Day: April 13, 2024

The Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Polytechnic (SSANIP), Yabatech Chapter has commended Alhaji Tunde Fanimokun, a philanthropist, for donating N3.5 billion to build an Entrepreneurship Centre for the college.

The Chairman of SSANIP, Yabatech Chapter, Mr Jason Ayodeji, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday that the donation was a welcome development that would add value to the students’ career paths.

NAN reports that the groundbreaking event, which held on Tuesday at the Yusuf Grillo Hall of the college, was in commemoration of Fanimokun’s 80th birthday.

Ayodeji said that the Union was delighted with the donation, which was in honour of late Wahab Folawiyo, the Founding Father of Yinka Folawiyo Conglomerate.

He said that the building which would be named ‘Folawiyo Entrepreneurship Centre’, would provide an enabling environment where students could be taught crucial life skills that would help them navigate the future.

According to him, an entrepreneurship centre plays a critical role in
shaping the future of students.

He said that such centres fostered innovation and creativity among the students, whereby they explore and grow their entrepreneurial skills.

‘This is a laudable step, we are happy and express our gratitude to Fanimokun.

‘The Entrepreneurship Centre will provide the necessary resources, guidance and networking opportunities that will turn students’ ideas to successful ventures.

‘The centre will be a distinguished four-storey building having four lecture theatres, with 320-sitting capacity in each; another with 500-sitting, 19 classrooms, office spaces for staff, various areas for vocational activities, and ample parking facilities,’ he said.

The SSANIP chairman said that the union had noted efforts being put in place by Dr Ibraheem Abdul, the Rector, Yabatech, in securing such a significant endowment for the institution.

‘The present administration under Dr Abdul has been doing a great job, this is another feat and we will continue to support his good work and activities t
o take the College to the next level,’ he said.

The philanthropist, Fanimokun, retired as a Permanent Secretary with the Lagos State Civil Service before being employed as Executive Director, Projects, by late Folawiyo.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Gunmen suspected to be members of a group calling itself O’odua Nation agitators early Saturday in Ibadan invaded the Oyo State Secretariat at Agodi.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the gunmen’s invasion was however repelled by state security officials.

A security man at one of the commercial banks around the secretariat main gate told NAN that gunmen numbering more than 10 blocked the Secretariat-Total Garden Road.

This was done for other members of their group to force their way into the secretariat complex.

However, when some members of the Amotekun Corps, stationed nearby as part of regular security measures by government, confronted the gunmen, an exchange of gunfire began.

The gunmen who dressed in military camouflage were however subdued with the arrival of more security personnel.

These were from the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), the Nigerian Armed Forces, the Department of State Services (DSS) and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

The security men were able to arres
t some of the gunmen while others took to their heels and were pursued into the nearby bushes and forest.

According to eyewitness accounts, the gunmen had headed straight to the State House of Assembly premises located within the secretariat.

They had removed the Nigerian flag and replaced it with their O’odua Nation flag, before the intervention of the security men made up of the Amotekun Corps.

The arrival of more security men as back-up saved the situation, thereby helping to overwhelm the gunmen.

‘It was in the process of their leaving the Assembly complex that we started hearing gun shots and everyone began running for safety,’ an eyewitness said.

NAN reports that the gunmen had arrived in an ash-coloured Hiace bus and two motorcycles, which have now been seized and taken to the State Police Headquarters.

Confirming the incident, Mr Fatai Owoseni, the Special Adviser to Gov. Seyi Makinde of Oyo State on Security, said the situation had been put under control.

Owoseni, who described the gunmen as m
iscreants, said the combined team of personnel from several security agencies had overpowered them, while some of them had been arrested.

‘There is no need to panic. Everything is under control,’ he said.

Adewale Osifeso, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in the state, confirmed the incident but could not give definite details about the incident.

‘I am aware of the incident. I will get back to you,’ he had said immediately after the incident.

