Sierra Leone’s Njala University Holds a Week Celebration

By

-

May 5, 2023

Sierra Leone’s Njala University also known as Institute of Languages and Cultural Studies has concluded its four-day celebration dubbed INSLACS Week at the Great Hall of Towama Location, Bo Campus, with the theme “A Unified Sierra Leone.”

The celebration featured student participation in debates, essay and poetry competitions, stand-up comedy, musical performances, drama and cultural performances.

The Director of INSLACS, Claude A. Dimoh, justified the theme in his welcome address as a call to all Sierra Leoneans to be patriotic and hold the country dear, noting that the dignity of the country is a result of the unity the citizens continue to uphold.

He emphasized on the significance of the event, stating that it aims to teach and promote Sierra Leone’s cultural heritage while also testing and exploring the students creativity and intellectual ability.

He further requested assistance from the supervising ministry, the Government of Sierra Leone, the US Embassy, the British High Commission, the People’s Republic of China Embassy, well-meaning Sierra Leoneans, development partners, and alumni to address the Institute’s challenges in providing professional training for staff, teaching and learning materials and infrastructure including classrooms, laboratories, and equipment.

Speaking at the event, the Vice-Chancellor and Principal of Njala University, Bashiru Mohamed Koroma assured INSLACS staff of the Administration’s commitment to their goals and aspirations for putting high-quality education into practice.

He promised that his dynamic leadership would always be ready, willing and able to transform the University with speed, accuracy, and inclusion.

The Vice-Chancellor listed four complementary values, including education as essential to national growth and development, cultural diversity and relativism in education, education as a key to national cohesion, and transforming knowledge into practice, that would enable the growth and development of education in Sierra Leone.

He thanked INSLACS for showcasing the power of the human intellect and stated that knowledge and skills acquired by individuals, rather than the amount of years spent in a classroom, determine growth, development and the ability to reduce poverty.

He added that education, through the transmission of knowledge and the forming of attitudes towards diversity and change, is a crucial tool in the promotion of social cohesion, adding that having transformative knowledge entails using an integrative strategy and treating the systems that sustain it.

Ancient DNA Shows Who Wore 20,000 Years Old Pendant

By

Koko Lawrence

-

May 5, 2023

0

Inside a Siberian cave that has been an archeological treasure trove, an elk’s canine tooth — pierced to become a pendant — was unearthed by scientists with care to avoid contaminating this intriguing artifact made roughly 20,000 years ago.

The pristine collection of the pendant from Denisova Cave paid dividends. Scientists said a new method for extracting ancient DNA identified the object’s long-ago owner — a Stone Age woman closely related to a population of hunter-gatherers known to have lived in a part of Siberia east of the cave site in the foothills of the Altai Mountains in Russia.

The method can isolate DNA that was present in skin cells, sweat or other bodily fluids and was absorbed by certain types of porous material including bones, teeth and tusks when handled by someone thousands of years ago.

Objects used as tools or for personal adornment — pendants, necklaces, bracelets, rings and the like — can offer insight into past behavior and culture, though our understanding has been limited by an inability to tie a particular object to a particular person.

“I find these objects made in the deep past extremely fascinating since they allow us to open a small window to travel back and have a glance into these people’s lives,” said molecular biologist Elena Essel of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, lead author of the study published in the journal Nature.

The pendant’s maker drilled a hole in the tooth to allow for some sort of now-lost cordage. The tooth alternatively could have been part of a head band or bracelet.

TRCN Signs MOU With S-African Organization For Teachers Training in Nigeria

By

Nzubechukwu Anodo

-

May 5, 2023

0

The Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria, TRCN, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, with a South African-based educational organization, Instill Education, to upskill in-service teachers in Nigeria.

Registrar of TRCN, Josiah Ajiboye, who signed the document in Abuja in company of his management team, said a pilot phase of implementation of the MoU would soon commence with a capacity building for eight weeks.

