‘Nigeria will include Media and Literacy Information into curriculum soon’ – Dr. Sunday Baba, NOA Rep

 

Dr. Sunday Baba, the representative of the Honourable Minister of Information and National Orientation Agency (NOA), Nigeria, Dr. Sunday Baba has said the Nigeria will soon introduce the Media and Information Literacy (MIL) into her curriculum any moment from now as efforts are in top gear.

Dr. Sunday said this during the UNESCO Global Media and Information Literacy Week (MILWeek) in Amman, Jordan while responding to question directed to him about what Nigeria is doing about including the Media and Information Literacy into the school’s curriculum during a High Ministerial Panel at the conference.

He said, “We may not really have a formal policy on MIL as we speak, but a lot has been happening in Nigeria at the moment specially building initiatives towards achieving the MIL.”

Speaking further on the concerted efforts put together by his country towards including the MIL into the curriculum, Dr. Sunday said, “You will recall that in 2022, we held a Global Media Week in Nigeria and a lot of things came out of this after this programme.”

“We have been able to build a lot of initiatives using schools and the universities most especially. For instance, we had a symposium where we invited eight universities and they brought their students and we started teaching them on what is called, “Media and Information Literacy” and how this would be propagated all over Nigeria.

Speaking further on the MIL initiative, which advocacy started about two years ago, he said, “we are not doing this through teaching alone. We are using the community radio where everyone is given a voice to speak.”

On how to achieve this. He said, “we will invite market women, farmers, religious leaders, different communities to share ideas and speak out in order to build our democratic ethos so that it can stand very well.”

On how to solidify this and garner support for this programme, Dr. Sunday said, “We have initiated the MILAND that is the Media Literacy Supportive Institute. We have collaborated with media organizations to support this initiative.

In recent times, we have started building media vanguards in schools all over Nigeria where the ethics and ideals of media and information literacy are taught.

At this conference, the Vice-Chancellor of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN)and er team are here with us. The National Open University of Nigeria would be saddled with the responsibility of fighting fake news and hate speech among peddlers especially young people who are always on the social media to post unverified news. 

Our team, the NOUN will be doing fact-checking on what is posted online so that Nigeria are not misinformed. This is to ensure that what is not true shouldn’t be posted. Another thing we want to do is to equip content-creators and those who are posting on social media with skills so that they ar well-equipped to do their job and are custodians of the right information and how to build a transparent democracy using the social media.

We are doing this because Nigerians use every opportunity to gather people like students, workers, lecturers, the educated and the illiterates together. So, we want to see how we can use he power of media education and orientation in this regard.

In terms of the MIL, we have done a lot of work and have put in a lot of efforts to make this work for our country Nigeria and it would be achieved very soon.

 

How to get full Funding to Study in USA - US Embassy

 

The United States Embassy through the US Education has advised students on how to make their dreams of studying in the United States of America (USA) realizable. The programme was organized for students of the Deeper Life High School Lagos Campus by the United States Education department in Lagos.

At the opening ceremony, Mr. Emmanuel Eze, the School Administrator of the Deeper Life High School Lagos Campus said “Deeper Life High School has produced outstanding students who have studied abroad and studying in different universities in Nigeria.”

Speaking further, Emmanuel Eze said, “in the last UTME, Umeh Precious performed excellently well in the year 2023 exam. This year, our students will score 390 and we are giving it back to back to ensure that our students top the grade.”

On his part, Mr. Ajala, the Principal of the Senior School (DLHS) commended the parents for believing in the school to give their children/wards unmitigated quality education with excellent academic performance.

While delivering a presentation on, “Five Steps to Studying Abroad in the US”, Mrs. Chinenye Uwadileke the head of the US Education team said, “considering an option to study in the United States of America I one of the best decisions that any student can ever made because I also took that decision over twenty years ago and I got a full scholarship to study in US.”

Speaking to the students’ participants and their parents on how to get scholarship to study in US, Chinyere said early application and meeting up with the scholarship criteria are some information that the applicants need to make start their studying abroad journey into the US.

