Jacob Ajom of Vanguard Newspapers beat Abiodun Adewale and Olawale Olaniran in the print award category, while Channels’ TV’s Cecelia Omorogbe was the winner in the television category.

Hassan Abdulsalam of Pulse Sports Nigeria emerged the winner in the Social/Online media category ahead of Samuel Ahmadu and Naifooty, with Maxwell Lawrence as the winner in Radio ahead of Dayo Amusan and Tony Bekederemo.

The organisers announced the winning prize of N500,000 to each winner while the national SWAN announced a token to support all the winners.

Speaking during the event that took place at the Media Hall of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria, Lagos State chapter, National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, the chairman of the occasion, former Secretary General of the Nigeria Football Federation, Dr. Bolaji Ojo-Oba, applauded the organisers for coming up with the award.

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He described the sport media as set of people that moulded him during his days as an administrator as he congratulated all the winners.

Also at the occasion was the national president of SWAN, Benjamin Isaiah, who praised the people in the diaspora for giving back to the society especially those in the media.

One of the winners, Omorogbe of Channels TV said it was a big surprise for her, especially emerging winner.

“I never expected the award, I really want to dedicate it to all the media personnel in the country and I really want to thank the organisers and also all the people that we were nominated together; we are all winners,” she said.

The chairman of the organising committee of the award, Gboyega Okegbenro, said: “Putting this event together, I can tell you for free, has not been one of the easiest tasks because this is the very first edition of these awards. A lot of the things may not look as perfect as they should be, but we urge you to bear with us, to run with us, and together we will do better editions in the future.”

Eminent Sports personalities like Dr Rafiu Ladipo of the supporters Club and Mr Godwin Kienka were also at the occasion.

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The match, which was the Match Day 20 fixture of the league, took place on Saturday at the Remo Stars Stadium in Ikenne.

Sunshine Stars dominated the first half, securing a 3-1 lead by the interval.

The goal-scoring spree began in the 16th minute when Linman Ahmadu netted a lob resulting from a well-coordinated team effort.

Promise Awosanmi doubled the lead four minutes later, scoring from a rebound.

Sunshine Stars’ striker, Alao Danlami, added a third goal with a simple tap-in from Ogechukwu Ogbu’s cross into the area.

However, Ikorodu City player, Shola Adelani, reduced the deficit to 3-1 just before half-time.

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In the second half, the visitors attempted to stage a comeback by scoring twice, but the hosts ultimately prevailed with a hard-fought 4-3 victory.

This was courtesy of Alao Danlami’s decisive strike.

In his post-match interview, Sunshine Stars’ Head Coach, Bobola Akonfolarin, expressed satisfaction with the result, considering the number of goals scored by his team.

Akonfolarin acknowledged that his team would need to work on conceding fewer goals in upcoming encounters.

“It’s not a bad result, especially considering we scored as many as four goals.

We have identified the lapses and will go back to the drawing board to work on them,” he said.

With this win, Sunshine Stars now have 24 points and are set to face Bayelsa United in their midweek Match Day 21 fixture of the NPFL.

Source: NAN

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A communication specialist, Mrs. Adesola Ayo-Aderele, has faulted the claim of Dr. Emmanuel Ahmadu of writing the West Africa School Senior Certificate Education, WASSCE, 17 times in a period of five years.

Ahmadu was on Thursday widely reported to have bagged distinction from London Graduate School in the United Kingdom.

According to the reports, Ahmadu wrote WASSCE “17 times, due to family instability”.

But writing on her Facebook wall, the communication specialist, Adesola Ayo-Aderele, queried the possibility of writing the examination 17 times within a period of five years.

She concluded that by her arithmetic, that was impossible.

“To start with [correct me if I’m wrong], WASSCE, GCE and NECO are written once a year each. So, ideally, if Ahmadu had taken the three exams annually for five years, that would be 15 times in all,” she argued.

She said her suspicion about the possible falsehood of Ahmadu’s other claims rose from the name of the school where he said he got his recent award.

She said her suspicion was confirmed when upon investigation, she realized that the school was not a recognized one.

Her words: “The very name of the school sounded suspect, so, I ran it on the World Higher Education Database (WHED). Thing is, if the university you attend (ed) isn’t listed on WHED, you’ve only wasted time, energy and money because no decent organization will hire you.”

She added that a check on Dr. Ahmadu’s LinkedIn page did not produce anything impressive.

“…even when he had listed 21 job experiences that hardly scratched the surface. His LinkedIn bio says ‘Open to work’,” Ayo-Aderele said.

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Ayo-Aderele’s post reads in full:

“The Nigerian media is newly agog with news about ‘Dr.’ Emmanuel Ahmadu, who is reputed to have taken WASSCE 17 times within five years, having reportedly attended a record-breaking 16 primary schools and 14 secondary schools.

“To start with [correct me if I’m wrong], WASSCE, GCE and NECO are written once a year each. So, ideally, if Ahmadu had taken the three  exams annually for five years, that would be 15 times in all.

“But the Nigerian media has been feeding the reading public with Ahmadu’s claim that he sat WASSCE 17 times in five years. There might be need for more clarity about that if he, indeed, wrote that singular exam 17 times within an impossible five-year period.

“Well, some media outlets seem to play safe by referring to the alleged exams as ‘O’ Levels, but that still doesn’t add up, as he has never been quoted to have mentioned UTME as part of the exams.

“What set me off this morning is Ahmadu’s most recent award by London Graduate School, where he has reportedly obtained a distinction for whatever.

“The very name of the school sounded suspect, so, I ran it on the World Higher Education Database (WHED). Thing is, if the university you attend(ed) isn’t listed on WHED, you’ve only wasted time, energy and money because no decent organization will hire you.

“And that is why you always read in job adverts or on graduate school portals that you must have graduated from an accredited or recognized university. Don’t joke with those descriptions.

“Back to Dr. Ahmadu. The guy has attended or been honored variously by the Global Seminary University—a United States-based ‘university’ not listed on WHED; and the London Graduate School whose only convincing entry on search engine was on FraudWiki.

“He has also been honored by GEPEA University, which not only awards curious professional certifications such as Financial Management Guru, HR Guru and Accountants Guru, among others; but its degrees are also punctuated with its name.

“They include: GEPEA M.Phil, GEPEA PhD, GEPEA Accountant, GEPEA Cost & Management Accountant, GEPEA Accounting Manager, GEPEA Finance Manager, etc. Globally, we all know how the typical university-earned degrees are worded. That’s in addition to the fact that WHED has no record of GEPEA.

“I checked up Dr. Ahmadu’s LinkedIn page and I didn’t find anything impressive, even when he had listed 21 job experiences that hardly scratched the surface. His LinkedIn bio says ‘Open to work.’

“The 2020 graduate of Mass Comm from UNIBEN would do well to stop jumping around amassing useless ‘honors’ from questionable institutions.

“He has told enough tales. Someone should advise him to do something useful with his life.

“His tales remind me of Philip Emeagwali—Google him variously with Dubawa and Sahara Reporters.”

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Experts and citizens made the call during an anti-corruption radio programme, Public Conscience, produced by the Progressive Impact Organization for Community Development, PRIMORG, on Wednesday in Abuja.

This is coming on the heels of two recent investigative reports published by Premium Times exposing how poverty, shambolic education system, dilapidated infrastructure, tortuous teaching, and learning environment continue to worsen the out-of-school children scourge in Niger and Nasarawa states.

Nigeria currently has the highest number of out-of-school children in the world, with only 63% of primary school children regularly attending schools, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF.

Speaking during the radio programme, Chief Executive Officer of Gender Consult, Joyce Ahmadu, called on President Bola Tinubu and the 36 state governors to take prompt steps in tackling the rising numbers of out-of-school children, admonishing that high priority must be placed on improving basic education.

Ahmadu warned that Nigeria’s future would be bleak if leaders failed to nip the out-of-school children problem in the bud without delay.

She said primary and secondary school education was the bedrock of every nation’s development.

She knocked state governments that had failed to provide matching grants for implementing Universal Basic Education, UBE in their states, adding that the action ensured the future of the Nigerian child remained in jeopardy, with girls mainly affected.

“The buck lies on the government’s desk in budgeting and collaborating with key stakeholders to ensure that the education sector provides an enabling environment for children to learn. The role of government cannot be over-emphasized.

“We (Nigeria) will not be where we are today if the governors prioritize education. The children just come to school and possibly don’t even learn anything, just to fulfill all righteousness. And we know that the primary and secondary schools are the bedrock, so if they don’t get it right at these levels, we are doomed.

“The governors have a huge role in ensuring that even parents prioritize the education of their wards, but of course, they cannot hold parents accountable because they have not even provided the right infrastructure for children to come and learn.

“The government needs to take the lead with regards to education and everybody will follow suit. Obviously, they’ve not prioritized education,” Ahmadu lamented.

She noted that corruption was a major issue that must be dealt with if education budgetary allocations at federal and state levels were to be properly put to good use.

Similarly, a board member of the Civil Society Action Coalition On Education For All, CSACEFA, Abdullahi Sale, called out state governments for their inability to prioritize the education of citizens as insecurity, infrastructure, and teachers’ remuneration are still not on the front burner.

Sale, while stressing that Nigeria needed humongous investment in education to catch up with the rest of the world, also lamented the failure of some state governments to access UBE funds as of July 2024.

He however, raised fear that more states would not access the education funds after the federal government increased the matching grant to N3.5 billion.

“Government just have to prioritize education. We need to understand that the issues in the country today are not unconnected to the lack of education of our young people. Twenty years back, there was a study that these (out-of-school crisis) happenings that we see in the North would happen because education had been neglected. If the government had acted just the way former President Goodluck Jonathan started with the Almajiri schools and other initiatives, then we would have nipped it in the bud.

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“The government should realize that the issues we are facing in the country today are connected to lack of education, and so they should do the needful.

“Many governors don’t see education as something they should invest in. For the 3.5bn, I’m afraid as to how many states will be able to match that 3.5bn. We (civil society groups) have monitored education infrastructure across the country, and what we saw on the ground is worrisome.

“We need a humongous amount and political will to work on infrastructure in the country. So, the UBE fund is a far cry, but it’s better than nothing. I hope the governors will prioritize matching those funds,” Sale stated.

On her part, data journalist and researcher Kafilat Taiwo urged federal and state governments to collaborate with Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in addressing the myriad of problems bedevilling primary and secondary education, especially in rural areas.

Taiwo, buttressing the findings of the investigation, stated that “poverty, insecurity, dilapidated infrastructure, poor welfare and others are some of the issues booming the rate of out-of-school children in Niger state and added that the federal government’s discontinuation of the school feeding programme has also caused a sharp drop in the number of children that attend school in rural communities.

“The government needs to address issues affecting primary and secondary schools in the state. The teachers are just trying; they are being owed salaries, and they are deprived of upgrades and promotions. They need to be motivated to do more

“The growing number of out-of-school children in the state is alarming. I got to know that more female children are out of school compared to their male counterparts. I got to know that the education sector in the state is facing a lot of challenges,” Taiwo averred.

Public Conscience is a syndicated weekly anti-corruption radio programme PRIMORG uses to draw government and citizens’ attention to corruption and integrity issues in Nigeria.

The programme has the support of the MacArthur Foundation.

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Ahmadu’s abduction was confirmed on Wednesday by Mr Abel Adamu, President, Chawai Development Association, CDA.

Adamu, in a statement signed by Mr Raphael Joshua, Public Relations Officer of CDA, said that the traditional ruler was kidnapped Tuesday night “by gunmen who invaded his house at Zambina”.

“It was reported that the kidnappers stormed the house of the traditional ruler in their numbers around 9:30 p.m. and took him away,” Adamu was quoted as saying.

The CDA president was further quoted as expressing dismay over the situation while assuring residents that CDA was working hard to ensure that the victim was released unhurt.

“Already, relevant authorities and heads of security operatives on special duty in the chiefdom have been duly informed and have already swung into action to rescue the traditional ruler.

“We are calling on all sons and daughters of Tsam land to pray for the safe return of the district head.”

The statement challenged youths of the chiefdom to always take communal security seriously so as to avert such breaches.

“We have to be on our feet to ensure the land is safe.

“It’s unfortunate that at this critical time, the youths, who ought to be the communal force to guarantee security across communities, are not ready to work in collaboration with security personnel to secure the land,” he lamented.

Tsam Chiefdom has suffered lots of abductions and attacks by bandits and kidnappers lately.

Some of the incidences have led to the loss of lives while large sums had also been paid to rescue kidnapped victims.

The CDA boss appealed to government to direct security agencies to ensure that the district head was rescued and released “unconditionally”.

The personnel of the Police Area Command in Kafanchan has since visited the family of the victim and assured relations of its readiness to “do everything possible” to rescue the traditional ruler.

Source: NAN

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