BusinessDay 21 Aug 2018

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C002D5556 Tuesday 21 August 2018 22 BUSINESS DAY EDUCATION INSIGHT OYIN EGBEYEMI Ho mework time may be viewed as the most daunting part of the day, both for children and parents. This period comes in towards the evening when all that children may want to do is play, sleep or watch television. At this time, some parents have only just returned from work and just want to have their dinner and relax, especially after a long stressful day and many hours in traffic. Some other parents who work longer hours may even miss this activity altogether. The importance of homework cannot be overemphasised. In addition Homework should be a collaborative effort to academic development, children stand to gain many benefits from this practice of taking a bit of school back home, and these benefits help develop life skills that can be applied in the real world. They learn some level of independence from carrying out tasks on their own; they build retentive memory by repeating activities from the day and applying the knowledge gained to additional exercises; they build organisational skills and learn to manage time effectively; they develop a sense of ownership and responsibility, and gain that feeling of accomplishment when they return to school after having completed their tasks; and so many more. From the schools’ and teachers’ perspectives, apart from it being an integral part of the curriculum, giving homework provides some form of feedback on the quality of the style of teaching and the effectiveness of delivery. It also forms an additional means of identifying children who may have learning challenges or those who may not be getting enough support from home. As great as the benefits that children stand to gain from homework are, they will only be achieved if this activity is carried out and monitored properly. From schools, setting appropriate assignments is key towards the children’s development. Appropriateness may be a broad concept, but it is up to the schools and teachers to determine what this is in line with the curriculum they apply, the level of their students’ development and educational standards. Homework should be stimulating enough to ensure that the children are exposed to a healthy challenge, which would task them, further aiding their learning abilities and knowledge growth. After children return their homework to school, follow up is also important. Corrections need to be made and delivered effectively. Wrong answers should not be punishable offences. Rather, children should be taught how to receive and accept constructive feedback. Support from the home is also extremely important when it comes to homework. Our current times are rather challenging, as parents spend more hours at work and may not be able to make enough time to help their children with their homework. While parents should strive to find this time, the reality is that they may not always be available. If they are not, it is imperative that a responsible adult or educated superior who is sufficiently knowledgeable supervises the homework sessions at home (grandparents, older siblings, afterschool services etc.). These support people should be able to assist with homework sessions, but also have to be mindful that they allow the children to do most of the work themselves. They should be patient with them and ensure that they do not give excessive leeway to the children such that they themselves end up answering the questions without getting the children to think for themselves and get the work done largely as a result their own abilities. When it comes to homework, a support tool that has recently become common and is of growing concern is the Internet. Google has literally become everyone’s best friend, for the reason that it has the answers to most questions. So people have gradually delegated their thinking process to computers. This same practice applies directly to homework. We need to be very careful that we ensure that our children do not abuse the availability of information online, and make more use of their own cognitive power to do their homework Additionally, giving children access to computers in general can be tricky because we may not be fully aware of what they get up to. Distractions from games and other leisure activities on the Internet may impair the children’s concentration on their homework. In order to minimise this, parent may contact Internet Service Providers to discuss restriction options on such websites. They could also ensure that computers at home are well placed in central areas so that children’s activities can be monitored whilst they use the computers. In order to reap the full benefits, homework should be a collaborative effort involving children, teachers and parents; with support of resources and other tools which add value to the process. Close attention and supervision are paramount in order for this to work the right way. Oyin Egbeyemi is an executive administrator at The Foreshore School, Ikoyi, Lagos. WOWBii Interactive deepens 21st century learning in ABUAD KELECHI EWUZIE As part of its contribution to promote 21st Century Learning in the institution across the country, the management of Wowbii Interactive has donated an Interactive Touch Screen to Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD). Gbolahan Olayomi, founder, WOWBii Interactive while speaking at the presentation ceremony at the school said the company recognises ABUAD as an early adopter of technology and knows that the WOWBii experience will transform learning in the institution. Olayomi observes that as educational technology (EdTech) adoption drives new and more efficient learning styles, Wowbii Interactive is partnering with African institutions to change the narrative by introducing interactive touch screen displays in EdTech. Designed and built as a multi-touch interactive