Friday, 14 October 2016
A tale of the kitchen, the living room and "the other room"
Just when many Nigerians were beaming with profound joy in celebration of the long-overdue rescue of some (just 21, a number representing less than 10%) of the secondary school girls kidnapped in Chibok about two years ago, we were yet again hit with another seemingly stupendous gaffe from the Commander-In-Chief of the most populous black nation in the World. President Muhammadu Buhari reacted to statements made by his beloved wife, Aisha, who publicly declared that she would not support her husband for re-election come 2019 if the status-quo does not change for better. According to various news reports flying helter-skelter, Mr President, who is on a state visit to Germany, informed journalists during a Press Conference that his wife's office is now officially located in the kitchen, the living room and an ambiguous "other roon". Here's what he said: “I don’t know which party my wife belongs to, but she belongs to my kitchen and my living room and the other room". Quite funny is the fact he said this in company of the German Chancellor, who is a woman just like his wife. I don't think feminists would be taking this lightly; and going by #TheOtherRoom hashtag that is trending like wildfire on Twitter, it is probable that PMB would be under serious heat for his remarks.
MY TAKE
Frankly speaking, Mr President's remarks are nothing but an international debacle. However you see it, such a reply, on an international platform, is unbefitting of a matured man, a good husband, and the numero uno of over 180 million Nigerians.
But, looking at it from a disparate viewpoint, Aisha Buhari's utterance seems laden with "vested interest". Her statement seems "too political" and typical of a person who cares 'only' about elections. Of all the the plausible repercussions one can fathom, it gives me cause for concern that the only one that appealed to our "National Momsie", and which she was not hesitant to mention on national TV despite its delicateness and sensitivity, is the one that has to do with a Re-election in 2019.
Still on Aisha Buhari, I believe that there are more appropriate and mature ways via which a 'good' wife can express her displeasure at her husband's behavior rather than going on national television to nail her husband's flaws to a cross. In point of fact, I don't believe that should even surface as an option.
Nonetheless, experience has taught me that one of the most delicate tussles that can occur amongst human beings is that between a husband and his wife. My humble opinion; i'll suggest we leave the couple to resolve their differences.
Ife Akano writes from Lagos, Nigeria.
MY TAKE
Frankly speaking, Mr President's remarks are nothing but an international debacle. However you see it, such a reply, on an international platform, is unbefitting of a matured man, a good husband, and the numero uno of over 180 million Nigerians.
But, looking at it from a disparate viewpoint, Aisha Buhari's utterance seems laden with "vested interest". Her statement seems "too political" and typical of a person who cares 'only' about elections. Of all the the plausible repercussions one can fathom, it gives me cause for concern that the only one that appealed to our "National Momsie", and which she was not hesitant to mention on national TV despite its delicateness and sensitivity, is the one that has to do with a Re-election in 2019.
Still on Aisha Buhari, I believe that there are more appropriate and mature ways via which a 'good' wife can express her displeasure at her husband's behavior rather than going on national television to nail her husband's flaws to a cross. In point of fact, I don't believe that should even surface as an option.
Nonetheless, experience has taught me that one of the most delicate tussles that can occur amongst human beings is that between a husband and his wife. My humble opinion; i'll suggest we leave the couple to resolve their differences.
Ife Akano writes from Lagos, Nigeria.
Sunday, 21 September 2014
SCHOOLS TO RESUME ON SEPTEMBER 22: SO WHAT?
On August 26, 2014, the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, through its Minister for Education, Ibrahim Shekarau, directed all schools not to resume until October 13, 2014; an order stemming from the fear of the dreaded Ebola virus disease (EVD). Many Nigerians acknowledged this decision as a sign of preemptiveness of the Federal Government in containing the spread of the ravaging virus. They saw it as a sign that the FG actually does care about the welfare of the younger generation of this nation.
Poignantly, one thing we failed to remember amidst our elation about the news was the fact that the FG will always remain the FG. We forgot its typical nature is that of falsehood and indecisiveness backboned with implausible whys and wherefores. And many Nigerians got their hearts broken for that when they were thumped with the news of the FG’s revertion of the proposed resumption date to September 22, 2014. The declaration of this reversal was made on September 5, 2014, barely a week after the initial declaration. We really do have a good government; a government that can make solid and stern decisions for its citizens!
