The list of impounded certificates of candidates has been released by the West African Examinations Council.

The candidates were believed to have engaged in malpractices during its examinations held as far back as December 1992 and 1993.

The council released the examination years and certificate numbers of the affected candidates, noting that the nature of their malpractices was an impersonation.

Our correspondent sighted the list of indicted WAEC candidates as published in the weekly bulletin of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board released on Monday.

In the JAMB bulletin, WAEC identified the candidates as, “Ukaumunna C. December 1992 examination with certificate number, NGSP 0233613; Chinna H. December 1993 with the certificate number, NGSP 0572427; Koffi E. December 1993, with number NGSP 0455669; and Oham J. December 1994, with the certificate number, NGSP 0177271.”

Others are “Mbara G. December 2001, with certificate WNR 2248072; Ifo S. December 2001, with number NGWASSCP 1307367; Ugwu P. December 2005 with certificate number, NGWASSCP 4534182; Anene J. December 2008, with number, NGWASSCP 5505913; Ogbenna C. December 2011, with certificate number, NGWASSCP 06927486; and Nwangwu I. December 2014, with certificate number, NGWASSCP 8392056.”

JAMB noted that to avoid such impersonation during its Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, it was partnering the National Identity Management Commission to enforce candidates’ registration for the national identity number.

The board said, “Given the cases listed JAMB’s partnership with NIMC is imperative. To have a seamless registration for the 2020 UTME, we have put machinery in place to test run the new registration regime under the common platform of JAMB and NIMC using the NIN.

“The Registrar, Prof Is-haq Oloyede, sequel to this, therefore, directed members of staff in offices nationwide to participate in the trial registration which started on Friday, November 29, and is to end Tuesday, December 3. No fewer than 1,800 members of staff would be involved in the trial registration designed to assess the workability of the new registration regime.”

On Saturday, the National Steering Committee of the Congress of University Academics directed university lecturers who belong to the group to immediately begin enrolment on the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System in compliance with the Federal Government’s directive.

Leadership of the group, which is a faction of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, on Saturday disclosed that the decision to enroll on IPPIS, against the stand of Academic Staff Union of Universities, was reached at a meeting of CONUA National Steering Committee.

It added that the National Steering Committee of the group had earlier held a meeting with the Minister of Finance and her team that had the Accountant-General of the Federation, the Director, IPPIS, and others on Thursday, November 14, 2019.

CONUA said the meeting focused on addressing the peculiarities of the academia in the implementation of IPPIS and other issues, positing that the NSC after deliberating on the report of the meeting, agreed that its members should enroll on IPPIS platform.

A statement signed by the CONUA National Coordinator, Dr. Niyi Sunmonu and, the National Publicity Coordinator, Dr. Ernest Nwoke, said the group agreed to enroll on the platform with faith that the Federal Government would fulfill its promise of prompt action on any issue that arose in the implementation of the policy.

The statement, a copy of which was obtained by our correspondent in Osogbo,  read,  “That CONUA members are in full support of every policy and effort of government to reform the Nigerian public financial system with a view to combating corruption and thereby sanitizing our educational system.

“That the IPPIS being one of such efforts is welcome by CONUA in the light of government’s assurance on accommodating the peculiarities of the academia.

“That CONUA notes the Federal Government’s promise to address any other issues that may arise, through the desk offices to be placed in the bursary unit of each university.

“That, in view of the foregoing, CONUA implores members to enroll on the IPPIS platform with a strong belief that government would reciprocate our good faith.”

A young elementary school teacher in Pittsburg, California excites and engages her students to learn through the power of music. The art of music has always been known to unite – regardless of one’s racial background, ethnicity, gender, or age.

Every year, Ms. Mallari takes it upon herself to recreate a popular song in order to get her students ready to learn, and happy to be in class. Whilst putting a twist on songs, she makes sure to incorporate class rules and life-lessons to instill good behavior in the kids. Based on the lyrics and the highly engaged, participating class of youngsters alone, one can infer that these very same students are going to flourish into good citizens.

