Ajewole was buried amidst tears at Cathedral of St. James The Great Cemetery, Ijokodo, Ibadan.

He was gunned down in his Olororo, Ojo, Ibadan residence by yet-to-be-identified assailants on June 5, 2023.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Ibadan (UI) branch on Monday berated security operatives over the inability to apprehend the killers four weeks after the incident.

In his sermon at a funeral service for Ajewole at Men of Issachar Vision Int, Ibadan, Pastor Samson Ajetumobi, said the deceased was cut short at his prime.

He emphasised that those who planned and killed the deceased will also die by gun because the blood of the deceased would be revenged.

“It is okay to die because it is the price human beings have to pay but it is not okay to kill because it is punishable before God and men. God determines our days. When you read through the scriptures, you will see that dying is okay but killing is bad.

“God hates anyone who sheds blood of the innocent. Nobody owns life. If a man kills, he will account for it.”

Dignitaries at the funeral were the Vice Chancellor of UI Prof. Kayode Adebowale; Registrar, J.O. Saliu; Pro. Chancellor of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomosho, Prof. Deji Omole; Director General of Forest Research Institute of Nigeria (FRIN), Prof. Zachariah Buba Yaduma and the Provost, Federal College of Forestry, Ibadan, Prof. Funmi Aderonmu among others.

The post Tears as slain UI Prof is laid to rest appeared first on New Mail Nigeria.

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2023 ranked 1,799 universities across 104 countries and regions, making them the largest and most diverse university rankings to date.

In the ranking, the University of Ibadan came top in Nigeria, followed by UNILAG and Covenant University.

The University of Ibadan is also the third best in Africa after University of Witwatersrand in South Africa and Aswan University in Egypt.

In the World University ranking released by the Times, University of Ibadan was ranked between 401 and 500 best universities in the world.

UNILAG is also ranked between 401 and 500 best universities in the world but University of Ibadan was ranked ahead of UNILAG due to certain indices the Times Higher Education considered.

Covenant University is ranked between 600 and 800 best universities in the world, but came 10th in Africa. Asides these three no other Nigerian university is ranked among the top 1,000 in the world.

The fourth and fifth best ranked Nigerian universities-Bayero University Kano (BUK) and the Federal University of Agriculture (FUTA) ranked between 1,001 and 1,200 respectively.

While only three Nigerian universities were ranked among the first 1,000, Egypt has 14 universities and South Africa, five universities ranked. Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda have one university ranked apiece.

Covenant University is ranked between 600 and 800 best universities in the world, but came 10th in Africa. Asides these three no other Nigerian university is ranked among the top 1,000 in the world.

The fourth and fifth best ranked Nigerian universities-Bayero University Kano (BUK) and the Federal University of Agriculture (FUTA) ranked between 1,001 and 1,200 respectively.

While only three Nigerian universities were ranked among the first 1,000, Egypt has 14 universities and South Africa, five universities ranked. Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda have one university ranked apiece.

However, University of Oxford, United Kingdom has been ranked the best university in the world, followed by Harvard University in the United States, while the University of Cambridge is third.

The 10 best universities in the world are in the United States and United Kingdom. While seven are in the United States, three are in the UK.

According to the Times Higher Education, the table of the ranking was based on 13 carefully calibrated performance indicators that measure an institution’s performance across four areas: teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook.

“This year’s ranking analysed over 121 million citations across more than 15.5 million research publications and included survey responses from 40,000 scholars globally. Overall, we collected over 680,000 datapoints from more than 2,500 institutions that submitted data.“

“Mainland China now has the fourth-highest number of institutions in the top 200 (11, compared with 10 last year), having overtaken Australia, which has dropped to fifth (joint with the Netherlands).

“Five countries enter the ranking for the first time – all of them in Africa (Zambia, Namibia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Mauritius).

“Harvard tops the teaching pillar, while Oxford leads the research pillar. Atop the international pillar is the Macau University of Science and Technology.

“Overall, 1,799 universities are ranked. A further 526 universities are listed with “reporter” status, meaning that they provided data but did not meet our eligibility criteria to receive a rank, and agreed to be displayed as a reporter in the final table,” the added.

The post UI, UNILAG, Covenant ranked among 1,000 best universities in the world appeared first on New Mail Nigeria.

This was contained in a statement by Sonny Echono, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education on Thursday.

He noted the governing councils of the five universities would be inaugurated in Abuja by the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu on April 19.

The statement listed members of the new council of UI as Chief Odigie Oyegun, Chairman; Masud Kazaure, Abba Yaro, Alhaji Abubakar Maikafi, and Mr Emeka Nwagbo as members.

“For UNIPORT, the governing council members are Sen. Andrew Uchendu as Chairman while Kolo Uzamat, Cdre. D. T. Hinga, Mohammed Makarfi and Ahmed Al-Mustapha are members.

“For UNILAG, we have Dr Lanre Tejuosho as Chairman with Dr Aminu Ahmed, Dr Uro Gardner, Chief Chinedu Adindi and Mr Mustafa Salihu as members.

“Also, OAU has Chief Oscar Udoji as Chairman with Capt. Bala Jibrin, Mr Eugene Odo, Dr Lateef Babata and Alhaji Saidu Bako as members.

“The Nigerian Maritime University, Okerenkoko in Delta has Dr Elias Courson as Chairman and Mr Nelson Alapa, Mr Victor Giadono, Alhaji Bello Dukku and Mr Godwin Ananghe as members,” it added.

The post UI, UNILAG, OAU, others get Governing Councils appeared first on New Mail Nigeria.

They are professors Aderemi Raji-Oyelade, Oluwabunmi Olapade-Olaopa, Kayode Adebowale and Kolapo Amzat. Their candidature is a boost to the campaign by the Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII) for an indigene to be appointed the next VC of the premier university.

But it is unclear if the process will permit such sentiment to influence who succeeds the incumbent Prof. Abel Olayinka on December 1. The new vice chancellor, when elected, will assume office for a single term of five years.

The applicants have been canvassing for votes from stakeholders in the university community.

The remaining 14 are professors Babatunde Salako, Babatunde Adeleke, Razaq Rom-Kalilu, Hakeem Fawehimi, Raheem Lawal and Adeyinka Aderinto.

Others are professors Clement Kolawole, Olusegun Ademowo, Oladele Layiwola, Temitope Alonge, Anthony Kadoye Onifade, Ebenezer Farombi, Femi Mimiko and H. A. Saliu.

While Kayode Adebowale is the incumbent Deputy Vice Chancellor (DVC Administration), Adeyinka Aderinto is DVC (Academic). Olapade-Olaopa is the former provost, College of Medicine, while Raji-Oyelade is a former dean, Faculty of Arts of the institution.

The candidates are scheduled for a debate tagged “The Voice of UI VC: Who is Next”, later this week. The debate will hold on Zoom.

The post 18 in race to become UI VC appeared first on New Mail Nigeria.

The forum had been championing the wearing of hijab by female Muslim pupils and had twice in the last 10 days distributed hijab to their female pupils against the school’s prescribed dress code.

The Muslim parents had written a letter to the school management and governing board, stating that their female pupils must be allowed to wear hijab on their school uniforms. The letter was entitled: ‘Notification of Muslim Parents’ Resolution on Hijab for our Muslim Girls in ISI’.

Their agitation and the attendant threat to peace led to the indefinite shutdown of the school on Monday. Series of meetings, including that of the Parent-Teacher Association, which the Muslim parents attended but left midway following irreconcilable differences with the school management and other stakeholders, could not douse the tension in the ISI.

On Wednesday, many placard-carrying parents, including an Ifa priest and researcher, who is also the father of two pupils in the school, Awosanmi Abe, condemned the approach of the Muslim parents to the issue of hijab.

The protesting parents said wearing of hijab in the 55-year-old school was capable of dividing the students along religious lines.

Aside Abe, other leaders of the protesters were Olalekan Thani, a lawyer, and Olusola Aleshin.

They argued that the school was an indivisible entity, which no one or group should be allowed to divide for any reason.

The protesters described as dangerous a situation where little children were being made to discriminate against each other along religious, ethnic and other sentiments instead of emerging as global citizens.

In their letter entitled, ‘Clamour for the introduction of religious emblem for our children in the International School, University of Ibadan’, the parents urged the school’s board, which is headed by the DVC, to ensure that the rules and regulations guiding the institution, and to which all parents signed to uphold, reigned supreme.

They insisted that the pupils were friends and colleagues as well as their parents, stressing that any attempt by some Muslim parents to divide them should not be allowed to succeed.

Some of the inscriptions on the placards read: ‘No to religious discrimination in ISI’, ‘Say yes to peaceful co-existence in ISI’, ‘Stop!! Don’t divide our children’, ‘No to religious crisis’, and ‘Let our uniform be uniform’.

In a letter signed by the trio of Thanni, Abe and Aleshinloye, and addressed to the Vice-Chancellor, UI; the principal and the PTA Chairman, ISI, the parents said they received the news of the second closure of the school in the space of two weeks with serious pain and trauma.

The parents said, “We want to use this medium to inform the management that the school is not only populated by the two dominant religions, but also has traditional believers. These groups have vowed to enforce their rights in line with their Muslim counterparts’ claim to the right to use of their religious emblem in hijab wearing.

