Friday 30 June 2017

BORNO: Approves N50million for trenches to be dug around the University of Maiduguri

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The Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, has approved N50 million for the digging of trenches and building of sand hills around the University of Maiduguri as a means of averting further attacks by Boko Haram, an official said.

According to a statement issued by Mr. Shettima’s spokesperson, Isa Gusau, the trench will go round the 27km radius of the university’s landmass.
The university has since January this year become a major target of Boko Haram suicide bombers who usually sneak into the premises, mostly at night to detonate bombs.
A number of persons, including a renowned professor of veterinary medicine, were killed in the attacks
“Governor Shettima announced that he was releasing the fifty million naira not only to fund the digging exercise but also to support payment of allowances to special guards drawn from local vigilantes who are to work with the military in policing porous areas”, said the spokesperson.
“The trenches are being designed to make it impossible for insurgents to drive into the university and also create difficulty for insurgents to cross on foot while the military will take advantage of being at the top to neutralise insurgents.
“Even though the University is a Federal institution, it was also part of Borno Government’s responsibility to intervene in securing lives and preventing the desire of insurgents to force the close down of the school,” Mr. Shettima was quoted as saying in the statement.
The university’s staff unions, including lecturers and students, had on ‎Wednesday accused the federal government of not doing enough to protect the institution.The Acting Vice Chancellor of the university, Aliyu Shugaba, who on Wednesday conducted Mr. Shettima round the scenes where suicide attacks were carried out on Sunday night, expressed delight at the governor’s intervention.
The university has put up a request of N2.8 billion to the federal government to enable it fund the erection of perimeter fence round the exposed portions of the school. That proposal has not been granted, further fuelling the unions’ angst.
Mr. Gusau said the governor also held a meeting with all the security heads in the state as well as those in charge of internal security at the university, where measures of improving the university’s security were discussed.
“The meeting agreed to contribute armed personnel from the Army, local vigilante, guards with the University in addition to erecting additional points for distance surveillance and night vision surveillance gadgets.”
The Borno Police Commissioner, Damian Chukwu, who was part of the meeting, reportedly gave assurance that more police officers would be deployed to the varsity to beef up surveillance around the campus.

Police refuses to set up post at the University of Maiduguri despite Boko Haram attacks

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The Police Command in Borno on Thursday ruled out the possibility of setting up police post at University of Maiduguri, UNIMAID, following increased suicide bombings by suspected Boko Haram terrorists.

There have been at least eight suicide attacks on the university in the past five months.
The Commissioner of Police in the state, Damian Chukwu, stated the stance of the police in
an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Maiduguri.
you will have set up a difficult precedence.
security arrangements in the university.



Mr. Chukwu was reacting to calls for the police to move and checkmate the activities of the bombers at the institution.
He explained that setting up police posts in the institution would create difficult precedence for other universities to follow.
He added that “let me say here that once you establish a police post in UNIMAID,
“This is because every other university would want the police to set up posts in their campuses too.
“It is not the universities; even other tertiary institutions would want such posts established in their campuses.”He, however, said the police had been collaborating with the university outfit to ensure security at the campus.
He explained that “originally, the university security outfit had been in charge of
“But since January when we started having suicide bomb attacks, we injected some security agents, including policemen and the military into the system.”
The police boss said that the action initially paid off as it led to reduction of suicide bomb attacks in the university.
He, however, added that with the renewed attacks, the police and other security agencies had worked out plans to put an end to the bombings.
He said that “very soon these incidences of suicide bombings would be a thing of the past, I can assure you.
“The arrangement we are making now is such that it will be difficult for any miscreant or bomber to gain access into the university,” Mr. Chukwu said.
Becky Edubi, a female staff of the university was killed after multi suicide bomb attacks last Sunday.
Two other staff were injured during the attack.
An earlier attack led to the death of a professor of veterinary medicine in the university.
The university staff and students on Wednesday accused the federal government of not doing enough to prevent Boko Haram attacks in the institution.The staff and students’ unions gave various reasons for their stance including the non-approval by the federal government of N2.8 billion requested by the university authority to procure modern security equipment to stop Boko Haram from executing “greater attacks” on the campus.

Jailed for life! Vice-principal after raping 12-year-old stdent

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A High Court in Ado Ekiti has sentenced to life imprisonment a former Vice Principal of St. Mary’s Girls Grammar School, Ikole-Ekiti, Taiwo Ajayi, after finding him guilty of raping a 12-year-old in 2014.

