Category: Education

The Oyo State Post-Primary Teaching Service Commission TESCOM has today commenced the training of five thousand newly recruited teachers in the State.

The disclosure on the training was made known by the Chairman of the Commission, Pastor Akinade Alamu while briefing the press men during the induction of the teachers.

Pastor Alamu said, that examination malpractice in schools has been stamped out in the State, as the 5000 newly-recruited teachers and 700 were trained on working ethics and conducts among other areas, as part of induction exercise approved for the teachers.

He said this while declaring open a two-day Induction and Training Programme for the newly-recruited and converted teachers on Monday at Ansar-Deen Grammar School, Sango, Saki, Saki West Local Government.

Alamu stated that reports coming from the schools the newly-recruited teachers were posted showed that they have been performing more than expected, an achievement he attributed to the rigorous academic standards set for their recruitment.

Recall that about 400 of the applicants for the teaching appointment were first class graduates from universities in Nigeria, while the cut-off mark for selection of successful applicants was pegged at 50% (fifty percent).

“We have achieved what many administrations before the advent of Governor Seyi Makinde could not achieve, today I can tell you that apart from an upward curve in performance chat of our students in internal and external examinations, the evil effects of exams malpractice is no more, as we have stamped out the bad habit.

“This was achieved through the provision of required teaching and learning inputs and encouraging welfare package for the teachers, while students today have access to books, science equipments and good learning environment.

“The aim of this training is to ensure that students performance in WAEC and NECO examinations match government investment on education, we believe that in line with the national policy on education declaration 2006, which states that no education system can rise above the quality of teachers in the system.

“There is need to focus on teachers’ adequacy and competence since the success of students will always depend largely on the amount of learning that take place in the classrooms, I appeal to all participants to make the best use of the opportunity provided by this training exercise.”

The TESCOM Chairman informed the gathering that the State government has recently approved the establishment of four new zonal offices for the State, out of which two would be at the Oke-Ogun area of the State.

He added that the implication of the new zonal offices was that four new Permanent Secretaries would be appointed.

Also at the training was the Chairman, Saki West Local Government, Engr. Sarafadeen Omirinde, the Full-Time Member of Board of TESCOM, Alhaji Mudasiru Awujoola, Part-Time Board Member, Hon. Akeem Olalekan, representative of the State Chairman of Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), who is the Chairman Saki West NUT, Alhaji Mikhail Adedoyin and the Oke-Ogun Zone 1 Chairman of the All Nigeria Conference of Principals of Secondary School (ANCOPPS).

Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde has approved the relocation and establishment of College of Agriculture and Renewable Natural Resources of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, LAUTECH to Iseyin.

According to the state’s Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Barr. Olasunkanmi Olaleye, the university would commence steps to work with the community to ensure that land is provided for the establishment of that college.

He said: “As mandated, in the course of the University, we will commence steps to ensure that the approval of the NUC and also that the Ministry of Education and the management of LAUTECH work with the community to ensure that land is provided for the establishment of that

A take-off grant was also established for the

Makinde on Tuesday, also kicked off the payment of the Oyo State Land Use Charge by paying bills on his private properties, charging property owners in the state to follow suit by paying their Land Use Charge.

While speaking shortly after the 11th Executive Council meeting of 2021, held at the Exco Chamber of the Governor’s Office, Secretariat, Agodi, Ibadan, the Governor maintained that the payment of the charge would help the government to generate additional revenues to develop the state.

A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, indicated that the Executive Council also granted approvals for the commencement of the Oyo State Residents’ Registration Programme, the forwarding of three Bills to the State House of Assembly.

The bills include the  State Audit Bill, Assessment and Collection of Personal Income Tax Bill and the Oyo State College of Agriculture and Technology Bill.

The statement indicated that the Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Dr. Wasiu Olatubosun; Commissioner for Justice; Professor Oyelowo Oyewo; Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Barr. Olasunkanmi Olaleye and his Finance counterpart, Mr. Akinola Ojo, as well as the Special Assistant to the governor on Information Communication Technology, Mr. Bayo Akande, jointly addressed the media on the different items.

The state’s Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Ojo, while explaining the Land Use Charge maintained that the charge is not a new tax and that it “is to ensure that Oyo State has the revenues required to carry out all the exceptional projects to uplift our people from poverty to prosperity.”

