Living a Fulfilled Life as a Teacher

Education is not just the foundation of any ambitious nation but its bedrock. Better rephrased, education is the bedrock on which our planet as a whole has been built. Prosperity around the world is not evenly spread. It trails educational patterns. Nations with soaring levels of highly educated populations are seen to be the most prosperous on the planet. Despite this obvious reality, Nigeria is one nation that has left education in the cold by its refusal to give the sector the desired attention for a long time. This has in turn shaped the mentality of Nigerians who have come to the belief that teachers are not important persons in the society. Majority of people thus treat teachers with modest esteem.
Despite this, Mrs. Josephine Jummai Bewaran who retired from the Plateau State Teachers Service late last year says she had no remorse being a teacher. Mama attended Women Teachers College Kano, bagging Grade the II Teachers Certificate. She then took up a primary school teaching appointment but left to further her education at the Advance Teachers College Akwanga, from 1976 to 1979. She worked with the Plateau State Ministry of Education from 1979 to 1981 and left to pursue a degree program. She graduated in 1985 and took up a fresh appointment with the Plateau State Ministry of Education again. She served for twenty four years with the last six as a Principal.
With the profession, she and her husband have been able to train their children to the level of graduates and even beyond. Bye-and-large, she has been able to live a fulfilled life. It is pertinent to note that the profession suffered its greatest neglect in the mid-eighties and rejoining the profession at the same period is an indication that she was motivated by the love of the profession and nothing else.
Her fulfillment is also drawn from the legacy she left behind in terms of the manpower she has been able to contribute towards the development of the nation. Each time she sees the lawyers, doctors, pharmacists, engineers, accountants and the teachers she has helped to train, it gives her pride. Most of these Nigerians have also given her reasons not to regret her role in the building of the nation by showing appreciation. Her legacies also include the imperativeness of hard work and honesty which she taught her subordinates and believes these values will continue to trickle down to later generations of teachers to the benefit of the nation.
The challenges of life as a teacher according to Mrs. Bewaran have been how to build a strong heart to be able to cope with economic challenges in view of the insufficient financial rewards the profession offers, the ability of overcoming temptations thrown along her way as a result and having to live in a society that look at teachers with scorn. She admits that teaching in Nigeria was initially a highly respected profession but the gradual shift of attention from the profession by subsequent administrations brought the profession to its present state of neglect resulting in the failure of public schools to adequately live up to their responsibilities.
Mrs. Bewaran’s philosophy in life is that one should do things because it suits his circumstance and not because of other reasons. If by virtue of our circumstance as a developing nation education is what is needed most to spur the development of the nation, then we ought to pay attention to the sector she says. Nigeria as we all know is a nation that has failed to live up to the demands on the UN charter on education that demands that all member nations must commit up to 30% of annual budgets to financing education. Going by mama’ philosophy, we ought to be the first persons that should live up to the demands of that chatter.
She says that despite all this, not all hope has been lost. Nigeria is still a relatively wealthy nation, at least wealthy enough to address its challenges in education. What is simply lacking is the political will. There are pockets of that will here and there though. Even here in Plateau State we have seen a strong will for good governance since the administration of Jonah David Jang came to office in 2007. There have been increases in pay and the strong desire to ensure that the salaries are paid as at when due. Furthermore she says she is a witness to the renovations of schools since the regime started. At this pace, she says she is confident that so much would be actualized in the next six years as long as the administration does not allow its focus to be broken. In that wise, she admonishes people who have love for the profession to go ahead and acquire the education and join the service.
Mrs. Bewaran says it is not easy to be in the service for decades but she has been able to attend this. She attributes this to divine support from the Almighty God and it is the reason why she has resolved to spend her life in retirement serving God. Though she is retired she argues she is still not tired yet and is the reason why she will also use the time to engage in small scale businesses like poultry farming and continue to contribute to the protein need of the nation. That is also imperative for nation building. Mama is married to Lazarus S Bewaran with whom she has seven children.

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Tips for a Successful Business

Most people often go into business without a basic knowledge of the simple fundamentals that can minimize prospects of failure. Here are a few tips that can help aspiring entrepreneurs to handle their trades with little chances of failure.

Raising Capital

There are so many conventional ways of raising capital like bank loans and support from family members but You can work for somebody and save a fixed percentage of the your income for some time. In Nigeria, precisely among the Ibos, young aspiring entrepreneurs go into contracts with an established business entrepreneur in which they work for an agreed number of years without taking salaries. During the period the servant stays in the house of his boss as a dependant. At the end of the agreed years, the boss starts a new business for him or gives him an equivalent amount of financial capital to start his own business.