NAN however gathered from unconfirmed sources that a total of 16 suspects had been arrested over the incident, while two of them sustained bullet wounds and some others escaped with gunshots.

Those arrested have been equally moved to the State Police Headquarters at Eleiyele, while security personnel have been stationed at the secretariat gate.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Gunmen attacked one of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship aspirants in Benue in the 2023 race, Mr Terwase Orbunde, on Friday and abducted his wife and house help, the police declared on Saturday.

Orbunde, Chief of Staff to erstwhile Gov. Samuel Ortom escaped with a gunshot wound to his right arm in the attack.

Police spokesperson in Benue, SP Sewuese Anene, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the gunmen attacked Orbunde and members of his household in the Benue capital as they were returning from the farm.

She said Orbunde reported the attack to the police which despatched a team of detectives to the scene of the assault and recovered the politician’s car.

Anene assured that the assailants would be tracked and arrested and the abducted freed.

Eyewitnesses said Orbunde, his wife and the house help had gone to inspect the weeding of their farm located close to the road.

After paying the workers, five gunmen attacked them and ordered their victims to follow them to an unknown destinati
on, but discarded bleeding Orbunde who was too slow to keep pace.

The gunshot caused villagers and passers-by to scamper to safety in different directions, the eyewitnesses said.

A family source told NAN that the assailants demanded a N100 million ransom on Saturday for the release of the two women abducted.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Nigeria has become the first country in the world to roll out a new vaccine – Men5CV – recommended by World Health Organisation(WHO), to protect people against meningitis.

The world health body, in a statement on Friday, said that the vaccine would protect people against five strains of meningococcus bacteria, and described Nigeria’s feat as historic.

It said that health workers would begin an immunisation campaign aimed at reaching one million people.

The statement said that the vaccine and emergency vaccination activities are funded by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which funds the global meningitis vaccine stockpile and supports lower-income countries with routine vaccination against meningitis.

According to the WHO, Nigeria is one of the 26 meningitis hyper-endemic countries of Africa, situated in the area known as the African Meningitis Belt.

It noted that in 2023, there was a 50 per cent jump in annual meningitis cases reported across Africa.

‘In Nigeria, an outbreak of Neisseria meningitidis (mening
ococcus) serogroup C outbreak, led to 1,742 suspected meningitis cases, including 101 confirmed cases and 153 deaths in seven of 36 Nigerian state, between October 2023 and March 2024.

The states are Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Jigawa, Katsina, Yobe, Zamfara.

‘To quell the deadly outbreak, a vaccination campaign was undertaken on 25-28 March 2024 to initially reach more than one million people aged 1-29 years,’ it said.

The statement noted that meningitis was a serious infection that leads to the inflammation of the membranes (meninges), that surround and protect the brain and spinal cord.

‘There are multiple causes of meningitis, including viral, bacterial, fungal and parasitic pathogens.

‘Symptoms often include headache, fever and stiff neck. Bacterial meningitis is the most serious, and can also result in septicaemia (blood poisoning). It can seriously disable or kill within 24 hours,’ the statement added.

It quoted Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, as saying that meningitis was an old and dea
dly foe, adding that the new vaccine holds the potential to change the trajectory of the disease, preventing future outbreaks and saving many lives

‘Nigeria’s rollout brings us one step closer to our goal of eliminating meningitis by 2030,’ Ghebreyesus said.

He said that the revolutionary new vaccine offers a powerful shield against the five major strains of the meningococcal bacteria – A, C, W, Y and X – in a single shot.

All five strains cause meningitis and blood poisoning.

According to him, this provides broader protection than the current vaccine used in much of Africa, which is only effective against the A strain.

He said that the new vaccine has the potential to significantly reduce meningitis cases and advance progress in defeating meningitis.

‘This is especially important for countries like Nigeria where multiple serogroups are prevalent.

