Though issues like shortages in the supply of petroleum products, poor and inadequate power supply with their painful effects on the wellbeing of the people were perennial even before the coming to office of Buhari, Nigerians, latching on the change mantra, had expected a swift reprieve.

Power In Apology As Strength

Since the assumption of office by President Muhammadu Buhari, series of challenges have become inevitable especially with the acknowledged mess left behind by the defeated Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration. There are also some visible missteps considered normal in the life of a new government striving to find its foothold in the act of governance. But in such situations, what is relevant is how the government manages such fallouts vis-à-vis reactions to them by the people.

Though issues like shortages in the supply of petroleum products, poor and inadequate power supply with their painful effects on the wellbeing of the people were perennial even before the coming to office of Buhari, Nigerians, latching on the change mantra, had expected a swift reprieve. That has not happened because the circumstances that brought them about are such that enough time is needed to put a few things in place. The president himself had had to, on a number of occasions, apologise to Nigerians for the difficulties they experience while things are being sorted out.

Also, in the case of the ill-advised dissolution of the governing councils of 13 universities and the sacking of their Vice Chancellors, Buhari also admitted he acted in error and apologised accordingly. Of course, a section of Nigerians have taken to diverse opinions on the president’s resort to apologies to, admittedly, sooth the nerves of the public who feel hurt by what they perceive as insufficient policy actions, to the point that some are beginning to see it as a sign of weakness on the part of the president.

But we disagree because, in our view, it takes courage and in-built humility to admit a mistake and to say ‘I am sorry’ when one thinks he has failed to either do what is expected of him or keep a promise that was made without a proper assessment of factors related to it . That courage is even more admirable and commendable when the individual concerned is the President of a country who might decide to ignore the public’s feelings or couch his reactions to such feelings in terms that betray a haughty attitude.

A former President of this country, when confronted by journalists at a national disaster scene that claimed many lives, had reportedly said ‘I am not supposed to be here’. Though he was lampooned in the media for such indiscretion when the nation was mourning, it goes to prove that humility is not an attribute that can be found in most people especially political leaders who often carry on as if they are doing the rest of us a favour by accepting to lead.

By his dispositions so far, it goes to prove that Buhari, at his age and accomplishments in life, has not allowed the attractions of public office to impact negatively on his ingrained qualities of which humility is one. We, therefore, urge him to continue to exercise restraints in the face of obvious possibilities the weight of his office is capable of even as we also expect him to avoid situations that may give rise to regrets and apologies on matters of state.

 Leadership Editors

Terrorism Must Be Distinguished From Ordinary Rebellion Or Mere Revolt

Nigeria is encountering major security challenges today, as a retired senior Military officer in the rank of Major General, what will be your advice as the best solution to apply and end this insurgency?

yes, undeniably, Nigeria our dear country is undergoing some serious security challenges. The most devastating of these challenges is the Boko Haram which has unleashed an unprecedented terror campaign against our brothers and sisters in the North-Eastern part of the country. These terror attacks designed to induce fear and cause panic among the populace have mildly been referred to as “insurgency”. Nigeria, a relatively peaceful nation had experienced some periodic rebellious uprisings including the 1960 and 1964 Tiv crises, the 1965 Western electoral crisis, the Niger Delta insurgency and others. However, the advent of Boko Haram as a well planned and an orchestrated organization designed to terrorize Nigerians is the first of its kind in the history of our nation.

Terrorism must be distinguished from an ordinary rebellion or revolt designed to negotiate for some perceived rights and privileges from government as was the case with the Youths of the Niger Delta. Boko Haram first reared its head in Kano during the administration of General Yakubu Gowon, and was referred to as Maitatsine uprising. 

It was crushed immediately. Following the Kano experience, this particular sect took their time to plan and finally to metamorphose into what Nigerians wrongly and mildly refer to as “insurgency”. The aim of Boko Haram is to terrorize Nigerians until the group is allowed to carve out the area of the North-East to create a theocratic empire whose governance will be based on Islamic faith that is completely different from what is practiced by Nigerian Muslims, particularly in the north. In history several empires have risen and fallen across the Sahel Savannah Region beginning from Senegal to the Borno area. If the Europeans had not come and carved out nations in the West African sub-region including the Nigerian area to prevent potential empire builders, many empires would have risen and fallen in the area since then. Maitatsine and Boko Haram are desperate attempts to establish new theocratic States based on new Islamic faith.

