Nadal Overcomes Scare To Reach Wimbledon Second Round

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June 29, 2022

Rafael Nadal overcame a scare in his Wimbledon opener on Tuesday, fighting back from dropping the third set and falling a break down in the fourth to eventually see off Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo.

Second seed Nadal, playing on grass for the first time since his 2019 Wimbledon semi-final loss to Roger Federer, triumphed 6-4, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 over 41st-ranked Cerundolo, who was making his All England Club debut.

But the 36-year-old Spaniard, who has already captured the Australian and French Opens this year to stand halfway to the first men’s calendar Slam since 1969, did it the hard way.

After coasting through the first two sets on Centre Court, he surrendered an early break in the third set and then had to claw his way back from 3-1 and 4-2 down in the fourth.

“Three years without being here on this amazing surface, it is amazing to be back,” said Nadal.

“We don’t play very often on grass, especially in my case. In the last three years, I didn’t put a foot on the grass.”

Nadal, the 2008 and 2010 Wimbledon champion, arrived at the tournament with question marks over his durability for the two weeks having played the entire French Open with his troublesome left foot anaesthetised.

U.S Supreme Court Rules In Favour Of Ex High School Coach Prayer Case

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Rhoda Onuzulike

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June 29, 2022

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The U.S Supreme Court handed a big win to a former Washington high school football coach, Joe Kennedy who lost his job over reciting a prayer on the 50-yard line after games.

The Supreme Court ruled Monday in a 6-3 decision that the answer to whether he was praying alone but in view of students engaging in unprotected “government speech,” and if it is not government speech, does it pose a problem under the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause? both questions is NO.

“Here, a government entity sought to punish an individual for engaging in a brief, quiet, personal religious observance doubly protected by the Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses of the First Amendment. And the only meaningful justification the government offered for its reprisal rested on a mistaken view that it had a duty to ferret out and suppress,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in the Court’s opinion. “Religious observances even as it allows comparable secular speech. The Constitution neither mandates nor tolerates that kind of discrimination.”

Kennedy was a junior varsity head coach and varsity assistant coach with the Bremerton School District in Washington from 2008 to 2015. He began the practice of reciting a post-game prayer by himself, but eventually students started joining him. According to court documents, this evolved into motivational speeches that included religious themes. After an opposing coach brought it to the principal’s attention, the school district told Kennedy to stop. He did, temporarily, then notified the school that he would resume the practice.

The situation garnered media attention, and when Kennedy announced that he would go back to praying on the field, it raised security concerns. When he did pray after the game, a number of people stormed the field in support.

The school district’s reasoning was that if they allowed Kennedy, their employee, to pray on the field at a school game, it would violate the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, which protects separation of church and state.

“That reasoning was misguided,” the majority opinion said. “Both the Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses of the First Amendment protect expressions like Kennedy’s. Nor does a proper understanding of the Amendment’s Establishment Clause require the government to single out private religious speech for special disfavor. “

Gorsuch stated that not just the Constitution, but “the best of our traditions” call for “mutual respect and tolerance, not censorship and suppression, for religious and nonreligious views alike.”

The Court’s ruling also stated that there is a distinct reason for why speech like Kennedy’s is protected by both the Free Speech and Free Exercise Clauses.

“That the First Amendment doubly protects religious speech is no accident. It is a natural outgrowth of the framers’ distrust of government attempts to regulate religion and suppress dissent,” Gorsuch wrote.

The Court explained why Kennedy’s prayer is not government speech, even though he was a government employee. The opinion stated that his words were not “pursuant to a government policy,” he was not “seeking to convey a government-created message,” and he was not acting in the normal scope of his duties because the game was over, he was not providing instruction or game strategy, and that he prayed at a time when he was free to do other things like “attend briefly to personal matters.”

Justice Samuel Alito also recognized in an concurring opinion that Kennedy prayed “while at work but during a time when a brief lull in his duties apparently gave him a few free moments to engage in private activities.”

The Court’s majority opinion noted that Kennedy had “voluntarily discontinued the school tradition of locker-room prayers and his postgame religious talks to students,” and that the school district only took action against him “only for his decision to persist in praying quietly without his players after three games in October 2015.”

At the District’s request, he voluntarily discontinued the school tradition of locker-room prayers and his postgame religious talks to students. The District disciplined him only for his decision to persist in praying quietly without his players after three games in October 2015.”