TRCN Registration: 300,000 Teachers May Miss New Welfare Package

He said the MoU has three major components- pre-service teachers, integrating pre-service with in-service teachers and their capacity building program, while expressing confidence that the involvement of Instill Education would bridge the gap between pre-service and in-service teachers.

He said that a large number of teachers employed in private schools in Nigeria today were not qualified, in the first instance, to be called teachers, adding that a survey carried out by the council showed that over 90 per cent of the teachers in private schools in the South West were not qualified and not registerable with the TRCN.

He said these people, who are not registered with TRCN because they don’t possess the requisite qualification that will allow them to register.

Adidas Posts Loss As Kanye Split Hurts Business

By

faith Jegede

-

May 5, 2023

0

German sportswear giant Adidas reported Friday a hefty first-quarter loss, acknowledging its split from controversial US rapper Kanye West was “hurting” its bottom line.

The company booked a net loss of 39 million euros ($43 million) from January to March, compared to a profit of 482 million euros in the period a year earlier.

The end of its highly successful Yeezy line, designed in collaboration with West, hit sales by about 400 million euros in the quarter.

But overall sales were not as bad as feared, with analysts seeing early signs of improving fortunes, and Adidas’s share price rose 7.5 percent in the afternoon on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

Adidas halted its tie-up with West — now known as Ye — in October after he made a series of anti-Semitic outbursts.

The loss of Yeezy, along with falling revenues for its lifestyle brands, “are of course hurting us,” said new CEO Bjorn Gulden in a statement.

But there was no news Friday about what it would do with its huge stock of Yeezy trainers.

“The options are narrowing,” Gulden told reporters after the results were released, but finding a solution will take time as there are “so many interested parties”.

The company had announced in February that it could suffer an operating loss of as much as 700 million euros this year if decides to write off the value of its entire existing Yeezy inventory.

Gulden, who took the reins of the company in January after joining from rival Puma, said time was needed to turn the company around.

“2023 will be a bumpy year with disappointing numbers, where maximizing our short-term financial results is not our goal,” he said.

The impact of the end of the West tie-up was most clearly felt in North America, where sales plummeted 20 percent during the quarter.

Ekweremadu & Wife Sentenced To 10,6 Years Respectively

By

faith Jegede

-

May 5, 2023

0

A UK court has finally sentenced former Deputy Senate President of Nigeria Ike Ekweremadu to nine years and eight months in prison for organ trafficking.

His wife Beatrice, got a lower sentence of six years.

The third person, Obinna Obeta, was also sentenced to ten years and six months in jail. Obata a medical doctor, was also deprived of his license to practice as a doctor in the UK.

This is after the three were convicted of trying to harvest the organs of a 21-year-old man brought to the UK from Lagos.

Senator Ekweremadu, his wife Beatrice and dr Obeta, were convicted of conspiring to exploit the man of his kidney, in what was described as the first such case under modern slavery laws.

Lagos Seeks More Partnerships in Education

By

Nzubechukwu Anodo

-

May 5, 2023

0

The Lagos State Government has called on the corporate private sector, groups and individuals to join the Government in providing more quality and functional education at all levels to the people of the state.

The state commissioner for education, Folasade Adefisayo, made the call at the 2023 State Education Conference organized in conjunction with Casio and SKLD Integrated Services Limited.

Speaking on the theme of the conference, Exploring the opportunities In Public-Private Partnership For Educational Development In Nigeria, the commissioner said there is no government either at federal or state level that can all alone provide quality and functional education at both formal and informal settings for its citizenry and meet up with global standards, reason private sector involvement is greatly required.

She said Lagos State is peculiar among other states of the federation not only because of its huge population but also because of the high rate of people migrating into the state on a daily basis.

She said that 26 persons migrate permanently into Lagos State every hour and majority of them are youths and children and that means increasing responsibility in education and other sectors for the government also on daily basis

While acknowledging the huge role played by private schools in providing quality education for large numbers of children in the state, especially at primary and secondary school levels, the commissioner urged corporate organizations, groups and individuals to equally lend their support to jointly move the education sector to higher pedestal.

