Day: June 21, 2023

Cameroonian mathematician, Dr. Abdon Atangana has been recognized by the United Nations Educational Scientifice and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for his trailblazing work in mathematics.

The recognition took place on June 19 at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France where the 37-year-old was recognized for his “significant contributions to the field of mathematics, particularly in the areas of fractional calculus, fractional differential equations, and mathematical modelling” according to a release from UNESCO which CNA has seen.

According to UNESCO, Atangana’s expertise in the aforementioned mathematical specialty enables other scientists “to solve real-life problems such as the spread of infectious diseases, heat transfer problems, groundwater flow and contamination or weather patterns” and can also be used in the development of the cruise control function in cars.

Atangana’s work is also “contributing to new strategies for minimizing energy consumption and optimizing renewable energy systems”.

The scientist was not immediately reachable for comment when contacted by CNA South Africa correspondent, Hans Ngala.

However, it should be noted that Atangana is a lecturer at the University of the Free State in South Africa and has also been recognized by the university for his groundbreaking findings.

His recent recognition by UNESCO was alongside four other scientists in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) disciplines. He and another scientist from Egypt were the only two to be recognized from Africa; and each went home with prize money of $50,000 USD (about FCFA 30 Million).

Source: Cameroon News Agency

The Ghana Education Service (GES) has initiated plans for a national roll-out of Professional Learning Community (PLC) sessions across all Senior High Schools (SHSs) and Senior High Technical Schools (SHTSs). This is aimed at strengthening teachers’ understanding and adherence to the National Teachers’ Standards (NTS) and preparing them for the introduction of the new secondary education curriculum, which will be rolled-out in the 2024/25 academic year. A press release issued by Ms Cassandra Twum Ampofo, Head of Public Relations Unit of GES, copied to the Ghana News Agency said: ‘Weekly PLC sessions have been piloted by GES since 2022 in 12 SHS and SHTS using structured Handbooks developed in partnership with the National Teaching Council (NTC).’ It said in a recent evaluation, it was found that the weekly sessions had had a significant impact on improving teaching and learning in the 12 schools, providing a strong evidence-base for the national scale-up of the approach. The release said to ensure the smooth institutionalisation and roll-out of the PLC sessions across all 726 schools, GES organised a five-day training session for a 100-member National Training Team comprising representatives from GES, T-TEL, Senior High Schools and Colleges of Education. The training, which took place in May 2023, focused on equipping the National Training Team with the necessary skills and resources to support teachers and officers across regional and district education directorates to effectively implement PLCs in SHSs and SHTSs. The sessions demonstrated how teachers could be supported and equipped with interactive and innovative approaches to make teaching and learning more engaging for students. With a strong focus on leveraging technology and promoting Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI), the training also highlighted the importance of socio-emotional learning in the classroom. It said all approaches used in the training were drawn from the National Teacher’s Standards (NTS), which outlined the values and attitudes, knowledge and practices expected of all professional teachers in Ghana. The release said the weekly PLC sessions, facilitated by trained teachers within each school, would help to ensure that all teachers were familiar with the National Teachers’ Standards (NTS) and able to incorporate concepts related to Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI), Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) in the classrooms. It said PLC sessions had the potential to bring about lasting positive changes across Ghana’s secondary education system and could be used to ensure that all teachers understood and embraced the new secondary education curriculum before it was rolled-out nationally in the 2024/25 academic year.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology, and Innovation (MESTI) is putting together a legal framework to compel companies that use plastic packaging to assume some responsibility in the collection and recycling of plastic waste. The law will make the Extended Producer Responsibility Principle (EPR) mandatory for such companies and compel them to establish plastic collection centres as part of their marketing arrangements to rid the environment off plastics. Data from the Ghana Plastic Manufacturers Association indicate that 87 per cent of industries in Ghana use plastic packaging. In an interview with the Ghana News Agency at a workshop on Marine Litter and Mircoplastics in Accra on Wednesday, Mrs Lydia Essuah, Director of Policy, Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, MESTI, said the current EPR regime was voluntary and thus companies complied at will. She said the country must adopt what she described as the ‘polluter pay principle’ to ensure that companies that used plastic packaging were responsible for the collection. ‘The private sector has started their own process but that is voluntary. To be able to achieve higher levels of collection and recycling and for us to get rid of plastics, we need to make the EPR system mandatory. ‘We are working on legal backing to make it mandatory so that we will move from the current voluntary into mandatory regime to ensure that once you put out a plastic product on the market, you are mandated by law to collect it,’ Mrs Essuah said. Mrs Essuah said the Ministry had adopted a ‘partnership approach’ where the private sector would play key role in plastic waste management. She said financing was a major challenge in the sector and indicated that the Ministry would collaborate with the private sector to explore avenues to address those challenges. In Ghana, some 120 companies manufacture over 52,000 tonnes of various plastics and plastics products per year, according to the Ghana Plastic Waste Management Policy Document. According to the Document, more than one million tonnes of plastic waste are generated every year, suggesting that domestic manufacturing accounts for less than 5 per cent of all plastics in the country. It is estimated that out of one million tonnes of plastics produced in Ghana annually, only 10 per cent is recycled, with nine per cent leaking into the ocean. The workshop discussed lessons learnt from the implementation of a project dubbed: ‘Marine Litter and Microplastics: promoting the environmentally sound management of plastic waste and achieving the prevention and minimisation of the generation of plastic waste in Ghana’. The Project was implemented by MESTI in collaboration with its partners, including the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, and the Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm (BRS) Conventions. Mrs Essuah said through the Project, the team discovered how sea weeds could be used to develop plastic bags, which is environmentally sustainable. She said the team had also identified useful information on how and what legal frameworks should be set up to guide sustainable use of plastics in the country. Ms Tatiana Terekhova, Programmes Management Officer at the BRS Conventions Secretariat, urged Ghana to strengthen its legal framework to control plastic waste.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Mr Isaac Adongo, the Ranking Member on the Finance Committee of Parliament, says Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, the Finance Minister has for sometime now not updated Ghanaians on the $3 billion Internatioanl Monetary Fund (IMF) loan. At a News Conference dubbed ‘The Update of the Finance Minister and Comments Made by Dr Mahamudu Bawumia,’ in Parliament on Wednesday, Mr Adongo alleged that Mr Ofori-Atta purposely failed to inform the public about conditionalities of the IMF government signed onto. ‘…Such as three months upward adjustments of utility tariffs, restrictions on public sector salaries, restructuring of pension funds and local banks,’ he said. Mr Adongo alleged that the government was likely to default in the payment of first matured bonds under the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP). Mr Adongo, also a National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Bolgatanga Central, questioned Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia’s vision for Ghana, particularly when he was hopeful of becoming the next President in 2025.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Federal Government has immortalised late Mrs Maryam Babangida by renaming the National Centre for Women Development (NCWD) after her in recognition of the impacts of her projects on women, especially those at the rural areas.

