Education
Why I Support Fuel Subsidy Removal, How State Police Can Work – University Don
The fuel subsidy removal is the most serious issue that greeted the President Bola Tinubu led FG Administration with mixed reactions from every quarter within and outside the country. In this interview with Professor Hakeem Fawehinmi, Professor of Clinical Anatomy and Medical Anthropology, and the current Vice Chancellor of Nigeria British University Asa, Abia State, by Informavores National Assembly Correspondent, Ogechi Okorie, the issue of Fuel Subsidy removal, State Police, Education among others were discussed.
The excerpt:
Following the removal of fuel subsidy by the president and the Mixed reactions that follow, what is your thought on the issue of fuel subsidy removal?
In my opinion, it is a courageous step. I command the President for doing that. I have never really been an ardent supporter of the President but any President that removes subsidy now is time and infact removal of fuel subsidy is long overdue because a lot of people think that it is poverty alleviation policy but I can tell you that it is still the rich that benefits from it more than the poor. it is the rich who drives Air conditioned vehicles. It is another way of tasking the rich for the poor. if the Government is responsive and responsive and again, the merging of the exchange rate is a step in the right direction. Let the market forces determine the price of the dollar or pound in the foreign exchange market and not artificial means of using Government money and our foreign exchange reserves in the name of supporting manufacturers to bring down prices .So for to me, it is good. Ordinarily a President who come at such a time and with not knowing the possible outcome of the Presidential petition tribunal will want to play to the gallery and come up with policies that looks like welfarist policies in a bid to hoodwink the masses but the President is going ahead taking courageous steps which I see some elements of sincerity of purpose
Not too long ago, Nigeria has an alarming number of out-of-school children. What must the Government do to make sure that the number is reduced?
The Government must improve on the security situation in the country especially in the North East. You don’t expect Families who has been displaced because of insurgency to be talking about Education or putting Education of their children in the front burner when they are
Iiving as refugees in other places
Talking about Education, the President recently signed the student loan bill and a lot of stringet conditions were attached to it. it would have been a welcome development but with the conditions attached to it, are there doubts on its workability?
I don’t support it because anything that has to do with a large no of people in public policy in Nigeria hardly works . For instance, National Housing fund, National Health Insurance Scheme, Pension Scheme did not end well and even the tradermonie that was introduced to help businesses did not end well because many people are not really willing to pay back the money. How can you call some young people and give them 500,000(five hundred thousand naira) every year and you expect them to pay back when they get a job and how will you know they have been employed? it is not likely to work and with the mammoth crowd of young people we have here in Nigeria, how can you push that kind of policy through and which bank will be able to certify 10% of them and to worsen the situation, some people don’t have address because they live in the rural areas. How will you be able to trace this people? I advocate for a moderate increase in tuition whether we like it or not. I sympathise with Vice Chancellor of Public institutions because the tuition they are operating with or with we call school charges, has been operational for nearly 20 years. 20 years ago the salaries of their employee has tripled more than 4 to 5 times and you expect people to use charges of 20 years ago to run a municipal community?
It is unlikely to work because you will maintain security on campus, ensure there is adequate water supply, light and other municipal services, clean environment and all. I don’t see it working but a moderate increase in school fees for instance, private universities could be charging upwards of 1.5million to 2million, it won’t be too much to ask public universities to charge 10% of that. There is no where in the world where Education is for paupers, in as much as brilliant children from poor homes want to go to school, if there is no scholarship, people,families should be able to put together 100,000(hundred thousand)for a year.
We have a lot of people in middle class and even in the lower class paying for private, primary and secondary school and beyond that for their children and come to think of it, University education does not come even if you consider the services that is being rendered and the qualifications of the teachers and when you consider how long it took them to get their Degree, Masters, PhD and do so much research to become professors.
The process of the loan scheme is just not workable. How do you get students to fill forms and get their parents to also fill tax clearance forms as well, maybe get guarantors and all. How many of them will bank get to administer their accounts and how do you get the money back maybe after 10 and 20 years when the people who gave them the loan are no longer there in the bank to retrieve the loan? Look at what happens to corporate institutions taking loans from bank it takes a lot to recover those loans and that is why we have Amcon and Amcon is being stifled by corruption. So in this situation you give a young person 500,000 Naira and you think it will be easy to get the money back. It is true they do it in UK and some Western countries. They have a way of making sure that the money is payed back and it is a criminal offence when you don’tpay back the loan but here ,because you don’t have the record you will not know when the person has gotten a job.
