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NECO Announces SSCE (Internal) Results for 2020/2021

By
Roland Edet
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0

NECO Announces SSCE (Internal) Results for 2020/2021

… Laments N2.8 billion Debt Owed By State Governments

Professor Dantani Ibrahim Wushishi, Registrar/Chief Executive of the National Examination Council (NECO), said yesterday that the N2.8 billion debt owed by state governments, which accounts for 97 percent of the debt owed by northern state governments, is one of the major challenges weighing on the examination body.

Out of the 1, 233, 631 applicants that enrolled for the 2020/2021 Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE) (internal), a total of one thousand, one hundred and nineteen (1, 119) individuals with ‘Special Needs’ registered and participated.

Professor Wushishi revealed this during a press briefing of the 2020/2021 SSCE (internal) at the NECO headquarters. Minna, on the other hand, stated that despite the challenges, which included a spate of insecurity, the examinations were’very successful.’

The Registrar/Chief Executive began the briefing by apologizing to students who took the exams, their parents, and the Nigerian public for the delay in the distribution of the results, which exceeded the examination body’s regular 90-day timetable.

“The practice with NECO before now is that, we release the results within 90 days after the last paper, this time we had very serious challenges internal and external and lapses responsible for this delay”.

Giving details of how insecurity in parts of the country compounded the challenges NECO faced between last year and now the Registrar said, “We sincerely apologise to all parents and Nigerians that this lapses we assure that it will never happen again under my watch”.

According to Professor Wushishi, “A total of 1, 233, 631 candidates registered for the examination, but a total of 1, 226, 796 candidates actually sat for the examination, including 1, 119 Special Needs candidates”.

Further breakdown of the results indicates that, 653, 418 male students wrote the examination as against the 573,373 female students, the Registrar said and attributed the successes to the determination of not only NECO staff but the entire management.

A total of 878, 925 students scored five credits including English and Mathematics which represents, 71.64 percent, adding however that, a total of 1, 226, 796 candidates obtained five credits irrespective of English and Mathematics as against the 1, 112,14 recorded last year.

On the cases of malpractices, Professor Wushishi told journalists that a total of 20, 030 cases of malpractice were recorded as against the 34, 470 cases recorded during similar examination in the year, 2020 with significant decline of 2.1 percent.

Meanwhile, the Registrar has also disclosed that the number of candidates with Special Needs that participated in the 2020/2021 NECO SSCE (internal) increased to 1, 119 as against last year’s 160 candidates.

The Registrer who attributed the increase to the level of awareness said, “The number of candidates with Special Needs is 1, 119 including; 174 candidates with autism, 708 deaf and 178 visually impaired persons”.

Attempted Jailbreak At Benin Central Correctional Centre thwarted By Security Personnel

By
Shehu Danladi
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0

An attempted jailbreak at Benin Correctional Centre led by awaiting trial inmates was foiled on Thursday by joint security operatives in Edo State.

Security officers from the Nigerian Correctional Service, Nigerian Police Force, and Nigerian Army were quickly dispatched to the Central Benin Correctional Centre to quell the rioting inmates.

The structure, also known as the White House, is located on Sapele Road, adjacent to the City Center, also known as Oba Ovoranmwen Square.

Aminu Suleman, spokesman for the Edo Command of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS), confirmed the incident in a statement made available to journalists in Benin City, saying no inmates escaped or died.

According to him, the attempted jailbreak started around 12.30 p.m. as a result of a confrontation between some awaiting trial inmates, particularly recaptured escapees, and convicted inmates.

Suleman went on to say that reinforcements from the state headquarters were dispatched right away to maintain law and order.

“At about 12.30 pm, some awaiting trial inmates especially the recaptured escapees started protest which led to a confrontation between them and the convicted inmates.

“Sister security agencies have showed solidarity by drafting their men around the outer perimeter fence to complement correctional service armed squad personnel to ensure total security of the custodial centre,” Suleman said.

He added that investigation into the incident has been instituted by the controller to unravel the immediate and remote causes of the disturbance.

“The controller of corrections, Felix Lawrence, wishes to assure the general public that they should go about their normal business without any fear,” he further said.