The reason the Maitatsine marauders were unable to succeed in their bid to establish a new theocratic state in Kano was mainly because both the national society and the nation’s military were too strong. The movement was ruthlessly crushed by the Nigerian military. If any empire seekers find fault in the Nigerian national system, they will explore such fault lines to the fullest.

Don’t use army to protect anyone’s tenure, Oshiomhole warns

L-R: Brig-Gen O Laleye, Commander 4 Brigade Benin; Maj-Gen Sanusi Nasir Muazu, General Officer Commanding 2 Division, Nigerian Army and Governor Adams Oshiomhole

Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo state has charged officers and men of the Nigerian Army to remain loyal to the nation rather than be reduced to defending the tenure of an individual‎.

The governor who spoke while receiving the General Officer Commanding 2 Division of the Nigerian Army,Ibadan, Major General Sanusi Muazu, said presidents will come and go, governors will come and go, but the Nigerian nation will remain.
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He added that no political office holder should get so desperate and try to use the military to boost personal ambition. “The reason why this has become an issue is because of the nature of our politics and the way political actors have put their personal interest over and above the national interest. Presidents would come and go, governors would come and go, whether they are good or bad. Even the Armed Forces commander would come and go but the institution of the Nigeria Armed Forces would remain. Once we can distinguish between the person and the office, the institutions and the player, we may not have crisis.

“I believe that the forthcoming election with all the tension that people are raising, with all the speculation that Nigeria would have crisis, to me I have seen all these before and the God that created this country would ensure that after all the fog, the weather would be clear. Nigeria would stay.”

Oshiomhole who noted that it is the peace and security of a part that determine the character of peace and security of the whole, charged that the Armed Forces see themselves as the Nigeria Armed Forces and not the Armed Forces of the Commander in Chief, or of the Governor, adding that, the Commander in Chief is to be elected by very ordinary people.

“The right of the people to vote for who will be president is a right that must be defended and upheld. Once the process is clean, the outcome does not matter. In a democracy, the people deserve the kind of president they want. He is a product of election and not imposition.

“So I ask you to do everything you can to keep that confidence that the army understands that their mandate is to defend the territorial integrity of the Nigerian nation and not the security of tenure of any political office holder regardless of the level.

The governor while saying that he believes the country must be held together by all means, said, “sometimes when I listen to statements made by other countries especially, those that Nigerian rescued in the past, I begin to wonder that those Nigeria tutored on the art of democracy have now become our tutors.

“We will do our best to continue with the armed forces as an integral part of this state and we trust that you will ensure that the vote counts and that no selfish officer allows himself to be used to intimidate electoral officers. Nobody understands the need for peace and security more than the Nigerian Army.”

In his remark, Major General Muazu, commended the governor for his developmental strides and his support to the officers and men of the Nigerian Army in the state, assuring him, that the Division will discharge its constitutional responsibilities.

“I decided to visit Edo first among the eight states under my control because it is important to the Nigerian Army and the 2 Division and I promise to consolidate on the peace and security prevailing in the state. I know Edo state very well and I know what you have achieved here since you became Governor.

“I want to assure you that the Division will discharge on its constitutional responsibility. I want to thank you for your support to the army and that which the 4 Brigade is enjoying from the state government. I want to assure you that the Division will continue to provide security in the state,”‎ he said.

The GOC was accompanied on the visit by very senior officers in the Division including the Commander, 4 Brigade, Benin, Brig.-General O Laleye.

Fresh Bomb Attack In Potiskum, Many Feared Dead

A bomb has exploded at a market in Potiskum, Yobe State, with many people feared dead, the News Agency of Nigeria has reported.

The blast occurred on Sunday at the GSM market in the city.

Some survivors suspected that a female suicide bomber detonated the explosive, killing herself and others at the busy market.

Toyin Gbadegesin, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, confirmed the attack to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

"Yes, there was a bomb attack at the Potiskum GSM market and our men have moved to the scene for rescue operation and to get details of the incident," he said. "As at this moment, we do not have the details of deaths and injuries. Our men are still collating the details."