She also revealed that the Education USA has funding opportunity for exceptionally brilliant students who wants to study in the States, but lack the financial capability to do so or are from indigent background. She said the Education USA Opportunity Fund Programme provides full funding and scholarship for anyone who wants to study in US especially for students who come from humble background.

According to her, students who fall into this category will get full funding from the United States government. The US government would be responsible for their visa application fee, flight ticket, feeding and other expenses. And upon graduation, that person will be able to apply to become citizen of the United States of America.

In order not to leave the students in doubt about the grey areas during her presentation especially about how to get full scholarship, funding and applying for visa, she provides further information on how to apply for visa through the US Embassy’s website.

During the Question & Answer session, a concerned parent asked what happens after a student who have completed his/her studies in the US with full funding. In response to this question, one of the team of the US Education responded by saying, “when a student gets a full funding to study in the US, he or she pays nothing back to the USA government after his or programme.”

The programme participants comprise students of the Deeper Life High School in the senior secondary category, their parents, invited guests and the US Education team. The Career programme is a regular feature of the school to expose their students to different career opportunities and help them to make the right decision in choosing the right career in their academic goals and pursuit. The Career programme usually presents them with what to study, where to study (Nigerian universities and foreign universities), how to study and when to study. During this robust career exposure, seasoned career experts and academics are usually invited from the academia, WAEC, JAMB and education agents representing different foreign universities abroad. The programme also provides counselling, question & answer and exhibition.

After the programme, the School Admin, Mr. Emmanuel Eze thanked the students, their parents, the US Education team who participated in the programme.

Summit deliberates on Shaping the Future of Education

“Any investment made into education is an investment into the future.” This was the view of Dr. Ambigali, pro-chancellor, Federal University of Technology Akure. (FUTA) during a two-day summit on “Shaping the Future of Global Education organized by the M-Square Media at the Marriott Hotel, Lagos recently.

The one-day summit brought together stakeholders in the education sector from the University of Port Harcourt, the Federal University of Technology Akure, American University, Abuja, Lagos, Kwara and some other parts of the country. 

During a panelist session at the summit, while discussing on how to solve problems in the tertiary education, Dr. Ambigail, the pro-chancellors of FUTA said, the universities of technology should see how they can synergize and collaborate in order to solve problems in the higher institution.

He was of the view that universities should have solution to their own problems and proffer solutions instead of setting up many private universities or establishing more technological universities, the existing ones could synergize and address some of the peculiar needs and problems they have and forge ahead.

On the area of getting partnership to meet some of the needs in the universities like funding, he said, the first thing is to identify the vision, mission and goals of such partnership. Adding that partnership would really work better when the partnership involved are there physically.

On his own part, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of PortHarcout, Prof. Georgewill said that UNIPORT is setting the pace for entrepreneurship in Nigeria as no student graduates from the university without being certified in entrepreneurship. He said that entrepreneurship is a compulsory course every student of the university must take before graduating. Elaborating further, the Prof said that entrepreneurship is different from skill acquisition. Saying that many young people are acquiring skills, but they are not entrepreneurs.

During his paper presentation, the Second Secretary on Trade at the Canadian High Commission Dindembolo-Zaya Kayena, Lagos said he agreed that the number of visa refusal had been high of late and he attributed this to a number of factors like: Ingenuine intention of migration, poor statement of purpose, insufficient funds and some other reasons.

During his speech he noted that many Nigerians under to guise of wanting to study just want to “Japa” and in this regard the Canadian High Commission is tightening its noose to “Japada” (repatriate) some of them who do not meet the migration demands regarding study visa. Dindembolo also said as an African envoy, Canada has been having bilateral relationship with Nigeria and they still want to maintain that relationship.

Talking on the area of quality education, teachers’ quality and the skills demand for the twenty-first century, Dr. Soyombo, the Special Adviser on Education, Kwara State said that to meet the global competitiveness in today’s world, critical thinking, innovation and enquiry-based methodology and accuracy are critical catalyst.