FAAC Shares N739.965bn To FG, States, LGAs In September

By
Roland Edet
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0

The Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) has distributed N739.965 billion in federation account earnings to the Federal, State, and Local Government Areas for September 2021.

This was stated in a communiqué published at the conclusion of the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) virtual meeting for October 2021.

The entire Distributable Revenue of N739.965 billion was made up of N577.765 billion in distributable Statutory Revenue, N159.096 billion in distributable Value Added Tax (VAT), and N3.104 billion in Exchange Gain.

Total deductions for cost of collection, statutory transfers, savings, and refunds totaled N126.272 billion in September 2021.

The Excess Crude Account (ECA) has a balance of $60.860 million.

According to the communiqué, the Federal Government received N301.311 billion, State Governments received N220.272 billion, and Local Government Councils received N164.176 billion from the total Distributable Revenue of N739.965 billion.

As a result of the 13 percent derivation revenue, a total of N54.206 billion was distributed to the relevant States.

For the month, N577.765 billion in distributable Statutory Revenue was available.

The Federal Government received N276.008 billion, State Governments N139.995 billion, and Local Government Councils N107.930 billion from this sum.

The relevant States were allocated N53.831 billion as 13 percent derivation revenue.

The gross revenue available from the Value Added Tax (VAT) in September 2021 was N170.850 billion.

This was N7.659 billion less than the N178.509 billion made available in August.

The N170.850 billion gross Value Added Tax (VAT) income was reduced by the amount of N4.920 billion allocated to NEDC and N6.834 billion cost of revenue collection, resulting in a distributable Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue of N159.096 billion.

The Federal Government collected N23.864 billion from the N159.096 billion in distributable Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue, while State Governments received N79.548 billion and Local Government Councils received N55.684 billion.

From the N3.104 billion in Exchange Gain earnings, the Federal Government earned N1.438 billion.

State governments receive N0.729 billion, local government councils receive N0.562 billion, and the appropriate states receive N0.375 billion in derivation money.

Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT), Oil and Gas Royalties, and Excise Duty increased significantly in September 2021, whereas Companies Income Tax (CIT), Value Added Tax (VAT), and Import Duty declined marginally, according to the communiqué.

USA, UK Universities Ranks Top In 2021 World University Reputation Rankings

By
Saladin Babagana
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0

For the 11th year in a row, Harvard University, a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, leads the World University Reputation Rankings in 2021.

The United Kingdom is the most well-represented country in the Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings, with 57 institutions, down from 60 last year.

The World Reputation Rankings 2021, according to the Times Higher Education, are based on the world’s largest invitation-only opinion survey of senior, published academics.

It asks academics to pick no more than 15 universities in their specialty that they believe are the finest for research and teaching.

The rankings put Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Oxford, and Stanford University in second, third, and fourth place, respectively.

The University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom came in fifth place out of a total of 25 UK universities in the rankings.

In the rankings, the United Kingdom still has the second-highest number of delegates.

Tsinghua University, a public research university in Beijing and a member of the C9 League of Chinese institutions, which was founded in 1911, rose three places to become the first Chinese university to enter the top ten.

According to THE, the technique was based on a poll that took place between November 2020 and February 2021 and garnered 10,963 responses from 128 nations.

“The best-represented subject was clinical and health (accounting for 16.3 per cent of responses), followed by engineering (15.8 per cent), life sciences (14.9 per cent) and physical sciences (14.2 per cent). Also, well represented were computer science (9.8 per cent), business and economics (8.2 per cent), arts and humanities (7.7 per cent) and social sciences (7.5 per cent). The rest of the responses came from psychology (2.8 per cent), education (2.2 per cent) and law (0.6 per cent).

“However, to ensure that the ranking is representative of the global distribution of scholars, THE’s data team rebalanced the weights to a fixed benchmark. These were as follows: physical sciences (14.6 per cent), clinical and health (14.5 per cent), life sciences (13.4 per cent), business and economics (13.1 per cent), engineering (12.7 per cent), arts and humanities (12.5 per cent), social sciences (8.9 per cent), computer science (4.2 per cent), education (2.6 per cent), psychology (2.6 per cent) and law (0.9 per cent).
“We have also maintained a fair distribution of survey responses across the regions.

