Month: August 2024

Punch Newspaper

Some university students who recently benefitted from the N20,000 stipend paid by the Nigerian Education Loan Fund have begun celebrating the receipt of the money.

While some took to social media to share their surprise, others narrated how they spent the money on foodstuffs. A few said it took the burden of care off their parents.

Financial constraint is a major challenge facing many students of public tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

The lack of funds has kept many young people out of school, as their parents or guardians cannot afford to sponsor their tertiary education.

A total of 20,371 students from six tertiary institutions were said to have been paid a sum of N20,000 each for their July stipends.

The institutions said to have benefitted from the disbursement are Bayero University, Kano State; Federal University, Dutsin-Ma, Katsina State; University of Ilorin, Kwara State; University of Benin, Edo State; University of Ibadan, Oyo State; and University of Maiduguri, Borno State.

NELFUND started the disbursement of the stipends to the students, whose school fees had already been paid by the agency, on August 5, 2024.

A 300-level student of the Department of Agronomy, University of Ibadan, Emmanuel John, told Sunday PUNCH he did not believe the money would be paid when he applied for it.

He said, “I applied for N240,000, to be disbursed as N20,00 monthly. I plan to use it to get foodstuffs monthly, and clear other bills.

“I was excited to get the money, because I initially thought it was going to be one of the several failed promises from the government.

“This will definitely ease the burden on my parents, as I will disturb them less.”

An Accounting student of the University of Maiduguri, Muhammed Buba, said the money came to him as a surprise, adding that he went to the market to get foodstuffs immediately after receiving the money.

He said, “I am not financially buoyant, so I get help from my friends and some other people who support my education.

“I received the money after coming back from school. I had earlier got some money from my parents, but the high cost of living and inflation didn’t allow me to get enough foodstuffs with the money. What I got could not last me for a month.

“I was thinking of how I would manage the little foodstuffs I had for a month when I received the N20,000 stipend from NELFUND. I was excited and rushed to market to buy more foodstuffs. I spent N15,000 on foodstuff, and saved N5000 to get some other things I might need.”

A student of the Faculty of Education, University of Ilorin, Malik Ibrahim, said upon getting the stipend, he celebrated with his friends.

He said, “I thought it was a scam alert when I received the message. I had just N100 in my account. When I checked my bank app and saw a balance of N20,100, and saw that the payment was from NELFUND, I was so happy, and could not contain my joy.

“I made a screenshot of the alert and posted it on my faculty’s WhatsApp group. Some other people acknowledged the payment as well. We went to school the following day to celebrate spending N1000 each. We declared that it was NELFUND we were spending.

“The money will take care of my transportation fare for this month. I appreciate Mr President for this.”

An excited student of the University of Maiduguri, Mudassir Muhammad, wrote on his X handle, “I don’t know why Nigerians still think that NELFUND is lying about the disbursement to certain institutions. I am from UNIMAID. I applied and received the money two days ago.”

Yet X user, @Absanchh, wrote, “I received mine too. No doubt, it meant a lot to me and I’m grateful to NELFUND and the president.”

Acknowledging the payment of the N20,000, another student of the University of Ibadan, Taiwo Egbeyemi, wrote “I have received my N20,000 upkeep.”

In a similar vein, a student of the Federal University of Dutsin-Ma, Tukur Muhammad, said, “I received my upkeep loan from NELFUND. I am really happy because the money will help me to carry out my academic activities.”

Our correspondent, however, learnt that there were complaints from some students that they did not get any payment.

Speaking with Sunday PUNCH, the Fund’s Director of Corporate Communications, Oseyemi Oluwatuyi, said some of the students had not been verified and approved.

Oluwatuyi said, “Not all students from the six institutions were paid because some of them have not yet been verified and approved. Some registered earlier than others. The students who have not been paid will receive their payments as soon as they are verified and approved.

“The six institutions were selected based on their academic calendars. They are all in their first semesters. More disbursements will be made to other institutions in the coming days. The N20,00 is also part of the loan; it is not a grant.”

Reacting to the development, the Academic Staff Union of Universities questioned why NELFUND could not disburse the loan to the universitiessimultaneously.

The union re-emphasised its opposition to it, saying it did not support the loan.

Speaking with Sunday PUNCH, the National President of ASUU, Emmanuel Osodeke, said, “I have not seen any student who received the money in my university. In Nigeria today, there are almost 100 public universities, and they are giving how many of them? Let us see what happens after all the universities have been paid.

“Why couldn’t NELFUND pay all the universities when all of them applied at the same time? We don’t know what is happening.

“As a union, we have said we are not in support of the loan. We are not even talking about the immediate effect; we are talking about the long-term effect.

“As a union of intellectuals, we look at the long-term, not the immediate. A student gets a loan and by the time they graduate, they have a debt of about N1m hanging on their necks, when they are not even sure of when they will get jobs. That’s what we are talking about.”

