REMINDER TO STUDENTS, SCHOOLS AND PARENTS:JAMB 2014: REGISTRATION CLOSES 14TH MARCH, EXAM HOLDS SAT. APRIL 5TH 2014

[caption id="attachment_24999" align="alignleft" width="400"] jambites-in-exam-hall[/caption]

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) says it has designated 256 centres for the 2014/2015 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) Computer Based Test (CBT) across the country.

Mr Fabian Benjamin, the board’s Head of Public Relations, made the disclosure in a telephone interview on Monday in Lagos.
Benjamin said that the centres were increased from 56 in 2012/2013 to 256 for the forthcoming examination.
He said that the increase was made to accommodate the large number of candidates applying for the CBT.

“Application form is out; preparation for the technical aspect is in top gear and we are always ready.
“Centres that had hitches during the 2012/2013 examination will be corrected, while some may not be used.
“What we already have on ground is close to perfection,“ he said.

The board, in an earlier statement, had announced the commencement of the sale of the application forms for the 2014/2015 academic session UTME.

It advised qualified candidates seeking admission into tertiary institutions in Nigeria that online registration would be on until March 14, 2014, while the website would be closed on March 25.

JAMB said that the examination would be conducted on April 5, 2014 for those writing the Paper Pencil Test (PPT) and Dual Based Test (DBT).

It said that the date for the Computer Based Test (CBT) would be announced later.
The board said that the examination centres of the candidates would depend on their chosen towns during online registration.

TO STUDENTS, PARENTS,SCHOOLS,CHURCHES AND MOSQUES...HERE ARE REASONS/ ADVANTAGES OF REGISTERING YOUR WARDS FOR JAMB 2014 THROUGH OUR CENTRE (EDUPEDIA ASSOCIATES)

[caption id="attachment_25030" align="alignleft" width="400"] Prof Dibu_Ojerinde...JAMB[/caption]

Kindly note that our office,EDUPEDIA ASSOCIATES is a duly registered and accredited JAMB/UTME registration centre for 2014.You can confirm this  through here..


http://jamb.org.ng/unifiedtme/RegistrationCentres.aspx...

On getting to this page please TYPE LAGOS and filter it with FESTAC  in the two spaces provided.You'll  then see the list of all such centres in FESTAC WITH OUR NAME EDUPEDIA ASSOCIATES AT NUMBER 7.

ADVANTAGES/SERVICES WE SHALL PROVIDE YOU ON PAYMENT OF N700

The advantages you'll have in registering through us are many.These include


1.Our 25-yr association and link to the JAMB office through our tutorial school called PASS which was established in 1988.This makes us believe without any atom if pride that we know how JAMB works like the back of our hands.The advantage of this is our zero tolerance for BIOMETRIC errors which delay the results of many students registered elsewhere.


2. Your registration and fingerprinting with scanners approved by JAMB PLUS 2 E-SLIPS as indicated by  the examination body.


3.To this we can add other miscellaneous advisory and follow-up services on your behalf through post-utme till admission into a higher institution.

4. We are not an overnight emergency  registration centre.Even before you fill your forms you can ask for our advice on your choices including higher institutions,courses and Jamb subjects to pick on an individual basis.


5.We can also provide group services  to jamb students on location at schools,churches, mosques,blocks of flats and closes (cul de sacs) if desired and if so invited.Discounts out of the N700 are available for group registrations and can be discussed before service.

6. Databases on our systems are available 24hrs round the clock for  change of registrations if need be and where allowed by JAMB.This is because of the location of our systems.Our internet connections are also on 24 hrs and run on one of the fastest servers in Lagos if not in Nigeria.

7.You can register with us from any place in Nigeria as long as you can be present physically in our office for less than an hour for  fingerprinting or at your location  if it is a group service.

OPTIONAL SERVICES/(N1300 -N2000 DEPENDS ON  NUMBER OF STUDENTS INVOLVED)

8.We can point out  some of the pitfalls contained in JAMB Brochures which  many students are not aware of.Some of these were listed through  posts on our 3 blogs here...


a.http://lagosbooksclub.com (this one)

b.http://lagosbooksclub.wordpress.com and

c.http://edupedianigeria.wordpress.com

8.If you choose, we can also give further explanations on many of our write-ups covering


a.How to pass JAMB exams without relying on examination hall alligators or internet and telecom cheaters.Remember how Jamb caught many students napping  this year and how many students wasted their parents money on exam subject alternatives that did not exist.

b.What to do before the exam date and in the exam hall.But we SHALL NEVER ENCOURAGE OR TEACH YOU HOW TO CHEAT or claim we can help you upgrade your results as some people do in attempts to play 419 game with students' lives

c.How to overcome Use of English which many students think they know how to handle when they actually don't.

d.Tips on how to overcome JAMB MATHS.

9. So do NOT  register ANYHOW or  ANY WHERE. Ensure you register WITH US TO AVOID BIOMETRIC PROBLEMS  AT EXAM CENTRES WHICH CAN FURTHER DELAY YOUR RESULTS.LOOK FOR DEPENDABLE OUTFITS LIKE EDUPEDIA WITH DETAILED EXPERIENCES AND TRACK RECORDS OVER SO MANY YEARS AS SHOWN HERE...http://lagosbooksclub.wordpress.com/2012/07/25/who-says-experience-does-not-matter-in-nigeriafrom-our-archives/


10.KINDLY TAKE NOTE THAT THE FIRST TELEPHONE NUMBER LISTED BY JAMB FOR US ON THEIR LIST OF REGISTERED CENTRES IS NOT  CORRECT.THE CORRECT GSM number is 08033010872 and not 08023024213 as shown.Our location as shown on the JAMB  page of approved centres is 5th Avenue,M Close,House 27,Festac,Lagos.


