Category: Education

The Education Secretariat, Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) says it is aligning skills acquisition with formal and nonformal education in its mass literacy programme.

The acting Secretary of the secretariat, Malam Abdulrazaq Leramoh, stated this at a press conference to mark the 2023 International Literacy Day (ILD).

The theme of the day is, “Promoting Literacy for a World in transition: Building the Foundation for Sustainable and Peaceful Societies”.

Leramoh pointed out that certificates alone cannot provide food on the table, particularly with growing unemployment in the country.

He also noted the growing number of graduates out there without formal skill, making it difficult to address unemployment.

“We are developing a policy to ensure that as we are empowering those in informal education with the opportunity to acquire skills through our various vocational centres.

“We are still introducing vocational study in the form of entrepreneurship education so that by the time some of the children come out of schools, they are coming out with skills that they can work with,” he said.

He added that the FCT has a very robust platform for both formal and nonformal education, including literacy and skills acquisition centres across the six Area council.

“Literacy initiatives in the FCT include adult education programs, community-based literacy centers and literacy for out of school children and youth, and digital literacy.

“Others are financial literacy, skill acquisition programmes, women education, nomadic adult literacy and continuing education programmes,” he said.

He explained that the ILD was being commemorated on Sept. 9 of every year to create awareness on the significance of education for all.

He added that the celebration was also to strengthen existing structures to promote education to solve societal needs as well as produce a skilled workforce for a sustainable economy.

He said that a literate person was expected to attain reading, writing, and numeric abilities to make it possible for him to continue to remain functional.

This, he said, would enable a person to contribute significantly towards his development and that of his country.

Also, Dr Sani Ladan, Director, Secondary Education Board, also said that the secretariat was working to ensure that no child leaves the school without a skill through entrepreneurship education.

“We are exposing the school children away from reading and cramming to critical, innovative, and creative thinking.

“We are given assignments on providing innovative solutions to environmental challenges and other societal problems. This will enable them to be self-reliant and contribute to nation building and development,” Ladan said.

Group photograph of government officials at the press conference to commemorate 2023 International Literacy Day

Also, Mrs Hajarat Titilayo-Alayande, Director, Department of Mass Education, said that the FCT adult education programme currently has an enrolment of more than 15,000 people.

Titilayo-Alayande added that the department has four functional Information and Communication Technology centres and 34 women centres.

She added that the department’s second chance education programme for out of school children, particularly girls, was being funded by a Non-Governmental Association for Literacy Support Services (NOGALSS).

She said that a total of 1,000 girls would be trained under the programme in FCT, adding that 50 of the girls would be trained on vocational skills.

The director also said that the department equally provides free skill acquisition training, adding that 1,400 persons were being trained on different skills every quarter.

On his part, the National President, NOGALSS, Mr Noah Emmanuel, said that the association was working with all the state agencies for mass education in the country on provision of livelihood skills.

He appealed to the FCTA to strengthen the autonomy of the department of mass education by returning it to its formal status of an agency.

“This will enable it to respond better to the dynamics of literacy,” he said. (NAN)

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The technical manpower of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has graduated 628 personnel from the 2022/2023 Sundry Technical Military Programmes at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT).

This is contained in a statement by the Director, Public Relations and Information, NAF, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, on Saturday in Abuja.

According to the statement, the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Hasan Abubakar, was represented by the Air Officer Commanding Air Training Command, AVM Nnamdi Ananaba, at the event.

The air chief said the sundry technical programmes offered by AFIT continues to enhance the quality of skilled technical manpower of the NAF.

Abubakar said the programme had largely contributed to the NAF’s current status of being more self-reliant in the maintenance of its platforms and equipment.

According to him, aside the prestige and confidence gained from such self-reliance, NAF has also built internal capacity for some levels of training, leading to the elimination in cost of foreign trainings.

The CAS said that the training aligns with his command philosophy of “Transforming the NAF into an agile and resilient force that effectively meets the air power demands of national security in all operational environments”.

He added that AFIT, being NAF’s foremost training institution is well positioned to facilitate one of the key enablers of his philosophy which is “deliberate training and mission-oriented force development”.

Abubakar urged the personnel to continue to enhance their professional competencies, which he said is necessary to guarantee optimum aircraft serviceability and availability in furtherance of national security imperatives.

According to him, this is more so at a time like this when the country needs to operate optimally in order to effectively address the current spate of insecurity.

He said that the era of treating criminal elements with kids’ gloves is over, hence the need to continue on that trajectory until the enemies of Nigeria are brought to their knees.