Kaduna School Gets N10m For Borehole Construction

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Rhoda Onuzulike

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June 29, 2022

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The Kaduna State government has applauded Arewa Metal Containers Limited, ARMECO for the construction of a borehole worth N10 million in one of the government secondary schools in the state.

Speaking at the commissioning ceremony at Government Girls’ Secondary School, GGSS Kakuri, Kaduna, the Commissioner of Education, Halima Lawal said, the availability of water in any learning environment improves on hygiene and healthy living.

Represented by the Deputy Director Public Schools, Baita Mercy Kude, she disclosed that, ARMECO has done well in complimenting governments’ effort in the provision of social amenities.

Halima appreciated the company for extending such gesture particularly in a girls’ school environment where they will be needing water to keep themselves neat and the environment as well.

“When the girl child is experiencing her monthly flow and there is no water to clean herself, she tends to feel uncomfortable within her learning facility, but now that water is available, she will do the needful and automatically, she becomes more comfortable with the environment, which makes learning convenient for her.”

The Commissioner called on other companies to emulate ARMECO by extending such gestures to their host communities.

She also called on the school authority to make judicious use of the water facility through frequent maintenance, adding that, water sustains life.

The Managing Director, ARMECO, Engineer Joachim Daudu said the borehole was part of the company’s corporate social responsibility extended to host communities which they were happy to discharge.

According to Joachim, who was represented by the Developing Business Manager, Umar Bagudu, water is a necessity of live which they were glad to have provided, saying, it’s provision will have impact on the students lives.

The Principal, GGSS Kakuri, Abdussalam Adamu Abubakar who expressed gratitude to the host said, the students had prior to the provision of the borehole suffered many challenges due to lack of portable water.

“There has never been pure water in our school, our students used sachet water, but with this gigantic project, even the spread of infection will reduce because the conveniences will be kept very clean,” he disclosed.

NYSC Board Urges Corps Members To Embrace Skill Acquisition

By

Rhoda Onuzulike

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June 29, 2022

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The Chairman, National Governing Board, NYSC, Fatima Abubakar, on Tuesday urged corp members to embrace the Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) programme of the agency to enhance their lives.

Abubakar gave the advice during the board’s facility tour of the Rivers NYSC orientation camp at Nowa Tai.

She told the corp members that SAED was designed to teach them different skills and trades, as well as enable them to obtain agriculture loan after their service.

“You are given the opportunity to learn different trades so that if you don’t get white collar jobs, you engage yourself on the skills learnt during your service year to better your lives,” Abubakar said.

She stated that the purpose of touring different orientation camps across the country was to access the facilities provided in the camps and the welfare of the corp members.

The board chairman urged them to listen and obey the management and staff of the corps, wishing them well in all their endeavours.

Abubakar also commended Rivers Government for building a hall at the state orientation camp and noted that it was 97 per cent completed.

“The governor promised to provide facilities in the camp and I believe he has kept his words.

Eairlier, the State Coordinator, Mangofan George, said that the registered 1738 Batch “C” Stream 1 corps members, comprised 658 males and 1,080 females.

George said that the NYSC National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in the state was fully managed by the University Port Harcout Teaching Hospital to strengthen the health department of the corp.

He listed the challenges faced in the camp as perennial theft, lack of electricity from the national grid, lack of official vehicles and lack of financial support from the state government.

He however pledged the commitment of the staff to their job and expressed gratitude to the governing board for visiting Rivers.

Other members of the board in the entourage were Prince Oyewumi (presidential appointee), Binta Muazu, Yusuf Nalado and Prof. Suleman Abdukari, (representative of Vice Chancellors).

Guidance Violation: FCTA Threatens To Shut Down Private Schools.

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Rhoda Onuzulike

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June 29, 2022

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The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) Education Secretariat, on Friday in Abuja vowed to shut down any school that failed to meet the minimum standard of educational curriculum.

Acting Director, Quality Assurance Department of the Education Secretariat, Magdalene Uzoanya issue the warning at a meeting with the leadership of National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS), FCT chapter.

She reiterated the determination of the department to enforce compliance with the Nigerian Educational Curriculum and ensure quality in both teaching and learning in the FCT.

The director also warned private schools that operate with expired accreditation certificates to desist from such act.

She cautioned such school against preventing officials of the FCT administration from accessing their schools for routine inspection to desist from such acts or face the full wrath of the law.

Uzoanya said there are various stages, procedures and approval for the establishment of schools.

