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Rethinking the Mathematics exemption for art students

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A recent resolution by the Nigerian government to exempt art students from mathematics, with the stated aim of easing university admission, presents a paradoxical and perilous crossroads for education. While the policy’s intention is clear, its long-term implications threaten to sever students from a fundamental discipline that shapes modern thought and opportunity.

This approach is not without international precedent; nations like Finland and New Zealand have, in recent years, explored similar curricular flexibilities. However, to view mathematics merely as a procedural hurdle is to misunderstand its very essence. I contend that mathematics is a profound art—a natural human skill that emboldens deeper critical thinking and logical reasoning. The future of our world, without a doubt, is built upon the twin pillars of science and mathematics.

It is, therefore, disquieting to see a subject of such universal importance potentially following the path of others, like history, which have suffered from educational neglect. We must not allow mathematics to become another casualty. To understand its value is to recognise it as a gateway to wealth and the binary code behind cutting-edge inventions, much like the wisdom encoded in the Oriki of the òfa people. It is the foundational language of progress that will shape our world in the years to come.

This policy is particularly alarming given the existing context of declining performance in the subject. Are we not, by effectively de-emphasising its importance, risk cultivating generations of young people devoid of basic quantitative skills? This leads to another pressing concern: the reality that many Nigerian university graduates often find employment outside their specific field of study, necessitating constant retraining. In such a dynamic landscape, a solid foundation in mathematics provides the versatile, analytical toolkit essential for adapting to new challenges and professions.

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Mathematics is the oxygen of modern life; no day passes without engaging in some form of calculation, whether basic or complex.

Its universal utility is underscored by global trends, exemplified by Mark Zuckerberg’s recent multi-million dollar acquisition of a young AI startup, an investment pivoting on the instinctive mathematical capacity that fuels technological innovation.

Rather than taking a path that may limit our students’ horizons, I would have urged the Federal Government to consider a more holistic and empowering mandate. Making mathematics, English language, government, and history compulsory for all students would forge a citizenry that is not only literate and numerate but also historically grounded and civically engaged.

While I am not an educationist by profession, it is evident that the future belongs to nations that champion precision and the cognitive skills mathematics uniquely provides. For Nigeria to become more productive and competitive, we must breathe the oxygen of mathematics, not ration it. Our national development depends on it.

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Education

Law student Ayomiposi Ojajuni kills self over failure to write final exam

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A student in the Yola Campus of the Nigeria Law School, identified as Ayomiposi Ojajuni, has allegedly taken his own life over failure to sit for his final examination.

The news broke Sunday that he killed himself on Saturday, December 6, because he was barred from doing the bar final examination at the Yola Campus.

People close to the deceased allege that he became distressed in the morning of Saturday on finding that he was indeed not going to be allowed to take the professional examination that commenced that morning.

He reportedly swallowed a deadly substance on receiving the news and died Sunday morning even after he was rushed to nearby Modibbo Adama University Teaching Hospital, Yola.

Sources have explained that the authorities came to the decision to stop him from taking his examination because he did not respond to multiple queries previously issued to him by the school authorities.

The Police Public Relations Officer in Adamawa State, SP Sulaiman Nguroje could not be reached for comment Sunday afternoon when this report was being concluded, but a different police source confirmed Ayomiposi Ojajuni’s suicide story.

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See also  St. Gregory’s College, Lagos: A Legacy of Catholic Education in Nigeria
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How A Classmate’s Question At Harvard Forced Me To Dump Banking For Politics – Abia Governor, Alex Otti

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He stated that this question, which Raina asked him at Harvard Business School in 2009, redirected his life from banking to politics.

Alex Otti, the Governor of Abia State, has recounted a story about a question a Harvard classmate asked him that ended up haunting him for a long time.

The governor stated that his classmate, Samvit Raina, an American of Indian descent, had asked him why many Nigerians he had met were successful, brilliant, and hardworking, yet the country from which they came was economically and development-wise backwards.

He stated that this question, which Raina asked him at Harvard Business School in 2009, redirected his life from banking to politics.

Speaking at the 2025 dinner and award presentation ceremony of the Harvard Business School Association of Nigeria in Onikan, Lagos, on Saturday, he said that his classmate’s question led him to abandon a lucrative banking career to pursue public service.

Otti, at the time, was participating in the Advanced Management Programme at Harvard.

He said, “I did not respond promptly in order not to be seen as endorsing an uncomplimentary remark against my country by a foreigner, but within me, I knew that he may not be the only one asking the question.”