This month, Ms. Mallari happened to select a song called “Truth Hurts” by American pop artist, Lizzo. “Truth Hurts” is a song that has reached as high as number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and is still lingering amongst the top 10 today. Despite the fact that the original song is explicit in terms of the usage of cuss words, Lizzo executes a meaningful message, and that is for one to know their self-worth; to not let a relationship rule your life, especially if the person you are with is not appreciating and treating you as they should. On the other hand, the Californian teacher’s kid-friendly version teaches students how to work hard, help and support others, share with others, and respect one another.

Most importantly, although Mallari’s lyrics motivates students to be on point, lyrics such as “…turns out I’m 100% that smart. Even when I’m feeling lazy…” lets them know that it is okay to slack off a bit because everyone has those type of days: kids and adults alike. It is all about knowing you are capable of learning new things, and successfully completing life’s everyday assignments. Ultimately, getting back up after set-backs and putting forth the effort in the work one does is one of the biggest lessons of all.

Dorothy Mallari and her class have already gone viral since the posting of the video below by The Pittsburg Unified School District.

It only took two days for this same video to go viral, with views amassing to over 250,000. As of now, the class video has gained over 1.5 million views. In fact, Ms. Mallari’s class performance got recognition from Lizzo herself when a twitter user by the name of Raj Mathai shared the video and commented “Best thing you’ll watch today. Teacher in Pittsburg (40 miles east of San Francisco) uses ⁦@lizzo⁩ to inspire and teach her kids. ⁦@PittsburgUSD⁩ ⁦@BayAreaProud.”. In response to this tweet, last week Wednesday, Lizzo shared the video on her own page. She wrote “Ur right.. this IS the best thing I’ve watched today” with a googly heart-eyed emoji attached at the end of the exclamation.

Surprise, Surprise

Last Wednesday, Dorothy Mallari and her students were warmly invited to perform their own version of “Truth Hurts” on Good Morning America. This televised performance took place on November 8th via video chat. When asked what inspired her song choice, Mallori stated “Its really important that I find a song that the kids know, they’re engaged in, they get hyped on. And once the Lizzo song came on for Kidz Bop, it played on our station, and the song came on, and the kids started grooving to it, and as soon as I saw them dancing to it, I was like ‘ohhh, i’m doing this song’…”.

Before the class performed on live TV, the hosts of GMA announced that someone has a message from them. That message was from no one other than Lizzo herself. Through a pre-recorded video broadcast, Lizzo greeted the class and stated “I saw the wonderful video y’all made, your teacher is very cool… I want to let you know that you are 100% the future, you’re so bright, and so beautiful, and so talented, so keep it up. And I hope to see y’all one day, imma drop in on your class so hopefully we can make that happen…”. This message was followed by delightful applause from the audience, and the second grade teacher and her students.

“Truth Hurts” : Ms. Malari’s Song transcript

“Let’s be great, cuz’ I know we are great. Wooooo!”

“I just took an ELA test, turns out I’m 100% that smart”

“Even when I’m feeling lazy”

“Yeah, I got math problems, that’s the student in me. Buzz, buzz then I solve them, that’s the worker [bee] in me,”

“You want to have a good friend, who’s committed. Help you with your homework, just a little.”

“You know I’ll hold you down, because you got my back. And that’s the sound, of the yellow and black! Ayyye!”

“Let’s be great cuz’ I know we are great. Let’s hurry, we don’t want to be late.”

“Choose a crate or a wobbly chair. Let’s take turns so we know it is fair.”

“In this class, you’ll never catch us fighting. Time’s up we need to start our writing. Smart spots make learning more exciting…”

“Bom bom bi bom bi dum bum bay.”

“KASU” on Wednesday, 23 October, 2019 suspended one of its lecturers Mr. Bala Umar for allegedly soliciting sex-for-grade.

Following a one-man protest of a female graduate of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria at KASU, a committee was setup during a management meeting on wednesday to investigate the allegations leveled against Mr. Bala Umar . The lady (name withheld), alleged that Mr. Umar was sacked for sexual misconduct at Ahmadu Bello University and later employed by KASU.

Prof. Abdullahi Ashafa, who chaired the meeting stated that KASU has zero tolerance for such misconduct by any of its staff and would take necessary actions to deal appropriately with any staff found wanting.

Ashafa also stated that two committees has been setup, one is to thoroughly investigate the allegations leveled against Bila Umar while the the other is for general investigation on events on campus relating to both academic and non academic employees of the institution.