Thank you.

EDUPEDIA ASSOCIATES

O.O.ODUMOSU

HERE IS THE NYSC 2014 TIME- TABLE FOR BATCH A

NYSC Mobilization Time Table For 2014 Batch A S/NO Event Date 1 Registration of Foreign-trained Nigerian Graduates 9th December, 2013 - 14th February, 2014 2 Submission of Masterlist. Screening/Vetting by Mobilization Officers. 6th - 11th January, 2014 3 Coding by ICT Department. 6th - 17th January, 2014 4 Delivery of Preliminary Printouts to Mob Dept/CPIs 20th - 22nd January, 2014 5 Return of Corrected Printouts by Institutions to Mobilization Dept. 29th - 31st January, 2014 6 Correction of errors and printing of call-up letters by ICT Dept. 3rd - 23rd February, 2014 7 Sorting and Packaging of Call-up letters by ICT Dept. 24th - 28th February, 2014 8 Delivery of Call-up letters to Institutions / NYSC Secretariats 3rd - 5th March, 2014 9 2014 Batch ‘A’ Orientation Course 11th March - 1st April, 2014

“AYO ORITSEJAFOR IS A POLITICIAN AND NOT A PASTOR.”…SAYS WHITE GARMENT CHURCH GENERAL OVERSEER

Pentecostal pastors go to white garment churches for spiritual powers – Primate Ayodele

Primate Babatunde Ayodele, General Overseer of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, Lagos, bares his mind on the proposed National Conference, Nigeria’s fate in the hands of Goodluck Ebele Jonathan in 2015, the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, airplane crashes and the crisis rocking the polity. Excerpts:

Is there any spiritual undertone to airplane crashes  in Nigeria?

There is. When there is a cleansing for the whole nation, then the aviation sector will be calm. For now, there are still going to be troubles in the sector and some ministers will be removed from the cabinet. I could see some averted plane crashes, but still, I advise that the air force and police watch their aircraft very well. The presidential fleet should also be guarded against technical faults.



*Primate Babatunde Ayodele

Nigerians do not respect God, that is why the Dana plane crash occurred the other time despite warnings from God. That also is exactly what is affecting this government. There’s going to be a lot of political turmoil in the polity. Governor Rotimi Amaechi particularly has to be very careful because they want to ground him politically; they want to rubbish him.

He also should manage his court cases well. Kwara State’s Bukola too should manage his court cases so they are not used against him. Akpabio and Presidency will face challenges. The seven governors in the New Peoples Democratic Party-nPDP- will come back to
PDP; they’re just wasting their time. The All Progressive Congress, APC, will be a strong opposition but it will not be able to overthrow the PDP in 2015.

In the end, where are these leading us; will they work in our favour as a nation?

Nigeria needs a lot of prayers to avert dangers ahead. I’ve said it several times that Nigeria is  going to break. Even this National Conference will take us nowhere! Kidnapping for instance has come to stay! Government will only do its best but it is coming to the South-west as well.   Before Nigeria splits however, we need prayers to sustain the country and end disasters. The problem is that we have a president who has turned deaf hears to the word of God. AndCAN is unfortunately nothing to write about.

You just said the national confab will lead us nowhere while most people seem optimistic about it…

There will be elections in 2015. However, the National Conference is a mere waste of resources and time because nothing will come out of it. Even when decisions are taken at the end of the conference, they will not be executed. When the time comes for a genuine National Conference, you will see the signs and be convinced. But this particular conference has a lot of political undertones which I will not disclose because I am speaking as a prophet, not a political analyst. I therefore want to rename it a ‘corrupt national conference’.

But is Jonathan the best candidate for 2015?

Jonathan’s second term will cause some problem in this country. I see republics coming out. Mind you, may have more pipeline explosions and bombing is not over. Jonathan is not fighting Boko Haram the way he is supposed to fight it! The truth is, Boko Haram is more spiritual than physical and until the sect is weakened spiritually, it will not go.

Are you indirectly advising Jonathan to step down since you’ve said his second term will not be fantastic?

If I say he should step down, he will not listen. So, I will let him go and see the consequences. The only way forward is to consult God. By a very slim chance, he will get his second term, but that second term will not be fantastic.

Where exactly has CAN gone wrong?

They go to Mr.President every now and then, why can they not advise him on what to do and what not to do? Truth is bitter but you have to say it! CAN is political! Ayo Oritsejafor is not operating as CAN but as a Christian politician. CAN is blindfolded and there is no leadership in it.  That’s why we’re getting so many things wrong in Christendom.

CAN doesn’t know how many churches we have in the country, it has not created any youth empowerment or pastors’ empowerment. CAN should be scrapped. Christianity is not how rich you are but how well you’ve been able to touch the lives of others. CAN should employ not less than 20,000 youths and should do something about women, widows. The truth is: Ayo Oritsejafor is a politician and  not a pastor. If any white garment church should invite Ayo, he won’t go! We need somebody who is more vibrant as CAN leader.

What if he is turning down their invitations because he doesn’t see them to be genuine?

Is he God to say a church is not genuine? Any man who does that is not a pastor! It’s not your right to say you are holy!

But the Bible says God has blessed us with the spirit of discernment…

Can Ayo see? Is he a prophet? How can he tell me his spirit discerns? White garment churches are among the best worldwide! That’s why you see influential men and women going to them for prayers! Why don’t they remain in their Pentecostal churches? Even pastors from Pentecostal churches go to white garment churches to consult privately and get spiritual powers. I am a godfather to many Pentecostal churches but I have no godfather! God is my only father in the Lord!

