Gallery 1957 Is Expanding Ghana’s Art Scene, Bringing It To The Rest Of The World

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April 12, 2023

Upon entering the Accra office of the Lebanese-born British gallerist, art collector, and curator, Marwan Zakhem, one immediately notices Self Acquired (2016) a work composed of stitched-together pieces of yellow plastic containers by Ghanaian artist Serge Attukwei Clottey.

Situated right behind Zakhem’s desk, the work is symbolic of his role in the growing global interest in Ghana’s artists and art scene—which in recent years has become a hotspot for international collectors and has also seen the launch of new galleries and artist-led spaces.

Clottey’s show “My Mother’s Wardrobe” was the first exhibition held at the art space that Zakhem founded, Gallery 1957, when it was officially opened on March 6, 2016, the 59th anniversary of the day that Ghana gained independence. Clottey is best known for stitching together pieces of yellow cans used for carrying water to create installations he calls “Afrogallonism.”

Zakhem, the gallery’s founder, has previously said that 1957’s “founding ethos is its commitment to supporting and promoting emerging and established artists across West Africa and the diaspora.”

Gunmen kill Imo Police Inspector, Dump corpse

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Rhoda Onuzulike

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April 12, 2023

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Gunmen have killed an Inspector of police in Imo State identified as Augustine Ukegbu.

LN247 gathered that Ukegbu was killed in his village at Umuoshike Ogbor in the Aboh Mbaise Local Government Area of the state when he went home to celebrate the Easter with his family.

Imo Serving Lawmaker Dies, Speaker Mourns

A source who preferred anonymity said that the inspector was kidnapped from his house upon his arrival from his base in Owerri and was later found dead in a bush along Mbutu in the Aboh Mbaise LGA.

The source said “inspector Augustine Ukegbu who was serving at Orji police divisional headquarters went home to celebrate the Easter with his family at Aboh Mbaise. Around 11pm on April 8, some gunmen riding in a Lexus jeep came and kidnapped him from his house in the village.

“The abduction was reported at Oke Ovoro police Division. The Jeep he was kidnapped with was later found abandoned long the Mbutu Road in Aboh Mbaise. Police men visited the scene and the surrounding bush was searched and the inspector’s corpse was found.”

The source said that the inspector’s corpse had been deposited in a mortuary in the area by some police operatives and the Lexus jeep he was kidnapped in recovered by his colleagues.

Another source who was embittered with the killing of the cop said that he saw the slain inspector in Owerri the day he was travelling to the village.

He said ” I saw Inspector Augustine in Owerri and he told me he was travelling to celebrate the Easter with his family at Mbaise. We exchange pleasantries and I wished him journey mercy. He was serving at Orji police divisional and had served at the headquarters in Owerri. He was an operative of SWAT( Special Weapons and Tactics) Department. I am saddened by his death.

The spokesperson for the police in Imo state, Henry Okoye, confirmed the incident.

Court Stops Newly Setup Party Caretaker In Katsina

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Rhoda Onuzulike

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April 12, 2023

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A Katsina State High Court has restrained the newly constituted Caretaker Committee of the state’s chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, from running the party’s affairs.

This is contained in a ruling by the state’s Chief Judge, Justice Musa Danladi, when he issued an interlocutory injunction, noting that the order is pending the determination of the suit brought before the court by the party’s embattled Acting Chairman, Salisu Uli and some elected party executives.

Tambuwal Appoints 23 Caretakers As LGs Chairmen’s Tenure Expires

Similarly, the ruling, also restrained the 2nd and 3rd defendant/respondent, PDP and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, from recognizing any member of the purported caretaker committee, constituted by the 2nd defendant (PDP), from running the party’s affairs in the state, pending the hearing and determination of the suit.

It could be recalled that the PDP National Working Committee, (NWC), had on March 23, set up a 13-member Caretaker Committee to oversee the affairs of the Katsina State chapter for 90 days, after it dissolved the State Executive Committee.