The CAS thanked President Bola Tinubu for his unwavering support to the Armed Forces and the NAF in particular, without which he said the current level of operational successes would not have been possible.

Earlier, the Commandant of AFIT, AVM Sani Rabe, said the 628 graduands consisting 37 officers, who had completed the Initial Officers’ Course, and 591 airmen/airwomen who had completed various Basic as well as Intermediate and Advanced Upgrading Courses.

Rabe said the institute had been training foreign personnel from sister African countries, adding that four officers from Ghana Air Force and three Airmen from Tanzania Air Force were part of the graduating personnel.

He said that AFIT had continued to serve the technical and logistics training needs of the NAF since its establishment as Technical and Supply School in 1977.

He added that AFIT received Presidential Assent to the AFIT Act in 2017, followed by its accreditation by the National Universities Commission as a full-fledged degree-awarding institution open to students from across the nation and abroad.

The graduation ceremony was witnessed by senior military officers from within and outside Kaduna as well as government dignitaries and traditional rulers.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture (MEAC) Oshikoto regional Director, Alleta Eises has encouraged adults to go to school for their own benefits.

Eises made the remarks during the celebration of International Literacy Day at Olukonda on Friday.

“We are respecting adults who are part of adult literacy for their knowledge application, what they are bringing to the table and for realising that, without education their future is doomed.

Adult learners, we are applauding you for your determination and your great vision for you to advance in life by promoting skills as lifelong learning,” said Eises.

Eises said when adults are studying, they are setting a good example to the young ones for them to uplift and uphold literacy in their communities.

The regional education director further said Namibia is moving towards the 4th Industrial Revolution where Information Communication Technology (ICT) is a critical tool for development.

Literacy education, she further said would help adults to manage their business, do their banking and keep up with the new technologies.

“Literacy was started for reading, writing and counting purposes, but today, we are at 91 per cent nationally as a country for literacy”, said Eises, adding the Oshikoto literacy level currently stands at 88 per cent, and new figures are expected once the new census ends.

Adult literacy was started by UNESCO about 40 years ago to be able to uphold and uplift literacy in the communities and Namibia offers a free education for Adult literacy which is pro-development, and pro-economic development among others, she noted.

Speaking at the same event, Olukonda constituency councillor, Philemon Ndjambula has raised concern on the shortage of boarding schools in the area.

“We are requesting our government to build a boarding Secondary School in Olukonda Constituency because we have 12 Primary Schools whose learners go to other constituencies for boarding school,” said Ndjambula.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

The Southern African Science Service Center for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management (SASSCAL) on Thursday announced the second call for Master’s Degree and TVET scholarship applications for Namibian youths.

In a statement availed to Nampa on Friday, SASSCAL invited suitably qualified candidates to apply for scholarships offered under the Youth Green Hydrogen (Y4H2) programme.

‘The Y4H2 scholarship programme has been established in collaboration with the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Namibian Ministry of Higher Education, Technology, and Innovatio. The programme is fully funded by BMBF and SASSCAL has been appointed as the implementing partner for the Y4H2 programme,’ the statement read.

The Y4H2 programme offers scholarships to Namibian youths aged between 18 and 35 in the following categories related to the green hydrogen value chain: Master’s degree in disciplines such as applied science, renewable energy/sustainable energy systems, logistics and supply chain management and Technical Vocational Education and Training TVET Certificate level 3, 4 and 5 related to the green hydrogen value chain.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency

No fewer than 176 teachers trained in University of Calabar (UniCal), were on Friday inducted by the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN).

Prof. Florence Obi, Vice Chancellor of the university in her remarks at the eight induction and oath-taking ceremony said the future of the country is bequeathed to teachers.

Obi, represented by Prof. Peter Okafor, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Research, Linkages and Collaboration, described the teaching profession as the mother of all professions.

She added that other professions emanate from it and urged the inductees to protect it jealously.

“The future of our country is bequeathed into your hands, don’t destroy it, don’t rape it, do not pollute it but rather protect it, conserve it and bring the best out of it.

“This university remains committed to raising proven professionals who are found worthy in character and learning.

“You have been well nurtured to become proud ambassadors of this University and we are proud to send you out as our ambassadors who are fit and ready to blaze,” she said.

She admonished the inductees to adhere strictly to the tenets of the teaching profession, advising that they should be teachers that pupils would remember with joy and be glad to tell their stories.

She commended lecturers in the three Faculties of Education of the institution for their immense contributions towards the professional development of the graduates.