Coming to Insecurity, with the rate of crime and many people advocating for State police, What is your take on this?
You cannot stay in Abuja and police 774 local Government Areas in this country. I have put a paper about my proposal on the issue of state police. I understand why the Government at the center is dragging their feet. Some Governors will be using them at will but at the same time, it can be curbed in the sense that every state police will still have its command at the center. There will be a police council that will be responsible for their professional activities like promotion and things like that but the police belongs to the state and since the Governor is the Chief Security officer of the state, every other ranked person will be an indigenes of the state and the officers will not have to be indigenes.
And when there is a countrol over how police is used by the Chief Security Officer of the State,there won’t be much need for all the various paramilitaries in the country. So at the end of the day, I seriously advocate for state police.
Infact, I even advocated a situation where the AIGs are in charge of 2 states and Commissioners of police 1 state and then the Area commands, should be under the authority an Assistant Commissioner of Police.So in every State, with 3 to 4 Area commands should be manned by a Chief Superintendent of Police because there are local Government Areas so an Area commander should Man it and in so doing, it brings police closer to the grassroot. The DPO stay where they are and the Deputy Commissioners of police will work with the Commissioners of police and once it goes beyond the state, you can now juggle people that are not from that state as AIGs so that if because the Commissioner of police of a state wants to be used by the Governor, the police Council will not allow that to happen.
Finally Prof, let’s talk about your University?
The Nigerian British University is a very beautiful brand, it isa world class 21st century conventional University. We have been licensed by NUC since last year and it was formally inaugurated this year. The Nigerian British University is bringing a blended British/Nigerian educational system where you can come and spend 2 years with us and spend 1 year in one of our affiliate University abroad and you can gain their Degree or ours and it is properly intertionalised to the extent that we expect people to come from outside the country to be our student and for those who cannot afford the 2 plus1, you stay there for the 4/5years (depending on the course)and graduate with a well rounded education which improves your employability and entrepreneurship skills because we are bringing a lot of mentoring and when you look at our recreational and extra curricular activities,you see that we are trying to build a global citizen and again, our security architecture is very good.
The University is opposite 144 battalion and our internal security architecture is also top notch. All our student will be on campus and I will advocate for any parent/parents who wants a top notch University who offer the very best to come to Nigerian/British
What courses does Nigerian/University offer?
We are a conventional University and we are not faith based. For a start we have faculty of computing and information technology, faculty of law, faculty of management and social sciences and our business school is going to start running post graduate programmes in the business school with our international affiliations.
We are affiliated with some Universities in the UK where they can start the program and do 6 months of their PhD research in those Universities outside the country if they chose to and we are planning to start Medicine and Engineering in the near future hopefully by the next academic section
Thank you Prof for your time.
Thank you for having me.
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Education
Varsity Don Proffers Solutions to Building Prosperous Nigeria
From Joseph Amedu, Lokoja
A Professor of Public Administration at the Federal University, Lokoja, Otinche Sunday, has called for collective responsibility of Nigerians in building prosperous nation that would meet with international standard.
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Professor Otinche Sunday who made the call while delivering the 42nd Inaugural Lecture Series of the University at its Felele Campus in Lokoja on Wednesday, declared that “Building Nigeria of our own is a collective task before every citizen in respect of what they should do to achieve the goal”
In his Presentation titled ‘The Looking Glass-self Perspective of How Never to Build A Nation in The New World Order: Reflections on Nation Building Experiments in Nigeria, Professor Otinche Sunday noted that the rising level of insecurity in Nigeria, Africa and the World shows that we are gradually losing our humanity.
According to him, “The higher the rate of insecurity, the higher the risks humanity is exposed to. I am of the opinion that Nigerians should not only rely on the strength in our diversity but reflect on the weaknesses in our diversity and incrementally remedy it to prevent disintegration.
“The allegory of unknown gunmen are signs that Nigerians are gradually losing the collective vision and commitment to promote national unity due to our declining sense of national consciousness and citizenship values.
“We should begin to think of building a Nigerian state where the legitimacy of ethnic power can no longer be relied on to confer state power on any individual or group but civil power exercised by the citizens.
“Equitable distribution of political appointments creates balance of power in the power hierarchy of a nation. The reactions by individuals and groups against government’s rationalization of political appointments reveals its importance to nation building.