The Eduverse summit is a platform where regional and global challenges in the higher education sector are brought to the front-burner where stakeholders discuss this issue and proffer solutions.   

Drug abuse, Youth’s sanity and the Future of Nigerian Youths

 Editor/s Note

Drug abuse, Youth’s sanity and the Future of Nigerian Youths

“They get drunk and high on a regular basis, but this is a vestige of youths that you either quit while you are young, or you become an addict if you don’t die. If you are the Old Guy in the Punk House, move out. You have a substance about problem”-Bucky Sinister

The issue of drug/substance abuse among Nigerian Youths are becoming alarming. It is not uncommon to find teens from the age of twelve years or even younger taking Indian hemp, marijuana, cannabis and some other illicit drugs which are hazardous to their health and would truncate the future.

My reason for worry or concern is that drug abuse is no longer taken in the hidings anymore, but even in the open.

Despite the traumatic effects that this is having on young people, it appears that the government is not really doing anything about this while many of our youths are becoming insane, dying untimely, causing/unleashing havoc in the society and public places, and constituting nuisance to their parents and a menace to the society.

I expect that there should be serious policy on this, and the senate should come up with bills that would nip this harmful behaviour among youths in the bud. It is very alarming that about 40%millon Nigerians are in drugs according to a report by the NDLEA in August 2021 as published by Premium Times.

Additionally, a report said that there are over 11 million cannabis users in Nigeria. The number of these young people incarcerated or in remand homes as a result of drug abuse is quite alarming.

Globally, it was estimated that “275 million people abuse drugs worldwide.” This was according to the report released last year by the United Nations Office on Drugs (UNDOC).

Nigerian youths are victims to illicit, harmful and dangerous drugs like cannabis, tobacco, glue, heroic energy drinks, miraa, tramadol, colorado, tranquillizers, ant, amphetamine, diazepam, codeine, shisha, cocaine, methamphetamine and host of others which are gory to mention.

When young people abuse drugs (boys and girls), they do that willing-nilly without considering the side effects (some of them don’t even know that). Drug abuse is often fuelled by peer influence, imitating role models; lifestyles from what they watch in movies and what they see outside.

For every addition, there is a resultant-effect. Some of the short-term effects of drugs abuse could be: happiness and confidence, talking more, feeling energetic and alert, feeling physically strong and mentally sharp, reduced appetite, dry mouth, faster heartbeat, increased sex drive, unpredictable behaviour, violent or aggressive behaviour, delusions (over-inflated sense of worth, power, knowledge or identity), anxiety, paranoia (feeling extremely suspicious of others), psychosis (seeing or hearing things that do not exist or distorted).

The long-term effect of drugs are sadness, irregular periods (difficulty having children among females), no sex drive (in males), constipation, damaged heart, lungs, liver and brain, vein damage and skin, heart and lungs infections from injecting (i.e. HIV and Hepatitis C), needing to use more to get same effect (develop tolerance), dependency among others.

My main concern in this article is the future of the Nigeria youths. ‘Youths’ have been described as the future of any nation. But what happens if the plethora or mass armies that would have been the engine room for development, economic revival, scientific advancement, medical research, and national orientation are drug addicts and as a result are mentally unbalanced to stir the wheel of the nation? This is where my worry is as many youths are having field day because they are enjoying their hobbies of drugs. I surmise that the future of this country is really at stake. It is even disheartening to note that many of them are dropping out from school to concentrate on their new engagement drug abuse. These youths are recalcitrant to corrections as their parents can’t even tame them. They don’t care about their future, but only how to take drugs. Education isn’t their priority. I have also found out that ‘yahoo-yahoo’ and singing go along with drugs.

We are losing many of our youths to illicit drugs and substance abuse. Sometime last year, the New African Shrine around Agidingbi wrote it boldly on their walls that “Drugs abuse is the dangerous”. This is to deter young people on the effects of drugs as many of them have been vagabonds, vagrants, miscreants and never-do-well.