‘The new vaccine uses the same technology as the meningitis A conjugate vaccine (MenAfriVac®), which wiped out meningococcal A epidemics in Nigeria,’ the WHO
boss said.

The statement quoted Prof. Muhammad Pate, Nigeria’s Minister of Health and Social Welfare, as saying that Northern Nigeria, particularly the states of Jigawa, Bauchi and Yobe, were badly hit by the deadly outbreak of meningitis.

‘This vaccine provides health workers with a new tool to both stop this outbreak and also put the country on a path to elimination,’ Pate said.

According to him, Nigeria has done a lot of work preparing health workers and the health system for the rollout of the new vaccine.

‘We got an invaluable support from our populations in spite of the fasting period, and from our community leaders, especially the Emir of Gumel in Jigawa, who personally launched the vaccination campaign in the state.

‘We’ll be monitoring progress closely and hopefully expand the immunisation in the coming months and years to accelerate progress,’ he said.

The minister said that the new multivalent conjugate vaccine took 13 years of efforts and was based on a partnership between PATH and the Serum
Institute of India.

‘Financing from the UK government’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office was critical to its development,’ he said.

Pate said that in July 2023, WHO prequalified the new Men5CV vaccine (which has brand name MenFive®), and in October 2023 issued an official recommendation to countries to introduce the new vaccine.

According to him, Gavi allocated resources for the Men5CV rollout in December 2023, which is currently available for outbreak response through the emergency stockpile managed by the International Coordinating Group (ICG), on Vaccine Provision.

He added that the roll-out, through mass preventive campaigns, was expected to start in 2025 across countries of the Meningitis Belt.

Mr Andrew Mitchell, UK Minister for Development and Africa, was also quoted as saying that the rollout of one million vaccines in northern Nigeria would help save lives, prevent long-term illness and boost the goal of defeating meningitis globally by 2030.

‘This is exactly the kind of scientific
innovation, supported by the UK, which I hope is replicated in years to come, to help us drive further breakthroughs, including wiping out other diseases,’ Mitchell said.

He said that WHO has been supporting the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), in responding to the meningitis outbreak in the country.

According to him, the areas of support include disease surveillance, active case finding, sample testing and case management.

‘WHO and partners have also played a vital role in supporting Nigeria to prepare for the rollout of the new vaccine and training health workers,’ he said.

Dr Nanthalile Mugala, PATH’s Chief of Africa Region, was also quoted as saying that meningococcal meningitis had tormented countries across Africa, year after year.

‘The introduction of MenFive® in Nigeria heralds a transformative era in the fight against meningococcal meningitis in Africa.

‘Building on the legacy of previous vaccination efforts, this milestone reflects over a decade of unwavering, innovati
ve partnerships.

‘The promise of MenFive® lies not just in its immediate impact but in the countless lives it stands to protect in the years to come, moving us closer to a future free from the threat of this disease,’ Mugala said.

According to her, in 2019, WHO and partners launched the global roadmap to defeating meningitis by 2030.

‘The roadmap sets a comprehensive vision towards a world free of meningitis, and has three goals including the elimination of bacterial meningitis epidemics.

Another goal is the reduction of cases of vaccine-preventable bacterial meningitis by 50 per cent and deaths by 70 per cent, as well as the reduction of disability and improvement of quality of life after meningitis, due to any cause.

Ms Aurélia Nguyen, Chief Programme Officer at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, was also quoted as saying that with outbreaks of infectious diseases on the rise worldwide, new innovations such as MenFive® were critical in helping the fight back.

She said that Vaccine Alliance funds the global s
tockpile as well as vaccine rollout in lower-income countries.

‘This first shipment signals the start of Gavi support for a multivalent meningococcal conjugate vaccine (MMCV) programme which, with the required donor funding for our next five years of work, will see pentavalent meningococcal conjugate vaccines rolled out in high-risk countries.