“Religion and place of origin in Nigeria should be delisted from all policy instruments and platforms that requires identity recognition in order to promote the unity in diversity captured in the national anthem thus “though tribes and tongue may differ, in brotherhood we stand”
“The role of the elites in nation building cannot be sufficiently reduced to simple intellectual review and analysis. The elites play immeasurable role in promoting ethnic tolerance, national integration and unity, conflict escalation and its resolution and national development.
“The secular belief in brotherhood and unity of Nigeria must be upheld. Great nations fall due to incremental neglect of efforts to resolve its national crisis.
“What I have tried to do is to hold-up a mirror so that you can see your own reflection. If you do not like what you see, breaking the mirror will not change anything, neither will cutting my arms off; killing me will change even less. The truth of man cannot be dissolved in his blood”
He shunned the futility of revenge or using one’s privileged position to silence critical voices, especially voices that reflects the looking glass self-perspective of how never to build a nation called Nigeria, in the new world order shaped by the forces of globalization.
In his welcome address, the Vice-Chancellor of the University, Professor Gbenga Solomon Ibileye disclosed that since assumption of office the institution has recorded three successful inaugural lectures in close succession
“This is a clear demonstration of my administration’s spirit of sustaining the culture we met and are committed to strengthening the standards in: discipline of time, depth of content and clarity of contribution.
Professor Ibileye discribed the title of the lecture: The Looking Glass-Self Perspective of How Never to Build a Nation in the New World Order: Reflections on Nation Building Experiments in Nigeria, as a very striking in academic research.
“We look forward to your reflection; clearly framed, sharply delivered and well within the time allotted”
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Education
FUL VC Calls For Adequate Funding Of Nigerian Public Universities
From Joseph Amedu, Lokoja
The Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University, Lokoja, Professor Gbenga Solomon Ibileye has called for adequate funding of the Nigerian Public Universities to enable them meet with international standard required for academic excellence and provision of basic infrastructure.
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The Vice-Chancellor who made the call while interacting with the members of the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Kogi State Council of Nigeria Union of Journalists in his office, stressed the need for the media to play its role in letting government know that universities needs more attention to function well in providing quality education.
Professor Ibileye noted that for Universities to achieve the needed academic excellence, basic infrastructure as well as conducive teaching and learning environment, requires allocation of more funds from government.
He however, commended the impact of the Territory Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) in project execution across Nigerian Public Universities and solicited for its continued support.
He expressed his administration’s readiness to continue to collaborate with the Media in giving the desired publicity to FUL stressing that “The Correspondents’ Chapel of the Kogi NUJ has been one of our greatest partner in this direction
“I know the power of the Media in promoting the image of the University, you have been doing it and I implore you to sustain the tempo.
“It is in realization of this goal that on assumption of office as VC, necessitated my decision to establish the Directorate of Strategic Communication and Corporate Documentation to further strengthen the publicity machinery of the University” Professor Ibileye disclosed.
He praised the Correspondents’ Chapel for its solidarity and publicity support that had boosted the image of FUL to the wider world.
Earlier, the Chairman of the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Kogi NUJ, Segun Salami promised to sustain the partnership between the union and FUL to boost the institution’s programmes.
“We will live up to expectation in exhibiting high level of journalism profession for the success of your administration throughout your tenure in the University” Salami assured the Vice-Chancellor.
Ends.
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Education
Varsity Don Calls for Restoration of Nigeria’s Forest landscapes
From Joseph Amedu, Lokoja
A Professor of Geography at the Prince Abubakar Audu University, (PAAU), Anyigba, Adesola Ogidiolu has called on government at all levels to embark on immediate restoration of Nigeria’s Forest landscapes and their sustainable management
Professor Ogidiolu who made the call while delivering the 18th Inaugural Lecture Series of the University held at its Auditorium yesterday, said that the call has become necessary in view of their economic value to humanity.
The Varsity Don in his Lecture titled “Geographers In The Forest: Issues, Concerns, And Tasks” noted that restoration of those forest landscapes that had been lost or degraded is highly desirable. This, Professor Ogidiolu said may involve more reafforestation and regeneration using more ecologically adaptive and fast-growing species.
Professor Ogidiolu who expressed joy that he is privileged to deliver the first Inaugural Lecture under the incumbent Vice Chancellor, Professor Salisu Usman, since assumption of office three months ago, stressed the need to combating deforestation to achieve Zero-NetDeforestation and Forest degradation.
