YOUTHVILLE ISSUE #134
Friday, June 9, 2017
By Chidimma C. Okeke
Y
ou got scholarships for your secondary and university education. How did it happen? When I was in primary six, some people from Yar’adua Foundation in Abuja visited public schools in my state (Enugu), and I was lucky to have been chosen for a scholarship examination. I emerged as one of the winners of the scholarship from my state. The scholarship was to study at AUN Academy, formerly called ABTI Academy. I spent six years there and after my WAEC and JAMB, I was also offered another scholarship to AUN. That was how I came here and chose to study Petroleum Chemistry. The foundation pays our tuition, housing, feeding and other things and transport us back home. AUN academy has good facilities and it has given me a better chance to develop more than I would have had if I had gone to a conventional school. Coming from a different region, what were the challenges you faced? The first was the language barrier. Prior to coming here it was only English and Igbo that I could speak. I have had to learn how to speak Hausa.
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AUN BEST GRADUATE, IMMACULATA speaks:
Studying is hard; learn to o enjoy your course to attain success ccess Immaculata Onuigbo is the overall Best Graduate duate of the American University of Nigeria (AUN) Class of 2017 with om the 4.00 the Cumulative Grade Point (CGP) of 3.98 from w she of America’s grading system. In this interview spoke on her scholarships, challenges and desire to be a professor. In academics, I had great teachers in my secondary school and when I needed help I asked for it. They made it very easy for me to excel academically so I didn’t have much problem. What do you derive from being a Honour Society member in AUN? The Honour Society concerns high standard of excellence especially academically. To be a member, you need a minimum CGP of 3.5, and to maintain your membership you have to work hard to at least be above that 3.5. It helped me to keep
my grade in check and one major thing is the scholarship programme that we do. What were your unique points to achieving success? I will say that I was lucky to have chosen something that I enjoy doing. No matter what, studying is actually hard, what makes it easier is if you are enjoying it, then you will feel less pain of studying and you will study at length to achieve success. I enjoyed what I was studying and I love learning; every day I learn a new thing. That was what helped me to keep the passion burning.
Innoson Academy: N/Delta trainees want educational tools By Latifat Opoola @LatifatOpoola Beneficiaries of Presidential Amnesty Programme undergoing training at the Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing (IVM) Limited called on its sponsors to equip them with laptops and other education gadgets to ease their learning process. A trainee, Raphael Ajalaja spoke with Daily Trust YOUTHVILLE last Monday when the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed visited the plant in Anambra state. He said the laptops were to be provided on their resumption to the programmes but since y “we resumed in February e when the Amnesty Office sent us here, we have not had laptops which it promised to deliver. “Our coordinators are trying their best to make sure that we get the laptops because it will help us in the ICT, entrepreneurship, and interpersonal skills and those things are dealing with laptops. We want the government to provide these things for us to make our training complete” he
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added. Ajalaja who spoke for the other trainees noted that the nine month intensive training will see them learn in the various fields of auto mechanical, painting, electrical welding and fabrication, but was worried what government has in store for them in terms of employment. “We cannot just go and sit at home after this training; let the government provide something that will empower us after the training,” he said. He urged the Amnesty Office to devise strategies of engaging the graduates of the programme to ensure they are employed and contributing to the growth of the economy.
You aspire to become a professor. What is the motivation behind this? I was not really sure of what I will do after university, but the Honour Society helped students that are academically challenged, so I participated in the tutorial aspect and I came to see that while I teach people I actual learn more. It gives me a
special kind of happiness when I know that someone now gets to know something because I helped that person, that was when I started thinking of venturing into the education world. I also have wonderful professors and the female ones are worth looking up to. I will be okay being a professor at a university.
