From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Federal Government said it would sanction special universities found to be operating contrary to their original mandate of running specific courses/programmes to steer the need of manpower in a particular sector of the economy.
Some of the specialised institutions are universities of agriculture, technology and medicine.
Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, described the trend as unfortunate, auch that universities of agriculture offer programmes in law, management courses such as accounting, banking and finance and business administration.
Adamu also observed that some institutions have changed the nomenclature of some of the courses to, for instance, banking engineering and accounting technology, among other names.
“This is an aberration and should be stopped with immediate effect,” he said.
The minister directed the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board to delete all such courses on its portal, advising all candidates desirous of sitting for the 2017 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination to be vigilant and avoid being hoodwinked into such programmes as they were illegal.
JAMB: ‘2017 UTME application forms not yet
on sale’
From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has said that the 2017 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) application documents were not yet on sale, warning interested candidates against being hoodwinked by fraudsters.
JAMB spokesman, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, said in a statement that the board would widely publicise the sale of the application process as soon as it begins.
He also advised candidates and parents not to pay money to anyone fronting as a JAMB agent or any bank for the purpose of registration, because JAMB has not and will not appoint any agent for such services.
The board attributed the delay in the commencement of sale of application documents to some projects geared towards strengthening its systems in order to boost credibility.
It reassured candidates that the 2017/2018 admission exercise would be conducted within the stipulated timeline.
Agriculture: Govt won’t buy grains from hoarders – Lokpobiri
From Magnus Eze, Abuja
The Federal Government has warned those hoarding grains with the hope of selling them at high profit to government to dispose them to end users, as it was not ready to purchase grains from unscrupulous hoarders.
Minister of State for Agriculture and Rural Development, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, who made the disclosure in Abuja, regretted that many persons were hoarding the grains in conditions that would affect their quality and lead to the eventual loss of both the grains and the much desired profit.
Lokpobiri said government, in its resolve to ensure food security and self-sufficiency, has put several measures in place that have translated today to increase in food production, especially grains.
He noted that the ministry achieved this by ensuring that “hybrid seeds are available to farmers, soil test and relevant fertilizers are also within the reach of farmers,” adding that “the ministry is hugely engaged and committed to all-year-round agriculture including dry season farming and also through increased investment in irrigation.”
Lokpobiri said, to encourage farmers in a situation where there were huge stocks of grains due to increased production, government would buy off the excess.
Education: FG reconstitutes board of two varsities
From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the reconstitution of the governing councils of University of Port Harcourt in Rivers State and Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Osun state.
The boards were dissolved as a result of the recent crises in the two institutions.
A statement from the Federal Ministry of Education indicated that the governing councils would serve for a term of four years in the first instance, effective from December 28, 2016.
The statement identified Dr. Yemi Ogunbiyi as the new chairman of the governing council of OAU, Ile Ife, with Prof. Felix Madubuike, Mr. Inowei Akono, Mr. Adekunle Sanni and Muhammad Bello Kaoje as members of the council.
Similarly, the statement identified Prof. Mvendega Jibo as the new chairman of the governing council of the University of Port Harcourt, while Chief Johnson Okafor, Mr. Joseph Fafi, Hajia Lubabatu Lawal Ammani and Bello Dukku are members.
The President thus challenged the new appointees to be diligent, committed, resourceful and deploy their wealth of knowledge and experience towards the betterment of the institutions, academically and otherwise.