Tag: UNICAL

  • No-work-no-pay policy obnoxious, breach of labour laws – ASUU

    No-work-no-pay policy obnoxious, breach of labour laws – ASUU

    By Christian Njoku

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities, (ASUU) on Monday disclosed that the Federal Government’s controversial no-work-no-pay policy was obnoxious and a breach of labour laws.

    The assertion was made by Ms Happiness Uduk, Zonal Coordinator of ASUU, Calabar Zone during a press conference in Calabar.

    Uduk called on the Federal Government to pay without delay, its members their varying months withheld salaries, noting that ASUU, like any other union under International Labour Organisation (ILO) conditions, can use strike as a tool to get its demand.

    She said the 2022 strike was unwillingly suspended on the heels of interventions and promises made both formally and informally by well-meaning Nigerians including Mr Femi Gbajabiamila, the then Speaker of the House of Representatives.

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    “Denying ASUU members their salaries for the period of being on strike and for work that has now been completed is against Labour best practices and is further heightening the already tensed environment.

    “It is clear that the said salaries may not measure a quarter of the then value now and no one sees no reason in not paying us, if it is not part of the grand plan to further pauperized the Nigerian academic.

    “As we speak, there are reports of the payment of two out of the over seven months salaries owed our members, ASUU, therefore unequivocally insist on the total payment of the withheld salaries and en bloc without further delay,” she said.

    Speaking further, Uduk said the Nigerian academic was the worst paid in the world as a professor at bar earns less than 300 dollars adding that even when the draft agreement was put-up, the value of naira to dollar was $120 but today it is $1,500.

    She said the Federal Government had in 2020 promised in a Memorandum of Association, (MOA) signed with the union to mainstream the Earned Academic Allowances (EAA) into the salaries of lecturers, while in 2021, it would pay the backlog.

    She noted that till date no payment was made except that in 2023, a part of it was captured in the national budget for federal universities but not paid.

    “The union hopes that government will not allow disruption of the academic calendar over a matter for which budgetary allocation had been made,” she said.

  • Economic hardship arousing negative, positive creativity in Nigerian students – UNICAL Undergraduate

    Economic hardship arousing negative, positive creativity in Nigerian students – UNICAL Undergraduate

    By Christian Njoku

    Mr Stanislaus Michael, a third year student of Microbiology in the University of Calabar (UNICAL) has disclosed that the present economic hardship in the nation was making students creative both positively and negatively.

    Michael made the assertion in an interview with Paradise News on Tuesday in Calabar while reacting to the economic challenges many students of the institution were going through.

    Paradise News reports that in the last few weeks there have been protests in some states in the nation over the prevailing economic hardship and high cost of foodstuffs and most of the Federal Civil Servant we’re yet to receive their salaries for January.

    The 300 level undergraduate said students were going through difficulties as things such as consumables they used to buy for N100 or N200 had doubled in price to about N400.

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    According to him, cooking has also been made difficult because the prices of gas and kerosene are beyond the reach of average students who can’t afford to buy a kilogram of gas for N1,300.

    He said to survive on campus, many students like himself now take up multiple jobs, as money was no longer forthcoming from parents as it used to, while others look for other means.

    “Today is Monday and about 30 per cent of the girls in the hostels will be coming back from their journeys that they refer to as hustle.

    “Some travel as far as Abuja, Lagos, Kano to meet different clients and their parents are not aware, they only tell their close friends.

    “Come to the hostel on Friday evening, you will see a lot of ladies with their luggages leaving the hostels, some travel very far to return on Monday,” he said.

    He also noted that the present situation had increased extortion in the institution because many offices now extort between M500 and N1,000 from students to rectify student issues even though they receive salaries for these jobs.

    He added that formerly when he called his parents for money, he used to get his response in hours but in the current situation, it take his parents, sometimes a month before they listen to him.

    Similarly, Miss Gladys Amadi a final year students of Medical Laboratory Science (MedLab) said things had been difficult for her with the recent increase in school fees, other payments in school and the harsh economic reality.

