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No plans to hand over universities to private investors, says FG

Published

9 months ago

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The Federal Government says there is no plan to hand over public universities to private investors.

The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, made the clarification at the Second Quarterly Engagement of the ministry with Heads of units and Chief Executive Officers of parastatals and agencies under the ministry.
NAN reports tha the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), had accused the federal government of plans to hand over federal universities to investors through Public Private Partnership.
”There is no plan to sell off universities to investors,” he said,  noting the policy of the government allowed for transnational education.
According to him, the transnational education is a policy on what this government is doing to open up tertiary education by taking people from the rest of the world to come and invest in our tertiary system.
“Some people are carrying information that the federal government is selling off to private investors its universities. This is absolute lie and completely false.
“This government believes in our public institutions. However as we all know this government has reforms that this country needs.
“The private sector will play a major role in the provision of tertiary education as there are more private universities in Nigeria than public universities combined.
“What this government has done is to open up the tertiary education level in particular the universities for global competitiveness,” he said.
The minister stressed the need to allow those who operate universities at the international level to come into the country and set up institutions either for themselves or in collaboration with our local universities.
He said that this was in no way to sell its institutions noting that guidelines on transnational education had been in place.
Mamman said the country must take a cue from what is obtainable in the other climes so as to benefit from the advantage of transnational education.
“In other parts of the world like Asia they have benefited immensely of having international institutions in those countries.
“They have taken standards to those countries and also for the exchange and bringing money to those countries,” he said.
He further said that the engagement with heads of agencies as parastatals was to review the progress, challenges and reaffirmed commitment toward educational landscape of the country. (NAN)
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Education

FG Directs Tertiary Institutions to Publicly Advertise Job Openings

Published

6 days ago

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April 10, 2025

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The Federal Government has mandated all tertiary institutions that have received waivers for staff recruitment to publicly announce their job vacancies.

In a statement released on Thursday, Minister of Education Dr. Tunji Alausa emphasized the importance of transparency in the hiring process. The statement was issued by Folasade Boriowo, the Director of Press in the Ministry.

Dr. Alausa encouraged these institutions to advertise positions in at least one national daily newspaper, on their official websites, and in pertinent academic and professional journals.

This directive is intended to foster an open and competitive recruitment environment, ensuring equal opportunities for all eligible Nigerians.

“This initiative follows the waivers granted to federal tertiary institutions based on their submissions regarding manpower needs,” he explained. “It reflects the ministry’s commitment to strengthening the capabilities of our higher education institutions.”

He reminded all federal tertiary institutions to submit their recruitment requirements to the ministry for evaluation by the Committee on Waiver and Recruitment.

“The ministry has established effective mechanisms to ensure compliance and will not hesitate to impose penalties on any institution that fails to follow this directive,” he stated. “The Federal Ministry of Education is steadfast in its commitment to upholding integrity and fairness within the Nigerian higher education system.”

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Education

JAMB: 585 Fake A-Levels Uncovered In Q1 Sweep

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1 week ago

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April 8, 2025

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The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) says it has uncovered at least 585 forged A-Level certificates so far in 2025.

Is-haq Oloyede, the registrar, was at a virtual meeting with JAMB staff on April 2.

The meeting was to discuss operational procedures ahead of the 2025 mock Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and the main UTME.

Oloyede said JAMB discovered 585 forged A-Level certificates, 13 of which originated from the Interim Joint Matriculation Board (IJMB).

He said the professional registration centres (PRCs) that uploaded the results are now under investigation.

Of those 13 cases, Oloyede said four suspects have so far been arrested.

He said the forgeries were among the reasons for the creation of the Nigeria Integrated Post-Secondary Education Data System (NIPED).

NIPED is a platform designed to collect and manage data related to post-secondary education in Nigeria.

Oloyede alleged that some institutions may have internal collaborators aiding the syndicates behind the forgeries.

He said the board is working closely with police and other authorities to apprehend the ringleaders.

In 2023, JAMB also uncovered 1,665 fake A-level results during a DE registration season.

The board said its NIPEDS lagged multiple cases of forgery, with 13 additional A-level certificates recently identified as fake.

JAMB said some institutions had already processed admissions for candidates using these forged documents before they were detected.

It urged its staff to remain committed to their duties and to avoid any actions that could compromise the integrity of the board.

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INEC: Petition for Natasha’s recall yet to meet constitutional requirement

Published

2 weeks ago

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April 3, 2025

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Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said the petition to recall Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan from the Senate has yet to meet constitutional requirement.

The commission stated this in a short notice posted on its X platform.

“The petition for the recall of the Senator representing the Kogi Central Senatorial District has not met the requirement of Section 69(a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended),” the notice said.

The commission, however, said that details of why the petition had not met the constitutional requirement would be made available shortly.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that a group of registered voters from Akpoti-Uduaghan’s senatorial district had, on March 24, submitted a petition to INEC, urging it to commence her recall process from the senate.

The constituents, in the letter signed by the Lead Petitioner, Salihu Habib, and submitted at INEC headquarters, said they no longer had confidence in Akpoti-Uduaghan as their senator and representative in the National Assembly.

Meanwhile, INEC had, on March 25, confirmed the receipt of the petition, accompanied by six bags of documents said to be signatures collected from more than half of the 474,554 registered voters from the senatorial district.

The commission also said that it had notified the suspended senator about the receipt of the petition to recall her from the national assembly. (NAN)

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