and individuals to support the sustenance of our HCDC project. We believe that when the project is sustained, it will help to build youths in key areas that will enhance national development.”

While presenting a short documentary of the HCDC project, chairman of the project committee, Kaamil Kalejaiye, said the project would help the youths to discharge good leadership role in the society.

He said: “The HCDC is being developed to provide multidisciplinary leadership training for the youths as a mark of continuous contribution to national and community development in areas of academic excellence, spiritualism, intellectualism and morality. The entire cost for the project is N1.2 billion.”

The centre, when completed, will enable the MSSN train more than 30,000 youths on various skills in a year, said Kaamil.

He added: “The facilities currently available on the site are inadequate to host both male and female programmes. We strongly desire to give a facelift to the existing facilitates to a degree that will support the hosting of the female programmes in the current year.”

Speaking on behalf of the BUA Group of companies, the company’s General Manager (Cement Expansion in Africa), Mr Suleiman Ali, praised MSSN for its youth development projects. He said the company would support the development of the youth and contribute its quota after discussing the proposal with the company’s management.

Ashafa presented the MSSN’s list of upcoming programmes to the company. They included Young Managers Quiz contest, Quran Memorization contest and youth camps, among others. He also presented the proposal for the support of HCDC project to Ali.

Other members of the MSSN delegation included Vice Amir, Ishaq AbdulAzeez,  Financial Secretary, AbdulKabir Kuye, Public Relations Officer, Idris Qasim, Administrative Secretary, Abduljelil Adeosun, former Editor, Saheed Adigun, and Shakrullah AbdulFatah, Head of Logistics and Transport.

Students display products at poly’s exhibition

The Moshood Abiola Polytechnic Centre for Entrepreneurship Development (MAPCED) has held its 3rd Entrepreneurship Development Exhibition tagged: MAPCED Open Market Day. The event, held at Matriculation Ground, started at noon last Wednesday.

Students besieged the venue to showcase their wares and products. Among the items exhibited included lapel pins, lanyards, shopping bags, electric sockets, air fresheners, liquid soaps, key holders, hair creams and petroleum jelly among others. All the products were manufactured by students.

The event was graced by MAPCED Director, Mr David Aninkan, who emphasized the importance of entrepreneurship and vocational training in technical education. He said the polytechnic had ensured students did not only acquire skills alone, but also ensured spirit of entrepreneurship was incorporated in students to enable them become job creators.

He said: “The problem of unemployment is taking its toll on our youths and graduates, who are seeking employments by the day. It is a known fact that through appropriate skills and sufficient entrepreneurial practice, this problem can be solved. There should be linkage between knowledge and development in our education. This is the best way the public and private sectors will be prospered.”

The Rector, Prof Oludele Itiola, hailed students for their entrepreneurial strides, urging them to develop good business spirit to be successful in the vocation they chose for themselves.

The rector added that the current trend of joblessness in the country should make the youths not to relent on academic certificates, but to acquire skills to create jobs.

Itiola said: “It is important that you don’t see this as something you have to do to pass your courses, but as an avenue to gather experiences that might be useful after graduation.”

At the end of the event, students engaged in trade by barter, exchanging their products for another. Participants at the programme were entertained by a live band as they buy and sell wares.

Oyo State Teachers Continue Strike Despite Government Orders

Striking public school teachers in Oyo State defied the State government's orders to resume work on Monday.

For the past month, teachers and students alike have been on strike in protest of the Oyo State government's plans to introduce a "public-private partnership" in its schools. The strike action was called by the Oyo State chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on June 6 following student protests against the privatization scheme.

Schools across the State were subsequently shut down due to the violent nature of some of the protests.

Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi had on Saturday directed teachers to return to their posts on Monday. However, Oyo State NLC leader Waheed Olojede encouraged teachers to defy this order, saying that they should not resume work until the State gives in to the teachers' demands.

According to Punch Newspaper, some students reported to their classes in schools in Ibadan, the State capital, but there were no teachers present.

It was gathered that some parents are prohibiting their children from returning to school until the dispute between teachers and the State government is resolved. Teachers and students were spotted in some schools in Odo-Ana, Apata, Owode, and Molete, but most left before 11:30 AM, according to one report.

In response to the strike, the Oyo State government has formed a fourteen-person committee consisting of seven representatives each from the government and the NLC towards reaching an agreement that would end the strike.

First set of student graduate at Kelani’s film school

It was an epoch-making event as the first set of students enrolled at Mainframe Film and Media Institute (MFMI), Abeokuta, Ogun State, graduated last Friday.

In a keynote address delivered by Femi Odugbemi, a filmmaker and CEO of DVWorx Studios & Zuri24 Media Lagos, at the event, he urged the graduates to apply passion to their works.

“Filmmaking is serious business,” said Odugbemi.

“It is a socially conscious re-interpretation of reality. It is birthed in a context, it is relatable to its environment, it bears the distinct sounds and sights of its origination.

Films are cultural artifacts which reflect the cultures, and, in turn, affect them. So your work as filmmakers must be culturally relevant or it loses its point.