She said Lagos State is not concerned only about students attaining academic excellence in classrooms, but also about their vocational skills, competencies, emotions, morals, culture and values system that would prepare them well for leadership roles in future.

She commended Casio and SKLD Integrated Services Limited and several other corporate bodies that are in partnership with the state government on the study of Mathematics and the training of teachers as part of their contributions to the development of education in the state, saying such partnerships are yielding tremendous results.

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Andrew Adejo, one of the panelists at the forum, commended Lagos State for always being at the forefront of innovation in the education sector and urged it not to relent.

He said that the Federal Government had been carrying out similar projects in the sector by interfacing with the private sector in several areas of needs for its unity colleges spread across the country.

The Senior Deputy Registrar, Test Development, West African Examinations Council (WAEC) Nigeria, Fransces Iweha-Onukwu also harped on importance of private engagement in education, saying contribution of every stakeholder in education would bring great results not only in learning outcomes and teaching but also in economic prosperity.

NANS Threatens Nationwide Shut Down Over School Fees Hike

By

Nzubechukwu Anodo

-

May 5, 2023

0

The Federal and State Governments of Nigeria have been put on notice to either stop the increase in tuition fees in all tertiary institutions across the country or face the hardest-ever student uprising.

The declaration was made by the National President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Usman Barambu while speaking at the 1st North-East Zonal Senate sitting of NANS held at the Abubakar Tatari Ali Polytechnic (ATAP), Bauchi.

Barambu said that the increase in tuition fees has negatively affected students particularly those who cannot comfortably afford it but managing and struggling to get to school.

He said that the tuition fees must be brought down to be commensurate with the present economic situation in the country, due to less money readily available it has become difficult for parents to raise the money now.

He further said that those who are supposed to raise voices against the planned increase are keeping quiet now because it is not in affecting them in anyway.

He stated that during the recent Naira notes crisis, some of the Governors rushed to the Supreme Court to halt its implementation and they won, now, there are moves to increase tuition fees but they are not talking because it does not affect them and their children are far away from the country.

He said that the plan was hatched with some ASUU collaborators, saying that the situation will be resisted by the entire students of the country who have been bashed and traumatised for a long time.

He then called on security agencies to advise the government on what to do in order to avert the dangers ahead if the tuition fees increase was implemented because according to him, a frustrated student who cannot afford to pay school fees can be a willing tool to be used as a bandit to get satisfaction.

WASSC Examination Begins This May – WAEC

By

Nzubechukwu Anodo

-

May 5, 2023

0

The 2023 West African Senior School Certificate Examination for School Candidates, WAEC, will commence on the 8th of May and end on the 23rd of June, 2023 in Nigeria.

The Head of the Nigeria National Office, Patrick Areghan, during a press briefing said a total of 1,621,853 candidates from 20,851 secondary schools have registered for the 2023 WASSCE (SC).

He added that candidates would be examined in 76 subjects, saying about 30,000 practizing senior secondary school teachers, nominated by the various State Ministries of Education, would be participating in the examination as supervisors.

Areghan further said a total of 1,621,853 candidates from 20,851 secondary schools have registered for the examination, out of which 798,810 are males, amounting to 49.25%, while 823,043 are females, which is 50.75% of the total candidature.

The WAEC boss said that schools that failed to upload the Continuous Assessment score within the expected time frame after several free upload periods would face possible penalties.

Mayoral Candidate Wins Settlement For Firing Over Biblical Views

By

Koko Lawrence

-

May 5, 2023

0

A housing association has reached a settlement with a Christian mayoral candidate whose employment was terminated after she described marriage as between a man and a woman in her manifesto.

Maureen Martin, president of the Christian Peoples’ Alliance (CPA) and an ordained minister, had worked for L&Q as a housing manager for 13 years before her termination in May last year.