The said caretaker committee has since begun work after they were inaugurated in Abuja, and held their inaugural meeting in Katsina on Monday, April 10, with a promise to unite all factions and rebuild the party.

Some States Still Owe Fees — WAEC

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Nzubechukwu Anodo

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April 12, 2023

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As many state governments are winding down for a new administration from May 29, (WAEC) says some states still owe registration fees for 2022 school-based (WASSCE) for their students.

The head of the National Office of WAEC Nigeria, Patrick Areghan, gave the hint in an interview, when asked about the latest concerning the states that are owing the organization exam fees for last year.

He said while he would not mention states that are concerned or the amount they are owing to protect them from people politicizing the matter, adding that some of them still owe the organization a substantial amount of money.

He said WEAC would continue to engage them in talking to pay their bills even after May 29, when some governors would not return to office since government

Areghan further said that WAEC as an organization would not want to embarrass any governor whether coming in newly or not, hence, the reason for not divulging the details about them.

He added that even if any governor is coming in new to the seat, the person will certainly inherit both assets and liabilities of the previous government, and WASSCE fees would not be exempted.

However, payment of WASSCE fees for final-year students in public secondary schools by the state government has been one of the strong political campaign strategies used by politicians to gain and retain power in many states of the federation.

Unfortunately, some of them always registered their students for the exam on credit, such as the case in question, leaving WAEC running after them for payment.

Teaching Union NASUWT Pushes to Abolish OFSTED

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Nzubechukwu Anodo

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April 12, 2023

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Teaching union, National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) has approved a motion calling for the abolition of Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (OFSTED), adding to growing pressure on the schools watchdog.

Teachers described a deep-seated fear of OFSTED inspections at the union’s annual conference in Glasgow.

Last month, the National Education Union also called for an immediate freeze to inspections.

Though OFSTED says most school leaders find inspections constructive and collaborative.

There has been mounting criticism of OFSTED following the death of head teacher Ruth Perry, who took her own life ahead of a report downgrading her school from outstanding to inadequate.

State schools in England inspected by OFSTED, are ranked on a four-point scale – outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate.

The passed motion seeks to acknowledge that the perceived demands of OFSTED are the major contributor to the excessive workload and bureaucracy that blights the lives of teachers.

It instructed the NASUWT’s national executive to work with other education unions to call for an immediate inspections freeze and to launch a campaign to abolish the system in its current form, replacing it with a supportive framework.

A Primary school teacher, Martin Hudson, who put forward the motion, said there was a genuine and deep-seated fear of OFSTED among teachers which was completely unacceptable.

He added that OFSTED is a scourge of the classroom and the destroyer of teachers.

The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) also indicated that it could take legal action against OFSTED following its failure to pause inspections after Perry’s death.

Some chief executives running more than 200 academies in England said OFSTED must rethink how it does inspections.

An OFSTED spokesperson said the Inspections are first and foremost for children and their parents, looking in depth at the quality of education, behavior and how well and safely, schools are run.

A spokesperson for the Department for Education said OFSTED has a crucial role to play in upholding education standards and making sure children are safe in school.

They provide independent, up to date evaluations on the quality of education, safeguarding, and leadership which parents greatly rely on to give them confidence in choosing the right school for their child.

GES Projects to Promote STEM in Junior High Schools in Ghana

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Nzubechukwu Anodo

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April 12, 2023

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Schools in Ghana

The Director General of Ghana Education Service, Eric Nkansah and the Ghana Country Director of Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), Moon Heon Kong, have held a meeting to assess implementation of the STEM project activities, to consider and approve the implementation plan for first and second quarter of 2023.

According to GES, it is committed to promoting the study of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) right from the Primary Schools to the Senior High School levels.

The Ghana Education Service with funding from KOICA is implementing a four-year gender responsive pedagogy project that seeks to improve the competency of Junior High Schools (JHS) girls in STEM education in the Central and Eastern Regions, across 10 Districts, 5 Districts in each of the regions.

A total of 400 Junior High Schools, 200 from each participating region are beneficiaries of the ongoing project.

