Low UTME cut-off mark for admission into universities is making northern youths lazy – Governor El-Rufai

 

Governor Nasir El-Rufai has averred that the low cut-off marks needed for admission into northern universities via the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) is making northern youths ‘lazy’.

 

The Kaduna state Governor who said this during the plenary session on “Rethinking Sub-National Competitiveness” at the ongoing Nigerian Economic Summit, stated that even though many think JAMB is building the nation with different cut-off mark for different states, they are however dividing it.

 

El-Rufai also rhetorically asked if the North has caught up with people from other regions even though JAMB is giving them lower cut-off marks. 

 

He said; 

 

“The northerners are at advantage. The low JAMB cut-off mark is making northern youth lazy rather than encouraging them. Despite the advantage of the education in Nigeria, we have the highest number of children out of school.

“For example, Joint Admissions Matriculation Board, (JAMB), gives different cut-off mark for different states and you say you are building a nation, no you are dividing it.

“I am from the north but we have suffered educational disadvantage and the JAMB has given us lower cut-off mark to catch up, have we caught up?

“It is making people lazy."

 

On selecting leaders based on their ‘origin’, El-Rufai said; 

 

“This has become a big problem for Nigeria. Zoning in political parties cannot solve the economic problems we are facing. Selecting the best person to get the job done will benefit everyone.

“The best we can do is to give everyone equal opportunity.”

 

The Kaduna state Governor also called for the federal police and judiciary to be reformed to improve their effectiveness.

 

He added; 

 

“Implement state policing. Some governors have more influence on the police than others; state governors cannot control security actions except there is an order from the IGP. This makes state governors handicapped in serious matters.

“Same is applied to the judiciary system. We are the only country in the world that is running a federal judiciary system. This has exposed the sector to inefficiency. There are decisions for states to take for example, land issues, traditional issues.”

Our recession will be shortlived- Lai Mohammed

 

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, has said that the Federal government is confident that with the intervention policies, with the fiscal and monetary interventions have been put in place, the current economic recession will be short-lived.

 

The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS had two days ago said that Nigeria’s economy has slipped into another recession, the second time since 2016.

 

Speaking during an interview with NTA today November 25, Mohammed said the recession is inevitable due to the global collapse in oil prices occasioned by the coronavirus pandemic. He said other countries like Finland, Hungary, Spain, and others have gone into recession due to the fall in the price of crude oil worldwide.

 

“It is true we are in a recession. Recession comes when a country records two consecutive quarters of negative growths. But we must go beyond that to understand that despite that, our economy is still very well in circumstances.

The main reason why we have entered into this recession is the oil sector. The oil sector recorded -13.89% and that is the worst in 14 quarters. Of course, it is easy to understand why; with the pandemic, there is low demand for oil…but when you look at the non-oil sector which is about -2.51 % in Q3, it is far better than what it was in the Q2.

Overall, yes, we are in a recession and it is inevitable but while our Q2 result was -6.1%, South Africa was -50% and as we speak today, Finland, Hungary, Spain, Mexico, Russia, Romania, Belgium, Austria have all fallen into recession.

But we are very confident that with the intervention policies, with the fiscal and monetary interventions the government has put in place, the recession will be short-lived.” he said

Nigerians reacts to Member of British parliament claiming that former Head of State, Yakubu Gowon left with half of Central Bank

 

Some Nigerians have reacted to a Member of British parliament claiming that former Head of State, Yakubu Gowon left with half of Central Bank. 

 

LIB reported earlier that British lawmaker, Tom Tungendhat said this while advocating for sanctions against Nigerian officials who flee to the UK with the country's loot.

 

The disclosure has however been trailed with mixed reactions and here are some below; 

 

 

 

Ex-UK Minister asks government to sanction Nigerian officials over #EndSARS protest

 

Theresa Villiers, a former Environment Secretary in the UK has called on the country's government to impose sanctions against Nigerian officials over the 'suppression' of EndSars protesters. 

 

Speaking during a one-hour-twenty-minute debate held in British Parliament to debate possible sanctions against the Nigerian government, Villiers asked the UK Government to place travel ban and freeze assets of Nigerian officials found to be involved in suppression of the protests.

 

The former Minister turned parliamentarian also disclosed that reports she gathered from some of her constituents who were of Nigerian descent and information from the Amnesty International, showed gross violation of peoples’ rights in the way the #EndSARS protests were suppressed.

 

A few other parliamentarians supported her call and argued that the only way the UK government could express its dissatisfaction with the alleged rights violation was through an imposition of targeted sanctions.