Mrs Monilola Udoh, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, disclosed this on Tuesday while addressing newsmen in Abuja.

Udoh said that the Bill for the change of name was passed by the Senate on March 29, 2023; while the House of Representatives passed same on April -5, 2023.

According to her, the renaming is in line with the amendment of the National Centre for Women Development Act, Cap. N15, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, to enhance the functions of the centre.

She said: “The Government under the last administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, approved the Bill by assenting to it in May 2023.

“By this information, we want our esteemed partners, the general public and indeed the media personnel to take note of the changes and help publicise it to the nooks and crannies of Nigeria and even beyond.”

Dr Asabe Vilita-Bashir, the Director-General of the centre, noted the huge contribution of the late first lady, especially her “Better life for Rural Women” project which impacted on the lives of women nationwide.

“Maryam Babangida is someone that Nigerian women will not forget her, and we are doing this to encourage other women leaders to emulate her virtues, commitment and support to women.

“This will serve as an inspiration to all women in leadership positions to do more for the Nigerian women and will be recorded by history,” she said.

Mrs Moji Makanjuola, the Chairman, Implementing Committee for Infrastructure and Renaming of the centre, said: “Renaming of the centre is significant for women. There is something that should remind us about yesterday to enable us do our today better.

“We need to start putting history into perspective, if we don’t do that we will loose sight of who we are as a people, country, nation and tribe.

“What has been achieved here is that collectively Nigerian women spoke with one voice that we want a change that will give us a focus of what we are doing as women in development.

“I pray that the centre expands beyond where we are today and it will be a citadel of hope for the Nigerian women and indeed black women around the world.”

On her part, Mrs Pauline Tallen, former Minister of Women Affairs, recalled the achievements of the late Maryam Babangida, whom she said had supported women to excel in every leadership positions they vyied for.

Tallen also expressed appreciation to former President Muhammadu Buhari for assenting to the Bill 48 hours before the end of his administration.

Similarly, Sen. Betty Apiafi, recalled the efforts made in ensuring the passage of the Bill aimed at promoting and protecting women’s rights and development.

“We are here not only to celebrate the renaming of the centre, but also upgrading the bill so that the centre will be able to perform optimally and reach out to more women in rural areas and those in need,” she said.

Also, Hajiya Aliyu, a beneficiary of the late Maryam Babangida’s programe, “Better life for Rural Women”, said the renaming of the centre was apt in recognition of its impacts on the lives of Nigerian women.

“This will remind people and other first ladies that are coming to do better than her and not to come and go after several years without doing anything for the Nigerian women.

“Also, I wish every subjection going to states, some should be given to the first lady from the states and local governments must have their share to take care of the rural women.”

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Stakeholders in the education sector have reiterated the need to allocate 20 per cent of the national budget to education with full implementation of the allocation.

The National Moderator, Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All (CSACEFA), Mr Duke Ogbureke, said this at the 2023 Global Action Week for Education (GAWE23) in Abuja on Tuesday.

The GAWE23, a Civil Society Dialogue Workshop with the theme: ‘Invest in a Just World: Decolonise Education Financing Now”, is aimed at setting the education agenda for the new administration.

