SOLVING IT?

SOMETIMES ONE BELIEVES OUR PUBLIC OFFICIALS SHOULD BE TAKING COURSES IN PUBLIC SPEAKING AND COMMUNICATION

Sometimes, when you read the speeches of our public officials, you wish they should be taking courses or lectures in public speaking and communication. While reading some articles on the online edition of The Daily Times of Nigeria, I thought the words of Folorunso Oginni, the Chairman of The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), does not augur well for millions of Nigerians who desire to portray a positive image of the country.

Words coated with much innuendos.

A snippet: “Nigeria has not recorded much investment in the oil sector because there is no law governing operations of the country’s petroleum industry.” In other words, what he means is that, if there is a law governing operations of the country’s petroleum industry, then Nigeria will record much investment in the oil sector.

Some of the consequences of those words are that: The operations of the country’s petroleum industry are carried out within an illegal framework. An illegal framework signifies lawlessness and with lawlessness, the Government would be raising dust because power has been taken from her.

What he must have meant.

No one likes to be a foreteller but I believe I understand what he wanted to say. What Folorunso Oginni must have meant is that the laws in force in the Oil industry possess so many loopholes that it encourages illegality which would scare foreign investors. Therefore, what he needs or wants are reforms of those laws.

Do failing oil companies cause crime?

The second snippet: “Most of the oil servicing companies we have here are not working and because they are not working, they have laid off their staff and this has increased the crime rate in the country.” Even though the casual reader would be interested in issues such as this, why are those companies not working? Is it because they cannot compete or they cannot break even? Also, do they need subsidies from the Government to survive or do we allow them to die? What are the consequences? Let’s stick to what I didn’t like about those statements.

Folorunso is insinuating here, and distastefully, that when workers are laid off from work, the only option left is to take to crime. I am unemployed for several years, but criminality has never been considered as an option for a source of revenue. Has it been for you? It tends to breach the limits of taste and careful speech.

What he does not realize.

Folorunso Oginni should realize, as I must believe he does, that although the unemployment rate in the country is very high (about 23%) but there are so many law abiding Nigerians walking the streets. That even if indigenous companies in the country cannot compete in the industry, the system has a way of absorbing these staff that have been laid off into other industries. Point of correction!

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CREATIVE IDEAS FOR FACEBOOK COVERPAGES

Since the introduction of the new Facebook timeline, I have seen a proliferation of cover pages. I looked at my profile page and decided I needed a cover page myself. That set the muse flowing. So I decided to, from time to time, build cover pages for whomever so wishes to have one, from me, for a little fee. Just one thousand, five hundred naira (N1,500.00). The price is negotiable though, as is every item in a Nigerian market.

Go through the list below. I added just six. But you can see an extensive list at one of the albums on my profile named cover page samples. I will keep adding to the gallery from time to time, so if you are interested in having a cover page from me, you can download one, try it on your timeline and if you like it, just message me on Facebook or email: nnaemeka.david@gmail.com, or phone: +234-081-56366920 (mobile communication is preferable though) and just give me your specifications and I’ll arrange one for you.

Go through the six below, or visit the gallery on Facebook.

Odimegwu David

Odimegwu David: I built this for myself, splattering ink all over the canvas. Must have been influenced by the idea I had while building it, engagement ink, another business that is still being nurtured.

Rosemary Creche

Rosemary crèche: Was influenced by the picture of the little child on my desktop and also the fact that there are so many crèches and daycare center in my neighborhood in satellite town. I thought one or two might be interested in something for advertising their business.

The Satellite Herald

Satellite Herald: The canvas is colored red and with power lines because I believe newspapers possess a hidden power to influence the masses. You can see how the red resonates through the cover page with another sea of red towards the bottom where there are pictures of public figures.

Turaya 1

Turaya 1: The typical cover page for a profile. Similar to mine above, only that this was meant for a man with a family.

Turaya 2

Turaya 2: Same idea as Turaya 1 only that I decided to change the outline of the text and then color of the canvas. Little changes in color here and there and in placement of images are 360 degrees significant.

Green Lawn Restaurant

Green Lawn Restaurant: Restaurants and eateries are one of the faces of Lagos streets, so how can I start with cover pages for both profiles and pages and not think of a restaurant? The regular meals on the menu are above the semi-circle. I thought the lawn was better at the bottom, where the logo will be when the cover page is uploaded on Facebook.

You can see an extensive list at one of the albums on my profile named Facebook cover page samples. I will keep adding to the gallery from time to time, so if you are interested in having a cover page from me, you can download one, try it on your timeline and if you like it, just message me on Facebook or email: nnaemeka.david@gmail.com, or phone: +234-081-56366920 (mobile communication is preferable though) and just give me your specifications and I’ll arrange one for you.

follow me on twitter, @emeka_david or be a friend on facebook, Nnaemeka David

THERE ARE STILL HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF ADMISSIONS INTO TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS THAT WILL NOT BE COUNTED

Children who will be asking for tertiary education tomorrow. Their journey just started. Credit: Ben Fash/Commons.wikimedia.org

Last month, as UTME was being written by more than one million Nigerian youths, a news article reported that the tertiary institutions in the country can only admit about five hundred thousand (500,000) of the more than one million five hundred thousand (1,500,000) that were registered for the exams. These does not mean that the remaining one million are still left without any hope of getting a tertiary education.

Where demand overshoots supply, provided the price is right, the educational system will always find a way to make it up.

Clearly, our youths make every sacrifice to be admitted into our Universities. Irrespective of family background or economic status, millions of youths seek tertiary education at any cost. That is why it is with missed feelings one reads the news that millions of youths who will not make it into tertiary institutions through the Unified Tertiary Institutions and Polytechnics Matriculation Examination (UTME) will be denied such a privilege.

Because the demand is so high, tertiary institutions have devised several ways of accepting the teeming number of students who lurk at their gates. Direct entry programs, distance learning and outreach programs are quite some brilliant innovative ways. Although the cost of acquiring a university education might increase, the concomitant effect of admitting a large number of students along with the cost effective use of technology like the Nigerian Open University of Nigeria, part-time tertiary education and satellite campuses have an opposite effect of mopping up the expected increase in the cost of acquiring such an education.

The proliferation of private universities, some obscure at best, some offering quality education, but all responding to the demands of the educational marketplace for increased access to university education, even something remotely resembling one, reinforce the mopping up operation for those students who the primary UTME examination will not admit.

Motivated students and well-adjusted adults also take advantage of the numerous opportunities to learn while working, without ever seeing the four walls of a university. On my Facebook wall is a well- loved satellite channel that teaches interesting courses that could be comparable to GCE A-levels. MIT opencourseware although rigorous at best, is a very good alternative when UTME seems farfetched.

The effect of all these alternatives is to increase the number of students who are able to have the privilege of a quality university education while keeping the costs equal or nearly so, to what is obtained at our Federal Universities and Polytechnics.

So even if our universities, polytechnics and monotechnics can only admit about five hundred thousand (500,000) of the more than one million five hundred thousand students who sat for UTME this year, that does not mean about a million youths will be sitting in front of their television screens awaiting 2013. The education market knows how to absorb and make them part of the fold of educated learned members of the society, provided they are well motivated.