She insisted that all statutory laws and other regulations pertaining to management of schools in the FCT must be fully complied with.

She warned that any unregistered and illegal schools would be close down, adding that no substandard schools would be allowed to exist in the FCT.

The director frowned at the non-compliance to the guidelines and non-payment of the approved annual accreditation fees by some private school owners.

She said especially those with magnificent infrastructures, describing such act as against the laid down rules.

“The department will not issue recognition and accreditation certificates to any school found wanting in this regard.”

She advised school proprietors to pay the approved fees due to the administration, adding that the department would not issue certificates to those who were yet to pay the fees.

“This is important in the revenue drive of the FCT Administration.”

She assured that the department would not compromise on its mandate of monitoring and inspection of schools to ensure total compliance to the minimum standards, while registering and accrediting of both private and public schools.

The Deputy Director and Chairman, Revenue Taskforce, Mudi Mohammed said the schools should brace up and pay their fees.

He warned that it was no longer business as usual because the taskforce would not leave any stone unturned to ensure schools operating in FCT complied strictly with the guidelines, especially as it regards prompt payment of annual accreditation fees.

Mohammed said available record showed that many schools were indebted to the FCTA and his team was ready to recover the debts.

Responding on behalf of the proprietors, Chairperson of the association, Rukayyat Agboola said the new executives of the association were in the department to interface and work in partnership with the regulatory body.

She said the many challenges faced by school owners, especially in the face of the prevailing economic situation which forced many schools to close down due to financial constraints.

She advocated for a grant from the government for private school owners to enable them ease the financial burden being faced.

NOUN Governing Council Appoints New Registrar, Bursar, Librarian

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Rhoda Onuzulike

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June 28, 2022

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The Governing Council of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) has approved the appointment of a new Registrar, Bursar and Librarian for a single term of five years.

Director, Media and Publicity of the university, Ibrahim Sheme, stated in Abuja on Tuesday that Oladipo Ajayi was appointed as Registrar; Nasir Marafa as Bursar and Dr Angela Ebele Okpala as Librarian.

Sheme added that the outgoing Registrar, Felix Edoka, issued appointment letters to the trio on June 27 after approval by the university’s Governing Council at its 69th meeting, held on June 23.

The registrar’s appointment takes effect from Sept. 5; the bursar’s takes effect from Sept. 17, while that of the librarian took effect from June 23.

Federal Govt. Task To Invest More In Technical, Vocational Education

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Rhoda Onuzulike

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June 28, 2022

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Founder of Toddlers Haven Educational Foundation, Dr Bukola Dosunmu, has called on the Federal Government to develop a National Skill Policy to enhance technical and vocational education training in the country.

Dosunmu made the call at Public Advocacy and Awareness Lectures on Technical and Vocational Education Training and Launching of Thef-ABWANTNU, held at Gwagwalada Area Council, on Tuesday in Abuja.

The public lecture with the theme: “ Building a mindset for sustaining TVET in Nigeria” organised by Bukola Dosunmu to mark her 50th birthday.

She said the foundation decided to strategically pick her birthday to educate the people of Gwagwalada, friends and associates on the significance of vocational education.

“Because the foundation has existed in Gwagwalada for close to 19 years. We have impacted for many years and the school has lots of visibility.

“So, for today being my birthday I thought this is one of the best days that we can bring people together to be part and listen to this conversation.”

Dosunmu, who expressed concerned over lack of a National Skill Policy in the country, however, said that the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) was doing a lot in that direction.

“The Federal Government needs to do more in the area of funding technical and vocational education training. Government needs to also do more in supporting NBTE to ensure that Nigeria has a National Skills Policy.

“There is no National Skill Policy for Nigeria and we know that NBTE is doing a lot with government regarding this.

“If we have a skills policy is going to dictate and flow down to every sector that has one thing or the other to do.

“National Education Development Council has a role to play but then a policy frame above is going to guide whatever they are going to do.”

Similarly, Dosunmu emphasised the need for the government to provide an enabling environment to support organisations, the private sector and the employers of labour.

According to her, the Sectors Skills Councils need a lot of support in terms of developing the National Occupational Standard and many other things.

“So, we have to get to the roots of the policies to see how it will be able to impact on every programmes that we are doing in the educational system in Nigeria.

“The general perception of the society towards vocational education is not something that you can just knock on their doors and get them together.”

Earlier, the Executive Secretary of NBTE, Prof. Idris Bugaje, said the next generation needs education and skills development that should go beyond increasing basic literacy rates.