Nonetheless, the raison d’être of this article is not to blast or censure our darling FG. Hence, if you are looking forward to seeing a barrage of ravenous and indicting attacks on the Presidency and the FG as whole, I suggest you make a U-turn right this instant and stop reading this article! I’m afraid you’ll end up being utterly disappointed! On the contrary, I’ll be addressing this sticking point from a different vista.
Since the FG’s declaration of the reversal, all hell has been let loose. Adrenaline levels have been shot up by the news of the reversal. Umpteen individuals and stakeholders in the education sector have voiced out against the decision; one they perceive to be unimaginably doggone and inane. Different labour unions in the sector have not been left out. The National Union of Teachers (NUT) are not taking the news lightly; they are, in point of fact, palpably cheerleading a revolt against the FG’s decision, instigating its members to flout the directive of the FG. Other unions like the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) have also come out to express their discontent at the directive. Even the parents and pupils/students themselves are reluctant to accept the FG’s directive with a bulk of them considering not complying with it. At first, I decided to play voyeur as regards the issue; I saw it a conventional Nigerian precautionary reaction. “It’s nothing, the hullaballoo would die out in no time”, so I thought to myself. I was outrightly mistaken! As it stands, the FG is unusually maintaining its pronouncement while the unions with the parents and their wards are bent on flouting the FG’s new directive.
The phobia of the unions and the parents as regards the new resumption date is quite understandable. I mean, who in Nigeria isn’t scared of the dreaded ebola virus? The whole country has been tossed into an ambience of nosophobia. I won’t even wish my enemy contracts the virus (because that would mean the virus would spread more), let alone my own child. But, I believe that its only extreme situations that should warrant extreme measures. I would want to accentuate at this juncture that ebola virus spread is yet to reach an extreme or pandemic level. At least, it has not yet been declared so. Applying an extreme approach such as delaying resumption of schools for almost four weeks (that’s almost a month!), all in the name of being prophylactic, is rather unnecessary. I deem the postponement of resumption for primary and secondary schools in the country as nothing but a mere nostrum.
Our pupils and students have stayed idle at home since July! As we all know, the idle hand is the devil’s workshop. We should not allow the culture of incessant interruption and paralysis of academic activities that has been inculcated into tertiary institutions to creep into the lower levels of education. We should not be clamouring for the postponement of the resumption date. Rather, now is the time for us to step up our orientation of these young ones.
Come to think of it! There is yet to be any recorded case of a child casualty of the disease in Nigeria. This goes to show that our children can remain safe from the malady if they are properly taken care of and well-monitored. Rather than screaming at the top of our voices, advocating that these leaders of tomorrow remain idle at home, we should begin to orientate our children on how to comport themselves when amidst their peers. School managements should ensure that sanitizers, hand-washing soaps or liquid and other cleaning materials are on ground for all pupils and students. Parents can even procure personal cleaning kits for their wards. Teaching and non-teaching staffs of the various primary and secondary schools should be cautioned to be more at alert than before.
We shouldn’t be advocating for an alteration to the academic calendar of these schools; an alteration that will ultimately result into non-completion of the syllabus meant to be covered by the pupils and students. On the contrary, we should be mandating all schools to upgrade their medical facilities. Many schools cannot even boast of a complete first-aid box, let alone a sick bay. Those are the issues we should be tackling rather than mounting pressure for a postponement of resumption. Besides, what is the assurance that the virus won’t persist beyond October or even till the end of the year? I suppose that if the disease persists for the next one year, our children would remain idle at home for that very one year. Laughable indeed! In the interest of of our leaders of tomorrow, let us all cast sentiment aside and focus our attention on more momentous matters that would be instrumental in preventing the disease from spreading to our young ones.
To round off this piece, let me reiterate my standpoint which is that a postponement of the new resumption date is highly unneeded. Locking up our pupils and students at home for an extra three weeks or more could end doing more harm than good for them. With the proviso that schools ensure their pupils and students maintain proper hygiene and are provided with necessary cleaning material, I see no reason why they can’t return back to school on September 22. Let us not add more fuel to the fire by wasting a whooping three weeks of their academic life. Let our children return back to school!
