Students
Zamfara shuts down 10 schools to prevent abduction of students like in Katsina
The Zamfara government has ordered that 10 schools across the state be shut down over fears students could be abducted by bandits. The decision comes on the heels of last week’s attack on Government Science Secondary School, Kankara in Katsina State that has left at least 333 students unaccounted for and believed to be in custody of the kidnappers. Zamfara’s Commissioner for Education, Ibrahim Abdullahi, announced at a media briefing on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 that the affected schools are those that share borders with Katsina, Kaduna, and Sokoto, all similarly troubled by the activities of bandits. “We will not want what happened in Katsina to happen in Zamfara State,” he said. The affected schools are GSS, Tsafe; GSS, Magaji; GASS, Zurmi; GGSS, Moriki; GDSS, Nasarawa Mailayi; GDSS, Gu...
Senators decry executive’s disregard for resolutions on insecurity
Federal lawmakers, on Tuesday, deplored the federal government’s continued disregard for Senate’s resolutions on the issue of national security. The Senators spoke while contributing to a motion on the recent kidnapping of students at the Government Science School, Kankara, Katsina State. The Red Chamber had twice called for the replacement of the service chiefs. The lawmakers, in their various contributions to the motion, expressed deep frustration over the recurring issues of killings and kidnappings across the country and the inability of the security agencies to address the challenges. They insisted that the service chiefs had overstayed and should allow other officers with fresh ideas to take over. Senator Mohammed Sani Musa (APC, Niger) said, “Every day, people are dying and nothing ...
Senate summons minister, service chiefs over Kankara kidnapping
The Senate, on Tuesday, invited the Minister of Defence, Maj. Gen. Bashir Magashi (rtd.), service chiefs and heads of other security agencies to brief it on measure being taken to rescue the abducted students of Government Science School, Kankara Katsina State. This followed a motion by Senator Bello Mandiya (APC, Katsina South), who noted that the abduction is coming on the heels of yet to be resolved abduction of 270 girls at Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State in 2014, and abduction of about 100 school girls at Government Girls Science and Technical School, Dapchi, Yobe State in 2018. He expressed concern that like the other incidents of school children abduction that took place in Chibok and Dapchi, if no immediate action was taken to rescue Kankara School boys, their fate...
Vice Chancellor blames cultism in schools on idleness among students
Prof. Chinedum Nwajiuba, the Vice Chancellor, Alex-Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu Alike Ikwo (FUNAI), Ebonyi, has said that idleness among students leads them into cultism. Nwajiuba said this in an interview with newsmen in his office on Monday. He spoke on preparations for the institution’s fifth convocation and his impending disengagement from office after completing his five-year tenure. He said that the institution had no record of cultism because the students “are too serious” to engage in such an act. “Our students do not have to be dancing inside bushes at night because they begin academic activities from the first week of a every new semester. “We duly concluded the first semester of the 2019 academic session, re-opened on Oct. 2019 and our lecturers were already in classes upon...
President Buhari condemns bandits’ attack on Katsina school, orders reinforcement of security
President Muhammadu Buhari has condemned the attack carried out by bandits’ at the Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, Katsina State, charging the security agencies to go after the attackers to ensure that no student gets missing or harmed. The president made the remarks in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, in Abuja on Saturday. He urged the school authorities to carry out an audit of the population of the students following shootings in and around the school that sent hundreds of them fleeing and scrambling over perimeter walls. He also advised parents who rushed to evacuate their children and wards from the school to notify the school and police authorities in order to have a full account of the school population. “I strongly...
UNICEF embarks on coronavirus sensitisation tour of Abia
The United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF) has appealed to the Abia state government, parents and school authorities in the state to ensure that their children and wards adhere strictly to all COVID-19 protocols in order to avoid the ugly experience of getting another round of Covid-19. According to the world body, the effect of COVID-19 second phase in Europe and Asia has been devastating, pointing out that though Africa has been lucky to have recorded fewer casualties, government, parents and teachers cannot continue to depend on luck to survive the pandemic. The Desk Officer of UNCEF, Mr Okezie Nkpa who made the appeal when UNICEF, the National Orientation Agency (NOA) and some media personnel staged a sensitization tour of some schools in Abia South, Abia Central and Abia Nort...