The court said Mr. Ajayi committed the offence against Section 31(2) of the Child Rights Law of Ekiti State 2012.
The convict was the Vice Principal (Academics) at the time he committed the offence on March 18, 2014.
Mr. Ajayi reportedly lured the girl into his office, locked the door from behind and raped her on the table while covering her mouth with a piece of cloth.
A teacher had knocked on the door while Mr. Ajayi was carrying out the act, but he refused to open the door, and warned his victim not to tell anybody.
Two of the school teachers were, however, said to have forced the door open after 30 minutes and caught Mr. Ajayi in the very act.
Delivering the judgment, Justice Oluwatoyin Abodunde held that the prosecution had proved the case beyond every reasonable doubt on the strength of evidence placed before the court.
The prosecution was led by A.E. Arogundade of the Ministry of Justice while the defence was led by Sule Longe.The convict was first arraigned in court on October 14, 2016 and he pleaded not guilty to the charge.
“The cases of child defilement has been on the increase lately and to serve as a deterrent to others, my view is that the punishment stipulated by the lawmakers was deliberate to deter the offence and protect the right to dignity of the child,” the judge said.
“The defence counsel is pleading for leniency and praying for fine instead of the due punishment. My question is: who pays the victim for the lifetime scar of the trauma and torture of rape.
“I am unable to deviate from the provisions of the law in this instant. The defendant is found guilty as charged and sentenced to life imprisonment.”
The prosecution called eight witnesses including a medical practitioner from the State University Teaching Hospital, police officers who investigated the case, two other pupils and a teacher in the school.
Exhibits tendered include a medical report, statement of the accused, report of the panels set up by the school authorities and Teaching Service Commission, medical report from the police clinic, statement of the victim, among others.
The two panels set up to investigate the matter indicted Mr. Ajayi which led to his suspension from service after which he was arrested and arraigned to face the charge.

OAU students fight over N2.5 million bus scandal

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The students of Obafemi Awolowo University on Thursday engaged themselves in a free for all over controversies surrounding the purchase of a bus worth N2.5 million by the Students Union.
Trouble had been brewing since the union acquired the bus under controversial circumstances. The bus was to be used as a commercial tr‎ansport shuttle around the university.
The union’s Financial Secretary, Omisakin Kehinde, claimed that the bus was purchased for N2.9 million but this did not tally with the actual value of N2.5 million written on the receipt.
The union had to change their narration on the purchase upon the discovery, accepting that it paid only N2.5 million for the bus.
The President of the union, Oyekan Ibukun, called a congress on Thursday, following the demand of students asking to be addressed on the issues.
He was however ruffled when it was demanded that he step aside from presiding over the congress in view of the allegations against his leadership.
Mr. Ibukun rebuffed the move, resulting in a fight among the students.
The students fought in different locations within the campus, while Mr. Ibukun was beaten up with his clothes torn in shreds.The wild fight could not be curtailed by the university’s security team, as they watched helplessly the parade of the union president by students who accused him of fraud in the bus purchase.
“Lots of aberration have been committed by the president and I am not even aware of the bus scandal. Iwas not notified before the bus was bought,” the Speaker of the Students Representative Council, Falaye Tope, said, while reacting to the crisis.
“I am not responsible for the crisis. It is beyond me, as you can see, I have not intervened in it all.”
The president and the speaker had been at loggerheads before the incident.
Attempts to speak with the president was not successful as the students union security council members whisked him away in the middle of the uproar.
The University Public Relations officer,Olarewaju Abiodun’s phone line also failed to connect as at the time of filing this report.

Wednesday 28 June 2017

JAMB: Printing of exam slips for mop-up examination to commence on Wednesday

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The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, has directed candidates for mop-up examination to print their examination slip on June 28.
The JAMB spokesperson, Fabian Benjamin, said this in a statement on Wednesday.
Over 85,000 candidates are scheduled to sit for the mop-up examination following late registration and infractions by some candidates during the last examination.
The rescheduling of the examination is also for candidates who had biometric non-verification machine related issues, technical and log out issues, late registration, malfunctioning of servers at the centre and incomplete results.
Mr. Benjamin said the candidates slated for the mop-up examination scheduled to hold on July 1 nationwide are to visit the board’s website on www.jamb.org.ng to print the e-slip or create their profiles.
“JAMB appeals to rescheduled candidates to be of good conduct and good ambassadors as they pass through this vital phase to attain greatness.”
The examination body said it has deployed all necessary logistics to ensure a hitch-free examination.