Poignantly, one thing we failed to remember amidst our elation about the news was the fact that the FG will always remain the FG. We forgot its typical nature is that of falsehood and indecisiveness backboned with implausible whys and wherefores. And many Nigerians got their hearts broken for that when they were thumped with the news of the FG’s revertion of the proposed resumption date to September 22, 2014. The declaration of this reversal was made on September 5, 2014, barely a week after the initial declaration. We really do have a good government; a government that can make solid and stern decisions for its citizens!
Nonetheless, the raison d’être of this article is not to blast or censure our darling FG. Hence, if you are looking forward to seeing a barrage of ravenous and indicting attacks on the Presidency and the FG as whole, I suggest you make a U-turn right this instant and stop reading this article! I’m afraid you’ll end up being utterly disappointed! On the contrary, I’ll be addressing this sticking point from a different vista.
Since the FG’s declaration of the reversal, all hell has been let loose. Adrenaline levels have been shot up by the news of the reversal. Umpteen individuals and stakeholders in the education sector have voiced out against the decision; one they perceive to be unimaginably doggone and inane. Different labour unions in the sector have not been left out. The National Union of Teachers (NUT) are not taking the news lightly; they are, in point of fact, palpably cheerleading a revolt against the FG’s decision, instigating its members to flout the directive of the FG. Other unions like the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) have also come out to express their discontent at the directive. Even the parents and pupils/students themselves are reluctant to accept the FG’s directive with a bulk of them considering not complying with it. At first, I decided to play voyeur as regards the issue; I saw it a conventional Nigerian precautionary reaction. “It’s nothing, the hullaballoo would die out in no time”, so I thought to myself. I was outrightly mistaken! As it stands, the FG is unusually maintaining its pronouncement while the unions with the parents and their wards are bent on flouting the FG’s new directive.
The phobia of the unions and the parents as regards the new resumption date is quite understandable. I mean, who in Nigeria isn’t scared of the dreaded ebola virus? The whole country has been tossed into an ambience of nosophobia. I won’t even wish my enemy contracts the virus (because that would mean the virus would spread more), let alone my own child. But, I believe that its only extreme situations that should warrant extreme measures. I would want to accentuate at this juncture that ebola virus spread is yet to reach an extreme or pandemic level. At least, it has not yet been declared so. Applying an extreme approach such as delaying resumption of schools for almost four weeks (that’s almost a month!), all in the name of being prophylactic, is rather unnecessary. I deem the postponement of resumption for primary and secondary schools in the country as nothing but a mere nostrum.
Our pupils and students have stayed idle at home since July! As we all know, the idle hand is the devil’s workshop. We should not allow the culture of incessant interruption and paralysis of academic activities that has been inculcated into tertiary institutions to creep into the lower levels of education. We should not be clamouring for the postponement of the resumption date. Rather, now is the time for us to step up our orientation of these young ones.
Come to think of it! There is yet to be any recorded case of a child casualty of the disease in Nigeria. This goes to show that our children can remain safe from the malady if they are properly taken care of and well-monitored. Rather than screaming at the top of our voices, advocating that these leaders of tomorrow remain idle at home, we should begin to orientate our children on how to comport themselves when amidst their peers. School managements should ensure that sanitizers, hand-washing soaps or liquid and other cleaning materials are on ground for all pupils and students. Parents can even procure personal cleaning kits for their wards. Teaching and non-teaching staffs of the various primary and secondary schools should be cautioned to be more at alert than before.
We shouldn’t be advocating for an alteration to the academic calendar of these schools; an alteration that will ultimately result into non-completion of the syllabus meant to be covered by the pupils and students. On the contrary, we should be mandating all schools to upgrade their medical facilities. Many schools cannot even boast of a complete first-aid box, let alone a sick bay. Those are the issues we should be tackling rather than mounting pressure for a postponement of resumption. Besides, what is the assurance that the virus won’t persist beyond October or even till the end of the year? I suppose that if the disease persists for the next one year, our children would remain idle at home for that very one year. Laughable indeed! In the interest of of our leaders of tomorrow, let us all cast sentiment aside and focus our attention on more momentous matters that would be instrumental in preventing the disease from spreading to our young ones.
To round off this piece, let me reiterate my standpoint which is that a postponement of the new resumption date is highly unneeded. Locking up our pupils and students at home for an extra three weeks or more could end doing more harm than good for them. With the proviso that schools ensure their pupils and students maintain proper hygiene and are provided with necessary cleaning material, I see no reason why they can’t return back to school on September 22. Let us not add more fuel to the fire by wasting a whooping three weeks of their academic life. Let our children return back to school!