Other survivors said the bomb exploded after an argument between the suspected bomber and local security men at the market.

The blast was the second on the market this year, with the first killing seven people and injuring many others.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet, although jihadist group, Boko Haram, is suspected.

Yobe State has suffered several attacks from the terror group, with multiple bomb and gun attacks targeting the military and civilians.

Yobe lies next to Borno State, which is at the centre of a six-year long Boko Haram insurgency.

John Cardinal Urges Politicians To Stop Hate Speeches

John Cardinal Onaiyekan of the Catholic Church

John Cardinal Onaiyekan, has appealed to politicians to desist from hate speeches and comments capable of inciting citizens as they go about their campaigns, ahead of the general elections, slated for March 28 and April 11.

Onaiyekan, who is also the archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja, spoke on Sunday in Abuja.

Onaiyekan in his homily at the mass to commence the first week-long plenary meeting of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), stressed that politicians should not forget the objective of governance.

“Politics is very much in the air, it is a noble and sacred task meant to serve the common good of the family that is the nation.

“The hot competition between political parties should not make them forget the common objective of justice, peace, prosperity, harmony, good governance and building a nation that we can all be proud of.

“There should, therefore, not be room for negative campaigns. Insolent insults and caricatures should give way to rational discussion of issues that will serve all of us.

“Truth must be sacrosanct even in politics; lies, deceit, calumnies cannot move us forward, they are all hallmarks of the bad politics that is a bane to development,” he said.

The cleric commended all the political parties for accepting the shift in the dates of the polls which he said must have disrupted their plans and budgets.

He urged them to use the extra time to change tactics, build relationships and trusts among parties.

He urged Nigerians to take President Goodluck Jonathan by his words that the elections would now hold on March 28 and April 11 respectively and that May 29, Democracy Day, remained sacrosanct

He assured President Jonathan who was present at the mass, that the church had been praying for the nation and will continue to pray for the nation.

Onaiyekan speaking on the theme of the conference, “A good family makes a good nation,” urged Nigerians to uphold the unity and sacredness of the family for a truly united country.

The cardinal said that the importance of the family in nation building could not be over emphasized, adding that, that was why, Pope Francis had since 2014, been calling on all Christians to pray for the family.

He advised families to always uphold the sanctity of marriage and that of the family for them to be able to uphold the sanctity of the nation.

The cardinal urged the citizens not to be swayed by modern ideas, which he said, were coined to erode the moral structures of our families and the nation. “We thank God that our traditional values on this matter have not yet been totally overrun by crazy ideas posing as modern and progressive.

“A perfect example is the moral madness of same sex marriage which we thank the National Assembly for rejecting.

“This should be a matter of national concern since the family is the basic sphere of every society; the bishops need to do more to promote family life, especially for the youth.

“Those who neglect their families because of business or politics will regret their short-sighted priorities.

“The growing rate of marriage breakdowns and a lot of dysfunctional homes especially among our elite should be a matter of grave concern.

“We should ask ourselves how people who cannot manage their homes can pretend to rule our nation; a good family makes a good nation.

Election Postponement, A Blessing In Disguise, Says David Mark

Senate President, David Mark

Senate President David Mark, says the postponement of the general election has provided millions of eligible voters an opportunity to collect their permanent voter cards.

Mark, who made the remark at the opening of the plenary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria in Abuja, said the postponement had turned out to be “a blessing in disguise”.

According to him, if the elections had held on Feb. 14, many Nigerians would have been unable to vote.

“I want to be re-elected back but I do not want to go through the back door, I want to be re-elected with many Nigerians accepting that this is their choice.

“Whatever we can do to enable few more Nigerians to vote on their appointed days, I think it is proper that they do it,” he said.

Mark also restated that there was no place for an interim government in the Nigerian Constitution, saying that it was “absolutely alien to the current constitution”.

“We will not allow that,” he said.

In his remarks, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, the President of the Christian Association (CAN), said that the theme of the conference challenged every Nigerian to nurture their family.

NAN reports that the theme is titled “Good Families Make Good Nations.”

Oritsejafor appealed to government to continue to work hard to create employment opportunities for young Nigerians.

He also appealed to church leaders to ensure that their followers imbibe sound moral values needed to raise responsible families.