“A total of 39.1 per cent of responses hail from the Asia-Pacific region. The rest of the responses break down as follows: Western Europe accounted for 24.3 per cent, North America for 21.7 per cent, Eastern Europe for 6.3 per cent, Latin America for 4.2 per cent, the Middle East for 2.4 per cent and Africa for 2 per cent.

“Where countries were over-or under-represented, THE’s data team weighted the responses to more closely reflect the actual geographical distribution of scholars based on UN data,” THE said.

The report added that the “World Reputation Rankings 2021 reveal how universities’ response to the pandemic may have started to shift scholars’ views of the best universities for teaching and research”, saying the full impact remains to be seen.

Other countries that featured on the World Reputation Rankings 2021 included Japan, Canada, Israel, Russian Federation, Ireland, Austria, Sweden, Canada, Singapore Italy, Norway, South Korea and Belgium.

No University on the African continent is featured on the table.

Counterfeit Drugs: Without Manpower , Vehicles, ‘We’ Can’t Match Drug Cabals , NAFDAC Boss

By
Toyin Adebayo
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0
NAFDAC DG

If appropriate staff and operating vehicles are not made available to the regulatory authority, Nigeria risks losing the war against drug counterfeiting and the threats it poses to the citizenry’s health.

Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, Director General of the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), revealed this alarming reality at a budget defense session with the House of Representatives Committee on Health Services on Thursday.

This came as the House Committee questioned what it called “overbloated statistics” in the Agency’s 2022 budget for the many capital projects slated for completion in the fiscal year 2022.

The nation’s Food and Drugs regulatory leader told lawmakers that in the past, the agency had to rely on corporations for their operational mobility before they could go for inspection, in defense of her agency and its use of what was revealed the previous year.

According to her, “In the past, NAFDAC was asking companies to send them vehicles to come and inspect them. Who does not know that you will have to do a favour for those who provided us vehicles? What I am saying is that there were no vehicles and we use vehicles for good manufacturing practice, we use it for clinical sites and other inspections. About 80 percent of our work is field work and without vehicles, we cannot work and that is what you will use to pursue those who wants to kill our people.

“In 2020, we had a survey which was done in collaboration with WHO. But it was limited in scope. Some of the products were local products and others imported and we found some compromises and we shut down production lines and companies involved lost hundreds of millions of naira because we wanted to send a message to them that our people are more important and the health of our people are more important.

“We have black listed companies and we published them for trying to take us for granted. These are companies from South East Asia and we also black listed products of companies they are associating with in Nigeria. Our enforcement team work round the clock.

“About ten days ago, they went on a raid based on a tip off and they recovered eight trucks load of falsified medicines.
Another way we are approaching it is to use a detection device which FEC (Federal Executive Council) approved for us in December 2020. Each one of them cost about 57000 dollars after it has been discounted for us. We are able to buy 40 which they are manufacturing right now. It is called Truscan. NAFDAC is the first agency in the world to use it about 10 years ago and we bought about 6 then and we are no buying 40 more. It can tell you whether the drug is falsified or substandard”, the DG told lawmakers.

Chairman of the House Committee Hon. Tanko Sununu and other committee members had raised issues with the figures proposed in the 2022 budget of the agency for its capital projects.

The DG had presented an estimate of N25.2 billion for the 2022 fiscal year as expenditure and revenue projections of the agency including capital projects earmarked for execution.

In summary of the capital projects, the agency had earmarked, N2.9 billion is for building of state offices, N1.7bn for generators, N1.4 billion for laboratory equipments, N1.42 billion for motor vehicles, N666 million for information and communications technology and N78 million for furniture, totalling N6.01 billion

Also , in 2022 budget, the agency had earmarked N6.78 billion for staff emoluments, N262 million for equipments and N157.8 million for purchase of laptop computers and N40.1 million for the building of its Ebonyi state office.