    “My parents try their best when they can and I have received assistance from some really kind persons.

    “Also, by God’s mercies I started a little business of producing peanut in school which is helping to offset some of the bills but I must confess, things are really hard,” she maintained.

  • UNICAL holds first solemn assembly in 2024

    UNICAL holds first solemn assembly in 2024

    By Christian Njoku

    The University of Calabar (UNICAL), on Monday held its first solemn assembly for the year 2024 to herald a new academic session.

    Speaking at the service, held at the institution’s International Conference Centre on the theme “walk with me oh Lord”, Prof. Florence Obi, Vice Chancellor of UNICAL said the essence of the service was to hand the institution over to God.

    Obi said although it had become a tradition to seek God’s blessings at the beginning of every semester and session, there was a need for staff and students to personalize the theme of the service.

    “I thank God for sparing the lives of staff and students, I however charge you to continue to uphold the good name of the university which indicates the intention of the institution to walk with God and align with his ways.

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    “I also commend the Guest Speaker for accepting the invitation to share God’s precious words with the institution,” she said.

    Speaking on the theme of the event, the Guest Speaker, Rev. Fr. Francis Eworo,  said that God was ever prepared to walk with any individual or community if they were not distant from him.

    Eworo who focused his message on the book of Isaiah chapter one said for the walk to be enabled, men must repent of their sins, renounce evil, and turn back to God, changing their minds and direction.

    He described many assemblies of humans today as those in the days of Prophet Isaiah in Israel which were simply religious but did not know God.

    “Many worship assemblies are breeding rebellion and have become detestable to God.

    “I call on all staff and students to begin a needful walk with God, listen to and enjoy his company, align with his will and consequently produce much Christian fruit from their lives,” the clergyman said.

    The solemn assembly which was well attended by the the institution’s principal officers also had staff, student and a team of clergymen who officiated the service.

  • Our policies not meant to inflict pain – UNICAL VC

    Our policies not meant to inflict pain – UNICAL VC

    By Christian Njoku

    Prof. Florence Obi, Vice Chancellor (VC) of the University of Calabar, (UNICAL) has disclosed that the policies introduced by management of the institution were not meant to inflict pain on Students or staff.

    Obi made the remark at the UNICAL Chapel of Redemption, Calabar, during the first Sunday of the year service.

    The VC who was reacting to the recent increase of school fee in the institution said whatever policy they took at the management level was to ensure that the school and its students stood at par with other universities.

    She said the increase in fee may have affected the students and parents financially with the hard times being witnessed in the nation, it was not to punish anyone.

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    “We had to do it because that is the only way we can make UNICAL at least be at par with other universities.

    “Our pride is that when we go out and people are talking about universities, UNICAL should be seen as a credible institution and not just to be used for negative examples.

    “I admit that it has not been easy running this institution because some people don’t want change, however, any decision we take is for the good of the institution and not for personal interest,” she said.

    She added that as an administration, they remained focused in driving the university to the right direction and would not be derailed.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the management of UNICAL after an emergency meeting on Dec. 1 approved the adjustment of charges paid by students, a move which was rejected by the students, causing massive protest on Monday Dec. 4.

  • Make sacrifices too in 2024, UNICAL don urges Nigerian politicians

    Make sacrifices too in 2024, UNICAL don urges Nigerian politicians

    By Christian Njoku

    Prof. Grace Etuk, Head of Department, (HOD) Social Works in the University of Calabar, (UniCal) has called on Nigerian politicians to make sacrifices too in 2024.

    Etuk made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, (NAN) on Monday in Calabar.

    It would be recalled that President Bola Tinubu had earlier on Monday in his Presidential Address called on Nigerians to be hopeful and work better for the good of the nation.

    She said it was not enough to ask ordinary Nigerians to sacrifice adding that leaders of the nation must be sensitive to the plight of Nigerians.

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    “Sometimes our leaders should leave their hallowed chambers and do their day’s works on the streets of Lagos, Calabar or any city for that matter and see the plight of ordinary Nigerians.