There is the need to declare a state of emergency of drug abuse even as this ugly trend becomes a norm and part of our national lives. The radio station, TV, newspaper, magazine, NDLEA, National Orientations, Ministry of Youths Development, UN, UNICEF, UNESCO, UNODC, NGOs working and other with youths on drug abuse and other government parastatals should take the gauntlet by designing programmes that would salvage the youths from jeopardy in the future.

As I conclude this piece, Danny Trejo, author of My Life of Crime, Redemption and Hollywood have this ten pence to lend to addicts. “Drinking and drugs might temporarily bring some relief, but there is a problem in life that drugs and alcohol make worse-whether the issue is financial, emotional or legal. If you are reading this and find yourself struggling, ask God to take the burden of your shoulders, reach out for help, and stop digging a deeper hole for yourself. There is a community of millions of men and women who have similar circumstances and will be there for you, stranger or not, because their own recovery depends on helping people like you.”

 Olugbenga Adebiyi

Editor, School Connect Magazine

c

WAEC Withholds Results of Over 200,000 Candidates, Records 79.81% Pass

by By Mariam Ileyemi

The WAEC boss, Patrick Areghan, said candidates are no longer ready to study, noting that they lack self-confidence "and preparations for examinations are poor."

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC), on Monday, announced the release of the results for the 2023 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for school candidates.

The examination body said out of a total of 1,613,733 candidates that sat the examination, the results of 262,803 candidates are being withheld "due to reports of cases of examination malpractice."

The Head of Nigeria's Office (HNO) of WAEC, Patrick Areghan, who made the announcement in Lagos, also hinted at his exit from the examination body as he is set to retire in a few weeks.

Meanwhile, Mr Areghan announced an improvement in pass rate by candidates as a total of 1,361,608 candidates, representing 84.38 per cent, obtained credit and above in a minimum of five subjects with or without English Language or Mathematics.

Also, 1,287,920 candidates, representing 79.81 per cent of the total candidates, obtained credits and above in a minimum of five subjects including English Language and Mathematics.

In 2022, 76.36 per cent of the 1,601,047 candidates that sat the examination, obtained credits and above in a minimum of five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.

The release of the 2023 results would offer a ray of hope for candidates seeking admission into tertiary institutions.

Some of the admission seekers who sat the 2023 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) did not provide the required SSCE results in their application forms but declared they were awaiting their results.

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) conducted UTME for admission seekers nationwide in May, and many tertiary institutions have since commenced admission processes.

Breakdown

Giving a further breakdown of the 2023 examination, Mr Areghan said out of the candidates that sat the examination in Nigeria, only the results of 1,476,565 candidates, representing 91.5 per cent have been fully processed and released while 137,168 candidates, representing 8.5 per cent have a few of their subjects still being processed.

He explained that the delay is due to some "shortcomings, nonchalant, lethargy, incomplete CASS upload, disobedience of rubrics, etc associated with the schools and candidates concerned."

Of the 1,613,733 candidates that sat the examination, Mr Areghan noted that 794,280 were males while 819,453 were females, representing 49.22 per cent and 50.78 per cent respectively.

He added that 70,794 of the candidates were with varying degrees of special needs: 109 were visually impaired, 386 had impaired hearing, 33 were spastic cum mentally challenged and 34 were physically challenged.

"All these candidates were adequately provided for the administration of the examination. The results of these candidates have been processed and are also now being released along with those of other candidates," he added.

Cashless policy, other challenges

During the conduct of the 2023 WASSCE, Mr Areghan said the council was faced with financial constraints "orchestrated by the cashless policy and the hike in the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), as a result of fuel subsidy removal."

He noted that disruptions were experienced in some parts of the South-east due to the enforcement of a sit-at-home order by the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), and also some insecurity concerns in parts of the North-west.

Mr Areghan also recounted how the council lost a vehicle and its contents to an armed robbery attack at Okigwe, on the road to Enugu on 4 June 2023.

"The armed robbers took away our vehicle and the contents, but to the glory of God, no one was harmed. The vehicle was found after two days, with all the contents intact," he said.

"However, we had already reprinted the codes involved at an extra cost that was not budgeted for. This incident disrupted our logistics and scheduled operations."