But the Committee helmsman and other lawmakers expressed displeasure with the huge budget proposal items for each of the budget heads saying that it is worrisome to see such huge figures in the budget items despite the previous years approved budgets.

Sununu while querying these line items presented by the agency called on the DG to ensure effective collaboration of NAFDAC with other relevant healthcare agencies, such as Nigeria Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Development NIPRD and Nigeria Institute of Medical Research NIMR.

Similarly, the lawmaker and another committee member, Hon. Omowumni Ogunlola (Osun, APC) had earlier raised issues with the lopsidedness of the recent recruitment carried out by the NIMR during the agency’s budget defence session by the Committee.

Other lawmakers in the Committee notably Hon. Isiaka Ibrahim (Ogun, APC), Hon. Aminu Suleiman (Kano, APC) as well as Hon Muhammad Wudil (Kano, APC) also kicked against the award of contracts above the approved threshold of these agencies by the chief executive officers.

Bello Urges Nigerians To Stand Firm Against Those That Seek To Divide Nigeria

By
Toyin Adebayo
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0
muhammad-musa-bello
FCT Minister, Nigeria

Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), has urged Nigerians to resist forces that attempt to split rather than unite the country.

This, he claims, will enable Nigerians to pay tribute to the memories and sacrifices of our forefathers.

Bello provided this advice during the FCT Archives and History Bureau’s “Celebrating Our Heroes Past” exhibition and symposium to commemorate Nigeria’s 61st independence anniversary.

The Minister, who was represented at the event by Mr Adamu Kusherki, Director, Office of the Minister, said the topic is extremely appropriate because it no doubt strives to raise awareness of the founding fathers’ actions of selflessness and sacrifice.

His words ; “Nigeria today, sits on a foundation forged from the ideals of unity, strength and a deep sense of national pride. These ideals were mooted and exemplified by our founding fathers and which, over the years, have propelled our country to greatness.

“We owe a duty to these national heroes to keep their dreams alive by upholding these ideals, especially as we now confront opposing and misguided elements seeking to undo what has taken 6 decades of our collective efforts to build.

“There is the need to join President Muhammadu Buhari and the majority of Nigerians in standing firm against forces that seek to divide, rather than unite us and honour the memories and sacrifices of our past heroes.

“As we continue the process of building a strong, virile and prosperous nation of which we are all desirous, it is important that we follow in the footsteps of the men and women who stood firm in face of colonialism and oppression to lay the first stone upon which our country now stands”, he stressed.

Bello also urged the Archive and History Bureau to intensify its efforts in telling the story of our past heroes beyond the photo exhibitions and intellectual engagements on special occasions such as this.

Saying, It is imperative that as many people as possible are made to understand the history of our great nation and appreciate why we need to forge ahead as an indivisible, united, strong and proud Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Earlier in his address of welcome, Director FCT Archives & History Bureau, Mr. Peter Chukwukelu said
this is the hub of record-keeping, as it’s sacred. Everything that has happened, you will see them here.

He said , “What is lacking right now is the digitalization , and we are going to make a case for the digitalization of FCT Archives, so that we put it on the world map, and people can access it from every corner of the world. This is our aim and mandate, which we will surely realise.

“But it’s once we have the funds, we can make a case for it. In the next year’s budget, the digitalization of FCT Achieves should be included in it. And it’s not only about making it to be on the world space, it would even bring Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) for the government.

Yes, when we do it, we will have money to do things in FCT, because it will be one of the biggest sources of IGR, that’s the plan.

He however attributed the delay in coming up with the digitalization proposal to scarce resources.
You know there are a lot of programmes and projects chasing after our scarce resources.
So it’s already before the authorities- my principles, and they are giving it serious consideration. So there is no delay, as I just came here like two years ago.
So we are doing what we can do, but I can assure you that in the next one to two years this place will be digitalis.

Meanwhile, Prof. Andrew Zamani , who gave the anniversary talk proposed image laundry to preserve patriots for public to access them.

He hinted that, Nigeria must work on our reward system, saying, heros who deserved to be honoured and recognised promptly.