    “They should also be paid N50,000 or the N30,000 minimum wage monthly and see how that will carry them for the month, this should make them see clearly the clear picture of how Nigerians are surviving.

    “It is time for Nigerian leaders to  pick a que from some leaders in the western world by leaving too many cars, allowances and other unnecessary luxury for the good of the nation and ordinary Nigerians,” she said.

    She said though she was no prophet of doom, Nigerians must be prepared for the worst in 2024, although she expects them to be hopeful too that things get better.

    Nigerians should also draw close and work with God to help pull the nation through its present economic challenges.

  • UNICAL Fee Increment: Embrace Dialogue, Protest Isn’t The Best Option – C’River NYCN Chair

    UNICAL Fee Increment: Embrace Dialogue, Protest Isn’t The Best Option – C’River NYCN Chair

     

    By Kelvin Obambon

    Chairman of the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), Cross River State Chapter, Comrade Dan Obo Jnr, has called on both management and students of the University of Calabar, UNICAL, to embrace dialogue in resolving issues emanating from the increment of school fee in the tertiary educational institution.

    Obo who made the call in Calabar on Wednesday during an interactive session with journalists, said that protest should only be considered the last option in a situation where the university management fails to grant audience to the students leadership on how best to resolve complaints accompanying the school fee increment.

    He said the NYCN as an umbrella body for youths in the state was very much concern about the peace and tranquility in the state, hence it would not get itself involved in any form of protest capable of disturbing the peace in the capital city, especially now that the Calabar Carnival is around the corner.

    The NYCN Chairman said given the level of hardship, hunger and desperation in the land, a protest like the one embarked upon by a section of students in the University of Calabar could easily be hijacked by miscreants to perpetrate looting and destruction of properties within and outside the school environment.

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    “This media interface has to do with the recent school fee increase in UNICAL and the after effect and possibly the security threat to our state. Every time we try to talk about crisis within the state we first take is that when you do a protest it will be hijacked, whether you like it or not. We did a protest within Calabar Municipality and it was hijacked, so if you do a protest within Calabar South you are in serious trouble.

    “As someone who had the opportunity to go through that level of education, if anything happens the students will be the ones to pay for the damage. For example, if you do protest in Ekpo Abasi and the youths in Ekpo Abasi now enter into Crutech and loot, at the end of the day those who are students in that school will pay whatever damage the school encounter in their various school fees.

    “Security report getting to us is that people are even calling students and encouraging them to go and protest. They are calling them to say that the school fee increase doesn’t make sense, to the extent that people want students from Unicross to come and protest in the activities of UNICAL. The SUG president seems to be very handicap. How about NACRISS, that’s the umbrella body of Cross River State students? The reality here is that UNICAL is a federal institution, so if you go into UNICAL you will see other states student union bodies there. It’s not like a school where you go and it’s totally Cross Riverians.

    “For me, first I believe that protest is not an option. The best option is to see how there could be dialogue because when school fees is increased, the highest you can do is to demand for reduction. But you do not have the right to say it cannot be increased anymore. And if you look at the present economic situation, you will also discover that… Some have also said that every year the present Vice Chancellor increases school fees.

    “As I sit here, I belong to a national platform where virtually activity of every state is being dropped. I can tell you as at today that about 6, 7 universities have also increase school fees. We cannot continue to talk about leadership from bottom-top approach. It is time we begin to look at area that even make laws, as regards people governing us. They are also asking some youths to go through protest. If you put all of these together, it’s beginning to be political. And so when the destruction happens, it becomes a Cross River State destruction.

    “I’ve also been asked too to be part of protest as a youth leader of the state that it doesn’t make sense to increase school fees, and I said no. That’s not an option. Rather they should strengthen the student union government whose responsibility it is to negotiate for students in campus. So they can get involve and possibly be sure that there’s a dialogue.

    “As an umbrella body for the young people, any youth who goes out to do protest within our name, we will say no. Even when you try to do something that carries our image and we are not comfortable with it we must rise up to say no. We are not in support of protest. Even people who are in government, whether in the executive or legislative arm, it is not necessary to encourage people to go and do protest.