VANGUARD

NIGERIAN DEFENCE ACADEMY...MORE INFO FOR INTENDING CANDIDATES

Checklist of Items

• Acknowledgement Form


• JAMB Slip


• Examination Card


• 2 Passport Photographs


• Bank Payment Slip/Confirmation Page

66TH REGULAR COURSE - form on sale from Nov. 1st 2013 - Feb 28th 2014

Before you proceed please read the following instructions carefully.

Written Entrance Examination for 66th Regular Course

General Instructions:

The following instructions apply to candidates seeking admission into the Nigerian Defence Academy for the 66th Regular Course.

PART ONE ? USE OF ENGLISH.

The use of English is compulsory for ALL candidates

PART TWO ? CHOICE OF SUBJECTS

A. CANDIDATES FOR ARTS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES.

Candidates for Arts and Social Sciences are to answer questions in any THREE of the following subjects, which must include the candidate?s chosen course.

• Mathematics


• Economics


• Geography


• History


• Government


• Biology (Compulsory for Psychology Applicants)

B. CANDIDATES FOR ENGINEERING.

Candidates for Engineering are to answer ALL questions in the following subjects:

• Mathematics


• Physics


• Chemistry

C. CANDIDATES FOR THE SCIENCES.

Candidates for the Sciences are to answer all questions in any THREE of the following subjects, which must include the candidates chosen course of study.

• Mathematics


• Physics


• Chemistry


• Biology

EXAMINATION CENTRES

S/N     State        Examination Centre
1     Adamawa     Government Day Secondary School Opposite HQ 23 Armd Bde, Yola
2     Akwa-Ibom Community Secondary School, Aka Offot, Uyo
3     Bauchi          Army Children School, Bauchi
4     Benue           Command Secondary School, Makurdi
5     Ebonyi          Command Secondary School, Abakaliki
6     Edo                Nigerian Air Force Primary School, Benin
7     Enugu           Army Day Secondary School, Abakpa Barracks, Enugu
8     FCT               Command Day Secondary School, Lungi Barracks, Abuja
9     Gombe         Govt Science Secondary School, Jeka Da Fari, Gombe
10    Imo              Holy Ghost College, Owerri
11    Kaduna       Command Secondary School, Kaduna South
12    Kaduna       Nigerian Defence Academy, Permanent Site, Kaduna
13    Kaduna       Nigerian Defence Academy, Old Site, Kaduna
14    Kano            Army Day Secondary School, Bukavu Barracks, Kano
15    Lagos           Command Children?s School/Command Day Secondary School, Ikeja Cantonment, Lagos
16    Lagos           Navy Secondary School, Ojo Town, Lagos
17    Ondo           Army Day Secondary School, Akure
18    Oyo              Command Day Secondary School Odogbo, Ibadan
19    Plateau       Command Day Secondary School Rukuba Barracks, Jos
20    Rivers         Navy Secondary School, Port Harcourt
21    Sokoto         Army Day Secondary School, Sokoto

Related articles

• Are You Interested in the Nigerian Defence Academy?...here Are the Current Admission Requirements

LAGOS EDUCATION SUMMIT:WE RESPECT MRS EZEKWESILI BUT ALWAYS WONDER WHERE EDUCATIONAL STATS USED BY PUBLIC OFFICIALS COME FROM...AND WHY WAS NO MEANINGFUL REFERENCE MADE TO MASS CHEATING IN JAMB AND PRESENT PREDICAMENT OF STUDENTS?

56 Million Nigerians Illiterate –Ezekwesili  

[caption id="attachment_9006" align="aligncenter" width="480"] Oby-Ezekwesil[/caption]

Former Minister of Education, Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili says report has revealed that 56 million Nigerians are still illiterate and cannot read and write.

She spoke at the 3rd Lagos State Education Summit at the Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos, southwest Nigeria on Tuesday. The summit has the theme: Qualitative Education in Lagos State: Raising the Standard.

According to Ezekwesili, Nigeria “accounts for 6 million out of 36 million school girls that cannot attend primary education worldwide. There are about 56 million illiterates in Nigeria. Primary school completion rate ranges between two percent to 92 percent depending on the state.”

She said the issue of bureaucracy was a major hindrance to raising the standard of education in the country, while lamenting the overwhelming power of the education minister with respect to decision-making at the unity schools, which she said, was the practice before her appointment.

Ezekwesili explained how she found out that 96 percent of the capital expenditure appropriated for the unity schools in the federation went into the construction of fences and toilets, among others and called for intensive, increased and meaningful efforts at developing public schools, showing data that more than 65 percent of Nigerians still depended on publicly funded secondary education while about 75 percent depended on publicly funded primary education.

She said when she became a minister, enrolment “was low; quality of education below standard; schools were not well-managed; and it displayed wide inequity in terms of gender enrolment, though differed across the states.”

Delivering his address on the occasion, Governor Babatunde Fashola explained that the government had not taken any decision on whether pupils would wear Hijab or not, adding that the emphasis was on what the children know and not what they wear.

According to him, government was mindful of the inequality in the society and thought also that  continuous investment in education would help to bridge those inequalities, adding that the results from public examinations from 2007 showed that education was heading in the right direction in the state, and that if it was a quick fix, it would have its many political appeals.

“It is not a quick fix. I understand that it is a very long journey. It yet may be many years long after we have left that we will see the result but it is a journey that I am convinced that we should undertake,” he said.

“Today, one of the outcomes of our investment is that a poll conducted among 5,000 disaggregated citizens in our state recently showed that 51 percent of the citizens would put their children in public primary schools. This was not the case a few years ago. It also now shows that 60 percent of the citizens will put their children in public secondary schools and the reason is not far-fetched.

“What are we doing to improve further on those outcomes? It is the training of our teachers. In the last three years, they have spent a larger part of their long vacation in training at our Staff Development Centre in Magodo,” he explained.