Location of the Business

If you live a culture of family inter-dependence you can establish your business far away from the financial distractions that family members can bring. The farther away you are from home the difficult it is for them to come with their problems.

Most people in rural areas must travel to the urban areas to buy the goods they need. You could sacrifice to stay in the rural such a rural area. The whole population becomes your clientele

Choice of Goods to Sell

The choice of the commodity to trade is very critical. Be sure the item you wish to trade is undersupplied. If you think well you may find a commodity that people need but which is not being supplied. You May think about items you saw somewhere you traveled to but which are at another location

Lifestyle

New businesses grow only if the entrepreneur makes a sacrifice to live a simple lifestyle. You can do a simple calculation to find your average daily profit. You then ensure that your personal daily expenses do not exceed your daily profit.

Consistency

It is advisable to stick to particular merchandise. You can specialize in building materials, electrical fittings, electronics etc. Eventually people will come to associate you with the goods you trade such that when it is mentioned you come to mind.

If your business develops problems and you have to start again you have to continue with the same type of product or products except where you are sure that the product was the problem in the first place.

Must entrepreneurs prefer imperishable goods except where they have reliable means of preservation?

Time Management

You must give all your time to the business and nothing else.

A secretary of a Baptist Conference Says he Never voted Chris Okotie

The body of the Baptist Church in Nigeria is referred to as the Baptist Convention. The Nigerian Baptist Convention which is headed by a General Secretary is fragmented into regional conferences which are headed by secretaries. Reverend Philip Mwelwis Dafes is the Secretary of the Plateau Baptist Conference that has Plateau and parts of Kaduna and Bauchi States under it. Following the re-election of the German Chancellor, Angela Markel under the Christian party in Germany for a second tenure, we approached Reverend Dafes and asked what role the church has played in Nigerian politics and what it still can do.
In his appraisal of the Nigerian democracy since 1999, Dafes said his perception is mixed. The shortcomings of the democracy according to him, is accentuated by political indiscipline that has resulted in Nigeria being placed as the number 137th most corrupt nation out just over 180 countries of the world. Dafes said the root of the problem is in the inability of the nation to evolve into a true democracy where actual winners of elections are announced as the winners rather than the current situation that ensures that losers are actually announced as victorious. Such leaders cannot be held to account by the people since at the back of their minds, they know they were not elected.
Religion is what people believe in and if Pastor Chris Okotie wanted to become president then he ought to have the backing of other Christians since they have the same belief. Contrary to this, Dafes said he never voted Chris Okotie. According to him, he never met Okotie in person and does not know his manifestos. Furthermore, should Okotie win, he will be compelled to have some cabinet members from the secular world of Nigerian politics that will inevitably stain him as a clergy man. The history of clergy men in Nigeria politics has been a source of embarrassment to the rest of them as such politicians failed to live up to their calling as men of God.
Dafes said that not all Christian politicians are truly committed Christians. It is the reason why it is difficult to change them. According to him one of them once said that the church should not mingle into their affairs because the type of oath they take is far different from the type of oath usually taken in the church.
Dafes also explained that it will be disastrous to find a political party on the basis of religion like the Christian Party in Germany because our level of political development is so modest that it will be better for us to just sustain the status quo. Such parties will not find acceptance. Though political parties are not founded on the basis of religion, he says however, some parties are perceived as Christian parties while others are perceived as Islamic parties with the different faiths voting largely along this line. To stress his point, he added that a presidential aspirant once pronounced that all Muslims should vote Muslims and all Christians should vote Christians. He said that until we pull ourselves out of this predicament, we will continue to experience the current political difficulties. The Christians he says cannot separate themselves from the Muslims and vice versa as God knows why he brought us together as the people of one nation.

Black People and the Obama Hype

Had Barack Obama, the democratic candidate in the United States Presidential Election failed to win, it will have dealt a big blow on the psyche of black people not just in the US but also around the world. It would have also resulted in a serious backlash that time alone would have been able to heal. This is because a lot of black people particularly in Africa had already conditioned their minds to believe that Obama is the President in waiting. This is despite the slim margin that put Obama ahead in the opinion polls and previous experience to the fact that black politicians have often been handed big surprises at the moment of decision.

For the sake of Obama alone Africans had wished they had a franchise, which they could exercise in the US elections. Obama’s presidency is important to Africans because Africans are aware of the fact that they are often the underdogs in global issues; be it in politics, economy, science or technology. Thus a black President of the most powerful nation on earth would have reinforced the belief of Africans that they could also do it. Obama’s presidency will give Africans a bigger sense of belonging in global issues.