    “To even start with, as representative how many scholarship do we have? As representative how many education programmes do we have? As representative how many of our students are going outside to study? Between you and I you can also not take away the fact that there’s some level of both infrastructure and academic that’s getting better in UNICAL,” he said.

  • United Nations Appoints Former UNICAL Lecturer As Turkey Resident Coordinator

    United Nations Appoints Former UNICAL Lecturer As Turkey Resident Coordinator

     

    The United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, has appointed a former lecturer at the University of Calabar (UNICAL), Mr. Babatunde Ahonsi as the United Nations resident coordinator in Turkey.

    Ahonsi who was a lecturer at the University of Calabar between 1987 and 1988, has 26 years of experience in international development acquired inside and outside the United Nations system.

    Prior to his current appointment, he served as the UN Resident Coordinator in Sierra Leone where he coordinated and facilitated the UN’s operational activities for development in the country.

    According to the world body, “During his tenure he has led the UN country team and ensured system-wide accountability on the ground for the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework.

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    “He has also coordinated UN support to Sierra Leone in its implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the UN Secretary General’s Prevention Agenda.

    “Prior to this, he served UN Resident Coordinator a.i. in China from June-September 2020.

    “In addition, he served as UNFPA Representative in China/Country Director for Mongolia from January 2017 to June 2020, and as UNFPA Representative in Ghana from 2014-2016.

    “Between 1997 and 2014, he held senior management positions with the Ford Foundation (covering West Africa) and Population Council (covering Nigeria) overseeing reproductive health, women’s empowerment, and youth development programmes and initiatives. He had also lectured at federal universities in Ilorin, Calabar, and Lagos, Nigeria during the 1980s and 1990s.”

    Ahonsi holds a BSc (First Class Honors) degree in Sociology from the University of Lagos, Nigeria; and a Ph.D in Population Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science, University of London, England.

  • UNICAL Alumni President Speaks On Secretariat, Homecoming, Students’ Loan, Others

    By Frank Ulom

    The President of the University of Calabar, UNICAL Alumni Association, Prof. Yakubu Aboki Ochefu has shed light on the association’s secretariat, the homecoming event to Mark the 50th anniversary of the university and the current students’ loan policy by the President Bola Tinubu-led administration.

    Ochefu, who is a Professor of Economic History at the Benue State University, Makurdi, x-rayed all of these and others in an interview with newsmen on Sunday (26th Nov. 2023) in Calabar, adding that the association’s elections would be conducted in the first quarter of 2024.

    Prof. Ochefu who is also a former Vice-Chancellor and the current Secretary General of the Committee of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities backed the fight against randy lecturers, disclosed the achievements of the UNICAL Alumni Association and its role in the development of the university as well as proposed a database for the association.

    “The National Executive Council of the University of Calabar National Alumni Association held its council meeting on Saturday (25th Nov. 2023) and we took several decisions which we felt it was most important to share with members of the University of Calabar Alumni worldwide, and of course the general public.

    “The National Executive Council of the Alumni Association by our constitution comprises of the board of trustees. The board of trustees is led by a gentleman known as Rt. Hon. Bright Omokhodion, who was the former Commissioner and former speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly. It also comprises the National Executive Committee of which I’m the National President, and the chapter chairmen, secretaries and one delegate. At this meeting we had, 20 chapter chairmen and delegates came from all over Nigeria.

    “Statutorily, the council is the second highest organ of the Alumni Association. The highest organ is the annual general meeting. When the National Executive Council meets we review some of our presentations and then take decisions that will end up as the agenda for the annual general meeting which should have come up this year, but as a result of a number of meetings and circumstances, some of which had to do with the fact that the national elections that we had in March/April this year disrupted some of our planning so we were not able to hold that elections. We are now scheduling the elections for the first quarter of 2024.