She was standing in the local mayoral elections when she published a manifesto in which she outlined her political position on a number of issues, including marriage.

In her manifesto, she pledged “to cut through political correctness and simply state the truth that natural marriage between a man and a woman is the fundamental building block for a successful society, and the safest environment for raising children.”

She was later investigated and sacked by L&Q for gross misconduct after three complaints were made alleging “hate speech.”

Supported by the Christian Legal Centre (CLC), she challenged her dismissal, claiming that she was discriminated against.

Following her firing, 42,000 people signed a petition calling on the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to amend the Employment Rights Act 1996 to protect free speech.

She has now received a “substantial” payout from the housing association after reaching a settlement, the CLC said.

Martin said she was “pleased” with the outcome.

“I know God brought me through this situation and I cannot emphasize more the importance of Christians taking a stand when being discriminated against,” she said.

“If you don’t challenge, you walk away with nothing and the employer who has discriminated against you believes that they have done nothing wrong and are likely to treat someone else similarly.

“It was chilling what happened to me, but I am now stronger for it.”

She urged other Christians not to compromise on their beliefs.

“Much of our culture is now anti-Christian and believes that biblical beliefs, especially on marriage and human sexuality, are ‘hate speech’ and therefore illegal,” she said.

“It is disturbing how Christian beliefs on marriage, which have been held and expressed for thousands of years, are being silenced and treated with such hostility and disdain in this country.

“I should have had a right to express my own Christian beliefs in my own private time and should not have been required to self-censor my beliefs or be forced out of my job.

“If my manifesto had been in support of same-sex marriage, would I have had the same response from my employer?

“The Bible simply does not condone same-sex marriage. If you try and take the middle ground on this issue, as the Church of England has tried to do, you quickly become compromised. As a Christian party, we are not in a popularity contest. We are in a truth contest, and when it comes to truth, we always win.”

She plans to stand again as a mayoral candidate in Lewisham next year.

“My message will not have changed. You can fire me, but you cannot silence me,” she added.

CLC chief executive Andrea Williams said that Christians were being “intimidated into silence.”

“Maureen is a courageous woman treated appallingly for having the guts to declare her belief that marriage between a man and a woman is best for children and our society,” she said.

“For speaking about a positive vision of life and marriage as a building block for the good of our society she was silenced and de-platformed in the political space for boldly speaking about her faith in Jesus.

“We had never seen a case like this which sent a crushing message to anyone who believes in Christian marriage and wishes to express those beliefs at work or in public office.

“LGBT ideology fuelled by Stonewall activists has captured institutions to such an extent that free speech and Christian freedoms have been intimidated into silence.

“No Christian political candidate must face such treatment again.”

Stephanie Linus Returns With New Movie:1929 Aba Women’s Riot

By

Koko Lawrence

-

May 5, 2023

0

Following her last full-length feature in 2014, Stephanie Okereke-Linus is back with a new project.

Titled When Women Were Counted, the upcoming title is based on the story of the Aba women’s riot in 1929.

It explores the lives of the brave women of that era, who organised a massive revolt against the policies imposed by British colonial administrators in southeastern Nigeria.

Their heroic efforts eventually forced the government to give into their demands and put their names in history books to be forever remembered and celebrated.

For now, we know that the movie will be produced by Linus, a Nollywood royalty, who is also part of the writing team, including Ibe Gerald Oluchi and Joy Isi Bewaji.

“There’s a lot to tell about the women of that era – our foremothers. The ones whose voices were not diminished, they did not hide under patriarchy, they were communal, brave, outspoken, unashamed – and they fought for what they believed in,” the filmmaker shared in a social media post.

Prior to this new title, which has been in the works since 2018, Linus acted for over 20 years before making her debut as a producer in 2007 with Dry.

The movie received several awards including the 12th Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) and the 2016 Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards (AMVCA) for best overall movie.

Linus has since produced four short films as part of her sexual and gender-based violence campaign.