Fashola also spoke on the policy shift that now placed emphasis on real success in examinations to earn promotion to the next class, saying that “we are already planning this year’s training immediately they finish the exams but perhaps to underscore what our teachers have done; over the years, our children went through school from primary through secondary school moving from one class to the other with a grade of 30 percent. So the only time they ever have to score 50 percent is when they are doing the external WAEC.”

Deputy British High Commissioner in Nigeria, Mr. Peter Carter said Britain is personally committed to the success of the Summit as it believes that education improves the quality of living of people.

He noted that the United Kingdom had continued to play roles such as facilitating inclusion of Lagos as one of the six states that is benefitting from education support programme from the Department for International Funds and Development, DFID.

Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Olayinka Oladunjoye said the State Government had been using the Lagos Education Summit to generate new ideas to take the education sector to new heights.

—Kazeem Ugbodaga

 

TRIBUTE TO PINI JASON...HERE IS WHAT HE SAID ABOUT POLITICIANS AND EDUCATION IN NIGERIA

[caption id="attachment_8685" align="aligncenter" width="480"] PiniJason[/caption]

INTRO

WE met in the early 90's maybe twice or thrice at Ikoyi Club.Then it was the norm to show that you had climbed the social ladder by your membership of the prestigious Club.We met at the main bar where we shared a few drinks and watched soccer on one of the first very wide screens in the country.Lots of chit-chats were going on at the same time but i focused on him once i got to know he was Pini Jason (Chief  Pini Jason Onyegbaduo!)

I had read a few of his posts in the Vanguard and had come to admire him from afar.I asked him a few questions about his work,column and writing.After a few minutes we were chatting like long lost brothers because there was instant chemistry from both sides.But even at the Club's main bar where you were bound to meet some members behaving like keggites Pini's intelligence and humility were noticeable and both made you to like,love or respect him.

So here is to those few moments we had together shortly before i stopped going to the Club because of Mason College which was on the drawing board then.

The End of a Perfect Day

by Carrie Jacobs Bond Song

When you come to the end of a perfect day,
And you sit alone with your thoughts,
While the chimes ring out with a carol gay
For the joy that the day has brought,
Do you think what the end of a perfect day
Can mean to a tired heart,
When the sun goes down with a flaming ray,
And the dear friends have to part?

Well, this is the end of a perfect day,
Near the end of a journey, too;
But it leaves a thought that is big and strong,
With a wish that is kind and true.
For mem’ry has painted this perfect day
With colours that never fade,
And we find, at the end of a perfect day,
The soul of a friend we’ve made

Pini,may your gentle soul rest in perfect peace.Amen.

HIS ARTICLE ON EDUCATION

Before he died we had twice published his article about politicians and education in Nigeria.It is a beautiful piece.So kindly grant us the indulgence to" re-re-produce" the write-up especially for those who have joined this blog since then.Probably about 80% of those reading our posts these days!

PINI'S ARTICLE (UNABRIDGED)

How bad politics killed our education…BY PINI JASON (AUGUST 2011)

Left…Chief (Barr.) Ezenwo Nyesom Wike – Honourable Minister of State for Education

LAST week, several national papers lamented the abysmal performance of Nigerian candidates who sat for the 2011 West African Secondary School Certificate Examination. According to reports, of the 1.5 million candidates who sat for the May/June examination, only 472,906, or a disappointing 31 percent, obtained five credits and above in the subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.

Over one million of them failed, while 80,247 candidates had their results withheld. And this result was said to be an improvement on last year’s result. In the last four years, the WAEC result has been consistently woeful.

The implication of this mass failure is not just that it is only 31 percent that can seek university admission this year. The truth is that rest who did not “make” it or those who would say, “WAEC gave me…” will still join the 31 percent in seeking admission, albeit with forged results, Oluwole certificates and all manner of bribery, if you know what I mean. That is how, in the first place, many of the teachers who produce this annual mass failure got into the universities and teachers’ colleges. If you doubt me, let the government order a screening of all teachers’ and lecturers’ certificates today, and see if it will not illicit stiff opposition, diversionary name-calling and threat of strike!

Every time we are confronted with this type of ugly reality, we moan and complain. Indeed many Nigerians, including a former Minister of Education, Prof Jubril Aminu, wailed about the result. The moaning will offer the usual excuses that do not touch on the real causes, and then we flip the page and move on.

Ask anybody why the dismal performance, the ready answer would be: “Government is not funding education well enough”! May be poor funding, but can we first audit the little that goes into the educational system to know how it is used? The real problem lies elsewhere, in a corner we hardly look!

 Bad politics

There is a fundamental disease that is behind this national headache called falling standards in education. This disease is also behind our failures in almost all the departments of our national life. The problem is bad politics! Poor funding of education, non-implementation of annual budgets, corruption, name it, they are all products of bad politics. Bad politics is that which is obsessed placating personal and group aggrandizement to the detriment of public good. Richard Joseph called it prebendal politics.

The language of this type of politics goes like this: “Since independence, none of our sons has occupied the Ministry of Siddon Chop”, “Since this democratic dispensation our clan has not produced a Minister of Wackie and Quench”. What this type agitation does is to put unnecessary pressure and the wrong emphasis on the criteria for choice of public officers or induce a musical chair in what we call a “lucrative” ministry.

Eight years ago, a former Minister of Education told me something that was really instructive about our educational system. He said, from information he could glean from the ministry, that since Independence, no Minister of Education has attended the bi-annual Commonwealth Conference of Education Ministers twice!

This, if it is true, points to three critical implications. One is the high rate of turnover of Ministers in the ministry; two, the near absence of institutional memory and thirdly, we suffer policy reversal and uncertainty of implementation. Obviously, in such atmosphere of instability, supervision suffers, unqualified teachers are recruited, resources allocated to schools develop wings as corruption has a field day.