screen, the WOWBUD- DTM is an internet-ready platform offering a whiteboard and remote learning functionality with in-built Android and Windows operating systems. The WOWBUDDTM promotes real-time collaboration for Educators and Learners; allowing for flexibility in learning styles and techniques whilst encouraging creativity leveraging Technology. Wowbii Interactive seeks to transform the way Africa learns, one interactive panel at a time. Afe Babalola Founder of the university while acknowledging receipt of the WOWBUDDTM appreciated the WowBii team for their kind gesture towards ABUAD stating that the visit was timely. Babalola reiterated his commitment to transforming tertiary education in Nigeria and accepted the partnership offer; assuring both organisations of full adoption by Afe Babalola University. Afe Babalola University Ado Ekiti (ABUAD) is among innovative tertiary institutions in Nigeria that have adopted the WOWBii Touch screens alongside Covenant University, Ota and Mountain Top University, Ibafo. WASSCE’s outstanding student gets N9m scholarship to pursue academic goals KELECHI EWUZIE The Bridge House College, Ikoyi, Lagos has awarded a full scholarship worth N9 million to David Okorogheye Orisheneye, a 15-year old May/June 2018 West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) outstanding student to pursue a two-year Cambridge A’ Level course in the College. The scholarship award according to the sixth form college was in recognition of the brilliant performance of the prodigy, who in addition to obtaining a parallel A1 in all the nine subjects he wrote during the May/June 2018 West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE), conducted by West African Examination Council also scored 332 in his JAMB. Carmen Latty, college administrator, in a letter conveying the news of the scholarship award to the recipient said the scholarship award was in fulfillment of BHC’s tradition to celebrate academic success and to encourage students to pursue academic goals. According to Latty, “Your very brilliant performance in the May/June 2018 WAS- SCE where you obtained 9As in subjects including Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics and went on to score 332 in JAMB all at the age of 15 caught our attention. The N9 million scholarship will cover boarding, tuition, books and uniforms while the programme lasts from September 10, 2018 to June 20, 2020. “The Board of Directors, management and staff of Bridge House College heartily congratulate you and hereby offers you a full scholarship to pursue the two-year Cambridge A’ Level Course in the College effective September 10, 2018 to June 30, 2020”, the letter read.
Tuesday 21 August 2018 23 C002D5556 BUSINESS DAY Energy Report Oil & Gas Power Renewables Environment Ibadan Disco to start another phase of supply pre-paid meters … invests over N11.5bn in metering, network upgrade, rehabilitation OLUSOLA BELLO Electricity consumers under the jurisdiction of Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company ( IBEDC), who have paid for pre-paid meters but are yet to get, would be serviced latest by December this year, the management of the company says . The company says it is ready to meter all those that have paid for pre- paid meters but they must provide evidence of payment. The management stated this while conducting stakeholders and journalists round some of it facilities that had been upgraded to enhance steady power supply. It also showed them the over 11, 000 pre - paid meters it said would be deployed to customers starting from this week. According to the company over N11.5billion has been invested in major capital projects such as metering, network upgrade and rehabilitation last six months. According to John Ayodele, the chief operating officer who represented John Donnachie, managing director/ceo of the company said:“As part of our unwavering commitment to our mission, distributing power, changing lives, we have in the past 6 months invested over N11.5 Billion in major capital projects. These span across our franchise area covering – Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Kwara; parts of Kogi, Niger and Ekiti States. These projects are major game changers for IBEDC as a business and for our esteemed customers, which have significantly improved our service delivery, quality and quantity of power supply”. He said recently, the company commenced the procurement and supply of 10,000 Distribution Transformer (DT) Meters at a cost of N4 Billion. These DT Meters will greatly reduce the challenge of estimated bills and ensure customers without meters are billed more accurately through its energy audit, accounting functionalities, and above all, assist in our Technical, commercial and collection (TC&C) losses. To further reduce safety related accidents and top achieve the vision Zero and Safety culture of IBEDC, the board awarded a whopping sum of N1.47 Billion for a major overhaul of the Health, Safety and Environment department. How inefficient grid management is killing power generating plants The power sector is made up of three mutually exclusive, but necessary parts – generation, transmission, and distribution. Nigerians are all very much conversant with the operations of the electric generator or generating set (I better pass my neighbour or other bigger ones) which is made up of three parts – the generator itself (machine), an electrical cable or wire (transmission) that connects the generator to a control panel or fuse box through which the generated power is distributed to equipment (distribution). All electrical appliances have set conditions under which they function at optimal levels. Any fluctuations in these conditions can cause the appliances to run at a lower efficiency. Power generators,like the Hydros and thermals used in Nigeria, are no exception to this. Thermal power plants, like the gas turbines (GTs) are designed to operate