Zamani further stated that, those who did well in civilized world are recognised and motivated almost immediately, this will help them to build more sense of responsibilities and patrotisim and will always be ready to sacrifice more.

FG To End Fuel Subsidy In July 2022

By
Ola Akinola
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0

The Federal Government will remove fuel subsidies in July 2022, according to Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning.

Ahmed made the announcement at a press conference on Tuesday night, immediately after the conclusion of the 27th Nigerian Economic Summit (NES#27) in Abuja.

The rules of the Petroluem Industry Act (PIA) indicate that all petroleum products should be deregulated, she explained.

She stated that, in accordance with the PIA, the Federal Government would no longer be responsible for gasoline subsidy costs from July 2022, the 12-month period following the passing of the Petroleum Industry Bill into law.

Fielding questions from newsmen, Ahmed said: “On the issue of fuel subsidy, the PIA has been passed and the provisions on the PIA indicate that all petroluem products should be deregulated.

“But also, when the PIA was passed, there was a -12 month implementation time-line that was provided.

“So, we are looking at it arleady, three months have passed.

“So, when we were preparing 2022 budget, we made the assumption that the time of PIA started from July 2021.

“And because of the fuel subsidy, we did not have provision in 2020/ 2021, though we have been incurring the costs anyway, we decided to make provision from January to June 2022 in the proposed budget, that is to say that we expect from July 2022, we will not be incurring the cost of fuel subsidy. I hope, that is clear.”

Recalled that the former Emir of Kano, Al­haji Muhammad Sanusi II, has said the Federal Gov­ernment is indulging in ille­gality by paying petroleum subsidy from the federation account.

The former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor who spoke virtually as one of the panel­ists on Sustainable Develop­ment Goals (SDGs) during the Summit, said the Nigerian daily oil consumption data is suspect, thus there is en­demic corruption in fuel subsidy payments.

He therefore, advocated the end of fuel subsidy and electrici­ty subsidy, saying the money saved should be invested in critical sectors like educa­tion and health, adding that the long-term gains far out­weigh the short-term pains.

On the implementation of the Presidential Committee on Restructuring and Rationalisation of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies, under the Chairmanship of Mr. Steve Oronsaye, popularly called, Oronsaye Report, Ahmed explained that another Sub-committee has been set up by the present administration to take a holistic review of the Report, with a view to implementing it.

She said unless and until the Oronsaye Report is implemented, the agencies recommended for scrapping or merging, would continue to receive their budgetary allocations.

She said that the sub-committee has gone far with the Report as the mandate of the committee is very difficult, adding that the Committee is doing a holistic review of Oronsaye Report and earnings across all MDAs to ensure equity.

On Nigeria’s borrowing, Ahmed said Nigeria has been consistent in paying both the domestic and foreign debts.

She added that because of the Nigeria’s consistency in servicing her debts, that the the lenders continue to oblige her whenever the country wants to borrow.

She noted that Nigeria has debt management strategy that guides how it borrows funds, as the borrowing is carefully planned and calibrated to meet the debt service obligations of the lenders

On the impact of the money so far borrowed, Ahmed said the infrastructure built with funds borrowed has been impactful, as it has improved the quality of life of the citizenry.

Also speaking during the media briefing, Mr. Asue Ighodalo, Chairman of NESG, said the recommendations of the.annual Summit, over the past 26 years, have been incorporated into government policies.

While expressing some reservations on the Implementation of the past Summit recommendations, he said: “we are not as happy as we should be looking at the trajectory of development in the country.”

He said each administration comes to power with its party manifesto, adding that NESG being a private sector- led think-tank and advocacy group, looks at the manifesto and advises government on what to do to improve the quality of life of the citizenry.

“Over the years, we feel fairly satisfied that most of the recommendations of the Summit which government has adopted, have been very impactful.

“They include pensions reform, telecoms reform, power reform. We suggested them and government looked at them and adopted them as policies.

“We will continue to do this, even where people think that we have not achieved as much as we should.

“But we feel very satisfied that in this partnership with the government, it is working hand in hand with us throughout the year not just at the Summit.”