Beauty Queen calls on Nigerians to be philanthropic By Pebang Danladi Queen of Peace Ambassadors, Ashley Mariam Yusuf, has called on Nigerians to give a helping hand to indigent children as this will in the long run lead to the development of the society. Ashley said the desire to support the less privileged kids came up from the fact that while growing up she also lacked some basic opportunities. She noted that her
foundation, Ashley Mariam Yusuf Foundation (AMYF) takes care of children who are less privileged, gives them relief materials, and also help some pay school fees, while adding that the event was the second to be organised by the foundation with the theme” Investing in today for tomorrow’s gain.” Speaking on the challenges of running a foundation Ashely said people often think you want to extort money from them,
“they do not understand the challenges. We have kids who are suffering I plead with individuals who are in high positions to listen and give a helping hand, it’s not just about feeding them we want to give out scholarships in other to promote the welfare of children and provide a platform for interaction and understanding among them.” The event was attended by pupils drawn from several schools in Abuja.
700m children robbed of childhood — Report By Judd-Leonard Okafor @judd_leonard A new report by the charity Save the Children says one in every four children are being denied a childhood. The Stolen Childhood report found up to 700 million children have had the promise of a full childhood brought to an early end— many of them in West and Central Africa despite recent progress in the last 30 years. “Although most of the lowest ranking countries are located in West and Central Africa, there are signs of hope and progress,” said Jim Emerson, regional director for the charity in West and
Central Africa. The charity blames extreme violence and conflict often driving families from their homes, early marriage and pregnancy, child labour, poor health and inability to go to school. For West and Central Africa, Save the Children highlighted early marriage as one of the “worst forms of child abuse, denying girls an education and often subjecting them to health consequences.” Today, around four in 10 girls are married before age 18 in both regions, down from five in 10 in 1990, but the practice still ends the childhoods of over a million girls in the region, according
to the charity. Stolen Childhoods reveals that early marriage rates and out-of-school rates tend to go hand-in-hand in West and Central Africa. “A girl who remains in school will be able to complete her education, creating the opportunity for a generation of future leaders and a positive cycle of progress for the region as a whole,” Emerson recommended. The charity has called on government to translate the African Union and UN commitments to end child marriage to “concrete, tangible and measurable actions.”
DAILY TRUST, Friday, June 9, 2017
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Youth demand inclusion in politics
By Latifat Opoola @LatifatOpoola
N
igerian youth have again called for an open political space by reducing the monetization of such slots to accommodate more youth. They made the demand last weekend during the ‘Ja Muje’ Policy Makers’ Forum. The interactive session was the first of its series with legislators which seeks to propose solutions to societal problems especially in the North through dialogue. Senator representing Adamawa North senatorial
zone, Binta Masi, said while it is the right step for youth to be agitating to be in politics, they must be fully prepared for the task ahead. She regretted that while they want to join the political space
and take charge, many do not know what the current policies are. Organizer of the event, Farida Yahya told the gathering the importance of seeking
Facebook founder, Zuckerberg meets Nigeria’s FIN founder, Lola By Eseohe Ebhota @EbhotaEseohe Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, has met with Nigeria’s Lola Omolola, founder of a secret Facebook group popularly called Female In Nigeria (FIN). A News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) report said FIN was founded in 2015 by Omolola, a movement of women focused on building compassion and providing support for one another, with the goal of having up to 1000 members in the group. However, the group had exceeded its target as it recently hit one million members. On his Facebook page last Tuesday, Zuckerberg said he
will be meeting with Lola and other top Facebook group admins in Chicago this month for the first ever Facebook Communities Summit. He wrote, “This photo is with Lola, who lives in Chicago and is originally from Nigeria. o, she founded Two years ago, a secret Fa c e b o o k g r o u p c a l l e d Female In Nigeria, or FIN,” Zuckerberg’s post read. Zuckerberg said FIN is “a no-judgment e space where n more than
solutions through dialogue cannot be overemphasized. She said ‘Ja Muje’ seeks to engage communities through skill acquisition, networking and resources. “These communities have the resources but lack the skills to utilize these resources to the maximum advantage. So we are looking at empowering them on skills acquisition,” she said. On networking she also regretted that while youth talk a lot, most don’t talk about how to solve problems and hopes to change that.
a million women come to talk about everything from marriage and sex to health issues and work problems’’ “It is helping to end the culture of silence that exists for women in some parts of the world. I’m looking forward to meeting more admins like Lola and talking about how we can help them do even more to build community,” he noted.
