The Mysterious World of 'Baba Alankara'

By Ndimele Kingsley

Born on 25th September, 1944, Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja is a businessman who became a governor of Oyo State on 29 May, 2003 as a member of the People's Democratic Party (PDP), but was impeached on 12 January, 2006. He was preceded by Lam Adesina and succeeded by Christopher Alao Akala. Ladoja was elected to the Senate of Nigeria in 1993 during the short-lived Nigerian Third Republic.

He attended Ibadan Boys High School (1958–1963) and Olivet Baptist High School (1964–1965). He studied at the University of Liège , Belgium (1966–1972) where he earned a degree in Chemical Engineering. He obtained a job with Total Nigeria , an oil company, where he worked for 13 years in various positions before entering private business in 1985. In 2000, he became a Director of Standard Trust Bank Limited.

Despite the status of Senator Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja, the High Chief of Ibadan, however lives an incredibly simple lifestyle such that an unsuspecting onlooker would place him among peasant farmers.
A visit to his Bodija G.R.A, Ibadan home shows that his lifestyle fall below his worth. In his words, he says "I feel comfortable living a simple life".
Even in his dress style, most of the time he is clad in Nigerian-made Ankara. Ladoja admitted that people called him 'Baba Alankara' due to his choice of Ankara.

According to many, the ex-governor is jovial, accommodating and known for his philanthropic gestures. The septuagenarian noted that what is  important for him is to create opportunities for other people to grow. It can be inferred that Senator Ladoja's generosity transcends the Government House.

One of his outstanding achievements during his tenure as Oyo state governor was the 30 pupils per class Initiative in every government school.

According to him (Ladoja), He left PDP because the party had lost focus and forgotten its vision of becoming a democratic party that will meet the expectations of the masses. Ladoja reportedly stated that " PDP has abandoned its founding objective and the party is now peopled with politicians who are opposed to the political principles of democracy".

The former Oyo state governor who defected to the Accord Party is set to return to the People's Democratic Party. He disclosed this in a radio interview on Saturday 23 September, 2017 saying, "my greatest regret at 73 years is not getting Oyo state to where it ought to be".

In response to his contesting as a governorship aspirant in 2019, Senator Ladoja remains uncertain about his political ambition.

In also stated that his re-alliance with his ex-deputy, Otunba Christopher Alao-Akala who many believed to have co-planned his impeachment and succeeded him on 12 January, 2006, Ladoja said "In politics, there's no permanent enemy and permanent friend, only permanent interest".

Obafemi Awolowo University To Host Hult Prize

Obafemi Awolowo University, selected to Host local edition of Hult Prize as students answer United Nation’s Challenge and go head-to-head for US$1M.

Barakat Tiamiyu recently announced that Obafemi Awolowo University, has been selected to host a local edition of the Hult Prize, the world’s largest student competition for the creation of new social businesses. The annual Hult Prize awards one million dollars in start-up funding to the team of students that develops the most radical and breakthrough idea to solve one of our world’s toughest social challenges.

In partnership with the United Nations, the Hult Prize is hosting college and university events around the world in search of the next game-changing start-up.  Barakat Tiamiyu will be leading the Hult Prize at Obafemi Awolowo University, initiative, and is confident that her peers on campus have as good as chance as anyone to go all the way and with this year’s Hult Prize. “I believe if given a chance, we would lead and the good work"

The winner of the intra-campus event will automatically advance to compete in one of fifteen regional finals happening around the world next March.  One winning team from each host city will then move onto a summer business incubator, where participants will receive mentorship, advisory and strategic planning as they create prototypes and set-up to launch their new social business.  A final round of competition will be hosted in September 2018, where the winning team to be awarded the $1,000,000 prize.

Hult Prize at Obafemi Awolowo University, is now recruiting volunteers and teams who are interested in registering for the competition.

To learn more, contact:
Barakat - 07050541172
or send to barakatbidemi96@gmail.com.

About the Hult Prize Foundation
The Hult Prize is a start-up accelerator for social entrepreneurship that brings together the brightest college and university students from around the globe to solve the world’s most pressing issues. The annual initiative is the world’s largest student competition and crowd-sourcing platform for social good, and has been funded by the Hult family since its inception in 2009. To learn more, visit www.hultprize.org.

Post Graduate Students Accuse OAU Of Systemic Fraud

By Daily Post

A group of Post Graduate students of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-ife, Osun State, has accused the management of the school of systemic fraud and exploitation.

In a document sent to DAILY POST on Sunday, which comprised a communique and letter addressed to the Vice-chancellor, the students specifically frowned at what they described as continuous payment of fees after final oral defence, among other sundry issues.

The communique, dated September 11, chided the university management for charging the highest fees for post graduate programmes among other federal universities in Nigeria.

The communique further queried the reason why the management will delay sittings on the final results of students after completion of their programmes, and at the same time continue to charge them for subsequent semesters they spent waiting for their results.

“Despite the outrageous increment, nothing has been done in averting delays and curbing administrative bottlenecks, which resulted in continuous payment of fees after final oral defence.

“The continuous payment of fees after final oral defence is rigid, unfortunate, exploitative and the peak of inhumane treatment a Nigerian student can be possibly served,”‎ they said.

In the same vein, the students, in a letter dated September 12, which was addressed to the Vice-chancellor, Prof. Eyitope Ogunbodede, and copied to all the unions on the campus, as well as Chairman, Committee of Deans, and Dean, Students’ Affairs maintained their stance on the alleged illegal charges, and demanded for immediate redress.

“Taking into account the obvious, that we students, after the submission of our corrected theses have no control over the recurrent delayed approval forms E, A, and Abstract, at different stages of sittings.

“We lament the unjust cause for which we are made to bear the brunt by way of being continuously charged heavily for our period of inactivity.

“Moreover, as a university which prides herself as a foremost university in the continent, with massive efforts of operating based on well-established international standards, we find such a policy alien in the comity of prestigious universities.

Hence, we press for a rational cause and maintain that the institution issues a directive that primarily allows students to pay, not further than the semester of final oral defence and further addresses the many issues stated in the enclosed communique accordingly.

“We hope, not later than two weeks from now to get a prompt response to be intensely review for our next line of action”, the letter reads in part

Highlights Of Ammended Calendar For 2016/2017 Rain Semester

HIGHLIGHTS OF AMMENDED CALENDAR FOR 2016/2017
RAIN SEMESTER

OCT 3- All Students come into residence for rain semester.
OCT 4- Rain semester lecture commence
OCT 10- Faculty/Students Colloquium
OCT 12- Senate for consideration of Harmattan Semester Results
OCT 27- End of normal registration of courses
NOV 10- End of late registration with penalty
NOV 13-18- Continuous assessment
NOV 29- Senate
DEC 13-16- Convocation
DEC 22- Rain Semester Lecture ends
DEC 23- JAN 2- Christmas/New year break
JAN 2- JAN 9- Lecture free week

OAU: Second Semester Resumption Likely For October 3

The resumption of academic activities for the rain semester in Obafemi Awolowo University could be postponed, the Division of Student Affairs (DSA) informed OAU Peeps News Agency.

According to the institution’s existing academic calendar for the 2016/2017 academic session, students are expected to resume for the new semester on Sunday, September 24, 2017.

In a telephone chat with the Dean of the Division of Student Affairs, Professor Aransi; he told our correspondent that the Committee of Deans has proposed a week extension for the semester break, so as to afford sufficient time for the fumigation of the Halls of Residence. So, this means resumption is now proposed for October 3, 2017.

The University Senate will meet soon, and the proposal is subject to the ratification of the Senate. Recall, local staff unions, including the ASUU, NASU, NAAT and SSANU all refused to join their national body that just ended suspended their strike action. This extends further to barely two years running that the institution has ran academic activities without any truncation, a situation that has not been witnessed in the varsity so for many years.

In the mean time, the Post-UTME screening of intending students into the university will go on as scheduled, starting from next week. The exercise is expected to last some days.

NASU, SSANU, NAAT Suspend Strike

By Premium Times

The non-teaching staff of Nigerian universities have suspended their strike.

The staff, members of three unions, NASU, SSANU, and NAAT, announced the suspension of the 11 days old strike on Thursday.

Sam Ugwoke, the national president of the Joint Action Committee of three unions, announced the suspension at a media briefing in Abuja.

Mr. Ugwoke said the strike was being suspended for a month to allow the government meet their demands.

He enjoined government to “ensure compliance” with agreements reached with the unions.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how the government and the staff reached an agreement after several hours of meeting in the early hours of Thursday.

At the meeting, a memorandum of understanding was signed with the federal government delegation led by the Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige.

Mr. Ngige had earlier said both parties produced “collective agreement of action” after the meeting.

ICAN Undergraduate Essay Competition 2017

THE INSTITUTE OF CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS OF NIGERIA

(Established by Act of Parliament No. 15 of 1965)

47TH ANNUAL ACCOUNTANTS’ CONFERENCE

2017 STUDENTS’ ESSAY COMPETITION

Topic
· Accuracy and Integrity: The Unchanging ICAN Motto in a Rapidly - Changing World.

Objective
· The Essay Competition is to engage the Nigerian students intellectually and in the end
produce enlightening essays on the platform of operation of ICAN in the next 50 years in the
global professional Accountancy Practice.

Methodology
1. Essay must be written in Microsoft Word and contain not less than 2000 words and not more
than 3000 words ;and essay must be written in font size 12 with double line spacing.
2. Essay should contain abstract, introduction, main body, conclusion and references
3. All entries must be accompanied with a letter of attestation from the Head of each
participant’s Department.
4. Participants must submit copy of their birth certificate/Sworn affidavit and brief profile of not
more than 15 lines in MS Word
5. Only the first 500 entries will be considered
6. Winning essays will be selected based on content, grammar and style
7. The winning essays will be announced on Thursday 12 October 2017
8. All entries must be received on or before 23:59hours Thursday 28 September 2017. Entries
received after this date would not be processed further.
9. All entries should be sent to: icanessay2017@kpmg.com

Eligibility for Entry
The competition is open to:
1. All students in any field of study in ICAN accredited tertiary institutions in Nigeria.
2. Age limit: Participants must not be older than 26 years of age as at 30th September, 2017.
NB: Members of the ICAN governing Council, AAC Committee members and staff of ICAN, KPMG
and their wards are not eligible for this competition.

Prizes to be won
· Ist Prize: N100,000 plus laptop, plaque, letter of commendation, all expense paid to Abuja
for the 47th Annual Conference, ICAN Professional Examination Scholarship with a value of
N340,000 covering tuition, study text and examination fees (oaupeeps.com)
· 2nd Prize: N50,000 plus laptop, plaque, letter of commendation, all expense paid to Abuja for
the 47th Annual Conference, ICAN Professional Examination Scholarship with a value of
N340,000 covering tuition, study text and examination fees
· 3rd Prize : N25,000 plus laptop, plaque, letter of commendation, all expense paid to Abuja for
the 47th Annual Conference, ICAN Professional Examination Scholarship with a value of
N340,000 covering tuition, study text and examination fees