The Senate President of the National Association of Nigerian Students, Akinteye Babatunde, said the loan would reduce the financial pressure on the beneficiaries and their parents.

“We hope that the students will pay the loan when it’s time to pay back so that others coming behind can also benefit from it. It will surely ease the financial burden on the students and their parents,” he said.

The University of Benin, UNIBEN, has launched a panel to probe allegations of sexual harassment against a professor in the Faculty of Arts.

The panel was inaugurated following a complaint made by a graduate on social media, who claimed to have experienced sexual harassment by the professor during her undergraduate studies.

The panel, however, did not disclose the identity of the lecturer in the said circular obtained from the institution by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Benin on Saturday.

It urged members of staff and students with relevant information, or anybody who might have fallen victim of the lecturer’s escapades, to come forward and share with it.

According to the circular, the information will assist the committee in ensuring a thorough and fair investigation.

“Be assured that your identity will be protected and all information will be treated with utmost confidentiality,” it added.

NAN learnt that the university resolved to set up the investigative panel after a graduate of the university took to social media to call out the lecture.

The alumna recounted how she allegedly suffered untold sexual harassment from the said professor during her undergraduate days

The Supreme Court of Nigeria, in a landslide judgement on local government autonomy, ordered that the four-year tenure enjoyed by executives be extended to the offices of all local government chairmen across the country.

This is contained in the Certified True Copy (CTC) of a judgement delivered by Justice Mohammed Garba and six others on May 11, 2024.

Garba said that some states have, by their various illegal actions, starved the local government councils in their states to the extent that most of them cannot exercise their constitutional powers or perform their statutory functions.

The Justice described the situation of the LGA in the country as “one tier of government’s inhumanity to another tier of government.”

Garbage said that LGAs in Nigeria, unlike branches of incorporated bodies or entities, are constitutionally the third tier of government in the Federation.

According to him, their political and financial independence is duly guaranteed by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).

The Justice said that Section 2(2) of the Constitution provides that “Nigeria shall be a Federation consisting of States and a Federal Capital Territory.”.

He further stated that 36 states in the country are specified, in alphabetical order, by Section 3(1) of the Constitution.

He said that Section 3(6) of the Constitution provides that “there shall be 768 local government areas in Nigeria,“ while Section 1(2) of the Constitution provides that “Nigeria shall not be governed, nor shall any person or group of persons take control of the Government of Nigeria or any part thereof, except in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution.”.

The Justice, however, said that in respect of the six Area Councils of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, there is template legislation by the National Assembly.

He said that by way of sections 108, 109, 110, and 113 of the Electoral Act (2022), the dissolution (tenure of area councils), the vacation of seats of members, removal of the chairman or vice chairman, recall, etc. were addressed. And elections to the area councils are promptly conducted or held by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

“It is, therefore, unfortunate that some states do not even bother about conducting elections into local government councils as required by the relevant laws of their Houses of Assembly.

“Under Section 135(3) of the Constitution, the tenure of four years for the president, provided for by Section 135(2) thereof, shall be extended for periods not exceeding a period of six months at any time by a resolution of the National Assembly if it is not practicable to hold elections.

“By the same token, by a law of a State House of Assembly, the tenure of local government councils can be legally extended for any reason, such as insecurity or war, if it becomes impracticable or impossible for elections into the local government councils to be conducted.

“The mandate given to an elected local government council is the mandate of the electorate of that local government area, and if the tenure is extended, it is the people’s mandate that is extended.

“If the tenure of a local government council is truncated, as it is the norm now, it is an illegal termination of the electorate’s mandate, and it is not to be encouraged but roundly condemned.

“By the doctrine of separation of powers, it is the constitutional duty or function of the Legislature to make laws, which include amendments and repeals, and the duty of the judiciary is to interpret the laws to achieve the intended purpose of the legislation,” he said.

The Police Service Commission (PSC) on Thursday alerted the successful candidates from the recently concluded 2022 Police Recruitment exercise to begin training this Saturday, August 10th, at various Police colleges across the country.

In a statement released in Abuja by the Spokesperson of the Police Service Commission, Mr. Ikechukwu Ani, the training will run from August 10th to August 20th.

According to the statement, “The candidates expected to report for training are those who have confirmed their status on the Police Recruitment Portal: https://apply.policerecruitment.gov.ng.

“The names of the candidates are already with the management of the colleges and only those whose names are on the list will be admitted.

“The Commission wishes to clarify that it has discontinued the use of the previous portal, www.policeservicecommission.cloud, where names were initially released. After a thorough meeting with Police Management, it was agreed that the portal used from the beginning of the exercise should be sustained until the end to ensure fairness, justice, and inclusivity in the recruitment process.

“Only candidates whose names appeared on the agreed portal or who received official messages inviting them to report at the colleges will be allowed for training.