Thursday, 18 September 2014
DOES THE NIGERIAN EDUCATION SYSTEM PREPARE STUDENTS FOR THE WORK ENVIROMENT?
This was a piece I wrote for an essay competition last year (wasn't so lucky to win it anyways...). I had just started off my writing career...my inexperience is so lucid in the essay. Nonetheless,it is the message that is most important. Enjoy!
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Nigeria remains one the countries with the highest rate of unemployment in Nigeria. Year by year, tons of graduates are being pumped into the Nigerian labour market. Yet, the unemployment stats just keep on soaring high. According to a survey carried out by Centre for Entrepreneurship Development, University of Nigeria, Nssuka, the number of graduate students is at approximately a hundred thousand per year and growing steadily each year while unemployment rate is approximately forty-one percent, seventy-one percent of students who graduated from Nigerian universities, polytechnics and colleges of education in the year (2000-2006) are yet to find jobs. What seems to be the problem? Are there no jobs available any longer? Is it that our fresh graduates are incapable of successfully surviving the ordeals associated with getting employed? After all, they spend not less than four years in various higher institutions of learning getting equipped for this arduous task. Without a doubt, it is apparent that the Nigerian education system is lapsing in its responsibility to adequately groom students for life after school. Several incapacities in the Nigerian education system of today account for this lapse.
The first and perhaps the greatest challenge facing the Nigerian education system, which makes it difficult for good quality education capable of all-round development to be delivered to Nigerian students, is inadequate funding by federal, state and local governments. The high level of corruption and misappropriation of public funds that has swarmed the public sector has gradually crept into the critical and important divisions of the education sector. Although the Federal Government of Nigeria has received commendations from stakeholders for appropriating N426.53 billion to education in the 2013 budget, a critical examination of the entire N4.92trillion ($32billion) budget proposal presented by President Goodluck Jonathan to the seventh National Assembly clearly showed a modest increase by only five per cent from that of N4.697 trillion in 2012. Nonetheless, large percentage of this budget will eventually siphoned by those in charge of the education sector. There are no proper measures in place to ensure that funds appropriated for the education sector are effectively harnessed to clear up pressing issues in the sector. Secondary schools are established without funds to erect enough classrooms for learning, without funds to secure properly trained instructors, without funds to set-up well-equipped standard science laboratories, without funds to purchase modern sport facilities and several other inadequacies. Universities, colleges of technology and other higher institutions of learning are not left out. Lecture-halls primarily built to comfortably accommodate nine hundred students are used to lecture over two thousand students. Machines and equipment due for replacement are still employed in the various science and engineering workshops. If proper procedure for disbursement of education funds is duly followed, all these hiccups experienced in our institutions of learning would not exist. Accountability and transparency should be evident in the allocation of funds in the academic sector. The sector should be purged of bad eggs embezzling education funds. Without this, the Nigerian education system will not be able to impact necessary knowledge into its students.
Furthermore, most undergraduates, especially those in the science and engineering related fields, are not exposed to individual practical application of theories they have learnt while in the classroom. Right from elementary school, all what students receive are verbal non-vivid description of practical theories. No wonder it is no surprise that a lot of Computer Science graduates fail recruitment tests for their inability to switch on a computer. Some of them have never had the opportunity of individually operating such machines before. Mass Communication graduates struggle to make simple and correct sentences. Engineering graduates, who ought to have conducted researches in the course of their studies, culminating in inventions, get to touch most of the elementary engineering tools for the first time, after their graduation. This should not be case. Students should be exposed to practical basics of what they will entangle upon employment. Students should be taught how handle machineries necessary for their work environment while in school. They should not graduate only to find out they are novices in the application of theories they have learnt for not less than four years.