Renowned player urges more young females to play golf By Simon E. Sunday @SimonEchewofun A former Lady Captain of Ikoyi Golf Club, Maureen Reece, has called for the involvement of more young females in golf to enhance the sport’s
development in Nigeria. Reece who spoke on the side-lines of the 2017 World Women Golf Day at the Ibadan Golf Club said, “I am calling for the involvement of more of our young Nigerian females in the game of golf. It is a competitive sport and it is this awareness that we are creating today among the young ones who are here to mark the day,” she said. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event was attended by 60 female golfers, while 40 children participating.
She said the game should be introduced to the schools, so that students could learn it from the basics, pointing out that it is a game of skills and endurance. Reece decried funding to be the bane of the game’s development, recalling how she struggled to get sponsorship for a female golfer, Georgia Obah. “I am calling on the corporate bodies to also lend a helping hand in developing golf so that the game and the youth involved in it could realise its full potentials,” Reece said. “Before now, 70 per cent of Golf Clubs belong to men, but now with the development it means women golfers are now being recognised,” a golf enthusiast, Mrs Olanrewaju Otiti said at the event.
YOUTHVILLE Pikin Bellefull feeds 550 hungry IDPs By Judd-Leonard Okafor @judd_leonard The bride who turned her wedding last year to a fullfledged protest demanding better funding for health care turned to a bit of crowdfunding to give children living on camps for displaced people a memorable Children’s Day this May. Diana Eyo-Enoette started the Pikin Bellefull, an innovation by Moesillo Projects calling on the public to donate N500 to feed one child on May 27. “You can also reach out to children with clothes, toys and health or educational supplies,” Eyo-Enoette said in an appeal in the lead up to Children’s Day.
Pikin Bellefull targeted children from infants up to 14-year-olds displaced from mainly Gwoza and Bama areas of Borno state and relocated to the New Kuchingoro camp in Abuja. The project, which partnered with Rotary Club of Abuja, raised concern about nearly 30 children dying daily on camps for displaced people from malnutrition. Moesillo, which gives oranges to children in the camp weekly, identified up to 400 hungry children there, and its Pikin Bellefull campaign served out 550 plates of food on Children’s Day. The project continues as a social media campaign #allweneedislove.
Dundee varsity praises Nigerian students From Nurudeen Oyewole, Lagos Dundee University, in Scotland has applauded what it described as the outstanding records of Nigerian students who have sought tertiary education from it in the last 50 years. The varsity’s representatives, who were on a visit to meet Dundee University alumni in Nigeria to celebrate the institution’s golden jubilee anniversary, remarked that Nigerian students over the years have proven to be quite serious with their academic pursuit and have always demonstrated good
conducts. The University’s Senior International Officer, Fahd Asif said the idea of organizing separate golden jubilee anniversary for the varsity alumni is to appreciate the love and patronage of Nigerian students over the years. A Professor of International Family Law at the University, Prof. Peter Mcleavy said, “Nigeria is such an important country to University of Dundee with over 1,000 alumni. This evening, we are having 100 of our alumni joining us to celebrate the university’s golden jubilee.”
FG urged to encourage local researches among youth By Chidimma C. Okeke The Vice Chancellor of University of Abuja, Prof Michael Adikwu has identified lack of interest in local research by certain classes of people as a problem the federal government need to address to encourage local talents by Nigerian youth. Prof Adikwu said there are lots of inventions and discoveries in Nigerian by people who may not be well-lettered. He stated this in Abuja while presenting a paper tagged, “Redefining the Education Ecosystem in the Face of the Fourth Industrial RevolutionTo Be or Not to Be?” at the 5th Edition of the Digital Africa Conference and Exhibition. He said as the National Coordinator of a World Bank-assisted Science and Technology Education Project,
he met many people with raw talents. “A boy made a fan that had two faces and could fan in all directions at the same time. Another one made a model aeroplane that could fly very clearly and another man said he could generate electricity without following the principle of the conservation of energy,” he said. Some of these people according to him were illiterates, others were just secondary schools leavers and some devolved into fields that were not their areas of specialisation. He said, “To be able to harness the benefits of such inventions or discoveries, government should set a unit or department in the Ministry of Education or Ministry Science and Technology for this purpose.”
Don’t live the same year 75 times and call it a life – Robin Sharma