    “Some of the decisions we took at this meeting will now be presented to the annual general meeting and they will now direct accordingly. The activities started with a courtesy call on the directorate of alumni relations, Prof. Okom, who then ushered us to pay a courtesy call to the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Florence Obi, during which we raised a number of issues bothering the type of communication that comes out of the University of Calabar which we felt that it more often portray the university in bad light. We believe that the University of Calabar has so many good stories to tell. We know this but we don’t hear it on state and national media. So we believe that it was important for her to look at her communication unit to see the reasons why the University of Calabar is in the news for the wrong reasons and not the right reasons. There are bad universities in Nigeria but they don’t make the type of headline news that the University of Calabar makes.

    “For example, the University of Calabar has a lot of award winners both locally and internationally. We don’t hear of these award winners. We have a lot of Alumni of the University of Calabar and researchers who have patents, inventions and who are adding value to both local and global economies. They are not documented. There’s a gentleman from the University of Calabar who recently entered the Guinness Book of Record on a writing hackathon, and the type of publicity that he got was just very pedestrian. What is the communication unit doing about it? All that we hear is that the University of Calabar has randy professors whose level of moral tepidity is so high and it’s in the news on a daily basis. We have an engineering programme that has been vitiated. These are the type of news that would be on the airwaves on a daily basis much more than many of the good things that are coming out of the University of Calabar. We are not saying if bad news emanates it should not be carried, but we are saying that this should also be matched with some of the fantastic things that are happening in this university that are not being communicated to the general public. That’s the point I was trying to make.

    “We also commended the Vice Chancellor for the effort she’s making in sanitising some of these issues. The way the university came out head-on to tackle the issue of sex scandal in the faculty of law. We all stood up and supported the university. How many of Professor Ndifons are in the system and the system should not harbour any of such persons? The Alumni Association was brought into the picture as part of the committee that was set up to investigate this matter. And now that the ICPC has taken over the matter we are hoping that the accusations of complicity and witch-hunting will be put to rest.

    “We also congratulated her on the effort she has made to sanitise the transcript administration of the university. Our alumni members used to feel very bad that transcript applications used to be very horrendous at the university. But in recent times we now have a situation that if you apply for a transcript you can get a copy of your transcript within 48 hours. She then explained to us that the challenge they now have is the legacy transcripts. The University of Calabar is about 40 years old so for those of us who graduated several years ago our papers have not been digitised, so those ones take a while to come. But if you graduated a few years ago your records would probably be digitised so you will now get your documents back.

    “We also raised the issue of synergy between the alumni association with the alumni office because at times we don’t seem to be on the same page in terms of synergising our efforts and relationships, and it creates the impression that we are not working together. The Alumni Association is there to support the Alma Mater to meet some of its fundamental objectives, and we carry the cross of the university because it’s our university and we don’t have any other university. We will support them.

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    “And of course, we told her that we were planning an AGM for the first quarter of next year and we are also planning a homecoming for the first quarter of next year. In her response, she said that in 2025 the University of Calabar is going to be 50 years old and there were plans to celebrate their 50th anniversary. So it will make more sense for us to have a grand homecoming, celebrating that 50 rather than do a homecoming in 2024 and then do another one in 2025, which was presented to the National Council of State and was accepted. The National Council of State also constituted an electoral committee to elect new executives into the National Executive Committee. A 5-man committee was inaugurated to plan for the election that will take place in the first quarter of next year, probably March or April. That’s basically what transpired at our National Executive Council meeting that held yesterday,” Ochefu told newsmen.

    What is it that thing you could not achieve and would want the next administration to achieve?

    “We came into office with a strategic plan. And in that strategic plan, we itemised a number of things that we wanted to do. But one of the things that stuck out as a sore thorn that we could not achieve, that will be transitioning to the incoming executive, would be that of the alumni secretariat. We inherited an alumni secretariat that had collapsed and we put in a mechanism to see how we could redesign that building and finish it. We did the complete redesign of the building but as at the time we were now trying to put resources together to start the reconstruction, prices began to skyrocket and the economy took a downturn. For me, that will be the biggest disappointment that we will be handing over to the incoming administration.”

    What is the thing that got you most excited as an achievement?