The longest serving Minister of Education in the history of this country was Aja Nwachukwu who, who in the “brief shining moments” of Nigeria, spent eight years in the Ministry. He was followed by Chief A.Y Eke, five years and Prof Jubril Aminu, four years. If you look at the years of political crises, such as 1983, when Shagari’s regime was terminated, and the years following June 12 crisis of 1993 to 1999, they coincide with shortest tenures in the Ministry, showing how political crisis affects us. Things began to look up again from June 1999, the return of democracy, when some Ministers spent between two to three years. Then there was a relapse between 2003 and 2007, the era of third term scam and the crisis it generated.

 Grim statistics

From the above grim statistics we can also see why ASUU was constantly going on strike. When a new minister comes, he begins to study the files, including ASUU file. But if he puts in just six months you can agree that he would hardly be in any position to understand the details and essence of any agreement before he is trundled out of the Ministry. During these periods of short tenures, civil servants would dump on the Minister new education policies he would hardly have time to digest or he starts one addle-headed policy that creates its own problem and like a bad cold, runs its course six months or 10 months after the Minister is shown the door. For example, Mrs. Ezekwesili spent just nine months in the Ministry. But in that short time she raised a storm of her own with her proposal to privatize (or was it to concession) the Unity Schools!

While this musical chair is going on in the Ministry, the supervision of the principals, rectors and Vice Chancellors is relegated to the background. All manner of things happen undetected. A university with admission quota of 2000 students begins to sell admissions (they call it supplementary admission) to those who failed WAEC examinations and JAMB. It is lack of effective supervision occasioned by high turnover of ministers that has killed our education. It is not just poor funding. The little that goes into the schools can be better managed for better results!

In fairness to the ministers, many of them have the competence and the ability to deliver. And if you followed the screening of the ministers, you would agree that they are not lacking in ideas. But they often hardly have the time to put their ideas into practice. Take the case of Prof Rufai for example. I was told that she did a great job in Jigawa State and that was why she was brought to the center. But the truth is that if President Jonathan did not reappoint her to the ministry, she would have lasted just one year and would not have had time to deliver on the expectation that brought her to the Federal level. There would have been no basis to judge her performance.

Other ministries

This crisis is not limited to Ministry of Education alone. The sad story is replicated in all the other ministries. That is why all the Federal Roads have become national embarrassment. You wonder how a nation can go to sleep and allow all her roads become death traps. The simple answer is that the ministers are constantly engaged in a dizzying going and coming. You wonder how a nation can watch all her hospitals break down.

The Minister, who assumed duty just three months ago, is probably busy preparing his handover notes! Every sector you see decay is just a victim of our bad politics. Were people and sponsored groups not lobbying for President Jonathan to drop some Ministers, not because they are incompetent but to abort some policies they initiated in their various ministries?

For us to turn things round, especially as we dream about 20: 2020, we should identify our national priorities in key ministries and allow ministers, who know what they are doing, to last long enough in such ministries to make impact.

And to back him up this was our next post

HERE IS NO 1 PROBLEM CAUSING EDUCATIONAL ARTHRITIS IN NIGERIA

SO LONG,DEAR FRIEND PINI,BYE FOR NOW JASON.

2013 JAMB RESULTS...NEWSPAPER CONFIRMS MASSIVE EXAMINATION MALPRACTICES OF LAST SATURDAY

Massive cheating mars UTME

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  Teachers, invigilators, parents involved

  
  

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  Candidates charged N500, N1000 to use mobile phones

  
  

Despite strenuous efforts by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, to reduce malpractices in its examinations to the barest minimum through the introduction of hi-tech devices and procedures, the 2013 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME, held last Saturday across the country was characterised by large scale cheating by candidates, National Mirror can now reveal. School teachers, JAMB invigilators and even parents of candidates actively participated in the cheating.

In lagos, many candidates in virtually all the centres visited by our reporters had access to the supposed answers before the commencement of the examinations. As early as 6:30a.m. some candidates were seen copying answers from their phones into pieces of paper, which they tucked in different parts of their bodies.

Most of them later entered the exam halls unhindered as the papers could not be detected by the metal detector and body searches by officials. It was not however clear how or when the JAMB question papers leaked to the public.

Nobody saw the papers but most candidates started receiving the supposed answers via SMS text massages very early in the morning. A candidate was overheard telling her friends that she got the physics answers from one Mr. Ajala her Physics teacher.

Another was overheard confirming he had got answers to all her subjects except Accounts which he urged the party on the line to send as fast as possible. From Vetland Senior High School, Ifako-Ijaiye Local Government; Ojota Grammar School, Ojota; Agidingbi Grammar School; Isolo High School, Akute; Opebi High School; Ogudu Senior Secondary School, Ogudu GRA; Dolphin High School to Boys Academy, Lagos Island, the story was the same as the candidates were seen either copying the prepared answers or making calls to obtain the answers, which appeared to be in wide circulation across the country. In one of the centres, many of the candidates did not enter the exam hall until well over an hour after the exam had started.

They were seeing copying from their phones and only entered after they had tucked the small pieces of papers under their belts, inside their socks and other hidden parts of their bodies. They were later allowed to enter in batches well after the paid time.

National Mirror investigation also revealed that the candidates were assisted by invigilators. In two of the classes in one of the centres, candidates paid N500 and N1,000 respectively to invigilators to be able to use their phones and their prepared answers.

The invigilators also watched out for JAMB officials and often warned the candidates each time they approached the classroom. National Mirror is in possession of a question paper with omission of three questions, which a candidate asked to be changed by the invigilator. She was however ignored because according to her, she refused to pay the ‘levy’. One of the invigilators at a centre in Agege, Lagos openly advised the candidates to “help” themselves.