The vice chancellor also appreciated the TRCN for certifying the inductees, saying it was an indication that the graduates have been fully licensed as professional teachers.

In his remarks, Prof Josiah Ajiboye, Registrar/Chief Executive Officer, TRCN, lauded the commitment of the the university management for always placing high premium on the council’s protocols.

Represented by Dr Bimbo Okunola, Director of Regulation and Accreditation of the council, Ajiboye said such commitments enhance the TRCN quality assurance trade mark in conformity with international best practices.

He urged the inductees to be good representatives of TRCN, adding that they should always dress well and challenging their students to imbibe the qualities of professionalism.

Similarly, Prof. Arikpo Arikpo, Dean Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Education, said the quality of a nation’s socio-economic and political development is dependent on the quality of teachers at various strata of education.

Speaking on behalf of the three Faculties of Education in UniCal, Arikpo reminded the inductees that a teacher must guide students and members of their immediate society to acquire knowledge for societal development.

The News Agency of Nigeria, (NAN), reports that the ceremony featured an induction lecture by Prof. Idaka Idaka, on the Topic: “Education in Nigeria at the cross road: The way forward.”

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

The National Defence College (NDC), on Friday graduated 113 participants of its Course 31 drawn from the Armed Forces, strategic ministries, departments and agencies.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that other participants were also drawn from 20 friendly countries.

Rear Adm. Olumuyiwa Olotu, Commandant, NDC, in his remarks at the event said that the composition of the participants included 39 Nigerian Army officers, 22 Nigerian Navy officers and five Nigerian Air Force officers.

He said others included six Nigerian Police Force officers, 20 personnel from various MDAs and paramilitary organisations, as well as 21 officials from foreign countries.

He said the graduation ceremony was organised to honour the ladies and gentlemen who had diligently participated in various strategic paper writing exercises and field trips over the last 11 months.

“The total number of participants graduating today, as we have been told, is 113 persons drawn from the Armed Forces of Nigeria, selected strategic ministries, departments and agencies of the Government of Nigeria, as well as from 20 friendly countries.

“Composition of the participants includes 39 Nigerian Army officers, 22 Nigerian Navy officers, 5 Nigerian Air Force officers, six Nigerian Police Force officers, and 20 officers from various ministries, departments, agencies and paramilitary organizations, as well as 21 officers from foreign countries.

“These ladies and gentlemen have diligently participated in various strategic paper writing exercises and few trips over the last 11 months, and this is the day to honour them accordingly,” he said.

The commandant said that the college was established on June 16, 1992 as the National War College with the mission to develop future leaders, sufficiently equipped to analyse issues as well as provide strategic leadership among others.

He also said the college community had provided quality academic and administrative supports throughout the duration of the course.

According to him, the Module 9 of the College Course Curriculum is dedicated to the higher management of defence package involving exercises that simulate real life scenarios and review of national defence and security policies.

“Remarkably, the exercises for this year were focused on some of the most daunting security challenges facing Nigeria and through these exercises the college has equipped the participants with adequate knowledge and skills necessary to face the current volatile and complex environment.

“Participants have also received specific training in strategic decision making, future strategic perspectives, net analysis and policy implementation.

“It is therefore envisaged that this set of participants will contribute to covering implementable solutions to current and future national, regional and indeed global challenges,” he added.

Olotu further said that the college had over the years trained several resourceful senior officers in both civil and military domains from foreign nations, which had enabled the building of bonds among the alumni.

He added that the college also leverages the opportunity to build bridges across nations and this is achieved through interpersonal relationships established by the Nigerian participants and their foreign counterparts.

“It is heartwarming to note that in its 31 years of existence, the college has made significant impact on several sectors of Nigeria and the various participants from within and outside the country contribute to policy issues which affect the nation in one way or the other.

“I’m equally proud to say that the long line of this college have been involved in national assignments and varying degrees with great successes, thus projecting the image of the college in good light.

“Doubtlessly, the college has made footprints in the political terrain of not just Nigeria, in the West African Sub region and beyond,” he added.

NAN reports that the graduation ceremony involved awards of Fellow of Defence College (FDC) and Masters Degree in Strategic Studies to participants after 11 months of intensive training as well as award of excellence for outstanding research papers to deserving participants.

One of the foreign participants, Col. George Ngue Baha from the Cameroonian Air Force, said the course had enriched his knowledge in both strategic and command levels to address security challenges in his country.

Ngue Baha said the challenges of security and development in Africa required broad approaches to tackling them and commended the Nigerian Government and the college for affording him the opportunity.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria