All Posts in "Education"

JAMB pegs Varsities cut off marks @ 140, Polytechnic, COEs 100

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, and heads of tertiary education institutions in the country have pegged the minimum cut-off mark for admissions in the 2022/2023 academic session at 140 for universities and Polytechnic s, College of Educations at 100.

These were announced at the ongoing Policy Meeting on Admissions, presided by the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, in Abuja, Thursday.

JAMB’s registrar, Professor Ishaq Oloyede, who announced the cut-off after after a thorough debates and votes by vice chancellors of universities, rectors of polytechnics and provosts of colleges of education, said the implication was that “every institution has the right to fix its own cut-off mark even up to 220 but no one would be allowed to go less than the agreed minimum marks of 100 for colleges of education, 100 for polytechnics and 140 for universities.”

The meeting also called for the review of admission criteria to give 10per cent discretional power of admission to heads of tertiary institutions.

Recall that the 2022 UTME who over 1.7 million candidates registered and sat for across the country,began on Friday, May 6,2022 ,and ended on Friday 13th May, 2022.

The JAMB boss said only 378,639 of the 1,761,338 who wrote the 2022 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations ,UTME, scored 200 and above.

While giving further statistics of the 2022 examination, Oloyede noted that 378,639 scored above 200; a total of 520,596 candidates scored 190 and above; 704,991 scored 180 and above; 934,103 scored 170 and above; 1,192, 057 scored 160 and above.

Oloyede used the opportunity to disclose names of best performed students in the 2022 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination,UTME.

Açcording to him, Master Adebayo Eyimofe,an indigene of Ekiti State came first having scored the highest mark with 362 points. He was trailed behind by Ugwu Chikelu, an indigene of Enugu State,who 359 points.

He explained that both sat for the examination in one of the Computer-Based Test,CBT centres in Abuja.

Prof. Oloyede named other eight candidates as Igbalaye Ebunoluwa 357; Emmanuel Oluwanifemi 357; Ozumba Samuel 357; Olumide-Attah Ayomide 355; Lawal Olaoluwa 355; Dokun Jubril 354; Amaku Anthony 354 and Aghulor Divine 353, respectively.

The JAMB boss at the event,said the Minister of Education,Malam Adamu Adamu,has approved that A’level results by the National Business and Technical Education Board,NABTEB, will no longer be considered for admission into higher institutions after 2022.

Hear him:“The Honorable Minister of Education has approved that the NABTEB A’level GCE will no longer be recognized as a qualification for Direct Entry,DE,from 2022. However, all those who have already obtained it prior to this date will be able to use it.”

Speaking further at the policy meeting, Oloyede highlighted some of the challenges faced by the board in the conduct of the 2022 UTME/ DE examination.

The challenges of the 2022 UTME,he explained,were examination malpractices, impersonation and substitution of real candidates by paid examination takers, fraudulent CBT owners who sabotage examination, parents encouraging examination malpractices, mass cheating by syndicates, prolonged investigation and prosecution.

Speaking at the event, the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu warned institutions against violating the laid-down admission guidelines.

Açcording to him,all institutions must adhere strictly to all admission regulations prescribed by the regulatory bodies such as the National Universities Commission,NUC, the National Commission for Colleges of Education,NCCE and the National Board for Technical Education, NBTE.

This,he said,must be “particularly with regards to approved quotas, ratios and other specifications meant for improved quality, accountability and equity.”

The minister disclosed JAMB under Prof. Ishaq Oloyede has so far remitted about N29 billion directly to the Consolidated Revenue Fund,CRF.

Açcording to him,JAMB also granted over N1 billion to the Institutions, expended more than N2billion on capital projects, reserved N6 billion for its future expansion as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility,CSR , just as it provided social services such as funding the freighting and delivery of donated critical hospital equipment to 12 teaching hospitals at a cost of $257,000 and ₦47million.

He said JAMB has continued to serve as a model for public agencies in vision, devotion, transparency and efficiency which continue to yield enormous goodwill to the government and people of Nigeria.

He said:“In this meeting, we shall be focusing on consolidating the achievements we have made on admissions policies in the area of innovations that drive transparency, accountability, equity and fairness in the admissions process”.

“Just as in the previous admissions exercises, the admissions criteria still remain as approved and circulated. All institutions must therefore adhere strictly to them and all others prescribed by the regulatory bodies such as the National Universities Commission (NUC), National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), particularly with regards to approved quotas, ratios and other specifications meant for improved quality, accountability and equity.”

Speaking on flexibility in the admission, Adamu stated that during the 2021 Policy Meeting, he advised tertiary institutions to adopt a more flexible posture in the admissions process provided all actions are in compliance with the guidelines.

“One size fits all is injurious, hence, the statutory stipulations that in the exercise of its functions, JAMB should not obliterate the peculiarities and unique features of each of the Institutions”, he said

On the eradication of illegal admission, the minister said: “In 2017, we introduced the Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS) to eradicate the primeval activities around admission procedures towards nuzzling transparencies and accountabilities on admissions. It was on this note that it was mandated that all admissions to tertiary institutions in Nigeria must be carried out on the CAPS”.

“This implies that all applications for regular and non-regular admissions to tertiary institutions must be routed through the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board in conformity with its enabling law. I am aware that JAMB issues specific Advisories to guide different aspects of the process. I therefore urge every Institution to comply with those advisories in the interest of the sector”.

“By the last policy meeting, I had approved that all illegitimate admissions from 2017 to 2020 be condoned provided such candidates met the minimum entry qualifications in their various courses of study. I am aware that the process led the affected institutions to declare about one million illegitimate admissions for the periods”.

He noted that as soon as the process is completed, necessary measures would be put in place to track and sanction all culpable heads of institutions irrespective of whether they are in office or not.

 

 

 

Patoma Admin by — July 21, 2022 in Education 0
UniAbuja promotes 44 staff to professors, 2 to deputy bursar

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

 

The Governing Council of University of Abuja has approved the promotion of 44 academic staff to the rank of professors and associate professors.

Also the University promoted 22 staff to the rank of professor, 20 were promoted to the rank of associate professor.

The Council also approved the promotion of two bursary staff to the rank of deputy bursar.

The university,in a statement to this effect through Dr Habib Yakoob,
Head, Information and University Relations, explained that the,”The promotions were considered and approved by Council at its 92nd and 93rd Regular Meetings, which held on Thursday 30th and Friday 31st March 2022, and Tuesday 28th and Wednesday 29th June 2022, respectively.”

“A breakdown of the promotion list shows that the academic staff were promoted across several disciplines.

” There were 7 staff promoted in veterinary medicine; 4, Law; 3, Economics; 3, Biological Sciences;2, Guidance and Counselling, and 2, Mathematics,”the statement read.

It read further:”The disciplines of other promoted staff include theatre arts, medical biochemistry, public administration, medicine, engineering, science and environmental education and geography.”

“Congratulating the staff, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah, said their promotion was a testimony to their continued dedication, hard work and discipline.

“According to Na’Allah, the University management, with the support and guidance of Council, is determined to ensure that every staff gets promotion as and when due.

He said, “I must congratulate all our staff who have been promoted by Council at its 92nd and 93rd Regular meetings. No doubt, this is a demonstration of hard work, diligence and determination on their part. These are virtues we encourage and promote among our staff at the University of Abuja.

“I urge the staff to continue to work even harder because this rank is not the end of academic prowess. These positions call for more hard work, responsibility and breaking newer grounds. You must show that this is the beginning of greater things to come from you,” the statement quoted Na’Allah to have said.

Patoma Admin by — July 6, 2022 in Education 0
88,000 candidates sit for 2022 NABTEB examinations

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

 

Not less than 88,000 candidates sat for the ongoing 2022 National Business and Technical Examinations Board, NABTEB Certificate examination across the country.

The Chief Executive Officer of NABTEB, Ifeoma Isiugo Abanihe, who spoke while while monitoring the examination in some secondary schools in the Federal Capital Territory, said there had been tremendous increase of enrollment in the past five years.

Some of the schools she monitored were Federal Government College, Orozo and Government Technical College, Garki, Abuja.

“The surge began in 2015 when the examinations’ body first recorded 55,000 enrolments, moving to 83000 in 2018″

She warned against any discriminatory art  against the certificate, stated that they henceforth not condone such action by institutions found involved in the practice.

She said,”In 2022,about 88,000 candidates applied to write the NABTEB examination nationwide.

“Starting from 2018, it was about 55,000 candidates, but this year you can see last year was 83,000 plus so there has been steady increase in enrollment and I think it is because of the realisation that TVET is the way to gom

“In the world today there is need for skills acquisition there is need for empowerment in skills, self reliance, and it’s at the bottom of development and that is why there’s more realisation that is a very, very crucial aspect of education.”

Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, who spoke through his representative and Director, Human Resources of the ministry, David Gende ,called for an end to the demeaning of NABTEB certificates.

“Skill acquisition is what the government is promoting to take over the Nigerian business and technical workspace.”

“People need to stop demeaning this very certificate, so that people can pick up the skills that are required. We need to stop those who are taking over our space, you know if those space were available, the young ones who cannot continue after this level, at least have some skills to carry on and take over the space,”he further said.

Gender said government was presently directing students towards the sector “as option for those who cannot fit into the formal sector.”

“That is the way to go. And that is where we are directing our students to go. Those who cannot fit into other professional areas,there are other sound options that we know are acceptable anywhere, and even contributing greater to the development of our country”,he added.

Patoma Admin by — June 30, 2022 in Education 0
NYSC to release 2022 Batch ‘B’ call-up letters on Sunday

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

 

The National Youth Service Corps, NYSC has said the Call Up Letters for Prospective Corps Members that will participate in the 2022 Batch ‘B’ Orientation Course will be made available on Sunday.

The NYSC Director-General, Brigadier General Muhammad Kaku Fadah made this known during a webinar jointly organized by the NYSC and Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) as part of efforts to sustain the safe conduct of Orientation Exercise.

He said though there is a decline in COVID-19 cases worldwide, there is the need “not to let down our guards until the disease is totally eradicated”.

Fadah added that the Scheme has made adequate preparations to ensure the safety of all Camp participants across the 37 Camps nationwide.

He said since the post-lockdown resumption of Orientation Courses, the Scheme has adopted strict compliance with all safety guidelines before, during and after the exercises.

He enjoined all Prospective Corps Members to ensure strict compliance to all the established safety protocols in camp.

The Director General used the webinar to advise all Prospective Corps Members to be security conscious, especially when travelling to their States of deployment.

“You are strongly advised to board vehicles at only officially designated motor parks. You must also avoid night journeys at all cost” the DG said.

In his contribution, the Director General of National Centre for Disease Control, Dr Ifedayo Adetifa said all Prospective Corps Members including other camp participants must undergo the COVID-19 test, and only those that test negative will be admitted to the Camps.

He stated that in the event of any positive result, arrangements have been made with the NCDC and State Health officials for the cases to be handled in designated treatment Centers outside the Orientation Camp.

Adetifa said the NCDC would continue to practise and demonstrate preventive measures against COVID-19.

He added that no single death has been recorded in any NYSC Orientation Camp since the outbreak of the pandemic in Nigeria till date.

The NCDC Project Lead for Safe Camp Re-opening, Dr Ladun Okuromade in her contributions said every part of the country has been affected by COVID-19.

She advised the prospective Corps Members to utilise the opportunity of the NYSC Orientation Course to complete their COVID-19 vaccination.

She said COVID-19 screening is compulsory while COVID-19 vaccination is optional.

The NYSC/NCDC Guidelines for a safe opening and smooth running of the camp would be maintained in all NYSC Orientation Camps nationwide”, Okuromade said.

“COVID-19 is still with us and we need to ensure strict compliance.

 

Patoma Admin by — June 10, 2022 in Education 0
JAMB release result of 2022 UTME

JAMB releases result of 2022 UTM

The Joint Administrations and Matriculation Board, JAMB, has released result of the 2022 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME.

The board in a statement, Saturday, directed candidates who sat for the examination to check their results by texting “Send UTMERESULT ( one word) to 55019″ to have their results.”

“To check the 2022 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) result, all a candidate needs to do is to simply send UTMERESULT to 55019 using the same phone number that he/she had used for registration and the result would be returned as a text message,” the statement read.

It read further:”This is the only process of checking the 2022 UTME results for now as the Board has not uploaded it on its website for obvious reasons.

“In addition, candidates are forewarned that they would, as usual, receive all kinds of messages from desperate fraudsters on how to check their results different from the aforementioned one. Hence, the Board urge all candidates to ignore all such messages on how to check their 2022 UTME results as they are all products of deceit aimed at misleading them.

“The Board, in line with its desire to adhere to the ease of doing business protocol of the government, has emplaced this user-friendly and simplified process of checking UTME results.

“Furthermore, this simplified process would also serve to preclude the unconscionable exploitation of candidates by shylock business centres and cybercafes which often take advantage of hapless candidates.
The 2022 UTME began on Friday, 6th May, 2022 and ended on Friday 13th May, 2022.”

Patoma Admin by — May 14, 2022 in Education 0
FUTA gets first female Vice Chancellor, Prof. Adenike Oladiji

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

The Governing Council of the Federal University of Technology Akure, FUTA has appointed the first female Vice Chancellor,    Professor (Mrs) Adenike Temidayo Oladiji for the University.

Prof. Oladiji is the eighth substantive Vice Chancellor of the University, of the Department of Biochemistry, University of Ilorin.

The Council, presided over by the Pro-Chancellor, Chairman of Council, Ambassador (Dr.) Godknows Igali, ratified the appointment at its Special Meeting.

According to the Registrar and Secretary to Council, Richard Arifalo, twenty candidates out of twenty seven male and one female candidates were shortlisted by the council at the commencement of the process

Arifalo said that “19 candidates were interviewed with one of the shortlisted candidates failing to show up.

“At the end of the interview the Joint Council and Senate Selection Board recommended three candidates for appointment in line with extant regulations governing the process.

“Because of the closeness of the score of the three recommended candidates, a difference of 0.1%, Council decided to put it to vote and Professor Oladiji came out tops, hence her appointment.

” Under extant laws, appointment of Vice Chancellors of Universities is domiciled with the Governing Council of Universities which, on the advice of an internal selection committee, has the power to choose from any of the three best candidates submitted to it.

Arifalo added that ” a letter of appointment personally signed by Ambassador (Dr.) Igali, Professor Oladiji’s appointment which takes effect from Tuesday May 24, 2022 is for a single term of five years.

Oladiji who was born on 27th April, 1968, attended Christ Anglican School, Ijomu-Oro, Iludun Oro Nursery and Primary School between 1972 and 1977 and St. Claire’s Anglican Grammar School, Offa from 1977 to 1982, all in Kwara State, for her secondary education.

She holds a B.Sc Biochemistry, Second Class Upper Division Degree from the University of Ilorin, 1988, MSc. Biochemistry, University of Ilorin, 1991 and Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Biochemistry from the University of Ilorin, 1997.

She joined the services of the University of Ilorin in July 1992 as Assistant Lecturer and was appointed a Professor in September 2011.

She has over 29 years of continuous service in the university system. She has held various positions and served on almost all University Committees as Chairman and Member.

She has also served in various capacities including Head of Department; Sub Dean of Faculty; Deputy Director, Center for International Education; Director, Center for Research and Development and In-House Training; Director, Central Research Laboratory; Dean, School Of Basic Medical Sciences (Kwara State University); Dean, School of Life Sciences and Member, Governing Council, Federal Polytechnic, Nasarawa and Crown Hill University, Eiyenkorin, Ilorin.

A prolific reseacher with over 100 publications, Professor Oladiji has won many distinctions and awards which include University’s Merit Award, Certificate of Merit and scholarships among others.

She is a Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Science and Fellow, Nigerian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. She has served as Member of various Scienctific Committees at the National Universities Commission, NUC, Tertiary Education Fund, TetFund and has been an external examiner in over 20 Universities in Nigeria and outside the country.

She is happily married and blessed with children.

Professor Oladiji succeeds Professor Joseph Fuwape, whose term ends on Monday, 23rd May, 2022. End

Patoma Admin by — May 12, 2022 in Education 0
NYSC warns 320 tertiary institutions against mobilisation of unqualified graduates*

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

 

The National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, has warned instutions against mobilisation of unqualified graduates for national service.

The NYSC Director-General, Major General Shuaibu Ibrahim, gave the fresh warning during the maiden retreat of NYSC Management with Registrars of Corps Producing Institutions in Nigeria on Tuesday in Abuja.

He noted that the retreat was convened to seek ways of eliminating flaws in the NYSC Mobilisation process, adding that the Scheme is now determined more than ever before to plug all the loopholes.

Ibrahim said, “Gaps have already been identified with a number of resolutions reached on how to eradicate recurrent challenges, but implementation has remained elusive.

“There are 2,955 active Corps Producing Institutions on the NYSC data base, out of which only 320 are home-based.

“In schools where Registrars have abdicated their roles to subordinate officers, we have seen various forms of abuses and shortfalls. This has given rise to occasional mobilisation of unqualified persons, many of whom have been detected by NYSC field officers.”

In the same vein, the registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, urged the NYSC to rely only the matriculation lists provided by Central Admission Processing Systems (CAPS) for the mobilisation of Corps Members.

He lamented the situation where some universities in the country running “top-up” degree programme, which usually runs for a period of one or two academic years or two semesters depending without the knowledge of the National Universities Commission (NUC) and other regulatory bodies.

He charged the registrars to help the board in ensuring that illegal admissions and other irregularities are eliminated in the Universities, saying that no body can be admitted in the university with the knowledge of registrars

He said, “All these are aimed at stopping the illegal mobilisation. I want to urge you to please stop this. I therefore, call on NYSC to rely on matriculation lists provided by CAPS for mobilisation.

“Institutions should also confess their sins and say these are the illegally admitted students. We found out that about 25 percentage of these illegally admitted are part-time and sandwich students that have been impeded in the candidates that are for regular programmes.”

Patoma Admin by — May 10, 2022 in Education 0
Oghenetega Ighedo breaks 148 year record becomes 1st black woman with PhD in Pure Mathematics

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

A Nigerian Mathematician and an Urhobo woman from Delta State, Professor Oghenetega Ighedo, broke a 148 year-old record to become the first black woman graduate with a PhD in Pure Mathematics at the University of South Africa (UNISA).

It is the first time such achievement would be attained in South Africa’s foremost university since it was established 148 years ago.

Ighedo, an Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at the University of South Africa (UNISA), before her academic pursuit in South Africa, she was already an accomplished researcher in Nigeria where she bagged MSc in Pure Mathematics from the University of Ibadan and a BSc in Industrial Mathematics from Delta State University

The renowned scholar attributes her success to her mother who was also once a Mathematics teacher. Ighedo said she was inspired by her mother who has since retired.

“I was inspired by my mother – a retired maths teacher. I saw the way she was going about teaching it and when I grew older, I thought the way she did maths was interesting and I wanted to see if I could do it like her.”

“My decision to study pure mathematics was also motivated by the fact that not only are there few black pure mathematicians but there are fewer black women who are pure mathematicians.”

Ighedo also noted that the dearth of black and women pure mathematicians influenced her decision to study the course. She observed that there were a few and fewer black women who were pure mathematicians.

She further encouraged young women not to be deterred by challenges on their path to academic excellence. She narrated her ordeals while studying for her PHD as a married woman with two children. However, Ighedo, said on top of this she was expecting her third child during this period.

“In spite of being a mother and a wife, I was able to complete my PhD within three years,”Ighedo said.

Patoma Admin by — May 10, 2022 in Education 0
WAEC reverts to May/June for conduct of WASSCE

By Favour Nnabugwu

 

The West African Examinations Council, WAEC has reverted to its formal calendar, May/June for the conduct of this year’s West African Senior School Certificate Examination, WASSCE.

This is as the body on Monday, announced the start of 2022 WASSCE for school candidates slated from May 16 to June 23.

Recall that in the heat of the Covid-19 pandemic, WAEC shifted the date of WASSCE to two months after the normal date, that is from August to September.

Briefing journalists, the head of WAEC Nigeria national office, Mr Patrick Areghan expressed delight over the reverted calendar, noting that it was a move that showed recovery from the effects of the pandemic.

Part of his speech: ” I am delighted to inform you that the conduct of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School Candidates, 2022 will take place between the 16th of May and 23rd of June, 2022 in Nigeria, spanning a period of six (06) weeks.

“The revert to May/June period for the conduct of the examination should be celebrated. The significance of this is that the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and the various member States, save Ghana, have now again found a common ground in respect of their academic calendars.

” This shows a massive recovery from the devastating effects, disruptions and confusion caused by the Pandemic. We must give kudos to the Honourable Minister of Education and his Ministry for this wonderful feat.” Mr. Areghan noted.

Patoma Admin by — May 9, 2022 in Education 0
Brokers want FG to meet ASUU’s demands

By Favour Nnabugwu
Nigerian brokers have expressed a deep concern about the on going strike action by Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU) which often than not distabilised the education system of the country’s tertiary institutions.
The President of the Nigerian Council of Registered Insurance Brokers (NCRIB) at the April Brokers Evening sponsored by the Universal Insurance PLC was particularly peaked the the incessant strike which could have been resolved over the table.
He of the view that the Federal Government should meet the demand of the union to put an end to the strike action
The NCRIB president said, With the level of moral decadence and quick money syndrome bedeviling our society, shutting out students at this period is a serious challenge for our nation. The leaders must be aware that they are sitting on a keg of gun powder, a time bomb that would soon explode.
“It is on this note I like to enjoin the Federal Government to pay closer attention to the issue of our nation’s education system. For the sake of the future, Federal Government should dialogue with ASUU and meet their demands.
“Personally, I am pained to note that our Students from higher institutions of learning have been shut out of school for the past eight weeks because of the strike by members of the Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU).

“A nation where education is valued as a formality, not as pride would remain poor. To say that the poor handling of our education system in Nigeria is one of the sources of our problems and poverty is to state the obvious.

Patoma Admin by — April 28, 2022 in Education 0