“We must along with other stakeholders continue to assist in creating an enabling environment for families to grow and mature, respect constituted authority, be honest and love one another.

“I am pleading for cooperation, unity and brotherhood; efforts must be made to denounce worldliness, to build families that imbibe godly and enduring values,” he said.

Oristejafor advised that in spite of diverse doctrines and other means of expressing faith, Nigerians should remain united.

Also, the Primate of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh, appealed to the Anglican Roman Catholic Commission (ARCC), to give a definite agenda to the commission.

Most Rev. Ignatius Kaigama, Archbishop of Jos, and President, CBCN, said that the Church had used different associations to enlighten its members to shun acts of violence.

Kaigama said that the Church had gone beyond political or religious difference in promoting the common good of the nation.

Emir Of Mubi Called Displaced Persons Back Home

The Emir of Mubi, Alhaji Abubakar Isa-Ahmadu, has called on persons displaced from his domain by Boko Haram insurgents to return home.
The call was contained in a statement issued on Sunday in Abuja by Mr Sani Datti, Senior Information Officer, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).
The statement quoted the Emir as saying this when he received a Federal Government delegation led by the Minister of Youths Development, Mr Boni Haruna, in his palace.
The delegation also included officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).
The Emir called on the resident of the community to give the necessary cooperation to NEMA personnel in their efforts to assess the level of damage caused by the insurgents in Mubi.

Alhaji Abubakar Isa-Ahmadu, Emir of Mubi

Isa-Ahmadu called on the people of Mubi to be vigilant, law abiding and assist the federal government toward maintaining peace and security in the area.
The Emir thanked President Goodluck Jonathan for his concern towards the condition of the displaced persons.
Haruna had told the Emir that the delegation was in Mubi to assess the level of peace and security in the area.
“The commander of the Battalion based in Mubi has assured that soldiers have cleared the town and made it safe for law-abiding citizens to return home,’’ the minister said.
Also, Mr Musa Zakari, leader of the NEMA team, said they would conduct thorough assessment of the level of damage in the town and recommend to government on appropriate support to victims.

Card Reader Will Reduce Voting Time – APC

James Abiodun Faleke

APC said on Saturday that if the electronic card reader was properly used during the upcoming elections, it would reduce voting time.

Mr James Faleke, a member of the House of Representatives and Lagos Coordinator of the Buhari /Osinbajo Presidential Campaign Organisation, made the statement at news conference in Lagos.

Faleke said the APC was not afraid of the card reader, describing it as a facility that would eliminate rigging, proxy and multiple-voting.

He advised voters not to give out the number of their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) in exchange for money.

“Nigerians, please stop selling your future and don’t give out the number on your PVCs to anybody.”

The APC stalwart also stressed that the party was against the call for the use of Temporary Voter Cards (TVCs) to vote.

He said that the migration from TVCs to PVCs had detected double registration of more than four million people.

“Those insisting on the use of TVCs have something up their sleeves; we say no to the use of TVCs.

“After all, the PVCs were used in the governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun States,” he said.

Faleke appealed to Nigerians who had not collected their PVCs to get it from their respective wards.

“The voter card is the people’s power that is stronger than the federal might.”

He also appealed to the military not to involve itself in partisan politics but to focus on protection of Nigeria’s territorial integrity.

The campaign coordinator said the armed forces should restrict their involvement to ensuring the safety of Nigerians from external aggression and invasion.