optimally and efficiently at base load. Operations of these gas turbines at operating points, far away from their baseloads implies a reduction in efficiency or in other words an increase in consumption of gas by as much as 15- 20%,a cost not recognized by NBET nor captured in the MYTO. This reduction in operating efficiency is in addition to the huge fatigue damage leading to higher O&M cost meted out on turbines due to ramping up and down over wide temperature swings. It is common knowledge that GenCo power stations have been used by TCN, via its subsidiary SO/NCC to stabilise the national grid with no compensations. Generally, the damaging effects includes: thermal stress on Steam Turbine Blades, creep of compressor and turbine blades, Cracks on exhaust sleeves, Irregular heating and cooling cycles of hot gas path components, Cracks in ceramic tiles of the combustion chamber, Defective gas control valves due to wear and tear etc. It is a no brainer that the grid cannot conveniently take over 4500MW without rejecting load. Generation above 5,000 MW may either be lost or rejected either by DisCos or transmission service provider (TSP) due to their inabilities largely caused by infrastructural challenges (Line cuts, Transformer faults and unavailability etc.) causing grid frequency to be very high. Furthermore, Power Generation Companies are increasingly facing lower capacity utilization (dispatch) being forced to operate their dispatched Turbines/machines far from the baseload settings sometimes even lower than 50% of rated capacity. On the plant level, less than 53% of average available power capacity is dispatched to the grid. For the month of April, 2018 for instance, on a daily basis, GENCOS had an average available capacity of 7485 MW but TCN could only transmit an average of 3985MW which is about 53% of the available capacity. This data as published by TCN (SO/NCC) is presented in the table below. The project will deliver on over 60 critical need areas with major focus on procurement and deployment of PPEs, IPEs, signages, Labels and symbols. This project is expected to map the layouts of 114 Substations in order to develop conceptual site models, training on emergency techniques, solid waste and hazardous management programme, production of occupational health and safety environmental policies and framework for all technical and non-technical staff. In addition, it will ultimately aid us in attaining the certification required, thereby making us an internationally recognized health hazard compliant organisation. “In line with reducing the incidence of estimated bills, we have commenced our meter roll out with a 1st batch of 48,470 Energy Meters of various ratings and capacities. This includes 35,000 Single-Phase, 12,000 Three-Phase, 1,470 Whole current, C.T-Operated and Statistical Meters all at a sum of N3.1 Billion, ahead of the MAP initiative currently being finalized by NERC and the Discos,” he said. The continuous metering of Maximum Demand customers is also in place with the development of 13 High Voltage Energy Meters and delivery of 912 Low Voltage Maximum Demand Energy Meters at a cost of N405 Million. To further support the huge metering expenditure, we have invested extensively in the supply and installation It is inexplicable that a country of over 180 million, is unable to utilise the GenCos available capacity of 7500MW, what then is the incentive for further capacity recovery and expansion? Despite GenCos efforts to increase their available capacity effectively nominating same on a daily basis, the SO has the “grid right” to instruct any GenCo to reduce or cut down on its nominated capacity. It should also be noted that for a GenCo to nominate Power utilisation for the month of April, 2018 for six thermal and two Hydro plants Olusola Bello, Team lead, Analysts: Isaac Anyaogu, Stephen Onyekwelu, Graphics: Joel Samson. Email: energyreport@businessdayonline.com, Tel: +234-8023020011; +234-7037817378; of Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) Systems at over N1 Billion, this investment is critical to optimally implement the functionalities of DT Meters”. As we speak, we have recently received 95% of CAPMI meters for deployment for those that paid. The managing Director/ CEO informed that the ongoing Asset and Customer Enumeration (ACE) exercise estimated at a N5 Billion, is now fully rolled out across the franchise and is scheduled for completion early next year. The project on completion will greatly enhance service delivery by providing critical data needed for planning and provision of infrastructure, reduce estimated bills, improve the accuracy, enhance quality of power supply and quicker fault response rates. The pilot exercise at Elebu, (a community within Ibadan) has already identified additional customer population which is yielding fruits in terms of efficient customer service delivery. any capacity, it means effective commitments has been made as per gas and other equivalent overhead costs. This is a legitimate cost that must be recovered! Compelling a generator to ramp up and ramp down at unscheduled time affects it equivalent operating hours (EOH) and also stresses the internals of the machine thereby reducing the plants lifespan as well as attracts an associated costs, incurred in making such capacity available. Generating plants can no longer sustain these costs alone given the level of remittance in the market, which barely covers the operating cost. The only sane thing to do and save the sector from collapsing is for GenCos to shut down until when the networks (transmission and distribution) are efficient enough to take power and fully pay for both outstanding and current liabilities to GenCos. Section 12.6.6 of the Grid code allows the Generator to disconnect the Generating Unit for reasons of safety of personnel, Apparatus, and/or Plant.
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