    “The thing that got me most excited was the fact that we were able to reconcile the factions of the alumni association that we inherited. You will recall that when we were elected there were a number of chapters that did not participate in the reconciliation effort under the Vice Chancellorship of Prof. Zana Akpagu. When we were sworn in, we took the mandate and said let’s go and reconcile because we are one family. There’s no need to have two factions. We went and engaged with the aggrieved factions and we were able to bring them back to the fold and harmonise the various executives. So we now have one national body without any faction. That now enables us to host the conference of the Alumni Association of Nigerian Universities.

    “The first quarter meeting of that conference we were able to host at the University of Calabar and put us on a super platform to be able to contest for the National Chairmanship of the Conference of Alumni Association of Nigerian Universities. The Conference of Alumni Association of Nigerian Universities is a 31-year-old body that houses all the chairmen of alumni associations from all the member universities in Nigeria. In December last year, we went into that election and the University of Calabar was able to secure the chairmanship position. This is to show you that our efforts at reconciling our differences and adding value to the work we are doing, we’ve been able to escalate it to national level and we are now providing leadership for other alumni associations in Nigeria.”

    In what way has the alumni contributed to the development of the university?

    “The University of Calabar Alumni Association has been part and parcel of the university’s development for a very long time. If you ask me as a person, I will say we are not there yet in terms of the quantum of institutional support that the alumni association has been able to provide to the university, but we have done our own bit, individually and collectively.

    “As you are aware, what we now have as the engineering programme of the University of Calabar, started as an alumni project under the auspices of the current senate president, when he was the governor of Akwa Ibom state. He was the one who provided the seed grant that started that project. A number of laboratories have been commissioned by the members of the alumni association. Between the alumni association as a body, and between our members who aggregate around chapters, and who aggregate around graduating classes, there’s practically no month that we don’t do one thing or the other for the university. So we broke the thing down into manageable units. You don’t need to have a million naira before you support your alma mater. Your class of ’86 can come together and identify a project, and say this class of ’86 this is what we want to do.

    “For example, as we were going round yesterday we passed through hall 2 and we saw the condition which hall 2 was in. I told my roommate who was with me in hall 2 in 1980. Then it was a hostel reserved for medical students. I told him that those of us who lived in Hall 2 for that period of time should put together a platform so that we can come together and raise money at least paint Hall 2 so that it will be our own contribution to the hostel that we stayed in. Things like that are some of the things that we do both at the national level and individual and class levels.”

    How many chapters do you have and what’s the numerical strength of the alumni?

    “We’ve been rebuilding and developing the database of the alumni. The records have been a bit of a challenge for us to compile but it has been a work in progress. We have a current database. Part of that database we insisted that it should have a registration number and a lot of people can’t remember their registration number. We didn’t want someone to come say I’m an alumnus of UNICAL without trying it with an identifier. We are going to put together something in the neighbourhood of about 42,000 persons that are on the current database that is being managed by the alumni directorate. We currently have 36 chapters nationwide in the six geopolitical zones. The northwest geopolitical zone has the least number of chapters with only one chapter in Kaduna which is not a very active chapter.

    “The northwest geopolitical zone has two chapters – Wukari and Jalingo. While the north-central geopolitical zone has chapters in Benue, Nasarawa, FCT. We have chapters in the southwest, south and the southeast. Our constitution provides for diaspora chapters. We have not been very lucky in having a very strong diaspora chapter. We have a vice president for the diaspora, who has started getting the members to meet together. Had about three virtual meetings on Zoom. It hasn’t functioned seamlessly the way we wanted. It’s still a work in progress, but locally in Nigeria, we have these chapters that I’ve mentioned. We don’t have chapters outside West Africa or Africa as the case may be. These are the two situations we have.”

    Are you satisfied with the strength, like the number you have?

    “No, we are not satisfied with the number. As I said, it is still a work in progress. The thing about alumni is that you need to have milestone events to engage them. By the time we are celebrating our 50th anniversary, we should be able to be celebrating with maybe a hundred thousand alumni on our database. We will give ourselves that target and then work assiduously towards that, and then let the whole members know that UNICAL is going to be 50 and you cannot miss being part of that celebration and making your own contribution to your alma mater. We have like about 12 generations of graduates. I belong to the third generation so you can see the gap. Some of the people who are in UNICAL now qualify to be my grandchildren. The important thing is that we are all part of one big family and we need to come together and support our alma mater.”