Nigerian Troops Recapture Baga

Nigerian soldiers on patrol in a northern town

Nigeria’s military on Saturday claimed to have recaptured the town of Baga from Boko Haram, more than a month after it was overrun in what is feared to be the worst massacre of its six-year insurgency.
Defence spokesman Chris Olukolade claimed that “a large number of terrorists” drowned in Lake Chad as they tried to flee bombardment from air force jets.
The town, a fishing hub on the shore of Lake Chad in the far north of Borno state, northeast Nigeria, was recaptured on Saturday morning after the assault began the previous day, he added.
There was no independent corroboration of the claim, as thousands of Baga residents had fled the town after Boko Haram attacked on January 3 and hundreds, if not more, were killed in the following days.
Much of the town and 12 surrounding settlements were burnt to the ground.
Boko Haram’s capture of Baga — and a military base used by a multi-national force in nearby Doron Baga — was seen as a strategic coup for the group, giving them control of Borno’s entire border area.
It raised fears of attacks in neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon, whose frontiers converge with Nigeria’s on Lake Chad, but also a possible push south to the state capital, Maiduguri.
– Niger attack –
Nigeria’s military this week announced the recapture of Monguno, a garrison town 65 kilometres (40 miles) from Baga, after ground and air strikes, and a push northeast was expected.
Troops from Nigeria have been joined by soldiers from Niger, Chad and Cameroon in recent weeks as a result of fears about the group’s threat to regional security.
Olukolade said troops had to clear landmines before they were able to storm the town.
“Many of the terrorists died while an unknown but substantial number of them fled with various degrees of injury in the series of encounters along the routes of advance as troops headed for Baga,” he added.
As in Monguno, the military said it seized and destroyed the insurgents’ arsenal, including five anti-aircraft guns and rifles, as well as 34 motorcycles and five vehicles.
A cordon had been thrown around the town and 12 other locations nearby to allow soldiers to track down arms and ammunition as well as catch militants in the vicinity, he added.
Nigeria’s apparent success in Baga came after Boko Haram attacked the village of Karouga near Lake Chad in southeastern Niger on Friday night, killing seven soldiers and losing 14 of its own fighters.
A Chadian security source said Boko Haram members later tried to cross into Chad across the lake but aircraft destroyed their five boats.
More than 13,000 people have been killed and over one million people left homeless since 2009, as the rebels try to carve out an Islamic state in northeastern Nigeria.
Since the attack on Baga, they launched their first raids on Niger and Chad to the north and also intensified assaults on the far northern region of Cameroon to the east.
– French support –
Presidential and parliamentary elections in Nigeria scheduled for February 14 were delayed by six weeks to March 28 because of the multi-national operation against Boko Haram.
Many, though, have viewed as unrealistic the deadline to secure and stabilise the northeast by polling day, to allow those displaced by the violence to return to vote.
Residents of Gamboru, on the border with Cameroon, on Friday returned to their homes for the first time since Chadian troops recaptured it.
“We met a ghost town strewn with burnt vehicles, destroyed buildings and emptied homes,” Kachalla Moduye told AFP by telephone from Fotokol after a two-hour tour of the town.
In a sign of the growing international interest in the conflict, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius began a tour of west African countries involved in the fighting.
In Chad’s capital, N’Djamena, he met President Idriss Deby and praised the country’s contribution but said France did not envision any direct intervention in its former colonies.
Instead, France, which has a military base in N’Djamena, can provide tactical support and “coordination among the countries” as well as intelligence information.

UN ‘ urges ’ Nigeria Not To Postpone Elections Again

UN ‘strongly urges’ Nigeria not to postpone elections again  

United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon strongly urged Nigeria on Friday to avoid another delay in holding elections and expressed concern over election-related violence.
Nigeria pushed back the presidential and legislative polls from February 14 to March 28 because of security fears as the army battles Boko Haram. Regional and parliamentary elections were moved to April 11.
Ban called on Nigeria’s government and the elections commission “to ensure these new dates are maintained,” his spokesman said.
The UN chief urged political leaders to “refrain from inflammatory statements and to immediately condemn any statements from their supporters that amount to an incitement to violence or subversion of the electoral process.”
Ban has sent his special envoy, Mohamed Ibn Chambas, to Abuja for talks on the upcoming elections and efforts to fight Boko Haram.
Led by Chad, countries in the region are putting together an 8,700-strong force to battle the insurgents, but Nigeria has been criticized for its weak response to the violence.
Chambas last week said Nigeria’s military needed to “demonstrate greater resolve” in the fight against Boko Haram.

demolition of burnt Balogun Market

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Lagos begins demolition of burnt Balogun Market

Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State

The Lagos State Government on Friday began the demolition of the three buildings gutted by fire on Jan. 12 at the popular Balogun Market in Central Lagos.

NAN reports that the demolition was being carried out by a firm, Blackrock Construction Company.

Fire gutted the buildings housing about 100 shops and destroyed goods worth millions of naira.

Officials of the company who spoke to NAN on condition of anonymity said that it was the government that gave directive for the buildings to be demolished.