Other recommendations made by the Varsity Don include; “keeping more forest landscape in view of the several importance of forest resources and the diverse forest ecosystem services, there is the need to expand forest to even marginal lands. This can be through a deliberate effort by the three tiers of
government and private sector organizations.
“Managing more forests sustainably through adopting a number of conservative measures and best silvicultural practices such as, good harvesting techniques, delayed harvesting, etc. This will also involve safeguards against misuses and misapplications.
“Mitigating climate change proactively by complying with various treaties and conventions e.g. the Kyotol protocol, Montreal convention on reduction of carbon emission-and the use of environmental friendly energy alternatives.
“Ensuring community participation through the formation of Forest Protection Communities (FPCs) and volunteers. This will proactively prevent destruction of forest through illegal cutting and engender the spirit of co-ownership of the natural resource.
“Unlocking forest potentials through the development of more environmentally friendly utilization of forest resources.
“Practice of social forestry, where forest plantations are established in non—forest area for the benefit of the society.
“Forest monitoring and evaluation especially to predict possible forest hazards such as climate hazards e.g. storms, floods etc for proactive management plan and policies. Frequent and periodic monitoring of the susceptibility of forest to pests and diseases have produced wonderful results in Brazil and training and retraining of forest workers.
“Bioprospecting, otherwise known as biodiversity prospecting is highly recommended. This involved the exploration of wild plants and animals for commercially valuable genetic and biochemical resources.
“Sustained research on forest dynamic to further understand the complexities of forest ecosystem and the emerging frontiers in the science and management of forest.
“Politically, the solution to some of the concerns of geographers about forest ecosystem will involve government making deliberate efforts to remove administrative and operational bottlenecks to good forest management and provide inter sectoral collaboration in forest management and conservation. Government should promote good forest governance, eliminate poverty among the poor forest ” communities and create alternative livelihoods.
“It is clear that geographers are among the frontliners in forest science and studies. Geographers are, infact, in the leading position in the study, analysis and management of natural resources including forest.
“Therefore, for sustainable and pragmatic management of natural resources especially forest, it is recommended that geographers and hence geography as a discipline be given greater recognition and attention by educational policy makers through making geography a core and mandatory subject in our early educational levels of training particularly primary, junior and senior secondary schools in Nigeria.
In his welcome address, the Vice Chancellor of PAAU, Professor Salisu Ogbo Usman gave an assurance that his administration is committed to ensuring that inaugural lectures become a central pillar of our academic identity.
The VC commended Professor Ogidiolu for his scholarly presentation describing him as a living legend for this historic role particularly, his willingness to set the pace.
He also praised the Chairman and members of the Inaugural Lecture Committee for their diligence, professionalism, and commitment to excellence.
He said that the topic of today’s lecture, “Geographers in the Forest: Issues, Concerns and Tasks,” is both timely and profound.
“It speaks directly to the intersection of environmental sustainability, resource management, and human survival. In an era marked by climate change, deforestation, and ecological imbalance, the role of geographers becomes indispensable.
“This lecture challenges us to rethink how we engage with our natural environment and highlights the urgent need for interdisciplinary solutions to global and local environmental problems.
“In recognition of the importance of inaugural lectures and to encourage wider participation among our Professors, this administration has approved an increase in the stipend for inaugural lecturers from ₦250,000 to ₦500,000.
“This is not merely a financial gesture; it is a demonstration of our commitment to rewarding scholarship, encouraging academic excellence, and motivating more Professors to share their research with the wider community.
“Furthermore, we are determined to introduce innovative approaches in the delivery of inaugural lectures, aligning our practices with global best standards.
“We envision a system that enhances visibility, encourages wider participation, and elevates the overall prestige of these lectures. Our goal is to make inaugural lectures not just academic obligations, but celebrated intellectual events that reflect the nobility of scholarship.
“To sustain this momentum, I urge the Inaugural Lecture Committee to commence the immediate receipts of submissions from eligible Professors. This will enable us to extend our timetable beyond 2027 and cover up to the end of 2028.
“Let us remain open to flexibility and innovation – even if it means hosting lectures twice monthly – to ensure that our University remains vibrant, productive, and intellectually competitive.
“I assure the entire University community of our unwavering commitment to academic excellence, institutional growth, and global relevance.
“Together, we shall build a University where ideas flourish, scholarship thrives, and excellence is the standard.
Let us continue to work collectively to elevate Prince Abubakar Audu University to greater heights.
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