Ojo said that the state government has, in the last one year, embarked on data capturing and enumeration of properties, adding that the charge, which will be paid annually, has been designed in such a way that the value of properties would determine the amount to be

He added that the payment could be made over a period of time, with incentives for early payment and penalties for defaulting, saying: “At the Exco today, the governor flagged off the payment of the Land Use charge, which was one of his cardinal electioneering promises. 

“He made it known that throughout the time he has been living in Oyo State, he has never received a bill for Land Use Charge. And what we have done in this administration is to enumerate all the properties in Oyo State and all the properties in the state now have a unique I.D and we have also delivered bills to every property in the state.

“The process is easy and quick. Anybody who has a smartphone can use it to take a picture of the QR code on the top right corner of the Bill. With that, you get a quick populated screen where you just need to insert some fields, capture some essential details, which is your name, email address, contact phone number and follow the prompt. And at your convenience, you can pay your land use charge bill as long as you have an ATM card and a smart phone. That is the easiest way of paying your land use charge bill.

“You can also go to the bank if you don’t have a smartphone, present your bill and you will be allowed to pay the bill. You can also go to the Ministry of Lands, where there is a dedicated office where you can pay the bill and get the receipt.

“So, we encourage every resident of Oyo State to embrace this lofty idea and ensure that we find a way to revolutionise this state.”

Similarly, the Commissioner for Justice and Attorney-General of the State, Professor Oyelowo Oyewo (SAN), stated that the Executive Council of the state considered and approved for onward transmission to the House of Assembly, the Audit Bill, the Assessment and Collection of Private Income Tax Bill and the Oyo State College of Agriculture Technology Bill.

According to Oyewo, the Audit Bill, is an initiative of the World Bank, the Federal Government and the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and it is intended to improve the activities of the office of the Auditor-General of the state and the local government to ensure accountability and transparency.

He added that the state is also forwarding to the Assembly the “Oyo State assessment and collection of personal income tax regulation, which prohibits consultants and other third parties from accessing and collecting personal income tax on behalf of the state. This function will now be performed by Oyo State Internal Revenue Service.

“The last is the Oyo State College of Agriculture Technology Bill. This Bill is to enhance the status of the Oyo State College of Agriculture and Technology from a Monotechnic to Polytechnic, so that it will be able to enjoy the status of accessing funds and participate in the Education Trust Fund. https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/page

“And this is to also improve on the services it can provide to the people of Oyo State in the educational sector including the expansion of programmes and also the standardisation of the structure we have. 

“This, we believe, will impact positively on the quality and type of education that is being offered by this institution,” Oyewo added.

Speaking on the approval for the commencement of residents’ registration programme, the Special Assistant on ICT, Akande, explained that as a government that believes in using data, science and logic to drive development, the state government is embarking on the residents’ registration programme in order to develop a database that will enable it to plan better for the development and security of the state. 

He noted that the state government has embarked on similar exercises for farmers, government workers and other sectors and that the results have been helpful in planning and executive of different policies, adding that the enumeration and registration of residents would be an ongoing exercise.

“Today, at the Executive Council meeting, the Exco approved the Oyo State residents registration programme. It is a programme that involves the enumeration and registration of all residents of Oyo State. 

“This is in a bid by His Excellency to secure the state, so we can know the people coming into and going out of the state.

“This will also enable the government to plan more effectively. It will also help in revenue collection as we can then bring more residents under the Oyo State catchment.

“It will help the government provide more resources based on the data that we have gotten from the registration,” Akande said.

Ondo State Governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu Aketi, SAN has approved the commencement of promotion exercise for over 3000 Teachers in the State Teaching Service.

The State Head of Service, Pastor Adeniran Adeyemo who made this known today while flagging off the year 2021 promotion exercise for the qualified Teachers at the headquarters of the State Teaching Service Commission in Akure commended Governor Akeredolu for magnanimously approving the exercise in demonstration of his avowed commitment to prioritizing the welfare of the state workforce.

The Head of Service charged the officers to cooperate with the management of the Commission by attending the interview as scheduled and avoid falsifying their credentials to enhance smooth running and success of the exercise within the stipulated time.

He noted that with the early approval of the promotion exercise government want to avoid the usual segregation of presentation of letters of promotion to Officers in core Civil Service and those in the Teaching Service Commission.

He enjoined all Workers in the state government service to rededicate themselves to duty to reciprocate the kind gesture of the Akeredolu led administration.