Senate Denies Buhari’s $700m Loan Request For Water Project, Summons Minister

By
Shehu Danladi
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0

The Senate on Wednesday denied President Muhammadu Buhari’s $700 million loan request for a water project, just 24 hours after the Ministry of Health requested approval from the upper chamber of the National Assembly for a $200 million procurement of mosquito nets and malaria drugs.

Members of the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debt, who voted against President Muhammadu Buhari’s request for Sustainable Urban and Rural Water Supply, Sanitation, and Hygiene (SURWASH) under the Ministry of Water Resources, agreed to summon the Minister of Water Resources, Adamu Suleiman, to explain the loans and their current status.

The MPs, who took turns criticizing the loan for SURWASH (Sustainable Urban and Rural Water Supply, Sanitation, and Hygiene), urged the Ministry to provide an update on the loans received thus far for the Ministry’s Water Projects.

Senator Clifford Ordia, the Committee’s Chairman, stated that three distinct loans for various water projects have been granted.

Ordia went on to say that the Ministry has a “$450 million water project supported by the Africa Development Bank, and another $6 million loan under the Africa Development Bank’s integrated program for development, as well as the Gurara water project.”

“You need to tell us what you are doing with $700 million for water projects.”

Senator Obinna Ogba, who kicked against granting approval for the loan, noted that some loans were collected for water projects and yet no result, adding, “this loan, I don’t support this one again, enough is enough.”

Also kicking against the loan, Senator Ibrahim Oloriegbe asked what is the criteria for selecting benefiting states, adding that details provided by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry is not enough to justify the loan.

Oloriegbe asked: “What is the criteria for selecting benefiting states, the details you are providing is not enough, what are the projects you want to do with $640 million and how many water are you going to do.

“You are giving each state $3 million to develop personnel capacity. Do we need loan to do this function? You mean all states can’t do that on their own?”

Senator Sani Musa while kicking against the loan, adviced the Committee to look at all the request and pick the one that is necessary.

The Niger Senator said: “We should look at this loan and take the ones that are necessary and we should abandon the ones that are not necessary. We need to look at it very critically.”

Senator Brima Enagi also protested against the request for $700 million loan for Sustainable Urban and Rural Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (SURWASH).

Earlier, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Water Resources, Mrs Esther Didi Walson-Jack, who was unable to give explanation to the previous loans approved for water projects, told the Committee that Sustainable Urban and Rural Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (SURWASH) will last for five years.

She added that $640 million will be used for the Project while the $60 million will be used for capacity building.

The Permanent Secretary said that the proposal was negotiated with World Bank on April, 2022 and was approved at Federal Executive Council (FEC) on August 11, 2021.

States that will benefited from the $700 loan from World Bank are Delta, Ekiti, Gombe, Imo, Kaduna, Katsina, and Plateau with counterpart funding of $175 million.

The programme will deliver improved water sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services to 2,000 schools and health care facilities and assist 500 communities to achieve open defecation free status.

.

Bogoro: Education Sector Crisis Cuts Across All Levels

By
Mosali Edunosa
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0

The problem in the nation’s education sector, according to the Executive Secretary of the Postsecondary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), cuts across the system from primary to secondary and tertiary levels of learning.

Bogoro praised the federal government for promising to gradually increase the education budget to fund research and drive global competitiveness in the country during the 13th Thematic Meeting of the TETFund Research and Development Standing Committee, RDSC, on Education, which was held virtually on Wednesday.

He also praised the federal government for taking recent measures toward professionalizing teaching and announcing special allowances for teachers, among other things.

Bogoro pointed out that the government’s recent announcement is one example of how basic education is recognized as the cornerstone.

He said, “The retirement age of our teachers has been moved from 60 to 65. I think this is very encouraging for teachers. Of course I mentioned earlier that those in the sciences will have better emoluments attached to their allowances.

“Government has announced its intention from the budget year of 2022 to raise education budget by 50 per cent and scale it up and gradually double it to 100 per cent by the year 2025.

“To me that was something that was not immediately expected or anticipated but government has made the pronouncement. So I imagine that the 2022 budget will reflect that 50 per cent increase,” he said.

