By Ojone Grace Odaudu
…
Three students of the Faculty of Law at Nile University of Nigeria have emerged as National winners of the 12th Annual ICRC International Humanitarian Law (IHL) Moot Competition.

The Nile University team, comprising three students namely: Mustapha Shuaibu, Chisom Okoh, and Rukkayya Saka Ahmad, demonstrated their expertise and prowess in the field of law as they went head-to-head with teams from renowned universities across Nigeria. Throughout the competition, these students displayed their exceptional legal skills, profound knowledge of international humanitarian law, and persuasive capabilities.

The competition, organized by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), aims to promote and enhance knowledge and understanding of International Humanitarian Law among law students across Africa.

The competition was divided into several rounds, where teams presented oral arguments and responded to questions from a panel of expert judges. The Nile University team’s performance was outstanding, showcasing their exceptional legal research, analytical thinking, and ability to apply legal principles to complex real-life scenarios.

Their final argument delivered a compelling and well-supported rationale, which impressed the Judges both in substance and presentation. The students’ dedication, commitment, and hard work truly paid off as they were able to outshine their competitors and secure the victory.

Speaking on their experience, the National champions of the IHL competition stated, “In retrospect, It was all of the pre-competition activities and struggles to keep up with our approaching semester exams that made this win even more rewarding. If we had been told at the time that we could still participate and possibly win, we would have been skeptical. The tremendous support we received from our Dean, Dr. Fatima Alkali, and other faculty members kept us motivated throughout the entire phase of the competition.”

A statement on the University’s website says that “This achievement of the Nile University Law students in winning the national competition and earning the opportunity to represent Nigeria at the All Africa IHL Moot Court Competition is a testament to the excellent legal education provided by Nile University. It showcases the institution’s commitment to academic excellence, practical training, and instilling in its students a deep understanding and appreciation for International Humanitarian law”.

The Nile University team is now gearing up for the Africa regional finals of the competition scheduled for 14 – 25 November 2023 in Arusha, Tanzania.

The National Industrial Court has ordered the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to suspend the ongoing strike.

The court sitting in Abuja on Wednesday gave the order following an application for an interlocutory injunction filed by the Nigerian government to force ASUU to suspend the seven-month-old strike.

Recall that the Federal Government through the Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige had filed a suit in the National Industrial Court, challenging the action of the university academic union.

The court had in its previous sitting on Monday, after listening to the argument on the application by the counsel to federal government, James Igwe, fixed the ruling on Wednesday (today).

Igwe had argued that it would be proper for the strike to be called off pending the determination of the suit, to enable students to return to school.

Justice Polycarp Hamman, in his ruling, granted the government’s application.

The judge also dismissed the argument by counsel to ASUU, Femi Falana (SAN) that the interlocutory injunction should be dismissed and the court should instead grant an accelerated hearing for the referral earlier filed by Ngige.

ASUU embarked on the nationwide strike on February 14, 2022 over inability of the federal government to meet their demands some of which include release of the University Revitalisation Fund, adoption of the University Transparency and Accountability System (UTAS) payment platform instead of the IPPIS created by the federal government, release of the White Paper on Government Visitation Panel to public universities, and increase of salaries of lecturers.

By Elizabeth Okwe

Aviation Minister, Senator Hadi Sirika on Friday announced that the African Aviation and Aerospace University will commence registration for the 2022/2023 academic session on 0-18th November 2022.

He made this disclosure during a media interaction on the Aviation University in his office.

According to him, the main objective of the establishment of the Aviation university is the need for the country to go into field research development in the areas of aviation and aerospace.

He, however, said that theAviation university would be a pan-African university, not limiting its intake of students to only Africa, but Nigeria will be the focus centre. The university is supposed to be a high-breed university and will be an on-campus and online university.

“For the start-up, lectures will be done at our temporary headquarters at the Accident Investigative Bureau building at the airport and some of the lectures will be done at Nile university and We will need dormitories, a cafeteria, laboratories.”He added

Sirika noted that for the first academic year which is 2022 the university will be limited to BSc Aviation business and BSc meteorology programmes and students for each course will be between 20-25 each due to the availability of the facility and for maximum efficiency, while in the second academic year masters in air transport management.

“We have been on this project since 2016 because we know it’s a very rigorous exercise we need to put in place all the requirements by the National university commission, they have been very supportive, and guided us through the process.

“We will be partnering with Nile university here in Abuja we have a Memorandum Of Understanding which we will sign.

“We will soon avail the website which is www.aaau.edu.ng, we need other requirements to activate the website.”