    How can one register for the alumni?

    “There’s a lacuna in the whole process and that has to do with the fact that when you come for convocation, you take the oath of office and you are formally sworn into the association. So if you don’t come for the convocation, that particular aspect of the transition from being a student to being an alumnus doesn’t quite happen. It’s something that we really need to work on. What students actually remember is that they are paying N2,000 as part of their clearance for the alumni association and then nothing happens thereafter.

    “You are supposed to pay that N2,000 when you come for the convocation you are sworn into the alumni association, and then the chapters that are available in the domain where you work or live are now presented to you and you will now choose. For example, in Calabar we have two chapters – we have a chapter called the Nest Chapter that’s based in the university that targets graduates of the university who are working in the university. Then we have the Calabar chapter which takes care of other persons. If you graduate and you are sent to do national service in Makurdi for example, you can now engage with the Makurdi chapter. If you go to Abuja you will engage with the Abuja chapter. If you are in Ikom, Cross River, you will engage with the Ikom chapter.”

    On the student loan, what is your take?

    “This is a very interesting question. What Nigerians don’t remember is that the Student Loan Act is not new. We had student loans in this country in the 70s. And the whole concept is to support indigent persons to acquire post-secondary education. Over time, the issue of cost-sharing of university education became a sore point for us stakeholders. How much does it cost the federal government to deliver a university education to a student in the faculty of medicine? How much of the cost does the student bear? That conversation kept going back and forth in relation to the financial autonomy of the university and the major source of funding of that university.

    “Now the federal government, for the past 40 years has said the cost of tuition fees which constitute about 70 percent of the cost of university education is borne by the federal government and taken away from the families. So parents and their students will pay the associated cost, not the cost of tuition – what universities refer to as charges, accommodation, registration, stationery, health, insurance, sports and all those other charges. That has been in play.

    “This government has now come up and said now look, we know that universities are struggling with funding, we are still going to maintain a tuition-free regime. But in terms of the associated cost, the universities are free to charge what the economy creates to be able to provide those services. In the event that the students cannot meet that cost, we are going to provide a loan for the students to be able to meet that obligation. That was how this new student loan act was repackaged based on the experience of the past I have presented.

    “When it came out. We looked at it and said no. As presented, this will not fly because the condition precedent for you to access the loan is faulty. The time frame for repaying the loan is also faulty. The wording of the act in terms of what constitutes who is qualified to take the loan is also faulty because in one breath it says you have to be an undergraduate student to enjoy that loan. In another breath, it said you have to be a fresh student to take the loan. That is, it’s your admission letter that qualifies you to take the loan. So I take the loan as a fresh student and then I go into my second year and my fundamentals changed, it means that I can no longer access the loan. Or I am a third-year student that I have been paid all this while, but in my third year my status changed and then I can no longer take the loan, what happens to me? So we felt that it was important for them to take that act back and review it so that all the stakeholders can make inputs before it can now qualify to be a proper loan for indigent students who may need it to augment their costs.

    “As I said, this associated cost, beyond the hostel, the sports, exams and all those other fees you pay, there’s also the living cost, which most times we don’t talk about. The food, the toiletries, the data and all those things are costs that you must pay for if you are in the university. When you aggregate all that together it comes to a substantial amount that students or parents must also look for means to pay. Either way, it works out to support. We enjoyed scholarships when we were in school. We enjoyed bursaries. Local governments supported their students. University education should be such that if you have an admission there must be somebody somewhere who will help you to bear that cost because it’s an expensive cost. So it’s either you get a scholarship from any of the NGOs, and if you can’t get it from them, then you fall back to a loan. This is what happens all over the world. And I think this government has done well. It’s just that the loan was hurriedly packaged and it did not quite meet the best standard of this type of loan.”