Represented by Hajara Abdulkadir of NBTE office, Kaduna, Bugaje said skills development would assure dynamic, multifaceted knowledge-building at higher and tertiary levels, including Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).

“There is a need to change our approaches, attitudes and priorities concerning TVET.

“We must nurture a highly educated and skilled population that can imbibe technology and build infrastructure that is indispensable for progress and wages an effective war on mass unemployment.”

Bugaje said that the National Skill Qualification Frame work (NSQF) was approved by the Federal Executive Council in 2012 and was launched in 2017, masrking a turning point in federal governments Skill Development Policy.

“The NSQF is a FGN approved system for the development, classification and the recognition of skills knowledge, understanding of competencies acquired by individuals irrespective of where and how the training or skill was acquired.”

Also, the Vice Chancellor, University of Abuja, Prof. Abdul-Rashid Na’Allah, urged the Federal Government to increase investment on Technical and vocational education by establishing more Technical Colleges, schools and institutes in the country.

Represented by Dr Matthew Dada, Director, the Centre for Community Development of the university, Na’Allah said access to technical education was still limited in the country.

According to him, it is until when people can access this technical colleges that they can enrol.

“Where you have a situation that in a while state you don’t have a single technical college it means that the access to technical and vocational education is going to be limited

“And we cannot go as much as we can without developing human capital towards equipping citizens with skills that they can stand without going back to government for white-collar jobs that are not even there.’’

The Chairman, Board of Trustees of the foundation, Helen Onoja, said vocational education was not for the downtrodden or those who do not have, saying “even our religious support the use of our hands.”

Govt. Approves N400m Disbursement To 40 Mission Schools In Delta

By

Rhoda Onuzulike

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June 28, 2022

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Delta State Government on Tuesday announced that it had approved the disbursement of N400 million grant to 40 mission schools in the state to enable them to upgrade and expand their facilities.

The Commissioner for Information, Charles Aniagwu, announced this while briefing journalists on some of the decisions reached at the State Executive Council meeting presided over by the Deputy Governor, Kingsley Otuaro.

Aniagwu who was flanked by the Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to the governor, Olisa Ifeajika, at the briefing, said that each of the 40 schools would receive N10 million.

He explained that the gesture was part of the state government’s deliberate measures to ensure that the schools did not lag in terms of facilities and human capital development effort.

“At today’s Exco meeting, a number of decisions were taken and one of them is the approval of disbursement of N400 million grant to 40 missionary schools in the state that were previously being run by the state government before they were handed over to the missionaries.

“That translates to N10 million for each of the 40 missionary schools to enable them to improve on their facilities because you do know that in the last seven years, we have taken a lot of effort and time to upgrade a number of schools that are run by the government.

“But, since the return of a number of these schools to the missionaries by the last administration, we had hope that they too, should be able to cope fully. Yes, they had done very well as they have been able to add values to these schools,” Aniagwu added.

He stated that the state executive council also gave approval for the reconstruction of the first phase of the Old Lagos – Asaba road from Umunede to Obior which, according to him, is 7.6 kilometers.

To guarantee the overall success of the 21st National Sports Festival to be hosted in the state, the commissioner said that the government approved the construction of male and female hostels of 240-bed spaces each at the Dennis Osadebay University, Asaba, with a view to providing secured accommodation for the athletes.

He added that the council also approved the construction of an indoor sports complex inside the Stephen Keshi Stadium, Asaba, for short-range games for the national sports festival.

We approved the construction of 240-bed space in Dennis Osadebe University for females and another 240-bed space hostel for male which will house the athletes coming to Asaba for the National Sports Festival.

“The reason for siting them in the university premises is that the hostels will also serve as students’ hostels after the sports festival.

101-Year-Old Ex-Guard at Nazi Camp Convicted by German Court

By

faith Jegede

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June 28, 2022

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A 101-year-old former concentration camp guard was convicted by a German court on Tuesday of being an accessory to more than 3,500 murders and sentenced to five years in prison, although it was not clear whether he would ever serve time.

The man, who has been widely described in the German media as the oldest person ever to be tried on Nazi-era charges, worked as an SS guard at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, north of Berlin, from 1942 to 1945.

He has denied working at the camp, and prosecutors were unable to directly link him to the deaths of the prisoners.

Reading out the verdict just after 10 a.m., Judge Udo Lechtermann said that the man had supported the Nazi system of terror and murder. “You have willingly supported this mass destruction with your activities,” he said.

