Fifty-eight-year-old Afusat, a widow is one of the street sweepers in Lagos State. Afusat was a petty trader who was struggling to make ends meet with her five children. Her youngest child is in JSS 2. Fifteen years ago after she lost her husband, she has been facing numerous challenges raising her children. Afusat told Saturday Vanguard that she was using the profit realised from her petty business to train her children.

It is not in doubt that our indige-nous languages are going into extinction as a result of our attitude to our native languages. We despise it, undervalue it and repudiate it as if it was criminal to communicate in our mother dialect.

Lt. General Jeremiah Useni needs no introduction. The prominent role he played during the reign of late Head of State, Sani Abacha, as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, is well known. However, there are two things about Jeremiah Useni, who was referred to as ‘Jerry Boy’ at the time. He was indeed a Boy, because he joined the Army at the age of 14. Firstly, he was one of the soldiers who fired shots during the coup against General Ironsi in which the General was killed in Ibadan. Mr. Useni was also the closest person to General Abacha up to his last moments.This interview, conducted in Hausa by the Hausa language newspaper, Rariya, and translated to English by PREMIUM TIMES’

I listened and watched with amazement comments from people who tagged themselves liberal Muslims rationalising the show of shame in Indonesia last week where a Nigerian Muslim Obabiyi Aishah Ajibola was crowned the Miss Muslimah World. More stupefying is that those who ought to know and point out where the organisers of the pageant goofed and where the pageant is antithetical to Islam rather chose to celebrate it. Very unfortunate.

Then Abraham stayed away from them for a period as long as Allah wished and called on them again but did not find Ishmael. So he came to Ishmael’s wife and asked her about Ishmael. She said, ‘He has gone in search of our livelihood.’ Abraham asked her, ‘How are you getting on?’ asking her about their sustenance and living. She replied, ‘We are prosperous and well-off (i.e. we have everything in abundance).’

About 3115 pilgrims from Lagos state are now in the holy land, Makkah Saudi Arabia performing the annual pilgrimage. They were airlifted from Lagos to Madina where they spent a few days before they were airlifted back to Makkah yesterday.

THE Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) has given the Federal Government a 60-day ultimatum to meet its demands. The President of the Union, Mr. Asagha Okoro, said “the nation would regret looking down on the teaching education sector if concrete steps are not taken to address COEASU’s grievances.”

WORRIED by the protracted industrial action embarked upon by public university lecturers under the aegis of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Vice-Chancellors of private universities have expressed concern and sympathy for the affected students, noting that there was need to end the three-month-old impasse between the Federal Government and the striking lecturers.

THE interview with the Professor on Nigerian university education makes very interesting reading for anyone deeply concerned by the growing knowledge gap between Nigerian university graduates and the rest of the advanced world. When asked “What is the difference between education in Nigeria and Canada?” the professor’s answer was hardly surprising. According to him: “Well, there are the obvious differences between the first world environment of Canada and the tenth world environment of Nigeria. These differences have two names: facilities and resources. Obviously, facilities and resources in Canada are vastly superior to what we have in Nigeria. But, be careful, superior resources do not necessarily make for superior students. First world excesses tend to breed indolence and laziness”.

“Since we were retired, no kobo was paid to me. Every time, we would be called to come to Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, to fill one form after another. Sometimes, we sleep at Awolowo Road on the bare floor, for us to be attended to. In spite of that, nothing has come out of it. It was only in 2010 October that I was paid, since then, no payment. My children are in school, I can’t provide for them. Anytime they come back, we all starve and they will cry all day till they go back. There is nobody to help me except God. My husband died since 2003.”