“A scenario in which armlets and Ifa traditional beads are freely used as religious symbols in the school will not be funny. What will then become of the uniformity concept of the uniform when the school environment can be taken as a marketplace of sorts, where a rainbow of apparels is the order of the day? May the day never come when the ISI becomes the example of what a school environment should not be.”

They noted that the ISI Muslim Parents Forum’s position was an attempt to disrupt the academic milieu as well as the atmosphere of love and unity already entrenched among the pupils.

They insisted that the rules and regulations of the school must be binding on all consenting parents and their wards, and that the choice of language and procedure adopted by the Muslim parents in their letter dated November 9, 2018 to the school principal and copied to the Chairman of the Board of Governors was both derogatory and an usurpation of the powers of the board.

They accused the Muslim parents of attempting to disrupt the school’s academic activities as well as the love and unity already existing among the pupils, who do not see religious barriers among themselves.

The post Christian parents, Ifa priest protest against UI school’s hijab crisis appeared first on New Mail Nigeria.

A statement issued on Tuesday in Ibadan by the institution’s Director of Public Communication, Olatunji Oladejo, said the election held on Monday was well contested.

The statement said that Adebowale defeated Prof. Emmanuel Salako of the Department of Animal Science.

According to the statement, Adebowale will replace the current Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration), Prof. Ambrose Emilolorun Aiyelari, whose tenure will end on June 10.

The vice chancellor had earlier nominated Adebowale and Salako for the election.

“With this election, the name of the new deputy vice-chancellor will be forwarded to Council for confirmation at its next meeting.

“Adebowale, who is a professor of chemistry and Fellow, Nigerian Academy of Sciences, has through his profound scholarship positively projected the image of the university nationally and internationally.

“He is expected to bring to bear his varied and rich experience in university administration and sound scholarship in his new assignment,” the statement said.

The post Adebowale emerges new Deputy Vice Chancellor of UI appeared first on New Mail Nigeria.

The latest 2016/2017 ranking which featured 980 universities worldwide with the University of Ibadan ranked 601

The ranking which was carried out by the top rated organisation Times Higher Education (THE) showed that University of Ibadan is the only Nigerian university that made it to the top 1,000 globally ranked universities.

The latest ranking was based on Teaching, Research, Citations of scholarly publications, Industry Income and International outlook.

Despite being the only University which entered the list of top universities in the world, University of Ibadan came behind South African universities with University of Cape Town ranked 148 followed by Stellenbosch University (401), University of KwaZulu Natal (501).

University from Ghana Legon (601) is the only university from Ghana in the latest ranking and it is ranked ahead of Nigeria’s premier university.

Only 22 universities across Africa made it to the world class universities with South Africa and Egyptian universities dominating.

Reacting to the latest ranking, Vice Chancellor University of Ibadan, Professor Idowu Olayinka, said the University is blessed with world class scholars who are dedicated to their calling and must be engaged by Nigeria to solve her problems.

While saying the latest ranking is a welcome development, the VC urged the federal government to allocate special privilege funding to the University of Ibadan to improve research infrastructure to rise further in future ranking.

“The truth of the matter is that the Times Higher Education Rankings is one of the elite global ranking bodies. It is a thing of joy that we have a respectable position in comparison to peer universities in Africa.

“This is message to the federal government of Nigeria that we need funding to improve our research infrastructure and funding support in order to enhance productivity. We congratulate all faculty, staff and students who have made this feat possible.

“The federal government should learn to use research output from university of Ibadan to solve problems facing the country. We cannot have world class scholars in Nigeria and rely on those who have never conducted researches on our problems to come and solve our problems”

Follow Us

The post At last, UI joins league of 1,000 world best universities appeared first on New Mail Nigeria.

The students had embarked on violent protest over Epeti Michael’s expulsion whom they alleged was punished for participating in a protest over lack of light and water sometimes on November 19, 2015.

The authority, in a step seen as forestalling serious outbreak of order, shut the school indefinitely, but majority of the students remained adamant, shut the gate even against some of the students who wanted to vacate the campus.

The students had demanded among others immediate reopening of the school, unconditional and immediate reinstatement of Tunji Epeti Michael, quick redress of the water and power distribution on campus as well as address the ‘undue’ placement of fines and harassment of students by porters in the halls of residence.

However, the university had debunked the claim of rusticating only Tunji Epeti Michael saying that nine students were either rusticated/reprimanded, or discharged from the Independence hall for either leading a protest or illegal occupation of the hall.

An emergency Senate of the University of the University which was presided over by the Vice Chancellor, Professor Idowu Olayinka ratified the decision of the management to close the school and dialogue with the students while condemning what it called the invasion of the university by students of other institutions with hooded attire.

It was gathered that the Senate of the Institution stated that Tunji Epeti was supposed to be at his place of Internship for six-months when he allegedly came back to lead a protest in the Independence Hall owing to his political ambition to become the Administrator General.