A lawyer for the man, identified only as Josef S. because of Germany’s strict privacy laws, said he would appeal the decision if the authorities follow through and try to send him to prison. That move would also require a declaration by a medical commission saying that his health was stable enough for confinement.

The office found Mr. S. in 2018 after scouring concentration camp records that the Red Army had taken back to Moscow. “It is what’s right, and of course it would have been what was right 70 years ago.”

As the perpetrators of the Holocaust grow increasingly few and old, German prosecutors and investigators are racing to bring the remaining cases to court.

Their efforts have been bolstered by a 2016 ruling from Germany’s highest criminal court that confirmed an earlier conviction of Oskar Gröning — nicknamed the bookkeeper of Auschwitz — that held that people who worked as staff members in concentration camps could be convicted, even if no specific crimes against them could be proven.

A 97-year-old woman is currently on trial in the northern town of Itzehoe, accused of war crimes at Stutthof concentration camp, close to what is currently the Polish city of Gdansk.

According to Thomas Will, leader of German government office tasked with investigating Nazi-era crimes, there are at least other six cases across Germany that state prosecutors are investigating with a view to indictment, Mr. Will said.

Given the defendant’s age, the trial was moved to a community gymnasium in Brandenburg an der Havel, close to where he lives. The hearings took place only twice a week and for only hours at a time, with medics on standby.

Mr. S., an ethnic German born in Lithuania, refused to acknowledge even working as a guard, instead claiming that he worked as a farm hand during the time in question. “I don’t even know what I am supposed to have done,” Mr. S. said to the judge during closing arguments on Monday. “I have nothing to do with it.

The prosecution could prove that Mr. S. had joined the SS just before his 21st birthday. He not only served as a guard at Sachsenhausen, prosecutors said, but had managed to get promoted to Rottenführer, the highest rank for enlisted men in the SS.

Questions around whether to incarcerate extremely old war criminals came up in 2015 when Mr. Gröning went to the highest German court to try to stay out of prison despite a conviction. The court ruled that as long as his health allowed it, Mr. Gröning would have to serve time. But Mr. Gröning died before he could ever see the inside of a prison.

Mr. S. would likely wait months before a higher court would hear his appeal, making it very unlikely that the 101-year-old would face real prison time.

Still, Mr. Will, the state prosecutor in charge of investigating these crimes, says securing these convictions is extremely important, even if they are delayed.

“How can you explain to anyone that someone who serves in a concentration camp for three years, where people are gassed and shot, is not guilty of aiding and abetting murder,” he said.

A number of witnesses to the crimes committed at Sachsenhausen attended the trial as co-plaintiffs in the case. One of the witnesses was Leon Schwarzbaum, a concentration camp survivor who was transferred to Sachsenhausen from Poland in the early months of 1945, when the Red Army started liberating camps in the east.

“I am one of the last Auschwitz prisoners,” Mr. Schwarzbaum told reporters in October, just five months before dying aged 101.

“I want that if this man is convicted — and hopefully he will be convicted — he goes to prison,” he said.

HIV: 77 persons test positive in Taraba

By

Cleopatra Okohai

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June 28, 2022

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The Taraba Government on Sunday said 77 persons tested HIV-positive out of 2,156 tested during the ongoing mass testing and treatment campaign.

The campaign, according to the state government, is aimed at ensuring an HIV-free society by 2030.

The Director-General, Taraba State Agency for the Control of AIDS, Dr. Garba Danjuma, disclosed this during TACA’s weekly review performance of the Implementation by partners working across HIV, tuberculosis, Orphans, and Vulnerable Children.

He noted that 36,396 victims of HIV in Taraba were already under regular treatment while 20,200 others had been virally suppressed.

“It is our hope that the name HIV should not be found in Taraba State by 2030.

“During our mass testing and treatment project over the weekend, only 77 persons were confirmed positive for the virus out of 2,156 tested across 16 local government areas of the state.

“We tested 359 children between 0-14 years old.

“The 76 out of the 77 victims have already been linked for treatment with various health facilities across the state,” he said.

Dr. Joseph Chiegil, team leader, Reaching Impact and Saturation Epidemic Control, partnering with TACA, commended Taraba Government for the steps to ensure the elimination of HIV/AIDS by 2030.

He pledged his organization’s continuous support to ensure the agency succeeded in its drive to kick out HIV.