Activities under the project are the development and printing of Maths and Science handbooks, gender responsive manuals for teachers as well as the training of Mathematics and Science teachers in gender-responsive pedagogy.

Also under the project, there will be organization of Mathematics and Science Quiz competitions at School/Circuit, District, Regional and National Levels, Girls’ Vacation Camp Meetings, advocacy on girls’ rights issues at all levels, after school classes as well as school club activities.

Protesters Demand Mobile Toilets For Schools in South Africa

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Nzubechukwu Anodo

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April 12, 2023

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About 60 members of Equal Education and parents of learners marched to the Limpopo Department of Basic Education in Polokwane to demand the immediate provision of mobile toilets at schools which still have pit latrines.

According to the 2021 National Education Infrastructure Management System report, Equal education said 5,167 of the country’s 23,275 public schools still use plain pit toilets.

The group said that plain pit toilets were banned under the Minimum Uniform Norms and Standards for Public School Infrastructure in 2013 and were to be removed and replaced by 2016.

The Department of Basic Education had missed deadlines in 2016, 2020 and 2023.

In 2017 EE visited 18 schools in Ga-Mashashane and found learners in most of the schools still using plain pit toilets. Again in 2020 and 2023 EE visited the schools and found conditions unchanged in some schools and even worse in others.

EE Communications Manager, Jay-Dee Cyster said the Limpopo Education Department was slow to meet its moral and legal responsibilities to learners.

Limpopo Department of Basic Education spokesperson, Mike Maringa said the department was preparing to update the courts on its progress, in line with a court directive.

One of the protesters said that their toilets are now a danger to them.

He said the principal recently fixed one of the toilet seats with plastic but students are afraid of using the toilet in such condition.

Francis Mothiba, a member of the school governing body at Seipone Secondary, said the parents have been talking to the department for eight years.

Meanwhile, the Chief Director of Infrastructure in the Limpopo Department of Basic Education, Isaac Malatji has received and signed the memorandum.

10th Assembly: First Female Rep-elect Joins Speakership Race

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Rhoda Onuzulike

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April 12, 2023

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A member-elect of the House of Representatives, Miriam Onuoha, has joined the race for the Office of Speaker in the coming 10th National Assembly.

The current member of the House officially declared her speakership ambition at a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday.

Onuoha, who is representing Onuimo/Isiala Mbano/Okigwe Federal Constituency in Imo State on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress, is the first female to openly declare a bid for the office.

The lawmaker, who has been reelected for a second term in the House, is the second member from the South-East geopolitical zone to have joined the race, after Benjamin Kalu from Abia State who is Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs.

At the conference, Onuoha was accompanied by two serving male members of the House, Messrs Abdulkadir Abdullahi (APC/Bauchi) and Emeka Chinedu (PDP/Imo) as well as several fresh members-elect and members of the APC Presidential Campaign Council.

In her address titled ‘The Unity House,’ Onuoha noted that the 10th Assembly “promises to be a watershed of some sort for Nigeria’s fledgling democracy.”

The lawmaker also stated that Nigeria needs “a nationalist and a dynamic team player to stem the tide of our dwindling economy and the much-needed dividends to Nigerians – a service-driven leader who understands citizens’ participation.”

Onuoha said, “The emergency of the dwindling number of women in parliament calls for deliberate action, an action that will bridge the gender gap; an action that is a call for the leadership of the National Assembly to embrace the stance for a woman of competence and experience.

“I honourably call for my fellow contestants to support me, a woman with competence, integrity and full of vision. No doubt, our President-elect, His Excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is a he-for-she who has always empowered women in all spheres of life, having picked a woman as his running mate as the Governor of Lagos state and supported his amiable wife to become a senator in the parliament, in line with the goals of the UN’s 35 per cent Affirmative Action for women.

“To this effect, my election as the Speaker House of Representatives will, therefore, afford Nigeria the rare opportunity of killing the two ubiquitous birds of gender balancing and youth inclusiveness in its political/leadership landscape, with one stone.