Examination Malpractice

On examination malpractice, Mr Areghan said the figure of 262,803 withheld results, representing 16.29 per cent of the total number of candidates that sat the examination in 2023, is lower than the 22.83 per cent recorded in 2022.

"The reasons for this are not far-fetched. Candidates are no longer ready to study, they lack self-confidence and preparations for examinations are poor," he said "There is over-reliance on the so-called 'expo', which is non-existent."

He reiterated that the council will continue to sanction all cases of examination malpractice while noting that all the reported cases of "organised cheating" are being investigated.

Access to Digital Certificates

Mr Areghan further noted that the results of candidates who sat the 2023 WASSCE are being uploaded on the results website and that the candidates can access their digital certificate simultaneously.

He said: "The digital certificates of candidates who sat the WASSCE for school candidates 2023, and who have no pending issues, by way of unresolved queries or hanging cases of examination malpractice, are ready on the digital certificate platform.

"Printing of the physical (hard copy) certificates will commence 90 days from today. This is an innovation that will make admission processes seamless and with a high level of mobility."

He added that the result checker PIN and serial number required by candidates to check their results online are on the candidate's smart identity card used during the examination.

Highlighting the achievements recorded in WAEC under his stewardship as the HNO of WAEC, Mr. Areghan said apart from the digital certificate, the council launched Educational Statistics (EDUSTAT) platform that enables stakeholders to access statistics online.

The council also established a functional WAEC Nigeria Digital Printing Press (WNDPP) after 71 years of existence, and other digital platforms.

Culled from Premium Times

Education, Infant mortality, Poverty worsened in Zamfara Under Matawalle

Governor Matawalle promised to tackle unemployment and poverty as well as revamp the education and health sectors by By Mohammed Babangida.

Bello Matawalle, the outgoing governor of Zamfara State, was lucky to become governor in the first place. The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 governorship poll, he did not become governor because he won the majority of the votes cast in the election. He was made governor after the Supreme Court ruled that the All-Progressives Congress (APC), which polled the majority of votes, did not conduct primaries for the election of its candidates in Zamfara State as a result of the in-fighting in the party at the time. The court voided all the APC votes and ordered that the candidates of the parties with the next highest votes should be declared the winners of the elections.

But Mr Matawalle could only manage to stay in power for one term. After defecting from the PDP, he faced the 2023 election as the APC candidate but was defeated in the 18 March governorship election by the PDP candidate, Dauda Lawal.

During the campaign before the 2019 election, Mr Matawalle promised to fight unemployment and poverty and revamp the education and health sectors.

Poverty rate, internal revenue and debt management

Mr Matawalle spoke passionately about fighting poverty during his campaign, which he said was spurred by insecurity in the state. In 2019 when he was sworn in, Zamfara State was worse than the national average "poverty headcount rate" as 73.98 per cent of the state's population was considered poor while the national average was 40.1 per cent. The state had a higher percentage of poor people than Sokoto, Taraba, Jigawa, Ebonyi and Adamawa states, according to a report by the Statista.

The multidimensional poverty index released in November 2022 stated that 78 per cent of Zamfara people are poor, meaning poverty worsened under Mr Matawalle, from 74 to 78 per cent.

Mr Matawalle also performed poorly in debt management In 2019, data showed the state had a combined domestic and external debt of N103.35 billion. The debt rose to N130.1 billion in 2020 and N130.94 billion in 2021. The state currently has the second-highest debt in the North-west region and occupies the 15th out of the 36 states of the federation.

However, from 2019 to 2021, the state witnessed an increase in its internal revenue generation (IGR), In 2018, it generated N8.21 billion, while in 2019 when Mr Matawalle took over, the state generated N15.42 billion. By 2021, the last year the data was provided, Mr Matawalle's administration had increased the internal revenue to N18.50 billion, according to NBS data.

The multidimensional poverty index released in November 2022 stated that 78 per cent of Zamfara people are poor, meaning poverty worsened under Mr Matawalle, from 74 to 78 per cent.