Earlier, in April this year, the Governor approved the promotion exercise for qualified Officers in the State Public Service.

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has called on applicants who have been cleared to complete their registration for the 2021 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) by Tuesday.

Dr Fabian Benjamin, JAMB’s Head of Media, made the call on behalf of the examination body in a statement on Monday.

He noted that JAMB had extended the registration period by another two weeks up to May 29 after the period originally scheduled for 2021/2022 UTME/DE registration lapsed on May 15.

The examination which was initially planned to hold between June 5 and 19 has now been scheduled to take place from June 19 to July 3.

The JAMB’s spokesman explained that this was to accommodate candidates who, largely due to issues related to the newly introduced pre-requisite of National Identification Number (NIN), could not register for the exam.

He stated that an additional extension of two weeks was made to compile the list of all prospective candidates who, for any reason, were unable to register.

“The candidates who have not registered but have secured the profile codes and initiated the registration process are expected to visit specially designated registration centres to complete the registration on Tuesday, June 15, 2021,” Benjamin said.

He added, “Designated registration centre for each candidate is being forwarded to him/her through the GSM text (SMS) messages and available on the website of the Board (www.jamb.gov.ng) from 12 noon on Monday, June 14, 2021.”

The JAMB spokesman informed the applicants that the identification number on each form given to the candidates had been used to assign the candidates to their registration centres.

According to him, only candidates who have secured their profile codes are expected to visit the centres.

Benjamin stated that the few who have not yet obtained their NIN or profile codes have been forwarded to National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and would be contacted as soon as they were cleared by the agency.

“Each candidate posted to any non-JAMB-owned CBT centre is expected to pay the registration fee of N1,000 to such CBT centre,” he said.

Arole Oodua and Ooni of Ife, Ooni Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi Ojaja II has charged the graduating students of the University of Nigeria(UNN) Nsuka to go into the world as good ambassadors and add great values to the society by proudly making use of the knowledge impacted on them by the university.

The African foremost monarch who doubles as Chancellor of the prestigious university made this admonition in his opening speech on Saturday while he was declaring The 49th Convocation Ceremony of The University of Nigeria Nsuka open.

“We have come to confer the degrees of this institution on you and I challenge you all to be good ambassadors in any endeavor you may be in the world.

You always rise and contribute to the development of our society and humanity in general as we now live in the era of knowledge-based economies and our country is looking up to our graduates like you to enable us compete favourably in the global stage.” Ooni said.

The Co-chairman, National Council of Traditional Rulers of Nigeria(NCTRN) who is also the natural father of the entire Oduduwa Race worldwide congratuled the Honorary Degrees Awardees and Professors Emeritus for various awards and recognitions conferred on them by the university.

Represented by Minister of State for Education, Chief Emeka Nwajiuba, the visitor to the university, President Muhammadu Buhari asked the University to do more to address the needs and challenges of the country for the desired attainment of National development goals. He expressed confidence in the ability of the Nigerian universities to find a lasting solution to problems being faced by the country.

“I also challenge our universities to continue to emphasize trainings in entrepreneurship so that these graduates are able to become job creators, instead of perennial job seekers, as I have no doubt that the Nigerian universities are very much able to find a lasting solution to problems faced by the country.” President Buhari said.

Earlier in his welcome address, the University’s Vice Chancellor, Professor Charles Igwe stated that the event was for the higher degrees and postgraduate diplomas climaxing the 49th school’s convocation ceremony which had earlier witnessed award of Bachelors ‘degrees and Diplomas.

He put the total number of the graduands for the Bachelors Degrees and Diplomas at Eleven Thousand and Ten(11,010) while Doctorate degrees, Masters degrees and Post-graduate Diplomas were announced to be Three Thousand, Four Hundred and Nine Seven(3,497).

Professor Jacob Olupona, a professor of African American studies at Harvard University, USA, Alhaji (Dr) Mohammed Indimi, Chairman/CEO of Oriental Energy and Mrs Nnenna MaryAnn Obiejesi the Group Executive Director of ObiJackson Group of Companies and Nest Oil were among the awardees for various categories of Honorary Doctorate Degrees at the 49th Convocation Ceremony of the University of Nigeria(UNN) Nsuka decorated the Chancellor, Ooni Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi Ojaja II, the Ooni of Ife.