  • NUGA 2026: Mascot design winner to earn N150,000 says UniCal, MediaVision Limited

    NUGA 2026: Mascot design winner to earn N150,000 says UniCal, MediaVision Limited

    The University of Calabar, (UniCal) in partnership with MediaVision Limited has disclosed that the winner of the mascot design competition for the Nigeria Universities Games Association, (NUGA), 2026, would go home with N150,000.

    The revelation which was made in a meeting between the sports marketing company and UniCal on Friday in Calabar also noted that the first and second runners-up will get N100,000 and N50,000 respectively.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the biennial sporting events for universities would be hosted by the University of Jos, (UniJos) in 2024 and UniCal in 2026.

    Speaking at the meeting, Prof. Florence Obi, Vice Chancellor of UniCal said they were partnering with MediaVision to raise funds to host the best NUGA games ever in the nation’s history.

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    She said UniCal hosted the NUGA games over 30 years ago and wants to re-enact that history by hosting the games in 2026 by starting early.

    “Towards the end of 2024, a team from NUGA will be coming to the institution to inspect our facilities to see the state of our preparedness.

    “And from what they told us earlier, if we are not ready, the hosting right will be given to another university, Obafemi Awolowo University, (OAU) to be precise and we don’t want that.

    “We can’t wait to see things being put in place, we want to start a number of things, so, I urge MediaVision to go all out and help us market NUGA 2026 and raise funds to help us host the best games,” she said.

    On his part, Mr Fela Bank-Olemoh, Co-founder of MediaVision Limited said they are confident of working with UniCal to put together a wonderful NUGA games come 2026.

    Bank-Olemoh said they would do all they need to do to ensure that the resources needed to get the facilities ready for the effective hosting of the games are made available.

    According to him, the mascot design competition will be open to only UniCal Students and would run from Nov. 9 to Dec. 7, 2023.

    “The mascot will have to speak to this competition and will be created by a student of UniCal because it will be thrown open to them.

    “While the mascot will be used to drive everything for the competition, we will also have student ambassadors and social media influencers to continue to create awareness of the games both within the school and beyond.”

  • PIND Opens Peace Club in UNICAL, Trains Students on Peace, Conflict Resolution

    By Frank Ulom

    Partnership Initiative in the Niger Delta (PIND) Foundation has opened a Peace Club at the University of Calabar (UNICAL), Calabar, Cross River State, to help foster peace and resolve conflicts in the nation.

    During the opening of the PIND’s UNICAL Peace Club on Thursday (12 Oct. 2023), Dr Chukwudi Njoku, Capacity Building Coordinator for PIND Foundation’s Peace Building Programme said the capacity-building programme is to help in conflict resolution and promote peaceful coexistence.

    He said the Foundation is fully registered and focuses on peacebuilding and economic development.

    Njoku further noted that the Foundation has programmes and activities that improve the livelihood of residents of the Niger Delta and improve peace in the region because there can not be economic development if peace does not prevail.

    According to him, “We have come to the University of Calabar today to inaugurate the UNICAL Peace Club, we hope to build the capacity of UNICAL students in the peace-building practice and process. The students will form part of our peace-building network. They will join our network of peacebuilders and contribute their own quarter as peacebuilders, especially within the university system.”

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    On her part, Dr Violet Eneyor, Patron of PIND Peace Club UNICAL said the Club is to bring students together, and ensure that they are peaceful on campus and exhibit the character of honest and peaceful people both in and outside the campus environment.

    “We want to build the capacity of the youths to make them self-reliant and have what to do and help in resolving conflict,” Eneyor said.

    Some of the Peace Club’s new executives expressed confidence in the initiative and gave further insight into the programme, stating their commitment to peacebuilding.

    The newly inaugurated executives are Carah Fred Effiom as President, Eze Emmanuel Eni as Vice President, Delphine Okunum as Secretary and Amarachi Chidiebere as Public Relations Officer.

    They averred that the initiative will bring and promote peaceful co-existence amongst communities and help them to preempt imminent conflict situations.

    The event was graced by the varsity staff, students, lovers of peace, the media and others.