Speaking further, the TETFund boss said he looks forward to a situation where some of the areas that have suffered from inadequate funding from the appropriation window will be taken care of, with the added increase, including the funds that will be made available to institutions.

He said the funds will help in increasing the funding made available through appropriation for even personnel and that the capital allocation made to public universities, polytechnics and colleges of Education will also increase.

“The most vibrant economies are so because they have allowed education to dictate the way forward through qualitative research, to make a difference. In Nigeria it cannot be different.

“In Nigeria for instance, there is no doubt, the facts are there that the south west zone have a comparative advantage over the other five geopolitical zones because of their consistent and massive investment in education starting from the time of late Obafemi Awolowo, with free education from the foundation upwards,” he said.

The TETFund boss also disclosed that the draft law for the establishment of the National Research and Development Foundation (NRDF) has been submitted to the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, for inputs before transmission to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for approval and onward submission to the National Assembly.

Also in his presentation, immediate Past President, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Prof. Abiodun Ogunyemi, stressed that education remains the bedrock for every knowledge based economy and sustainable national development.

Ogunyemi who was the lead presenter, insists that education must inter-phase with other sectors of the economy and national life, adding that an integrated policy framework was needed to bind all the various sectors together for sustainable development to occur.

According to him, education, research and development were cross cutting issues for national development, even as he added that there was need for the government to transform tertiary education in the country to allow for an inbuilt research and development eco system.

He said: “Setting Nigeria’s research agenda under the context of R&D involves transitioning from research for publication to enabling problem solving research, increasing thought-out of human power, strengthening of IP regulations, technology transfer and commercialization in that sequence before industrialization”.

Every Day, Inmates Would Be Paid N1,000 For Food

By
Nnenna Nwankwo
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0

The Acting Comptroller General of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS), Idris Isa, suggested in the 2022 budget estimates that prisoners in Nigeria be entitled to N1,000 per day for daily food.

When the leadership of the NCS came before the Senate Committee on Interior, led by Senator Kashim Shettima (APC Borno Central), to defend the Service’s 2022 budget forecasts, the committee reached the decision.

The NCS boss had previously stated that the present N450 daily feeding stipend for inmates was insufficient to manage correctional centres across the country, adding that 47, 959 of the 66,346 inmates in NCS centers across the country are awaiting trial.

He also revealed that the population had clogged most of the facilities, causing them to fall short of international penitentiary standards.

Senator Kashim Shettima (APC Borno Central), the Committee Chairman, spoke out against the N750 daily meal expense requested for the detainee in front of the other members of the panel.

Senator Chukwuka Utazi (PDP Enugu North) echoed Senator Shettima’s argument, claiming that the recommended N750 by the Acting Comptroller General is insufficient in light of the present value of the naira and the country’s high living expenditures.

“Mr Chairman, I will encourage this committee to increase the recommended N750 per day feeding expense for each inmate at the custodian centres to at least N1,000.00 because no grown-up Nigerian today can survive on N750 per day in terms of feeding,” he added.

Senator Betty Apiafi (PDP Rivers West), seconding the motion, said the N1,000 recommended should be the bare minimum and must be included in the final budget for the correctional service to be passed.

As a result, the Committee Chairman ruled in favor of the motion by striking the gavel on the table, promising to discuss the committee’s decision with Senate leadership.

“The proposed N1, 000.00 is the minimum and will surely be reflected in the budget to be passed by way of required appropriation,” he said.

On the problem of Prison congestion, Senator Utazi asked the committee to have an interface with the CJN and NBA for a way out.

Senator Betty Apiafi suggested that a proper motion should be sponsored on the floor of the Senate by any member of the committee to that effect.

The Chairman in his remarks said legislative action will surely be taken in that direction for required synergy among arms of government.

The committee also stressed the need for renovation of correctional centres across the country to reduce incessant cases of jail break.

This is as the committee planned to meet the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Justice Ibrahim Tanko Mohammed, the Nigerian Bar Association ( NBA ) and other stakeholders on expeditious justice delivery in decongesting the nation’s prisons.

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