“If you got nothing else from your time at this institute, I pray and hope this important point stays with you regardless of whether you choose to be a director, a cameraman or a scriptwriter going forward.

Odugbemi who is also the co-founder/director of I-Rep Documentary Forum Film Festival urged the students to embrace technology as they go about their various endeavours.

“Africa today is largely a consumer of technology and is yet to join the league of countries that are primary producers,” he said.

Suspect nabbed while robbing female students at gunpoint in NasarawaBy Danielle Ogbeche on

vigilante group in Nasarawa has apprehended a suspected robber identified as Paul John during an operation. John was nabbed on Monday in Lake Garden town in Keffi Local Government Area, LGA of the state while allegedly robbing female students who reside in the area. Paul was accompanied by one Gambo.

The duo reportedly held their victims to ransom at gunpoint but luck ran out on them after a neighbour heard the screams of the students and alerted the security operatives, who swooped in immediately.

Paul was apprehended while Gambo reportedly fled. The Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, in the state, ASP Ismaila Numan, who paraded the suspect before newsmen in the state on Tuesday, said he will be charged to court on completion of investigation.

The PPRO further noted that efforts
were on to apprehend the fleeing suspect and that John was helping the police with investigations.

In his confession, Paul reportedly said, “I graduated since 2012 and I haven’t been able to secure a job, so I took to crime to make a living.”

Nigerian universities fail to make list of world’s top 1,000

The Centre for World University Rankings, CWUR, has released its 2016 ranking of universities across the world, with no Nigerian varsity making the top 1000.

The ranking, released on Monday, placed Harvard University, United States, on top as the best higher institution in the world, followed by Stanford University, also in the U.S, while another school in the U.S, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is the third best in the world.

Two universities in the United Kingdom, University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford, are ranked fourth and fifth respectively.

Five other American universities are also ranked within the top 10 – they are Columbia University, sixth position; University of California, Berkley, seventh; University of Chicago, eighth; Princeton University, ninth; and Yale University, 10th.

The U.S has 224 universities among the top 1,000, followed by China, with 90, just as Japan had 74, while the United Kingdom has 65. Others are: Germany, 56; France, 48; Italy, 48; Spain, 41; South Korea, 36; Canada, 32; Australia, 27.

In Africa, only universities in South Africa and Egypt made the list.

South Africa has five, while Egypt has four. For South Africa, the five universities and their rankings, according to the CWUR, are: University of Witwatersrand, 176th; University of Cape Town, 265th; Stellenbosch University, 329th; University of KwaZulu-Natal, 468th; and the University of Pretoria, 697th.

The four from Egypt are Cairo University, 771st; Ain Shams University, 960th; Mansoura University, 985th; and Alexandria University, 995th.

Ekiti crash: EKSU student’s leg amputated

Kamarudeen Ogundele, Ado Ekiti The Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has declared a three-day state-wide prayer for the repose of the souls of the six students of the Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti, who died on Monday night in an auto accident.

The accident occurred around 7.30 pm in front of the main gate of the institution when a Lexus car rammed into a commercial mini bus plying the institution.

The governor, who made the declaration during a sympathy visit to the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, Ado Ekiti, said that the prayer was also meant to prevent a recurrence of such terrible incidences.

Findings at the hospital by our correspondent on Tuesday revealed that the right leg of one of the two survivors had been amputated. A hospital source said, “The accident badly affected his right leg and he lost so much blood. His leg was amputated to save his life.”

The Ekiti State Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Maiwada Ismaila, confirmed that eight persons were involved in the accident, while five died on the spot.

“One later died in the hospital. But the two survivors are still in the Accident and Emergency Unit of the hospital receiving treatment,” he said.

It was further gathered that five male and one female students died in the accident.

Five of them were in the car while the bus driver had two persons with him including a female, who survived the accident.

Students beg Kogi university lecturers to call off 3-month strike

Students of Kogi State origin in tertiary institutions, have appealed to lecturers in Kogi State University, Ayangba, to call off their three months old strike.

The students, under the aegis of National Association of Kogi State Students (NAKOSS), made the appeal on Tuesday in Lokoja during a press conference.

The President of NAKOSS, Mr Ahamadu Ibrahim, told newsmen that students and parents had been at the receiving end of the lecturers’ action, saying it was time they have a rethink.

“We are tired of staying at home.

“Since Governor Yahaya Bello had already met 80 per cent of their demands, the lecturers should call off the strike to pave a way for the remaining unresolved matters to be thrashed through round table discussion,’’ Ibrahim pleaded

He urged the lecturers to be mindful of the negative implications of the continued closure of the institution, saying that the future of the state and its citizens was at stake.

The NAKOSS President commended Gov. Bello’s administration for its efforts to take education out of the woods and pleaded with stakeholders in the sector to cooperate and support the government.

He chided the national secretariat of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) for issuing ultimatum to Kogi government over the strike by the lecturers in KSU.

“Two wrongs will never make a right. NAKOSS dissociates itself from the position of NANS.

“We believe that Governor Yahaya Bello should rather be commended for his efforts at reaching out to the lecturers to prevail on them to suspend the strike,” Ibrahim said.

(NAN)