The Vice Chancellor was said to have disclosed that while the university requires N80 million per month to maintain overhead cost and maintenance of Halls of residence, it had only received a total of N42.5 million covering January-April, 2016 calling for more funding from the federal government.

While noting that immediate opening of the school is impossible since the Governing Council which will consider the letter of appeal against Epeti’s rustication will seat on Monday 16, May 2016 during which the decision would be communicated to the senate.

“I have gone around the halls of residence to see what the condition is like and I know it is not up to the standard our students should be living in but what do we do when the money/overhead cost from federal government fall short of what we need?

“We presently accommodate about 8,000 students in halls of residence. There is absolutely nothing we can do without funding.

“At this stage, it is not feasible to grant an unconditional and immediate reinstatement of Tunji Epeti Michael. His appeal would be tabled before the governing council for consideration at the next meeting that would hold during the week beginning 16, May 2016.

“A bi-partisan ad-hoc committee will be set-up, comprising members of staff and representatives of students to work out modalities in short, medium and long terms for improvement in the provision of municipal services on campus.

“The re-opening of the university would be contingent on the satisfactory resolution of the first two points. Management would deal speedily with the purported undue placement of fines and harassment of students by porters in the Halls of Residence,” Olayinka submitted.

Follow Us

The post UI to remain shut for one month – Senate appeared first on New Mail Nigeria.

According to UNILAG management, registration for the screening will hold between July 21 and August 7, even as the screening test will hold between August 12 and 13.

Our correspondent gathered that some candidates who were accompanied by their parents to the university to register for the screening, were shocked to learn that the cut-off point usually placed at 200 over the years was increased to 250.

This irked the aggrieved candidates and their parents as they embarked on a peaceful protest in front of the university’s main gate.

The protesters were seen carrying placards with various inscriptions such as “Go back to the JAMB 180 cut-off mark,” “We insist that the 250 cut-off mark is unacceptable,” “Our children must not be disqualified from participating in the post-UTME screening,” among others.

However, the registrar of UNILAG, Dr Taiwo Ipaye, said that of the 32,000 candidates that applied for admission into the university, only 9,000 were eligible for screening.

Some parents who brought their wards to the campus for the post-UTME registration, expressed disappointment over their children’s exclusion from JAMB’s list of shortlisted candidates.

The decision to increase the cut-off point to 250, especially in federal universities, considered as most sought after by candidates, it was gathered, was to reduce the army of candidates who chose them as their most preferred institution during the last UTME screening test.

Aside from UNILAG, other federal universities said to have increased their cut-off point from 200 to 250 are Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU, Ife, Osun State, University of Ibadan, UI, Oyo State, University of Illorin, UNILORIN, Kwara State, and University of Nigeria, UNN, Nsukka, Enugu State.

Vice Chancellor, UI, Professor Isaac Adewole, however said that “Our JAMB cut-off point to qualify candidates for post-UTME in University of Ibadan is still 200. We will use that in conjunction with the post-UTME scores of candidates to give them admission into our school.”

The post Parents, students protest, as UNILAG raises cut-off mark appeared first on New Mail Nigeria.

In a memo sent to the Vice Chancellor Signed by its Chairman and Secretary Professor Segun Ajiboye and Dr Deji Omole respectively, ASUU condemned the harassment of academic staff by Striking Non-Academic Staff of the University during which lectures were chased out of classroom.

Three Unions in the University of Ibadan had this morning paralyzed academic, business and administrative activities when they protested non-payment of earned allowances for the month of June.‎

As early as 7.30am leadership of Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU), Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and National Association of Technologists (NAT) put all 4 entrance gates into the premier university under lock and key and prevented movement into the university.

Their protest was anchored on what they called unfulfilled promise by the Vice Chancellor, Professor Isaac Adewole ‎to increase the top-up earned allowances paid to workers in the university only for the institution authorities not to pay anything in June salaries.

They chased lectures out of the classroom and harassed many who did not subscribe to their protest and also declared three-day warning strike.

While ASUU did not join in the protest, National Treasurer of ASUU, Dr Ademola Aremu had condemned the harassment and the untold hardship brought on staff.

The Memo by Professor Ajiboye and Dr Deji Omole read in part: ‎”It has come to our notice that members of the three non academic unions have embarked on an industrial action from the morning of 1 July 2015.

“Consequently, many of our members were harassed and chased out of classrooms thereby preventing them from discharging their duties as academic staff.‎ With this action, the safety of the lives of our members appears grossly threatened.

“In the light of this, our Union will want the Administration to take note and take necessary action to avert degeneration of the situation and assure our members a safe space to carry out their legitimate duties.”

Follow Us

The post U.I ASUU leaders allege threat to lives appeared first on New Mail Nigeria.