Mr Matawalle also performed poorly in debt management In 2019, data showed the state had a combined domestic and external debt of N103.35 billion. The debt rose to N130.1 billion in 2020 and N130.94 billion in 2021. The state currently has the second-highest debt in the North-west region and occupies the 15th out of the 36 states of the federation.

However, from 2019 to 2021, the state witnessed an increase in its internal revenue generation (IGR), In 2018, it generated N8.21 billion, while in 2019 when Mr Matawalle took over, the state generated N15.42 billion. By 2021, the last year the data was provided, Mr Matawalle's administration had increased the internal revenue to N18.50 billion, according to NBS data.

In 2021, the state chairman of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Mannir Bature, lamented the concentration of health workers in the state capital as well as the general decay of hospitals in the state.

"The level of decay is disheartening. Only the General Hospital in Gusau has the facilities required for a decent health facility. In the remaining

13 local government areas, General Hospitals don't even have facilities for neonatal care..... 78% of the human resources in the health sector is

concentrated in Gusau, leaving just 22% to be shared amongst the remaining 13 local government areas," he said

Mr Matawalle also performed poorly in tackling infant and maternal mortalities in the state. In 2018, months before he took over, the child mortality rate stood at 130 deaths per 1,000 live births. The national average is 62 deaths. The rate increased to 136 deaths per 1,000 births in 2021, according to the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey of the NBS.

Despite most of the development indices getting worse during his tenure, some residents of the state believe Mr Matawalle stole billions of naira meant to develop the state, a matter currently being investigated by the anti-graft agency, EFCC, although the governor has denied any wrongdoing.

                                                               - Culled from Premium Times

UNESCO unveils new AI roadmap for classrooms - UN News

 UNESCO unveils new AI roadmap for classrooms - UN News

The UN convened the first ever global meeting with education ministers from around the world to explore risks and rewards of using chatbots in classrooms, announcing on Friday a new roadmap to chart a safer digital path for all.

Less than 10 per cent of schools and universities follow formal guidance on using wildly popular artificial intelligence (AI) tools, like the chatbot software ChatGPT, according to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which hosted more than 40 ministers at an groundbreaking online meeting on Thursday.

The ministers exchanged policy approaches and plans while considering the agency’s new roadmap on education and generative AI, which can create data and content based on existing algorithms, but can also make alarming factual errors, just like humans.

“Generative AI opens new horizons and challenges for education, but we urgently need to take action to ensure that new AI technologies are integrated into education on our terms,” said Stefania Giannini, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Education. “It is our duty to prioritize safety, inclusion, diversity, transparency and quality.”

Institutions are facing myriad challenges in crafting an immediate response to the sudden emergence of these powerful AI apps, according to a new UNESCO survey of more than 450 schools and universities.

Rapidly Evolving Landscape

At the same time, governments worldwide are in the process of shaping appropriate policy responses in a rapidly evolving education landscape, while further developing or refining national strategies on AI, data protection, and other regulatory frameworks, according to UNESCO.

However, they are proceeding with caution. Risks to using these tools can see students exposed to false or biased information, some ministers said at the global meeting.

The debate revealed other common concerns, including how to mitigate the chatbots’ inherent flaws of producing glaring errors. Ministers also addressed how best to integrate these tools into curricula, teaching methods, and exams, and adapting education systems to the disruptions which generative AI is quickly causing.

Many highlighted the vital role teachers play in this new era as learning facilitators.

But, teachers need guidance and training to meet these challenges, according to UNESCO.

Adding to Existing Frameworks

Teachers need guidance and training to meet these challenges. — UNESCO

For its part, the agency will continue to steer the global dialogue with policy makers, partners, academia, and civil society, in line with its paper, AI and education: A guide for policy-makers and Recommendation on the Ethics of AI, as well as the Beijing Consensus on Artificial Intelligence and Education.

UNESCO is also developing policy guidelines on the use of generative AI in education and research, as well as frameworks of AI competencies for students and teachers for classrooms.

These new tools will be launched during Digital Learning Week, to be held at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on 4 to 7 September, the agency said.