I personally have heard songs in eulogy of Obama as the black “President of the World.” One is from Ghana and the other from Jamaica. To underscore the significance of Obama’s presidency of the US, a Nigerian woman who happened to be the Director-General of the Nigeria Stock exchange, Ndi Onyiuke Okereke, raised one hundred million naira (N100, 000 000) with the aim of supporting the Obama campaign which Obama however declined to take as it violates portions of the electoral laws in the US. In Kenyan where Obama’s father was born, there are newborn kids that have been named after Obama. Obama’s T-shirts and speeches on DVDs have sold in thousands. There is also the audacity of hope, a book by Obama that are now found on every bookstand.

To African-Americans, Obama’s Presidency will no doubt give them a sense of belonging in their own country. They also hope that it will be an opportunity to address peculiar problems of black people in the US.

Obama however will be a President for all races and an advocate of a better world for us all. In as much as Obama has enjoyed the full support of black folks within and outside the US, he has also enjoyed the support of the other races in the US. As a matter of fact, the earliest indication of the potential of Obama Presidency was made by some white liberals who vowed to support him leading to his eventual declaration of his intention to run for the presidency. Had Obama had only black votes he would have lost the elections. It should not be forgotten that Obama’s mum is white.

Thus Obama’s victory is a physical and tangible actualization of Martin Luther’s dream of a United States were people are judged not by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character. Hence Obama is a unifying symbol and the US that made that happen for the first time, is undoubtedly, the leading nation on the surface of the planet.

NUBES Honours Danboyi and Others

Pamson Dagyat

Students are aware that the community will look at them expectantly when they pass out of school. The formation of student unions is to provide them with a platform on which they can nurse their leadership skills and be able to live up to the expectations of the community. The National Union of Berom Students (NUBES) National Veterinary Research Institute (NVRI) Vom branch is not different. On the October 25, the National Association of Berom Students organized an award and cultural day festival during which they honoured nine Berom sons.

The organization of cultural days and award presentation ceremonies is one of the activities student unions perform. The activities nonetheless have significance to their respective communities. The purpose of a cultural day is necessitated by the threat of western culture on all other cultures including Africa’s. Thus the cultural day was also aimed at fortification of the Berom culture in view of the threat of extinction, which it also faces. Hence there were people dressed in the traditional Berom attires. Typical Berom traditional meals were also served. There were also Berom traditional dances to entertain all present.

The Berom people make up one of the most populous tribes in Plateau State, occupying three of the seventeen local government areas of the state. These three local governments of Jos-South, Riyom and Barkin Ladi happened to form the most developed, urbanized and economically strongest parts of Plateau State. In view of these opportunities the Berom people feel there shouldn’t be poverty among their people but the reverse is the case. Thus a paper that was delivered during the occasion traced the root of the problem to the inability of the Berom people to embrace western education fully. This, the paper stressed, is connected to the fact that majority of the people were blinded by the abundance of the mineral deposits in the land.

The fellow tribesmen honoured are people who have made the Berom proud by distinguished performance in various spheres of human endevour. They include Honourable Emmanuel Danboyi, a member of the Plateau State House of Assembly, Da Gregory Pam Pwojok, the Dagwon Kwata Zawan and Da Choji Balak, the Da Gwon Rwei of Vwang. Others include Amos Dauda Gwom, Reverend Canon Dalyop Gyang Mang, Pam Gabriel Dagyat, Coach Peter Gyang and Tobias Choji

To Honourable Emmanuel Danboyi, the award ceremony is significant because it afforded the elders being hounoured the opportunity to meet with the students and encourage them and the community at large. In an era where people can only forge ahead when they have the relevant education, it will indeed be wrong of any elder to shun an invitation from the age bracket that have often been scolded for refusing to embrace education. When the youths continue to get educated there will be that assurance of continuity for the tribe they originate from. The tribe will in turn be able to move on in a world of competition.

Honourable Danboyi agrees that the Government of Plateau State is determined to change the fortunes of the state for good. It has support but not as much as it should be he said. Thus he uses any slight opportunity to address a crowd to solicit for support for the government.

All members of the Plateau State House of Assembly recently visited Germany. Honourable Danboyi also used the opportunity to talk to the people on lessons the members learnt during the visit. Danboyi said they were led to German schools to see the kind of attention the Germans attach to education. He says it has served as an inspiration and he would use his position as member of the Plateau State House of Assembly to press for changes in the sector in Plateau State. Danboyi also talked about the fact that they were lead to the House of a royal king that was renovated at the cost of eighty million Euros. That to him is a reflection of the significance the Germans attach to their traditional rulers. He called on the people of Plateau State to attach the same significance to their own traditional rulers in view of the obvious role they play as anchors of peace and the custodians of the tradition of the people.