“Messages are currently being sent to successful candidates, including specialists, who are to report for training between September 28th and October 10th, 2024.”

The statement added that the Chairman, DIG Hashimu Argungu (rtd), urged the candidates to ensure they report to the colleges on the exact dates required of them.

The Commission assured that it would continue to monitor the candidates’ progress throughout their time in the training colleges to ensure they are fully prepared to serve the nation and contribute to the fight against banditry and terrorism.

Dr. Argungu stated that Commission staff would be sent to the colleges to monitor the candidates’ conduct and disposition during training. He assured that the Commission would continue to provide the enabling environment for them to give their best to the Nigerian nation.

Punch Newspaper

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, has pointed accusing finger to some tertiary institutions of aiding candidates with irregular or illegal admissions to falsify records towards mobilisation for the National Youth Service Corps.

JAMB made the allegation in a letter addressed to vice-chancellors, provosts and registrars of tertiary institutions in the country.

In the letter signed by its Director of Admissions, Mohammed Bolaji, JAMB said it noticed that institutions continued to admit candidates outside the Central Admissions Processing Unit.

The PUNCH had exclusively reported that 88 institutions were named as perpetrators of illegal admissions across the country.

On Sunday, JAMB gave all institutions with illegal admissions outside CAPS an ultimatum to make disclosure.

In the letter to the heads of higher institutions sighted on Tuesday by our correspondent in Abuja, JAMB said, “This recent move is aimed at curbing illegal admissions and falsification of records. Any institution found to have admitted any candidate outside CAPS after 2020, will be made to face appropriate sanctions in addition to the forfeiture of the said admission with its legal implications.

“The board has discovered widespread and unwholesome practices whereby some institutions were colluding with candidates to falsify vital records, such as backdated year of entry and subsequent age adjustments, to utilise certificates of genuine candidates with similar names and to facilitate illegal admissions carried out before 2017 to enable participation of fake candidates in the National Youth Service Corps scheme.

“Similarly, the board has observed that some institutions continue to admit candidates outside CAPS after 2020 and subsequently apply for Condonment of Undisclosed Illegal Institutional Admissions backdating such recent admissions to 2020 to fit within the timeframe of CUIIA.

“This is an abuse of the waiver granted by the former Minister of Education on the recommendation of JAMB.

“The board has considered measures to close these abused windows while still reaffirming that CAPS is the only authorised platform for admissions.”

Bolaji said following the discovery of the illegality, JAMB had decided it “will no longer entertain absorption of (pre-2017) illegal admissions through the window of Condonment of Illegal Admissions without Registration Number.”

“The window (for mop-up of pre-2017 unofficial/unrecorded admissions) has been on now for seven years and is being abused. The board is terminating the aspect of the CUIIA process (2017-2020 illegal admissions) that allows completely unregistered (without registration) candidates to be introduced to the system,” Bolaji said.

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, has said it will no longer welcome absorption of illegal admissions through the window ‘Condonement of Illegal Admissions Without Registration Number.’

To this end, it has terminated the Condonement of Undisclosed Institutional Illegal Admissions (2017 to 2020) (CUIIA).

Spokesperson of JAMB, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, stated this at a press conference in Abuja on Sunday.

According to Dr. Benjamin, the CUIIA process, which allows completely unregistered candidates without registration to be introduced to the system, has been abused by tertiary institutions.

He insisted that the only authorized platform for admissions is the Central Admission Processing System (CAPS).

The examination, therefore, gave a one-month grace for institutions of higher learning that illegally admitted students between 2017 and 2020 to do so, failing which they would face the wrath of the Board.

He said: “Regrettably, the Board has observed that some institutions continue to admit candidates outside CAPS and subsequently apply for Condonement of Undisclosed Illegal Institutional Admissions (CUIIA). Quite embarrassingly, some institutions have even been found to backdate such recent admissions to 2020 to fit within the time frame of CUIIA.

“Consequently, the Board is terminating the aspect of the CUIIA process which allows completely unregistered candidates (without registration) to be introduced to the system. CAPS is the only authorised platform for admissions. Those who even have registration but were illegally admitted between the period (2017-2020) would soon be denied the opportunity of the waiver unless they are disclosed within the next one month.

“Therefore, all institutions are hereby directed to disclose, for the final time, all candidates admitted illegally within their systems. Moving forward, the Board will not tolerate any undisclosed admission by any institution.

“Candidates are strongly advised not to accept any admission outside CAPS.”

It would be recalled that CAPS was introduced in 2017 to ensure accuracy, records, transparency, accountability, fairness, and equity in admission into tertiary institutions.

The JAMB spokesperson said the Board’s position was informed by the discovery of widespread and unwholesome practice where some institutions were colluding with candidates to falsify vital details, such as backdated year of entry and subsequent age-adjustments, to utilise certificates of genuine candidates with similar names to facilitate illegal admissions to enable the participation of fake candidates in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme.