|
On rampant road accidents in Nigeria
The rate at which road accidents occur on
Nigerian roads should be a cause of concern to
the relevant authorities.
Many people have lost their lives to avoidable road accidents; therefore, something urgent must be done to completely eliminate the menace, or reduce it to the barest minimum.
One of the things that must be done is to educate drivers, especially those of commercial buses, on road signs.Many of them are illiterates hence, they don’t understand road signs.
Another thing is the need to stop the sale of alcoholic drinks in motor parks. Most commercial drivers take alcoholic drinks before embarking on their trips.The result of this is better imagined .
Also, the state of our roads is nothing to write home about. Most of our roads are with potholes and this is another cause of road accidents.
I hope the relevant authorities can do something about this.
Adekitan Oshinloye,
Ajayi Crowther University,
Oyo. |
|
Reduce tuition in private varsities
The cost of
education in
private universities is very high and this is keeping children of the average class away from attending private tertiary institutions.
Most of these private universities are missionary institutions, owned by churches, and as a result of this, one expects the tuition fee to be lower than those of federal and state institutions.
At the moment, if one’s parents are not rich, then one must not think of going to a private university, many of which charge at least, N350,000 per session.
This amount is too much for the average Nigerian family to splash on a child, when there are other children to cater for.
One thing that baffles me is the fact that, when these universities were being built, church members were levied for the construction of the sructures.Now, after the universities’ take-off, the members of these churches cannot afford to send their children to study in these schools.
As things are now many young Nigerians are denied university education because the slots in government-owned universities are few and the huge cost of education in private institutions, is not allowing the poor to send their children there.
This makes me to remember Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s free education policy when he was Premier of Western Region.
If Awolowo had not introduced free education at that time, the Yoruba would not be where they are today.There is virtually no human endeavour in which the Yoruba do not rank among the best.
Therefore, these private universities should think of their social responsibilities to the citizens, among which is giving them qualitative education at a reasonable fee.
Ifeanyi Nnongo,
Makurdi, Benue State.
ifnnongo@yahoo.com
|
|
|
|
|
Re: Intervene in NDA admission
The attention of the
Nigerian Defence
Academy has been drawn to your publication of Tuesday, June 2, 2009 page 36, entitled: “Intervene in NDA admission, parents call on army authorities”.
First, your reporter claimed to have gathered that young graduates from the Nigerian Military School (NMS), Zaria, and those from other recognised higher institutions are allegedly denied admission by the academy. Second, that some army officers’ children were denied admission and third that no single candidate of Taraba extraction was invited in the recently concluded Armed Forces Selection Board (AFSB) interview for the 61 Regular Course.
On the first issue, the NDA authorities consider it crucial to bring to your awareness and perhaps that of the general public that with its peculiarity as the only degree awarding military institution in Nigeria, it gives equal opportunity to all qualified Nigerians who seek admission. It is, therefore, unrealistic, selfish and misleading for any group of persons to ask the academy to offer 75 per cent of its admission quota exclusively to ex-boys of the Nigerian Military School or ex-students of any other institution. It must be pointed out that NMS ex-boys have over the years been competing with candidates from other institutions for admission into the NDA without any controversy. Additionally, there was never a time in the history of the NDA, that NMS boys were given preference over any candidate in the country.Therefore, for anyone to think that it will do Nigeria any good for particular institutions to be accorded preferential treatment in the admission of candidates into the NDA is tantamount to gross display of ignorance of what the Nigerian Defence Academy and the Armed Forces represent.
Your publication also reported that some army officers’ children were allegedly denied admission into the academy. Your reporter in this instance, did not only fail to adduce reasons for the alleged denial, but equally failed to realise the fact that he was writing about a ”Nigerian Defence Academy” and as the name implies, all Nigerians and not only army officers’ children, are qualified to seek admission. Here again, if all army officers’ children were to be offered admission to the academy simply because their parents are in the army, where then will be the place of children of other Nigerians who are qualified?
On the allegation that no candidate was invited from Taraba State in the recently concluded AFSB selection interview, I will on the contrary, intimate you with the fact that 40 candidates from Taraba State were shortlisted for the 61 Regular Course interview. Your attention is hereby drawn to the publication of the list of successful candidates in the NDA Entrance Examination for the 61 Regular Course in the New Nigerian of April 18, 2009(pages 32 - 36). The result of the interview is yet to be released by the Armed Forces Selection Board but be assured that when the result is eventually released, Taraba State candidates who are successful in the interview will definitely feature.
Onyema Nwachukwu, Lieutenant Colonel,
Academy Public Relations Officer,
Nigerian Defence Academy,
Kaduna.
|
|
|
|
|