“Feel free to show your neighbour your paper,” she urged. Also to ensure that the candidates “use” the correct answers, an invigilator was seen in one of the centres warning candidates to be sure that the answers they were copying from their phones were for the right questions. Parents were also deeply involved in the malpractices.

For instance, at Dolphin High School, Lagos, many parents were seen making calls to get the supposed answers, which they passed on to their wards in the exam halls with the help of invigilators. Although many supervisors denied knowledge of such massive cheating by the candidates, a JAMB official in charge of the 11 centres in Ikotun/Idimu area told National Mirror that over 30 candidates were caught cheating at different centres in the area with the connivance of some invigilators.

He disclosed that he had to transfer some invigilators at Comprehensive College, Ikotun, having sensed that foul play was about taking place in the exam. In Ogun State, no fewer than 82 candidates were arrested from different centres for using their phones in the exam hall or copying from pieces of papers. Also in Abuja, JAMB Registrar, Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, personally caught a candidate for impersonation.

“We were able to fish him out because the registration number of his answer sheet is different from the one on the slip. His slip ended with DA while the real answer sheet ended with FH. “He came with wrong slip, in order to be sure, we went to the internet and discovered that the owner of that paper is from Enugu. This boy came to impersonate and unfortunately we were able to catch him.

I took him to the biometrics and ask him to thumbprint, but there was no record of his registration. I tried it myself; there was no record of my registration. He has been handed over to the civil defense who will hand him over to the law enforcement agency. “He registered for centre 021 but came to centre 022 and 023, he was handed answer sheet of 022.We discovered that the owner of the number was meant to be in Enugu which is O21 centre,” Ojerinde told newsmen, adding that the boy later confessed that his father did it for him. Also at Model Secondary School, Maitama, two students were caught with mobile phones while another was caught with a calculator. JAMB’s spokesman, Mr. Fabian Uchenna, however pledged the Board’s resolve to sanction those involved in such malpractice, saying it was already investigating all the established cases and would not hesitate to apply appropriate sanction on any candidate found guilty. He told National Mirror yesterday that the examination body would soon come up with a comprehensive figure of candidates involved in malpractices across the country before the end of this week. Uchenna, however, denied that the leakage of JAMB questions would have emanated from the Board’s officials saying its staff are “people of integrity”


NATIONAL MIRROR

OUR COMMENT

Barons of malpractices no longer need Jamb staff to hack into the Board's computers.An 18-yr old Chinese student can do it from his village!The Barons might even attempt to change results or introduce viruses if Jamb's "new weapon" will spoil business for them. They might now be as powerful as those holding the power industry to ransome!

JAMB 2013 RESULTS…SOME CANDIDATES CHEATED LAST SATURDAY AND TURNED UP IN CHURCH ON SUNDAY FOR "MINISTRATION" AND "TESTIMONY”

[caption id="attachment_8532" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Candidates-participating-in-this-year’s-Unified-Tertiary-Matriculation-Examinations-UTME-at-a-centre-in-Lagos-[/caption]

OH! WHAT TANGLED WEBS WE WEAVE WITH FORKED TONGUES AND LYING HEARTS!..DO THEY THINK GOD IS DECEIVED?
Sometimes you wonder how God really feels about us and our many ways of deceit. If you remember armed robbers asking pastors to pray for their success then you cannot but marvel at the very great patience of our EXTREMELY TOLERANT FATHER!
Some people have estimated that last Saturday over 1million candidates out of 1.7million were probably involved in examination practice!.The intension of this post is not to examine why so many were involved. We will do that through another post coming up later.
 What this post aims at is the exposition of the dishonesty and disrespect by candidates who cheat or disobey ground rules without blinking one eyelid and who then call on “God of Abraham” to solve troubles brought upon themselves. Why they do not call on satan who inspired them into trouble makes some of them sound like clowns in their statements hereby reproduced below from various websites.

EXAMPLES OF “PRAYERFUL” STATEMENTS  MADE AFTER RELEASE OF JAMB  RESULTS(2011 /2012) (LEFT IN THEIR ORIGINAL FORMS WITHOUT AMENDMENT)

1.    “Please sir help me release my result please i beg you in the name of the Lord Almighty. It is very painful spending all this money and stress without having any result to show please sir”-TOCHUKWU
2.    “I dont know why some result came out and other no.pls i need an answer from jamb because iam a victim”-FELIX
3.    “I see no reason why my result should be subjected to further screening .Besides, this is not my first time of writing jamb .I have learnt my mistake then.and  have burnt my candle in order to succeed or is jamb happy in candidates massive failure /seeing tears in the face of jamb candidates? JAMB PLS RECTIFY MY RESULT & MAKE IT PRESENTABLE TO UNIVERSITIES FOR ADMISSION. GOD BLESS JAMB. GOD BLESS NIG..GOD BLESS ME."-TOPE
4.    “Gudmorning jamb board members,pls i cant view my government, commerce and c.r.s,….my eyes have been filled with tears since…had it been i didnt forgo my sleep to make this paper it would have bn a different case everything i wrote came from my brain,its only my english which is 77 appeared ,and was aggregiated 77,pls i beg you in the name of God Almightz release my result”.-MAUREEN
5.    “Pls sir av been checking right 4rm d 3rd week jamb result was released&wat am seeing is only english result..i no and am sure of wat i av done pls sir release my result,my choice of institution's post ume is a week 4rm nw,pls God wl send helpers 2ur children too and ur source of joy wl nt become dat of sorrow.thank u sir&God bless”-SEYI
6.    “Pls,release my result in the name of God because post- ume is approaching “-Amina
7.    “God please do something let us rejoice with others please...... Jamb pls have mercy”-Victor
8.    “I do not know why my results were not released in full, I was only given English and Biology. My Physics and Chemistry were not released. Please if there is any way you people can help me out before UNIBEN will start selling their form, please, do. I cannot afford writing Jamb over and over. Please I am on my  kneel.to you and God”:-GODWIN
9.    “jamb board pls i wrote 4 subject but saw only 2 my scores are english- 56 economics-63 govt ..... Geography.....pls with this scores i know that i will do very well so pls ma/sir help me pls i beg with God”-IKEMEFUNA
10.    “Pls sir/ma i reg for 4 subject in th just conclud jamb exams. I wrote 4 papers, but when the result was out only 2 subject was released which is mathr and english. D other papers were physics and geography which is d only hope 4 me.pls sir i have been crying since d the result was out i need your assistance,i suffered so much only 4 me to pass by reading mybooks frequently.pls sir/ma,have mercy on me in the name of d lord”.-DOLAPO
11.    “Pls sir i wrote the jamb and completed every sheding but my result is still missing i.e economics and mathematics pls help your daughter because this is my third time of writing am spendind too much money on this and now the same problem”THOMAS
12.    “Dear sir/ma, please i'm pleading for the release of my biology which was not included in my result. My aggregate is 159. Please i will be very grateful if my request is löoked into and granted. Tanks in anticipation of your favourably responds. May God bless U as u do so”.-PRINCESS
13.    “I wrote 4 subject. Only 3 ware release. Jamb pls am beging u to release my maths 4 me. As u do that God will bless u.i luv u all.”-PETER
14.    “Sir.i come in d name of our lord jesus.i humbly ask 4 d realease of my physics result.i cry all day 4 dis result.may heaven touch u 2 do smth abt it.i love u all.God bless”-GERALDINE
15.    “Dear  jamb my result is incomplete.i've not seen my Gov, C r s, and Econs. Pls help me am tied of staying at home i beg u in the name of God”.-NABOTH
16.    “In the name of Almighty God i plead to you jamb boss to kindly release my chemistry and physics for memay God continue to elevate you as you do that in jesus name(Amen)”-TOSH
17.    “My name is J.M junior,am from Rivers State,i recently checked my jamb result,and to my suprise; my chemistry was missen.I was astounded,and i don't know why other results were released and my chemistry not.I beseech Jamb and its officials to please release my result in the name of God,or should please tell me how to go about retrieving my chemistry”.JUNIOR
18.    “Jamb i'm really hurt n messed up after wrtin jamb 4 d 3rd tym nver knw anytin incomplete result pls 4 God sake go back n check d result again so dat u mak we hppy”.-BALA
19.    “Pls sir/ma help ur daughter i know i shed every thing needed pls sir/ma help the poor girl i dont have a helper if not u .THANKS GOD WILL BLESS U AMEN-“ CHINYERE
20.    “Sir I complied to all instructions given by jamb.why must I have incomplete result? .pls sir I beg you in the name of God to make a complete result for me werther pass or fail”-CHOKO


CONCLUSION
1. Most likely not all these people cheated. But using the estimated number of those involved in malpractice last Saturday one can safely say more than half of those using God’s name above were doing so in vain.
2. To what happened last Saturday here is what some readers said
a.“Mak una no dey call God inside this expo things oh! Even mechanics and carpenters had all the subjects since last night.I saw a candidate that did math, not even one question was solved but she shaded all.She was just marking not all was correct though. Nigeria is in trouble!-Allen”
b.“Some candidates who are choristers in my church  cheated last Saturday and turned up on Sunday for "ministration" and "testimony”. Do they think they are deceiving God? -CHRIS

3.If JAMB does not release results as early as it did last year those who cheated should be ready for some nose-bleed.On the other hand JAMB might do so and get many results cancelled eventually.The announcement by the Minister about admission capacity might not be unrelated to what might come from JAMB.
4. This write-up  is also our way of saying that no one who cheated last Saturday should bother registering with us for post-JAMB services. And that if you have paid money into our account as specified in a recent post you should please ask for refund..You know yourselves. Or don’t you?
Thank you.

MOST OF THE MATERIAL FROM NAIJA WEBSITES

 

MANDARIN IN LAGOS STATE SCHOOLS (2)...KNOCK,KNOCK,KNOCK!...IS ANYONE LISTENING?

RE-BLOGGED FROM OUR SISTER SITE ON WORDPRESS.COM

SAME NOVEMBER 2012, WE MADE THESE COMMENTS ON OUR SISTER BLOG AND ON VANGUARD ONLINE...IS ANYONE LISTENING?

guv-fashola-of-lagos-state

HERE IS OUR OPINION:

Let's congratulate our hard-working  governor on many of his progressive policies and methods…no one surely will disagree with the ideas and needs leading to what might become a goal or an objective of his government…but there are many questions needing answers before we move any further on this proposal…these include…

1.Can Lagos State on its own include any subject on its secondary school curriculum without appropriate research work by the NIGERIAN EDUCATION RESEARCH COUNCIL (NERC) and approval by the Federal Council on Education through the Federal Ministry of Education? For instance can Lagos State set up an airport without approval by the Federal Ministry of Aviation? Should we not have some measure of order or of coordination in matters such as this?….

2. Who is going to teach the subject? Who is going to train the potential trainers? Where will they be trained and at what cost to the state? Has  our governor  ensured that this proposal is not one of the hundreds of money-making schemes that usually get to his table through interested cabinet members?

3. Has the Lagos State Ministry of Education submitted the reasons for the dearth of Yoruba,Igbo and Hausa teachers in its schools and why the failure rate is so high?

4. No matter how prosperous the Chinese become will English ever become a second-class language on the world  stage without a physical conquest of the Western world? That is without an Armagedon?

5. What is so special about Chinese that did not make us put Japanese in our curriculum? At least their economy is still rated higher than that of the Chinese.And if India  or Brazil which are also surging forward become as significant tomorrow will our children also have  their languages in their curriculum?



…busy at chinese…huh?

“…even English Language has not yet been mastered by our students…pidgin is pulling at them,they hardly can speak local languages to their grandmothers and they take french as a joke…now add Chinese on top to see the bundles of confusion we want to create…i think they should restrict mandarin studies to universities as was done for Russian,German,Spanish and Portugese studies…governor Fashola’s ideas are forward looking but its better to set up a department of Mandarin Studies at LASU and encourage those interested with scholarships…but before doing this they should have 2 or three Chinese brought there through bilateral agreement  with the government of China that will cost Lagos State nothing…note that China is desperately expanding its influence in Africa and Lagos is definitely a prime target…these people should map out the syllabus and training schedules starting first with 2yr diploma courses and eventually move on to B.A….if i was the Commissioner of Education for Lagos State  that will be my suggestion to our Governor." Fall out.

INTRODUCTION OF CHINESE TO LAGOS STATE SCHOOLS AND ALL THAT JAZZ (1)...ANY MORE NEWS?

RE-BLOGGED FROM OUR SISTER SITE ON WORDPRESS.COM

IN NOVEMBER 2012 VANGUARD NEWSPAPERS REPORTED AS FOLLOWS

GOV FASHOLA OF LAGOS STATE

Fashola defends planned introduction of Chinese in Lagos schools

FIRST REPORT VANGUARD NEWSPAPERS

Ikeja –  Lagos State Governor,  Mr Babatunde Fashola, said on Sunday that the plan by the state government to introduce Mandarin in public schools was not  to discourage the teaching of indigenous languages.

The governor said during the commemoration of 2,000 days of his administration in Ikeja that the introduction of Mandarin in schools was to give  pupils functional education in consonance with current realities.

He said the emergence of China as a major economic power should compel any serious government to begin to plan for the future.

Fashola, however, said that  no child would be compelled to take the language in school.

The Commissioner for Education, Mrs Olayinka Oladunjoye, recently announced plans by the government to introduce Chinese language in all public schools.

“Our plan to introduce Chinese in schools is not to discourage or stop the teaching of indigenous languages in schools.

“We will continue to teach Yoruba and other languages but we are saying that giving our pupils the opportunity to learn Chinese will be an advantage in a changing world.

“Whether we admit it or not the Chinese are taking over the global economy and we are only preparing our pupils for the opportunities that the use of Chinese language as the possible language of the future  might provide,“ Fashola said.

He said the various interventions  by the state government in the education sector had made positive impacts on the standard of education in the state.

The governor said the state was now ranked among the  states with the best public education in country, while the pass rate in WAEC had  moved from less than 20 per cent in 2011 to over 38.28 per cent in 2012.

SECOND REPORT VANGUARD NEWSPAPERS

LAGOS — Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, yesterday, justified the proposed introduction of Chinese language in public schools, saying one of the advantages is  aimed at boosting the state economy.

The governor who made the disclosure during the commemoration of his 2000 Days in office in Ikeja believed the state government needed to move fast in line with the global challenge and more important, China is an economic world power.

He said: “The Chinese are in our homes more than we care to admit. China has become our largest economic partner.”

Fashola recalled an instance where there was a need to have an interpreter while a contractual agreement was to be signed between the state government and a Chinese contractor, adding that it was a Chinese who understood English that came to their rescue.

Fashola explained that as the world economy is tilting in favor of China, the trend might eventually affect the English. ‘’Don’t be surprised English may go if the global power moves to Asia.”

WHY ADMISSION TO NIGERIAN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IS LIKE GOING TO THIRD WORLD WAR

BARRIERS TO UNIVERSITY ADMISSIONS IN NIGERIA

IN SUMMARY FORM( ADDITIONAL TO LOW SCORES)

1.    Demand  for university places exceeds supply by far .   

2.    Limited information on admission  to students.    For some students even the  JAMB BROCHURE is an additional source of confusion.

3.    Inexperienced guidance councilors at schools.

4.    Many schools  do not see the relevance of holding thorough and well-monitored enlightenment sessions for final year students

5.   Wrong information through mistakes committed at registration centers.

6.   Making wrong choices of  courses,universities and subjects to take in the Jamb exam.   Such wrong choices include:

-picking a course that requires difficult examination subjects.

-avoiding  some courses with relatively low cut-off scores because they are not “chic” or popular.

-choosing a course affected by waivers  mistakenly not noticed in the brochure

-choosing a course not available in the institution of choice at the time of exam or thereafter.

-choosing institutions which usually have the highest numbers of applicants each year.

-choosing two Federal Universities.

-picking a Federal university out of one’s “catchment area”.

-choosing a university whose location and distance makes it almost impossible for self parents or relations to follow-up as and when due.

-wasting your choices by choosing one of the private universities which are likely to accept you without choosing them initially.   If you pass their screening which is generally less stringent and you have their fees it is not likely that they will bother about your initial choices like the federal universities do.

-by not studying the brochure strategically.   For instance,Mass Comm at Delsu used to be a course in the Faculty of Arts and did not require taking of maths in the Jamb exam.   On the other hand,Mass Comm at Unilag is a Social Science course requiring the taking of maths compulsorily.

-wrong combination of Jamb subjects leading to  poor results.

7. Lying about one’s state of origin or failing to produce requested documents such as statement of results,WAEC/NECO certificate,testimonial etc.   Once you lie about being Kelani of Lagos State whereas you are Kelani of Ogun state you might need to lie up to 9 other times on the way to your admission or rejection if discovered.

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