French police detain five new suspects in Paris teacher murder case
France’s Central Directorate of the Judicial Police has detained five people suspected of complicity in the brutal killing of a French teacher at the hands of an extremist in October, according to Le Parisien newspaper. History teacher Samuel Paty was murdered by beheading on October 16 on the outskirts of Paris by an 18-year-old Chechen radical. The attack allegedly occurred because the teacher had shown religious caricatures depicting Islamic prophet Muhammad to his students as part of freedom of speech discussion, prompting outrage among their Muslim parents. The attacker was shot dead by police the same day he committed the murder. According to the newspaper’s sources, five young men of Chechen origin, whose ages range from 18 to 21, were detained by police on Monday in the departments...
Nigerian government wants children’s parliament established in schools
Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs Pauline Tallen has called for the establishment of children’s parliament in schools to aide planning and implementation of programmes affecting children. Tallen made the call on Tuesday in Abuja during an interaction with children in commemoration of the 16 days activism to end Gender Based Violence (GBV). She said establishing children’s parliament in schools would provide a platform for students to express their views, help in implementing programmes affecting them and eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls. “It is my hope that after this event, the school authorities will set up guidelines to establish Children’s Parliament within the schools. “This will provide a platform for harvesting the voices of children in planning and implementing ...
South Korea coronavirus outbreak adds new stress to gruelling, eight-hour exam
From avoiding family members to skipping extra study at “cram schools”, the coronavirus has forced nearly half a million South Korean test-takers and proctors to rethink their strategies ahead of a hyper-competitive university entrance exam this week. The gruelling, almost eight-hour test on Thursday is seen as a life-defining event for high school seniors. A degree from a prestigious university is seen as a minimum requirement for securing one of the coveted but limited corporate jobs in Asia’s fourth-largest economy. This year teachers, proctors and students drastically changed their study and teaching practices to try to ensure those taking the test don’t ruin their chances by getting sick. “We take caution not just in classes but also during lunch, sitting facing the walls, eating alon...
US braces for continued surge in coronavirus cases, hospitalisations
As newly reported cases of the coronavirus continued to spike across much of the United States, breaking records for hospitalisations, some local leaders are moving to enact more stringent restrictions. US officials had pleaded with Americans to avoid travel and limit social gatherings as the nation entered its winter holiday season. But many appear to have disregarded those pleas over the long Thanksgiving weekend as the Transportation Security Administration screened nearly 1.2 million airline passengers on Sunday, the highest since mid-March. That number is still about 60 percent lower than the comparable day last year when 2.88 million passengers were screened, the highest ever recorded by the agency. Health officials say they are now preparing for a wave of cases over the next two or ...
Man sentenced to life imprisonment for raping own daughter
An Ondo State High Court sitting in Akure, the State capital, has sentenced a man, Olusola Alo, to life imprisonment for raping his own daughter. Alo, it was reported, had been having sexual intercourse with his biological daughter since she was 10-years-old. The mother of the girl was said to have left him when the daughter was six-months-old. According to the police prosecutor, the secret was exposed when the girl claimed at a students’ fellowship meeting that somebody was already having sex with her. The girl explained that her father would demand sex anytime she requested money from him for school fees and personal upkeep. The convict pleaded not guilty to the one-count charge of rape preferred against him. Justice Samuel Bola in his judgement held that the evidence of the victim that ...
Nigerian government seeks new Eurobond
The federal government yesterday disclosed that it would approach the Eurobond market next year in its effort to shore up the economy, amidst cocktails of measures being put in place to douse the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the economy. On the same day, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, while speaking at the 55th Annual Bankers Dinner organised by the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) in Lagos, predicted a two per cent growth in the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2021. Finance Minister, Zainab Ahmed, who disclosed the Eurobond plan while speaking on Bloomberg TV, explained that the decision would depend on the prevailing interest rates. She, however, did not specify the amount to be accessed from the Eurobond. The Eurobond option is ...