The head of the demolition team who did not state how many days the demolition would take, said that the work would take some time to finish.

Mrs Uju Agunna, a trader who sold clothes in one of the shops gutted, told NAN that she would rent the same place anytime the shops were rebuilt.

“I will like to go back to my shop. I have been in this Balogun for over 15 years so it is difficult for me to go and rent somewhere else.

“We hope that when the demolition exercise is completed the owners can start building. But now I am sharing a shop with my friend as you can see,” Agunna said.

She, however, said that she had to begin retail trading to find her feet again because she lost up to five million naira worth of goods to the fire.

Another victim, Mr Aliu Gbadamosi, said that since his two shops got burnt, he was yet to rent a place to display his wares.

“I have goods worth over N25 million but they are still in a warehouse. I have not been able to sell them since the incident happened in January.

“I borrowed money to import the goods and now it will be difficult for me to pay as at when due.

 

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Pregnant At 18, Best Graduating Student At 25

Seven years after an unwanted pregnancy forced her to drop out of the University of Ilorin, Aishat Farooq emerges the best graduating student of the Bells University of Technology, Ota, Ogun State. When Aishat Farooq gained admission into the University of Ilorin at 15, to study Zoology, little did she know that she was not going to be an alumnus of the institution. That was in 2003. Despite the fact that she was a high flyer in her first two years in UNILORIN, the now 25-year-old indigene of Ilorin West-Local Government Area of Kwara State got distracted along the line. She played the campus love game and got a shocking result: she got pregnant. It was in 2006 and in her third year. She was pregnant for a fellow student whom she had been dating. She was disappointed in herself and thought the whole world was crashing on her. Yet, she vowed not to terminate the pregnancy. Although she wanted to continue her studies in the university, she became disillusioned and dropped out at 18. She sought consolation in trading. But her father, Mr. Shehu Farooq, who believed that his daughter’s academic prowess should not be wasted, was determined to get her back on the academic track. Today, Aishat has a different story to tell. On Saturday, she stood tall among her peers at the 5th convocation ceremony of Bells University, Ota, Ogun State, where she emerged the overall best graduating student with a Cumulative Grade Point Average of 4.93. “The rebel in me won,” she declared while giving the valedictory address on behalf of the 208 graduating students of the university. “I hope my story will inspire at least one person to change his or her circumstance. I was pregnant at 18 and by 19 I was already a mother. I had disappointed my father who believed so much in me. He had such big dreams for me and feared the dreams would become unfulfilled,” she added. Breaking the news of the pregnancy to her father, who was at the time based in the northern part of the country, was not easy. Aishat’s mother, Fatima, who stayed in Lagos with the family, did not break the “sad news” to the man until the lady was almost due. The mum feared her husband would be too angry. Fatima narrated to our correspondent, “Looking back, we knew her to be very brilliant. But all of a sudden she got pregnant. Though her father and I were always discussing on the telephone, I hid it from him. Whenever he said he would be coming to Lagos to visit us, I would quickly chip it in that I would like to be the one to visit. So, I ensured I was the one always visiting him. “That was how I managed the situation until the pregnancy was eight months. But even when we broke the news to him, he felt really bad. Although there was nothing he could do, he couldn’t go out for three days. ”Aishat studied Business Administration with specialisation in Human Resources Management, and received the Vice-Chancellor’s Prize for the Overall Best Graduating Student with a cash reward of N50,000 and a plaque. She also won the College of Management Sciences Prize and Department of Business Administration Prize for the Best Graduating Student. Speaking with our correspondent after she received the awards, Aishat, whose face beamed with smiles, expressed gratitude to her dad for not losing hope in her during her trying time. She noted that the popularly-held notion that the child that goes astray belongs to the mother, while the good ones belong to the father, was not applicable in her situation as her father did not give up on her.