‘Thanks to vaccines, we have eliminated large and disruptive outbreaks of meningitis A in Africa, now we have a tool to respond to other serogroups that still cause large outbreaks resulting in long-term disability and deaths,’ Nguyen said.

According to her, following Nigeria’s meningitis vaccine campaign, a major milestone on the road to defeat meningitis is the international summit on meningitis taking place in Paris in April 2024, where leaders will celebrate progress, identify challenges and assess next steps.

‘It is also an opportunity for country leaders and key partners to commit, politically and financially, to accelerate progress towards eliminating meningi
tis as a public health problem by 2030,’ she said.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Twenty-three inmates of the Enugu Custodial Centre bagged Masters, first degree and Post Graduate Diploma of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) on Saturday.

Five of them bagged the Master’s degree, 17 bagged their first degrees, while one got a Post-Graduate Diploma.

The 23 are products of NOUN’s study centre at the custodial facility that completed their various courses within four or five years.

State Coordinator of NOUN, Nigerian Correctional Service, Mrs Jennifer Nwonyi, presented the degrees and diploma to the graduates at a virtual convocation held at the Enugu Custodial Centre.

She noted that the graduates had defied all odds to attain the great heights.

‘I am overwhelmed with joy that God granted these students the grace to successfully complete their studies to become graduates of NOUN.

‘Thank God that these graduates overcame the psychological challenge of attending to rigours of years study while being held at the custodial centre.

‘I say congratulations to our graduates and wish
them great advancements as we have prepared them to face and overcome future challenges when they leave the custodial centre,” Nwonyi said.

Speaking at the ceremony, Mr Sunday Oyakhire, Deputy Controller of Corrections in charge of Enugu Maximum Custodial Centre, thanked NOUN for organising the courses and for providing facilitators.

In his remarks, Mr Arinzechukwu Onovo, the correctional centre’s Desk Officer for NOUN programmes, encouraged the graduates to continue to search for knowledge, saying: ‘it is the key to unlock many potentials.”

‘We had a greater number of graduates of NOUN courses this year than we had last year.

‘We will continue to encourage more inmates to take advantage of free educational reformation available at the correctional facility in partnership with NOUN,” Onovo said.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

An author and a retired Executive Director, Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Dr Bulus Danmagaji, says the nation’s education sector needs visionary leadership to save it from imminent collapse.

Danmagaji, who also served as Human Resource Manager, Power Holding Company of Nigeria, spoke in Abuja on Saturday at the launching of a book titled: ‘Leadership and Education Reform in Nigeria’.

The author said the education sector would continue to experience a mirage until the problem of leadership and education quality were adequately tackled.

According to him, education is the most powerful weapon to change the world and Nigerians must learn from the past leadership failure to transform the sector.

‘The corridor of the entire system is in confusion and it is from leadership. How much attention do we give to education and what is the quality of the attention?

‘We must work hard to give birth to effective human capital else we will wake up one day and there will be nobody.

‘We need visionary and committe
d leaders to transform the sector,’ Danmagaji said.

He said if one has corrupt leadership, one will have corrupt followers and if the leadership is committed to education, the country’s future and the future of children will be secured.

Also, a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mrs Sarah Alade called on the government to give priority to education by injecting more funds into the sector.

‘We need quality education in this country to survive. Whatever we are going to do, unless we have that human capital development, we will not get anywhere.

‘At the moment, we need to give education priority by putting more money in the budget for education going by the percentage of GDP.

‘We must have safe schools and ensure that every child that is of school age also goes to school if we are going to make progress,’ Alade said.

In the same vein, the book reviewer, Dr Philip Hayab, said the application of poor administration had impeded the sector, hence the need for a new strategy to correct the e
rrors.

Hayab, a research fellow at the Institute of Peace and Conflict Resolution, said that the country’s education system needed embodied philosophical ideas that would foster the worth of individual development.

He explained that the book challenged the way children interact with technology while recommending a national conference to access the education policy that would advance the future of education in the country.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria