US urges global exposure for Nigerian students

The United States Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs, Lee Satterfield, has encouraged the Nigerian government to support students in acquiring education globally.

She said this would help students in the US and Nigeria to partner, share ideas, and solve the world’s challenges.

Satterfield said this on Wednesday at the University of Lagos, where she presented a foreign policy speech to discuss the partnership between the US and UNILAG on educational and cultural affairs.

She told the Vice-Chancellor of UNILAG, Prof. Folasade Ogunsola, that through the Fulbright Programme and the Mandela Washington Fellowship, Nigerian students could pursue new opportunities to expand further into the creative industries and technology and innovation.

Her speech highlighted the Biden-Harris Administration’s renewed focus on Africa following the US Africa Leaders Summit in 2022.

Satterfield encouraged the Nigerian government to provide easy access for its students to study around the world, saying, “I think access to studying in other places around the world will allow our students both in the United States and in Nigeria and across the continent of Africa to have more exposure, the students will know about other cultures and share ideas. It’s going to make the world a better place and it’s going to make us stronger independently on our career paths but also, we are going to solve the world’s global challenges by coming together and sharing ideas for finding solutions.”

She revealed that another important part of the partnership with the UNILAG was the ‘The Window on America’ hub,” adding that it had been a strategic educational partner to the US, and home to scores of Nigerian Fulbright alumni and a reciprocal host which had welcomed more than 30 US Fulbright scholars over the years.

“I had the privilege of joining the VC and Consul General, Will Stevens, at a meeting where the United States and the University of Lagos agreed to open a ‘Window on America’ a hub right here on campus that will be open to all. The centre will offer information about studying in the United States, opportunities to participate in workforce development training and experience American culture, as well as access to fast and free Internet to university students and faculty.”

In her remarks, UNILAG VC, Ogunsola, “You know for us in the education sector, it is all about opening minds of our learners so we are always about connecting with other people so that there will be mind and ideas exchange. The only way we do that is by meeting with others and having an American hub here, is a culture of space for interactions because as a university we should be engaging everywhere globally so this kind of engagement helps us to make our students globally inclined, this is because we are not training students just for Nigeria we are training them for the world. We want students to have an idea and not think that it is only their father’s farm that is big. They need to get out and even if they can’t this hub will give them information and knowledge.”

UN secretary hails Otti’s development initiatives

Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ms. Ahunna Eziakonwa-Onochie, has expressed her joy and excitement at the developmental giant strides being made by the governor of Abia State, Alex Otti, in such a short time in office.

Ms. Eziakinwa-Onochie, who also doubles as the UNDP Assistant Administrator and Director, Regional Bureau for Africa, made her feelings known during a meeting with the wife of the governor of Abia State and her team at the ongoing 68th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, in New York, United States of America.

Speaking during the private meeting held in her office, the highly elated Eziakonwa-Onochie also expressed her joy at the giant strides geared towards the development of the state in such a short time under the leadership of Governor Otti, disclosing that she received very laudable reports from the UNDP meeting held last year in Rwanda about Governor Otti, a meeting which the governor himself attended.

Ms. Eziakonwa-Onochie further assured that UNDP intended to assist in bringing about sustainable growth in the area of commerce through the introduction of technological advancement in Aba shoe-manufacturing in order to ensure that finished products are exported, thus giving Aba-made products the recognition they deserve.

She once again reassured the wife of the Abia governor and her team of UNDP’s willingness to give further support to achieve the empowerment initiatives of the government of Abia State.

Appreciating the UN Assistant Secretary General for her kind words about the Otti administration, as well as her thoughtfulness geared towards supporting activities that would quicken the development of the state, Mrs Otti assured that her husband’s lofty plans and programmes for the state are enormous and would be executed to the fullest in line with his leadership vision and campaign promises.

Vaughan Gething to become Welsh first minister, Europe’s first Black leader

Vaughan Gething won the Welsh Labour Party leadership contest on Saturday, meaning he will become the first Black leader of the semi-autonomous government in Wales.

“Today, we turn a page in the book of our nation’s history …. not just because I have the honour of becoming the first Black leader in any European country, but because the generational dial has jumped too,” Gething, 50, said in a speech after the result was announced.

“Devolution is not something that I have had to get used to, or to adapt to, or to apologize for. Devolution, Welsh solutions to Welsh problems and opportunities is in my blood,” Gething, currently minister for economy, added.

Zambian-born Gething will replace incumbent Mark Drakeford who in December announced his departure after five years leading the Welsh government, which has responsibility for a limited number of devolved areas including health and education.

Keir Starmer, leader of Britain’s Labour Party, which opinion polls show as likely to win power in a national election due later this year, congratulated Gething in a statement.

“On behalf of the entire UK Labour Party, we look forward to campaigning with Vaughan in this new chapter for Wales, to deliver Labour governments across Britain,” Starmer said.

Drakeford will resign as first minister of Wales on March 19, the Labour Party said in a statement, with the Welsh parliament, the Senedd, formally set to elect the next leader on March 20.

Also congratulating Gething on the win, Conservative British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on social media that he was committed to working together constructively.

‘Our bills have tripled’: UK’s first Turkish mosque fights to survive in London

Nestled among the kebab shops, Caribbean takeaways and flashy new-build flats in Dalston, north-east London, sits the UK’s first Turkish mosque. Like many things built by and for the deep-rooted communities in this heavily gentrified part of London, it is fighting for survival.

“Our bills have tripled, costs to maintain the building have soared and we are not collecting enough money,” said Erkin Güney, 59, who runs and owns Masjid Ramadan, also known as the Shacklewell Lane mosque. He said the mosque could be forced to close its doors by next Ramadan.

Monthly costs come in at about £4,000. “We get about £200 to £300 a week if we’re lucky,” he said. He recently received an electricity bill for £17,000.

When the Guardian visited the mosque last Friday, a funeral service was under way. This is the mosque’s main source of income. The rest is supplemented by donations that have sharply declined. The death of a loved one is not only a hit to the community, it often also means the loss of a regular donor.

Güney owns the land on which the mosque sits. He said the mosque could be forced to cave into offers from developers within the year. Ten years ago, he received an offer of £13m and in recent years a bid of £18m. “They want to take it down and turn it into flats. It’s tragic,” he said.

If the land is sold to developers, the current building would be knocked down and it is hoped that a “mixed-use mosque” would replace it. “If we have to redevelop it, we would have a mosque and some retail outlets on the ground floor and flats on top. It wouldn’t have the same energy,” said Güney.

The mosque was first built in 1903 and was initially used as a synagogue for the Jewish community. By the 1970s, the building was abandoned and taken over by Erkin’s father, Ramadan Güney, who turned it into the UK’s first Turkish mosque. “In those days, it was thriving, it was heaving with people and support. There were no financial issues back then,” said Güney.

In recent years, the Turkish Cypriot congregation who used to attend the mosque have “passed away, moved out or they can’t get here”, said Güney.

Dalston has undergone heavy gentrification since the 2000s and campaigners have fought to keep the nearby Ridley Road market out of developers’ hands. Nonetheless, rents have soared and many longstanding locals have been forced out.

Güney said: “A lot of the community has moved out because they couldn’t afford to live in the area. They moved out because they can’t afford to exist. We’ve lost our community.”

Younger generations of British Turkish Cypriots have also stopped attending the mosque because they are “westernised and disconnected”, said Güney. “We keep reaching out to them and encourage them to come back. We try to build that bridge but it’s difficult,” he said.

There has also been increased competition locally, with about 10 mosques opening in the area since Masjid Ramadan opened. Rising costs are also hitting those who worship at the mosque. “The congregation is not strong around here, everyone is on the breadline,” said Güney. Some people have resorted to putting buttons in the collection box.