'You are a disgrace. Both home and abroad' - Adesua Etomi-Wellington slams Lauretta Onochie

 

Actress Adesua Etomi-Wellington lost her cool on Tuesday morning, November 24, after seeing a photo shared by a presidential aide, Lauretta Onochie.

 

 

Onochie shared the photo above on her Twitter handle as she called on Nigerians to ensure they wear facemasks.

''WEARING A MASK IS NOT A POLITICAL STATEMENT. ITS NOT PUNISHMENT BY GOVERNMENT PROTECT YOURSELF. Wear one. These have made efforts with masking where those of us who are more vulnerable & susceptible to COVID-19 are still swearing that it's a scam. God bless their efforts

 

Adesua saw the photo of the little children and was angry. Reacting to Onochie's post, Adesua wrote

'' You are a disgrace. Both home & abroad. You should be ashamed that these children have to do this with cardboards. Instead of talking about how to tackle poverty so they can be protected adequately against the virus, you're spewing this nonsense.

This picture made me so angry and brought tears to my eyes. They are so small, so vulnerable and so unprotected. Arghhhhhh. THIS COUNTRY

I am finally accepting the fact that some human beings, really are dead on the inside. Didn't understand how that could be even possible. I'm realising every day that it is.''

 

 

Gowon exited power without any evidence of wealth and that remains for over four decades after power - Shehu Sani counters British lawmaker's claim

 

Former Senator representing Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani has countered British lawmaker, Tom Tugendhat's claim of former Head of State, Yakubu Gowon exiting power with half of the Central Bank. 

 

Tugendhat said this while contributing to the debate on possible sanctions against the Nigerian government over human right abuses during the #EndSARS protest. 

 

Shehu Sani however described this as falsehood, while also stating that Gowon exited power without any evidence of wealth and that has remained for over four decades after power. 

 

He tweeted; 

 

General Yakubu Gowon;The claim of ‘looting the CBN’ made by the British Minister for Africa as represented by Mr James Duddridge against Gen Gowon is nothing but outright falsehood.Gowon exited power without any evidence of wealth & that remains,for over four decades after power.

 

Flying Doctors founder, Dr Ola Brown gives interesting answer to the question "can women have it all?"

 

"Can women have it all?" is a question often posed to career women who are trying to build an empire and also manage their families. 

 

Most people are of the opinion that women can have it all with supportive partners, but some have opined that women can never have it all as one area of their lives - either family life or professional life - will have to suffer for another to thrive. Whereas men do not have these issues because they can thrive in their careers despite having a family.

 

Former PepsiCo CEO, Indra Nooyi, speaking from experience, said women cannot have it all. 

 

Indra, who was PepsiCo CEO for 12 years and worked in the company for 24 years, said in a 2014 interview:

 

I don't think women can have it all. I just don't think so. We pretend we have it all. We pretend we can have it all.

My husband and I have been married for 34 years. And we have two daughters. And every day you have to make a decision about whether you are going to be a wife or a mother, in fact many times during the day you have to make those decisions. And you have to co-opt a lot of people to help you. We co-opted our families to help us. We plan our lives meticulously so we can be decent parents.

But if you ask our daughters, I'm not sure they will say that I've been a good mom. I'm not sure. And I try all kinds of coping mechanisms.

I'll tell you a story that happened when my daughter went to Catholic school. Every Wednesday morning they had class coffee with the mothers. Class coffee for a working woman—how is it going to work? How am I going to take off 9 o'clock on Wednesday mornings? So I missed most class coffees. My daughter would come home and she would list off all the mothers that were there and say, "You were not there, mom."

The first few times I would die with guilt. But I developed coping mechanisms.

 

Nigerian-British medical doctor, Ola Brown who is married and also building a career, said she has been asked the same question multiple times and she responded on Twitter.

 

She said "having it all" is subjective as people want different things out of life. She added that judging based on what people refer to as "all", the answer will not be based on gender because even men do not have it all. 

 

She concluded by asking if Aliko Dangote, Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates actually have it all.

 

She tweeted: 

 

One of the questions I get asked at womens groups is "Can a woman have it all?"

To me it depends on what you mean by "all". If you want a massive family with whom you spend 90% of your time and a small hairdressers that does N1m per year, of course. Not everyone has to be Aliko.

 

She continued:

 

But if your definition of "all" is building one of the largest companies on the continent/in the world with billions in revenue, then the question almost loses its relationship with gender. 

The people that have done it. Jeff Bezos, Aliko Dangote etc. Do they have it all?