If all parties involved in the Nigerian education system (Government, Stakeholders, Academia and Academicians) can join hands and fight the lapses of the system, I believe change will come into the system. All we need is cooperation.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nigeria remains one the countries with the highest rate of unemployment in Nigeria. Year by year, tons of graduates are being pumped into the Nigerian labour market. Yet, the unemployment stats just keep on soaring high. According to a survey carried out by Centre for Entrepreneurship Development, University of Nigeria, Nssuka, the number of graduate students is at approximately a hundred thousand per year and growing steadily each year while unemployment rate is approximately forty-one percent, seventy-one percent of students who graduated from Nigerian universities, polytechnics and colleges of education in the year (2000-2006) are yet to find jobs. What seems to be the problem? Are there no jobs available any longer? Is it that our fresh graduates are incapable of successfully surviving the ordeals associated with getting employed? After all, they spend not less than four years in various higher institutions of learning getting equipped for this arduous task. Without a doubt, it is apparent that the Nigerian education system is lapsing in its responsibility to adequately groom students for life after school. Several incapacities in the Nigerian education system of today account for this lapse.
The first and perhaps the greatest challenge facing the Nigerian education system, which makes it difficult for good quality education capable of all-round development to be delivered to Nigerian students, is inadequate funding by federal, state and local governments. The high level of corruption and misappropriation of public funds that has swarmed the public sector has gradually crept into the critical and important divisions of the education sector. Although the Federal Government of Nigeria has received commendations from stakeholders for appropriating N426.53 billion to education in the 2013 budget, a critical examination of the entire N4.92trillion ($32billion) budget proposal presented by President Goodluck Jonathan to the seventh National Assembly clearly showed a modest increase by only five per cent from that of N4.697 trillion in 2012. Nonetheless, large percentage of this budget will eventually siphoned by those in charge of the education sector. There are no proper measures in place to ensure that funds appropriated for the education sector are effectively harnessed to clear up pressing issues in the sector. Secondary schools are established without funds to erect enough classrooms for learning, without funds to secure properly trained instructors, without funds to set-up well-equipped standard science laboratories, without funds to purchase modern sport facilities and several other inadequacies. Universities, colleges of technology and other higher institutions of learning are not left out. Lecture-halls primarily built to comfortably accommodate nine hundred students are used to lecture over two thousand students. Machines and equipment due for replacement are still employed in the various science and engineering workshops. If proper procedure for disbursement of education funds is duly followed, all these hiccups experienced in our institutions of learning would not exist. Accountability and transparency should be evident in the allocation of funds in the academic sector. The sector should be purged of bad eggs embezzling education funds. Without this, the Nigerian education system will not be able to impact necessary knowledge into its students.
Furthermore, most undergraduates, especially those in the science and engineering related fields, are not exposed to individual practical application of theories they have learnt while in the classroom. Right from elementary school, all what students receive are verbal non-vivid description of practical theories. No wonder it is no surprise that a lot of Computer Science graduates fail recruitment tests for their inability to switch on a computer. Some of them have never had the opportunity of individually operating such machines before. Mass Communication graduates struggle to make simple and correct sentences. Engineering graduates, who ought to have conducted researches in the course of their studies, culminating in inventions, get to touch most of the elementary engineering tools for the first time, after their graduation. This should not be case. Students should be exposed to practical basics of what they will entangle upon employment. Students should be taught how handle machineries necessary for their work environment while in school. They should not graduate only to find out they are novices in the application of theories they have learnt for not less than four years.
If all parties involved in the Nigerian education system (Government, Stakeholders, Academia and Academicians) can join hands and fight the lapses of the system, I believe change will come into the system. All we need is cooperation.
Thursday, 10 July 2014
In the beginning...
So I pondered and pondered, and pondered. Then I arrived at the standpoint that as a writer, I deserve a bolg. As quick as a flash, I got to work fast. WordPress, Blogspot, Blogger, Weebly ..... which do I choose? That was the unlucky dilemma I got myself into. At the end of it all, I had to make a choice, and that I did
So! Here I am. I have both a personal website and a blog. Double-Portion! Now I can breathe that air of personal fulfilment. Next time someone asks me if i'm a writer, I won't get the shivers when I reply "Of course, I am". "Here's the URL of my blog" would be my complementary reply.
On a final note, as I walk through the valley of the shadow of Blogging, I shall fear no evil!
Hello World!
Hello everyone!
Guess I'm starting all over again. Maintaining a blog is by no means child's play, but I've resolved to keep my head straight and forge ahead. Pardon my mistakes, overlook my oversights, no one is perfect you know.
Now my watch begins!
Guess I'm starting all over again. Maintaining a blog is by no means child's play, but I've resolved to keep my head straight and forge ahead. Pardon my mistakes, overlook my oversights, no one is perfect you know.
Now my watch begins!
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