Asked why her dad had so much hoped in her, she stated that her history of academic excellence from childhood right to the university was a major driving force. Aishat, who attended Nazareth Nursery and Primary School, Lagos; Penny International College, Lagos and Model Secondary School, Maitama, Abuja, said she bagged several academic awards while growing up and noted that she secured admission to UNILORIN the same year she completed her secondary education. She noted, “I did exceptionally well and bagged awards in the schools I attended. I had the overall best result at the Senior Secondary School Certificate level at Model Secondary School, Maitama, Abuja. In fact in UNILORIN, I was on the first class grade in my first year but in 200 Level, I dropped to second class upper division because I had already started getting distracted by the boys. “It just happened that things turned out the way it did. But here I am, a product of God’s unending mercies, unconditional love and grace – all coupled with the faith my dad had in me and my fierce determination. “I’m a goal getter. I push myself hard. Even here (BELLSTECH) in spite of being a mother, I was pushing for the best despite the challenges. I wanted to make my dad proud again. Once you are determined, nothing is impossible. Nothing can stop you. ”She said her decision to study Business Administration as against the sciences, which she was studying in UNILORIN, was informed by her two-year experience in the world of business after she dropped out of university. She explained that incessant strikes by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, however, informed her decision to attend a private university. “Age was no longer on my side and I wanted to do it fast. And my dad could afford it because he was a businessman,” she added. Asked if she was involved in any relationship at the Bells, she explained that she was a popular “snob” on campus because the majority of male students were younger than her. Besides, she did not want to get distracted or disappoint her parents and herself again. Aishat, who has been posted to Lagos State to observe the mandatory National Youth Service Corps scheme, said, “If you ask around you will be told that I was a snob. My favourite spot was my room. I rarely went out of the room for social events. I went to mosque. However, when I contested for the president of my departmental association, Business Administration Students Association, the Nigerian system worked against me. “I lost to my male opponent. Although I had plans to take some giant strides if I won, especially in the academic aspect for my fellow students, the fact that I was not the type of person who hangs out worked against me. I didn’t have a social life. ”She said she has no plans for marriage for now. She wants to pursue a master’s degree programme in Human Resources in the University of Aberdeen, Scotland. She added that she also plans to work in a corporate environment to garner experience and afterwards go back to the university to teach “as a way of giving back. ”The second child in a family of eight children, Aishat brought her six-year-old son, Damilola, to the convocation. It was, however, learnt that the Edo State-born father of the boy has since got married to another woman. She noted that her major challenge on campus was the randomness of classes which denied her the opportunity of spending quality time with her son while her stay in the university lasted. “We had visiting professors who came into the campus at anytime. Although we had schedules, many of them had a bit of flexible time. Sometimes on Sunday when I took permission to visit my child in Lagos, my classmates would call me up on the phone that there was going to be a class. Because attendance is very important, I had to rush down. This affected me a little,” she added. Aishat’s father advised parents to give their children and wards the best of tutelage and close monitoring. He noted that he least expected the feat achieved by his daughter as he was at a time disturbed that “she could no longer make it. ”Asked if it was lack of adequate monitoring that made Aishat go astray at UNILORIN, he said, “Let’s just say that is how God wants it. You see, 70 per cent of the fault is on us the parents. Parents should give their children good supervision and tutelage. With this, they cannot derail. I thank God for her because it’s is not easy to have raised her from grass to grace. “I screamed on the phone the day I learnt she was pregnant. I started asking questions: When, where and how. I burst into tears. But today, she is a new being. And I know the mistake will not repeat itself. My expectations for her are that she should fly higher and higher. ”Some other graduands who distinguished themselves were also recognised at the convocation ceremony. Kolawole Lawal, who finished from the Department of Economics with a CGPA of 4.73, received the Olusegun Obasanjo’s Prize for being the best graduating student with outstanding academic performance and leadership qualities. Former President Obasanjo who is the Chief Promoter of the university, also attended the event. Francis Sogunle, from the Department of Computer Science, who had a CGPA of 4.74, received the Chancellor’s Prize for excelling in external competitions of academic nature. At the ceremony, 208 students were awarded first degrees with Aishat and 13 others being conferred with first class degrees, while 64 of them got second class upper degrees; 83 bagged second class lower; just as 43 were awarded third class degrees. Meanwhile four of the graduands finished with pass degrees. The Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof Isaac Adeyemi, charged the graduates to be patriotic and dedicated to nation building. “Our beloved country is currently going through a rather stressful period. All hands must be on deck to seek lasting solutions to militancy and insurgencies and disregard for the rule of law. This is the time to prove your worth as you can’t afford to fold your arms or sit on the fence,” he observed.

By: TEMITAYO FAMUTIMI