The National Association of Nigerian Students NANS has been divided over the planned nationwide protest slated for June 12 by its national chapter but later suspended. This came after the Zone D Chapter of NANS has dissociated self from the statement credited to NANS President, Asefon Sunday claiming to have suspended the planned protest due to the fear of being hijacked by hoodlums.

This was contained in a statement jointly signed the Coordinator, Kowe Odunayo Amos, and Secretary-General, Giwa Yisa Temitope and sent to Oduduwa News as read in part:

“It is most pathetic to read the statement issued by the President of NANS, Sunday Asefon calling for the cancellation of the June 12 protest which had been planned for and which has had preparations at top-gear for the execution of such. In fact, it must be put in proper perspective that the statement was issued in his personal capacity as the President of NANS and not on behalf of the association, hence, it does not reflect the position of Nigerian students because no consultation was made before such statement was issued. And, it is to this end he was careful enough to have made use of first person singular throughout the cause of writing the statement.

“It should be noted that just yesterday, while Sunday Asefon was busy mouthing government’s position, students and staffs of Kaduna Polytechnic were being kidnapped.

“As we all know, June 12 is an annual ritual in the country to remember the day the peoples’ right to freely elect their leader was buried. In fact, the day is not about MKO Abiola or any personality as such, but, about the Nigerian people as a whole. And, it is important to state categorically that the essence of tomorrow’s agitation is to show our dissatisfaction as an association against the rising insecurity in the country, the increased inflation rate, peoples’ inability to access health care amongst others and to also call on the government of the day to do more in securing the people of the country.

“In fact, if some persons somewhere are going around with the tag #BuhariMustGo, that does not mean that they have the capacity to send him out of the Presidential Villa which he presently occupies. Buhari can only be sent packing though an impeachment process at the floor of the National Assembly. So, rather than suspend an agitation because of the activity of some hoodwinked persons, we are duty-bound as an association to come out and clearly state what our position as an association is on the protest that had been called. And, if at all the NANS President has the interests of Nigerian students at heart, he should have used the occasion of his meeting with the IGP to demand for adequate provision of security personnels to protect students during the cause of the protest which is actually the duty of the Police. As an association, we are not preaching Buhari must go, we believe in one Nigeria but, the current challenges confronting us, security-wise is not encouraging.

“As a Zone, we totally dissociate ourself from the statement of the NANS President and call on SU bodies throughout the South West campuses to maintain the moblisation which is on ground. June 12 day of action is sacrosanct and we shall never for any reason succumb to blackmail of any sort. Our agitation is strictly a call for the Federal Government to abide by the social contract willingly entered into with the Nigerian people”.

The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has suspended its planned June 12 nationwide protest. NANS president, Sunday Asefon, made this known in a statement seen by ODUDUWA NEWS on Friday morning, June 11. According to the NANS president, the planned protest was aimed at decrying the insecurity in the country, especially the serial abductions of students.

NANS protests not political Asefon raised an alarm saying some politicians have perfected plans to hijack the protest for their own selfish interests.

Part of the statement read: “Having considered the current security realities and the danger to the lives of our members in case of possible hijack of the planned protest, I in consultation with all the structures of NANS, therefore, announce the suspension of our proposed protest for June 12.”

Asefon said the protest would no longer hold as scheduled because of fear of being hijacked. He has however implored the Federal Government to address reasons why the protest was scheduled before it was later shelved.

ODUDUWA NEWS has gathered that 42 provisional admissions offered for students during 2020/2021 admission exercise have been withdrawn by the Senate of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, LAUTECH, Oyo State.

According to a statement signed by the registrar of the university, Mr Kayode Ogunleye, the students provided wrong information while uploading their result. 

The statement read, “LAUTECH Ag. Vice Chancellor  has approved that provisional admissions offered to 42 students  during the 2020/2021 admission exercise be withdrawn forthwith because of false information they gave while uploading their original personal information data on JAMB and LAUTECH UTME and post UTME portals respectively.”

The management at its senate sitting on Tuesday also pardoned 52 candidates for infractions committed during registration on JAMB and LAUTECH portals which are indicated against their names.

In a memo released by the institution on Thursday, the concerned candidates are warned to desist from providing false information about themselves on any document presented to the university.

They are also directed to retain their original states of origin claimed on JAMB CAPS throughout their various academic programmes in the university.