The question, Otti explained, prompted him to engage in deep reflection during his time in Boston, where the school is situated.

“I spent the rest of my time at Boston reflecting on the poser raised by my course mate: how do you explain the paradox of very successful people operating from a country that is everything but successful?” he said.

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The introspection, Otti said, led him to confront uncomfortable truths about Nigeria’s development challenges.

Otti said he thought about his home state of Abia and its development challenges at the time.

“The more deeply I thought, the more worried I became. Nigeria is a nation of multiple constituencies and wherever you go, there are no shortage of intelligent, hardworking and passionate individuals. The question then is: why are we failing at even the most basic matters of civilisation? Why are elementary concerns like waste disposal, access to potable water, electricity, roads, primary healthcare and basic education still a challenge here?” he asked.

After examining the foundational structures that propelled other nations to greatness, Otti said he arrived at a disturbing conclusion.

“I realised that our problem was never about the size of the treasury box nor the appetite for progress but in the fact that those who ought to have taken the lead were often absent in the decision-making room. Like myself, they were busy chasing after career success, looking to hit the next million dollar or to publish their paper in a reputable journal. To these incredibly-smart people, government is treated as a minor irritation.

“Ultimately, while we were at Harvard, Cambridge, MIT, Oxford and in other elite universities topping the result charts and winning all the laurels, barely-educated individuals were taking decisions that influence how the world sees Nigeria in our various local government headquarters, state capitals and in Abuja,” he noted.

Otti challenged the gathering to find out where the majority of result-driven leaders are most likely to be found to understand where the country’s challenges were coming from.

See also  St. Gregory’s College, Lagos: A Legacy of Catholic Education in Nigeria

“Where are you most likely to find a superior number of ethical and result-driven leaders: at the board meeting of an NSE-listed company or at a gathering of political stakeholders in our states? You can probe further to ask: where would a First-Class graduate from an elite university be keener to start his professional life: at a regular government agency in Umuahia or in a blue-chip company?” he asked.

According to the governor, the disinterest in public affairs by the country’s best minds has had negative consequences on its economy and development.

“The summary of it is that our disinterest in public affairs offered an extended invitation to persons of questionable development orientation to step in and produce outcomes that are generally unsatisfactory,” he said.

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Education

Firm offers two-year scholarship to rescued schoolchildren

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EduReach, an online educational platform, has announced a two-year full scholarship for all rescued students from Kebbi and Niger States, in what it described as a deliberate effort to help abducted children overcome trauma and continue their education even outside the classroom.

Mamu Muhammad, CEO of STEM Child Care Academy and founder of STEM-EduReach, told journalists in Abuja that the initiative is designed not only to restore learning opportunities but also to support the psychological recovery of children who survived abductions.

“Rescued children face another challenge: post-traumatic stress disorder, which can hinder their return to learning,” Muhammad said.

“We have formally written to the respective state governments to extend this offer as part of our commitment to supporting the recovery and reintegration of these students into learning.”

He added that the programme provides access to Nigerian and Cambridge curricula, STEM subjects such as robotics, coding, and artificial intelligence, as well as pre-recorded lessons delivered by experienced educators.

Students will also benefit from lesson notes, quizzes, assignments, live discussion forums, and personalised learning paths tailored to their progress.

Muhammad warned that the recent abductions in Kebbi and Niger, which forced the closure of schools, risk swelling the ranks of out-of-school children.

“The abduction of schoolchildren risks swelling the ranks of out-of-school children, as these acts of terror are intended to instil fear and discourage parents from sending their children to school,” he said.

He added that flexible enrolment and self-paced learning would allow rescued students to continue schooling at home, reducing the pressure of returning immediately to physical classrooms while coping with trauma.

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“No child should be denied the right to safe, equitable, and quality education,” Muhammad emphasised, urging stakeholders to collaborate in ensuring rescued children not only return to school but thrive in supportive environments.

Twenty-four schoolgirls kidnapped from the Government Girls Comprehensive Senior Secondary School in Kebbi were freed after a coordinated, non-kinetic rescue led by the Federal Government and involving the Office of the National Security Adviser and the Department of State Services. In a separate incident, 38 students and worshippers abducted from a church in Kwara State, as well as pupils taken from St Mary’s Catholic School in Niger State, were also released, with authorities attributing the outcomes to dialogue and negotiation rather than force.

Both sets of rescued students are now receiving medical checks and reintegration support as investigations continue into the kidnappings.

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