Ogbureke said that for development to take place, there is need for the government to budget adequately for education to hit at least the minimum benchmark of 20 per cent of the national budget.

” Our case is peculiar because we have close to 20 million out-of-school children, so you will agree with me that even the benchmark of 20 per cent of the budgetary allocation to finance education will not be sufficient for us.

”This is because already we have the challenge of bringing in the 20milliom out-of-school children into school. So to do that we have to even go beyond the minimum benchmark.

”CSACEFA believe that we have enough resources in the country if our leaders will demonstrate enough political will through effectively and efficiently utilisation of budgetary allocation.

”If 20 per cent is provided, it must be effectively and efficiently used to finance education across all levels so that Nigerian youths can compete effectively with their global counterparts,” he said.

Ogbureke said historically, the budget allocated to education could not improve the sector, hence the need to allocate 20 per cent of the budget to education while also ensuring its utilisation.

He, therefore, charged civil society organisations to hold government accountable in the effective use of budget released for education so that the effect would be felt at all levels.

On the recent students loan signed into law by President Bola Tinubu, he commended the initiative while calling for its adequate implementation so that indigent Nigerians would have access to the loan.

”My challenge with the students loan is in the implementation. If it is effectively, efficiently, transparently and accountably implemented, I believe it would to some extent meet the needs of some indigent students who are members of our population.

” I am hoping that the system will be transparent and monitored so that those who truly needs the loan can access it,” he added.

Also, the Executive Director, Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development, Dr Otive Igbuzor, said the issues of out-of-school children must be addressed through adequate funding.

Igbuzor, speaking on the Nigeria Education Financing and the Concept of Colonisation of Education Financing, said that budgetary allocation to education was poor when compared to other countries.

He, however, said that to get it right in the area of education, the government must give a modern functional transformative education to its citizens that would yield development.

Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer, Youthhub Africa, Mr Rotimi Olawale, urged the government to ensure that certain percentage from savings from fuel subsidy removal be allocated to education financing.

Olawale said that investment in education as well as the responsibility of education financing lied with the government, while also charging the CSOs to find critical ways to help government in education financing.

In the same vein, the Secretary General, National Union of Teachers (NUT), Dr Mike Ene called for teachers training, especially from the employment level of the teachers, saying doing this would translate to competition in the system.

Ene, represented by the NUT Gender Desk Officer, Mrs Salamatu Aliu, also said that the best students should be sent to the Colleges of Education (COE) so they would come out to be better teachers.

According to her, often times, students who could not get admissions into the universities sought for the last option of colleges of education which is not right.

”There cannot be development in Nigeria if education is not taken proper care of.

”The best students in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) should be sent to the teachers training schools so as to impact the sector but the reverse is what we see,” he said.

The Policy Advisor, CSACEFA, Mrs Odinakachi Ahanonu, said that campaigning for the right to education with an opportunity to make targeted efforts to achieve change would transform the sector.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

L-R: Managing Director TAJBank, Hamid Joda, Influencer, Hauwa Jalilah, TAJBank Ambassador, Hajia Saratu Gidado, and Executive Director, Sherif Idi during the Launching of the Bank’s ‘TAJWAY’ app in Abuja

Launching

By Kadiri Abdulrahman

TAJBank, Nigeria’s leading non-interest bank, has inaugurated a new digital banking app – TAJWAY.

According to a statement by TAJBank Managing Director, Mr Hamid Joda, the launch is in furtherance of the bank’s sustained drive to surpass customer expectations in real time and cost-free banking services nationwide.

Joda said that the digital banking app was rated as one of the most secure and user-friendly platforms for transactions.

He said that it had been upgraded with additional pioneering capabilities to enhance customer experience in terms of easier, faster, and more convenient services.

According to Joda, it will streamline and make financial transactions exciting for its rapidly growing customers globally.

He added that the app was packaged with special features and benefits to customers, including increased transaction limits, card management, budget planning, saving on spending, multiple transfers and real time receipt generation for all transactions.

“These new benefits complement the app’s other value-added benefits of seamless funds transfer, account opening, account balance enquiry, airtime and data purchase, bills payment and account funding.

‘’This is an important milestone in our journey to becoming a digital bank.

“This will see us build the capabilities needed to develop and deploy an array of digitized products that are simple and easy to use.

“By leveraging emerging technologies and data analytics, we will increase engagement with our existing and prospective customers to exponentially scale up customer acquisition and transactions at a lower cost to serve,” he said.

Also speaking, TAJBank’s Executive Director, Sherif Idi, said that TAJWAY was a new self-service, stress-free and secured app built to offer exceptional user experience.

“It comes with a vast bouquet of functionalities for all classes of customers. It is currently available for download on Google Play store and iOS App Store,” he said.

The bank’s management advised customers to download the app by visiting the respective stores (Google play store or Apple app store), and search by using the keyword “TAJWAY” .

Meanwhile, industry analysts believe that TAJBank’s launch of the new digital banking app is a desirable step towards further consolidating its position as a frontline non-interest bank.

Source: News Agency of Nigeria