Education Ministry To Meet VCs , Admission Officers , Others Over Post -UTME

The Federal Ministry of Education will convene a meeting with vice- chancellors, admission officers , and other stakeholders to discuss processes for the post - Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME ).



Dr Folashade Yemi- Esan , the Permanent Secretary , Federal Ministry of Education made this known while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria ( NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja . According to her, the meeting will hold next week .


The Minister of Education , Malam Adamu Adamu , had recently scrapped the post - UTME test “ As far as I am concerned , if the nation has confidence in what JAMB is doing , the universities should not be holding another examination .


“ If the universities have any complain against JAMB , let them bring it and then we address it .


“ But if JAMB is qualified enough to conduct tests and they have conducted test, then there will be no need to conduct another test for students to gain admission, ” Adamu had said .


According to Mrs Yemi- Esan , the minister had made a pronouncement which should be complied with .


“ The responsibility is now on us to give them guidelines and modalities on how to go about what the honourable minister has said .


“ There is no written directive but all the stakeholders were at that meeting where the minster said it openly .


“ There is going to be a meeting of the all the vice- chancellors and admission officers sometime next week to work our modalities , ” she said .

FUAM Embarks on ‘Forced’ 2-Week Mid-Semester Break

The Federal University of Agriculture (FUAM) in Makurdi, Benue state has declared a 2 week mid-semester break following the killing of seven people by unknown gunmen suspected to be cultists.
The deceased included, six students of the institution living in a private lodge within the university vicinity known as Shammah hostel and a private guard of the lodge.
The Committee of Deans and Directors at its meeting held on Wednesday, 8th June, 2016 on behalf of Senate, directed that all students of the University of Agriculture, Makurdi should proceed on a 2 week mid-semester break with immediate effect.
Students residing in the University Hostel MUST vacate the Hostel latest by 12:00 noon on Thursday, 9th June, 2016.
The above directive is for strict compliance by all students.

CAN Orders Students To Attend Classes

Osun State Christian Association of Nigeria (OSCAN) has ordered all female Christian students in public schools in the state to wear church garments to schools, beginning from Monday.

It will be recalled that a judge of Osun State High Court, Justice Jide Falola had earlier delivered a judgement last Friday in favour of a case instituted by Osun State Muslim Community against the State Government on the right of female Muslim students in public schools in the state to use hijab on their school uniforms.



CAN faulted the judgement in a communique signed by its Osun State Chairman, Rev. Elisha Ogundiya while noting that the association would ask Christian pupils to wear their garments such as those for Boys Brigade, ushers, Girls Guide, choristers, band boys, white garments, if Governor Rauf Aregbesola decided to implement the court verdict.

NYSC Postpones 2016 Batch ‘A’ Stream II Orientation Course

The authority of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) regrets to announce the postponement of the 2016 Batch ‘A’ (Stream II) Orientation course scheduled to commence on Saturday, 21st May, 2016 due to logistics reasons.


We enjoin all Prospective Corps members to watch out for a new date to be announced later.
All inconveniences are highly regretted, please.

UNILORIN wins inter-university Qur’an recitation, memorisation competition

A student of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), Sodiq Abdulfatai, has emerged winner at the second edition of the Inter-University Qur’an Recitation and Memorisation Competition organised by Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin.
The competition came to a close on Wednesday in Ilorin, with a closing ceremony chaired by Prof. Sulyman Adeniyi, the Vice Chancellor of Ladoke Akintola University, Osogbo.
The vice chancellor, represented by Prof. Abdulakeem Abdulraheem, appreciated the efforts of the organising committee of the competition, adding that it was time and energy consuming to sustain the programme despite challenges faced in the past.
Mr. Adeniyi said that one of the benefits of Qur’an recitation was that it made man at peace with Allah.
He added that “when you recite the Holy Qur’an, it makes you feel and be at peace with Allah and curtails youthful exuberance, as well as enhances general productivity.
“Engaging our youth in activities like this will prevent them from vices; I challenge the organisers to come up with similar programmes that will
enhance the understanding and application of the teachings of the Holy Qur’an.
“This is because it is not enough to recite and memorise the Qur’an, but we ought to check the understanding of its teachings.


“I, therefore, enjoin all youths to read the Holy Qur’an daily and not wait until the month of Ramadan before reading it and memorising it.”
In a closing remark, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Ganiyu Badmus, who represented the vice chancellor of Al-Hikmah University, assured better organisation of subsequent competitions and increased participation.
He appreciated the representatives of universities present at competition and expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the competition and prayed that Allah protect the participants as they return to their destinations.


The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that all the winners in category A, B and C were from UNILORIN, with Sodiq Abdulfatai, the overall winner
in Category A, going home with N125,000 cash.
Abdulrazaq Abdulwahab won Category B, while Rahamatul Abdulwahab won Category C, all of the same institution.
The overall winner, Sodiq Abdulfatai, thanked the organisers of the event and prayed Allah to reward them abundantly.


Those who attended the event were the Chief Imam of Igbaja land, Yakub Akorede, Prof. Lanre Badmus, Dean, Postgraduate Schools, UNILORIN,
among others. (NAN)

UI, ABU to get off-grid solar power plants

Collaboration between Nigeria and Germany is underway for the construction of off-grid solar power plants for the University of Ibadan and the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.The groundbreaking ceremony for the solar power plants is to take place before the end of next month in Ibadan, Oyo State.
While playing host to German Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Michael Zenner, Education Minister, Malam Adamu Adamu, hinted that the University of Ibadan and Ahmadu Bello University solar power plants would serve as pilot projects. If successful, the project would be replicated in all other federal universities in the country.


Represented by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan, Adamu promised to render all necessary assistance to ensure the success of the projects.
Zenner, who was accompanied on the visit by the Vice Chancellor, University of Ibadan, Professor Idowu Olayinka, told the minister that the projects would not only provide electricity to the university community, but will also facilitate the training of young engineers on renewable energy technology.
Zenner pointed out that “the project is very important because the university will become independent from other power sources, the money saved can be used for research, etc.”He remarked that there has been an energy partnership between Germany and Nigeria since 2008.

Private schools to raise fees as fuel price goes up

Private school operators may be grappling with a groundswell of challenges in their operational environments, but the recent removal of subsidy from Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), better known as petrol, by the Federal Government, has certainly added to their burden.
With constant power outage placing tops among niggling problems faced by these education providers, last week’s jerking up of the pump price of fuel from N86. 50, to N145. 00 certainly makes their case worse since they still have to buy the product to power their schools.
As a matter of fact, many school owners say they find it difficult coping with the additional energy cost thrust on them by the government, just as they expressed disappointment at the difficulty in getting the product, even after subsidy was removed.
Overall, they fear that some of the cost-cutting measures, which may be resorted to may, in one way or the other negatively impact scholarship in the schools.
According to the proprietor of St. Wisdom Private School, Amuwo Odofin, Festac Town, Lagos, Mr. James Etti, the policy directive “means we have to also increase our tuition fee as well. If not, we won’t be able to run our school buses from Monday to Friday.
He added, “With the current economic hardship, it is obvious that the prices of items would definitely double in the markets. The person who supplies my school fabrics for uniforms has now doubled the price, and you can imagine how much we will sell the school uniforms to parents.
“Before the subsidy removal, our school bus driver had to pass the night at filling stations just to get the product to enable him pick up our students. But even up till now, fuel is not everywhere,” he lamented.
Proprietor of Luciana College, along Badagry Expressway Lagos, Mrs. Kelly Odama, is of the view that the government’s action was anti people as parents and pupils daily spending would skyrocket.
According to her, “This increment in the pump price of fuel suggests to me that the government is not working in favour of the masses. This is because whenever anything affects fuel price, every other aspect of our lives is impacted upon negatively. Here, at Luciana College, we have decided that the school’s power generating plant will henceforth be used twice weekly to enable students carryout laboratory and computer practical classes.


She continued, “Paying high price for fuel, and using less of it in schools would affect the provision of standard education in the country. Since Nigeria is known more as a consuming nation than a producing nation, the few industries in the country will face a daunting challenge staying in business as the cost of production will go up and demand will drop.”
Director of Affairs, Promise land Nursery and Primary School, Egbe, Lagos, Mr. Adetunji Makonju, is lamenting that within a twinkle of an eye, the prices of school consumables have doubled, and this is “an indication of how fuel has disturbed everything in the country.”
“Daily, we buy 20 to 30 litres of fuel to run the entire school, and this was before the increment because we need to keep the fans rolling for our pupils. Now that petrol is N145, 00 per litre, it translates to more running cost for us. So, the fuel price increase will, in no time translate to increased tuition fees because we have to keep up with standard,” Makonju stated.
Saint Francis Catholic Secondary School, Idimu, Lagos State, uses diverse sources of power to run the school. According to its administrator, Reverend Fr. Chikere Uguwanyi, “Right now, I do not know the source of power that is supplying light to my office because we have different sources of power to run both the boarding and day school. We use diesel, petrol, solar power, inverters and electric lamps to run things in the school. So, fuel hike does not have an adverse effect on us. We invest in solar and inverters as alternatives to cut the cost of fuel consumption.”


The school administrator, however, urged the Federal Government to retain fuel subsidy while effecting a major turnaround on the country’s refineries and building of new ones. “But fuel subsidy should be removed a soon as these new refineries are commissioned.”

UNIZIK to Premier Its First Professional Film

The Department of Theartre and Film Studies of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka will on June 17, 2016, premier its first commercial film titled “The Diary of a Campus Girl”. The event debut which will take place at the University Auditorium is written and produced by Prof. Tracie Utoh-Ezeajugh (the HOD of Theartre and Film Studies) and directed by Mr. Patrick Okoye.




The first of its kind in any Nigeria University, this film has many prominent faces in the movie industry who also graduated from UNIZIK. They include Oge Okoye, Ken Erics Ugo, Uju Okeke. Also other budding artistes participated – Precious Linus, Esther Iyare, Chima Igbokwe, Chukwuemeka Eni, Chibueze Igwe among others.


This film project, according to the HOD, is a purely University affair where staff of the Department participated either as actors/actresses or technical crew.


Speaking on the film project, the Executive Producer, Prof. Joseph E. Ahaneku, FAS who is also the Vice-Chancellor of UNIZIK, said the film project is exceptional as it is the first commercial film produced by any Nigerian University. Prof. Ahaneku also said that the film project is an opportunity to provide a new platform for employment of graduates.




According to the VC, the film project is also a way of diversifying the Nigeria economy. He also stated that this film is a cinematic movie that can be shown in Cinemas. The University Community is invited.