Güney took over the running of the mosque about 12 years ago. Before this, he used to own a nightclub. “One day I said, ‘I’m not doing this no more’, and I shut the doors,” he said. Michael, the “good Christian boy” who helps maintain the mosque, has been by Güney’s side throughout. “He has gone from John McVicar to Gandhi,” he said.

The sound system that used to blare funky house in the nightclub now sits in the mosque. Sometimes, the speakers are put on the roof while the adhan, the Muslim call to prayer, plays out to the streets below. “I am not your average mosque chairman,” said Güney.

He is calling for regular donations to keep the mosque afloat. “If 100 people are giving us a fiver or a tenner a month, it will take the pressure off,” he said. He is also raising money for repairs to the historic building. Recently a broken window in the mosque’s roof cost more than £2,000 to fix.

Güney said: “I’m not here for money, if I was, I would have sold the building and gone. It’s a mosque, it shouldn’t be up for sale, it shouldn’t be interfered with. It’s a sacred place.”

Pupils in Wales perform only as well as disadvantaged children in England – IFS

Wales’s new first minister, Vaughan Gething, faces a major challenge in improving the country’s schools, after the Institute for Fiscal Studies found that pupils in Wales were performing only as well as disadvantaged children in England.

The IFS study follows Wales’s weak performance in the OECD’s most recent Programme for international student assessment (Pisa) standings, in which results in Wales declined by more than in other UK nations and were well below the average across OECD countries.

Wales’s lower attainment cannot be explained by higher levels of poverty, according to the IFS, as pupils in areas of England with higher or similar levels of deprivation such as Liverpool or Gateshead achieved “significantly higher” GCSE results than their counterparts in Wales.

The IFS said the Pisa results showed the average pupil in Wales performed at the same level as the most disadvantaged children in England, despite education spending per pupil being similar.

Luke Sibieta, the author of the IFS study, said: “Faced with this gloomy picture, policymakers should have the courage to make reforms based on solid evidence, such as increasing the emphasis on specific knowledge in the curriculum and making better use of data to shine a spotlight on inequalities throughout the system. Without reform, the picture may worsen.”

The IFS urged the Welsh government to revise its recent curriculum changes, which it said emphasised general skills over knowledge, and to pause its planned GCSE changes that would increase the amount of teacher assessment in place of exams, as well as removing biology, physics and chemistry as individual subject options.

But a spokesperson for the Welsh government said its GSCE reforms would go ahead and defended its performance, saying that before the Covid pandemic Wales had been the only UK country with improving Pisa results in literacy, numeracy and science.

“We recognise that the pandemic has had a detrimental impact on this improvement and have set out clear plans on how we will address this,” the spokesperson said.

“The minister for education and welsh language [Jeremy Miles] has been very clear that there is more to do, and recently hosted an education leaders’ summit to reflect on the challenges facing education in Wales. He has also published the annual report on personalised assessments, which includes data on attainment in reading and numeracy in years 2 to 9.

“The role of knowledge is at the forefront of our new curriculum and it is wrong to claim otherwise. Having worked with teachers and experts to create a curriculum fit for the modern world, we are pleased to see evaluations showing schools confidently embracing the opportunity to raise the aspirations of all learners.”

The IFS’s report comes as Conservatives in Westminster have been targeting Wales’s performance under a Labour government in the run-up to the UK general election.

Laura Anne Jones, the shadow education minister in the Senedd Cymru, said: “The state of education in Wales is incredibly concerning and this report highlights how badly Labour have got it wrong with their reforms.”

Laura Doel, the national secretary at the National Association of Head Teachers Cymru, cautioned against exaggerating the Pisa results, saying: “Schools in Wales are working hard to deliver for their pupils, but this dedication hasn’t been matched by the investment needed, especially on the back of the pandemic and cost of living crisis.

“While we support the renewed focus from the Welsh government on numeracy and literacy, schools do not have the time or funding to deliver this in the way they would like to.”