“Truthfully, I Princess Miriam amply represent the twin-engine essence of Nigeria’s youth and female status quo, whom the circumstances of our political exigencies have made an endangered and vulnerable species.”

The lawmaker added that the issue of regional balancing in the nation’s leadership equation is also “another veritable national challenge that my election to the speakership of the House of Representatives will address and resolve simultaneously in the interest of national unity, peace and inclusion.”

Aspirants for the Office of the Speaker in the 10th Assembly, some of whom have yet to officially declare their ambitions, are now over 10.

Sorting, Counting Of Votes Begin For Guber And House Of Assembly Polls

They include the Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Wase; embattled Majority Leader, Alhassan Ado-Doguwa; Chairman of the House Committee on Navy, Yusuf Gagdi; Chairman, of House Committee on Appropriations, Aliyu Betara; Chairman, House Committee on Science Research Institutes, Olaide Akinremi; Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Benjamin Kalu; and Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Land Transport, Tajudeen Abbas; Chairman of the House Committee on Emergency and Disaster Preparedness, Abdulraheem Olawuyi; Chairman, House Committee on Water Resources, Sada Soli; Deputy Chairman of the House Committee on Defence, Makki Yalleman; and Sani Jaji.

Wase and Gagdi are from Plateau in the North-Central geopolitical zone; Ado-Doguwa, Kano, North-West; Betara, Borno, North-East; Akinremi, Oyo, South-West; Kalu, Abia, South-East; Yalleman, Jigawa, North-West; Jaji, Zamfara, North-West; Soli, Katsina, North-West; Olawuyi, Kwara, North-Central; Abbas, Kaduna, North-West; and Onuoha, Imo, South-East.

The President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, is from Lagos in the South-West, while the Vice President-elect, Kashim Shettima, is from Borno State in the North-East.

The APC is now left to consider National Assembly leadership positions for the remaining zones: North-West, North-Central, South-South and South-East.

Benue: Enforcement of Anti-Open Grazing Law Suspended Temporarily

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Rhoda Onuzulike

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April 11, 2023

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The Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom has suspended the operations of livestock guards and the state para-military agency saddled with the enforcement of the state open grazing for a period of two weeks to allow all herdsmen with livestock in the state to leave.

Ortom disclosed this at the end of the state security council meeting on Tuesday after over 130 persons were gruesomely killed across the state within one week.

Despite new open grazing law, suspected herdsmen attacks persist – NGO

He said the suspension was to show a good fate to all those who claimed to have come into the state without knowing there is Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law of 2017 that is solely anti-grazing.

He also said security agencies in the state have confirmed the receipt of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.)’s directive to fish out perpetrators of the mass killings across the state.

He beseeched the security agencies to act fast on the matter in order to bring victims of the attack some form of justice.

NGO Skills for Life Project Targets 19,000 Katsina School Girls

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Rhoda Onuzulike

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April 11, 2023

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450 school girls and their teachers, out of the targeted 19,000 from some selected schools across the 3 senatorial zones of Katsina State have undergone a 3-day intensive training on how to produce disinfectants, and infectious disease prevention and control in Katsina State.

Some of the girls who spoke at the end of the training said, the Adolescents Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment, AGILE project, has given them skills for life, as they are ready to take over the market space soon.

It was indeed an intensive training and sight to behold, where the 450 senior secondary school students with 2 drawn from different schools across the 3 senatorial zones, engaged fully, in the life skill programme, organized by the AGILE programme, in collaboration with the state government.

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They were trained practically on how to produce disinfectants, liquid washing soap in commercial quantities, and practice infectious disease prevention and control, which they said, is now a pathway to becoming self-reliant, before and after school.

The State Project Coordinator of AGILE, Dr Mustapha Shehu said, the life skill multifaceted programme is targeted at 19,000 girls and 17,600 boys across the 3 senatorial districts, to assist the schools and themselves.

He further added that there is a robust arrangement for the sustainability of the programme, by rewarding the best-participating schools.

The facilitators of the training and other dignitaries present urged the students to see it as knowledge given on a platter of gold, which should be taken with all seriousness.