Nassarawa Polytechnic Gets New ASUP Chairman

Dr Hussein Yusuf has been elected as the new chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), Federal Polytechnic Nasarawa chapter, even as he rolled out his agenda. In a keenly contested election penultimate week, Dr Yusuf who promised major reforms described his victory as an act of God, while calling on others to join hand to lift ASUP. Dr Yusuf, who bags a Ph.D in Micro Biology from the Prestigious Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria said in a speech to other members that his track records of prudence, incorruptibility, honesty, creativity and oratory will help in transforming ASUP from its current state. 

Other items in his agenda, he said, are: To establish an annual “ASUP WEEK” involving workshops, sporting activities, to opposethe Management whenthey are wrong and demand for freedom inchoosing HODs and deans by elections. Others are: to demand for ASUP to have a role in nomination of Deputy Rectors, demand for office accommodations equipped with internet connectivity, facilities and demand for improved TETFUND, encourage the federal government to stop the HND/BSc. dichotomy and encourage the federal government to restrict diploma programmes to polytechnics

Borno IDP Camps: VSF To Give Scholarship To 30,000 Orphans

The Victim Support Fund (VSF) says it will give no fewer than 30,000 orphans in Borno Internally Displaced Persons’ camps free scholarship this year.

Mr Emanuel Ojo, Programme Manager of VSF in the state, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Maiduguri on Sunday.

Ojo said that the pupils would be selected from 28 IDP camps in the state capital.

According to him, the VSF will sponsor each of the children to undergo their nursery and primary schools in selected schools in the state capital.

He said that the agency would provide uniforms and learning materials for the pupils.

He explained that the agency had given support of N20,000 each to about 1,000 nursing and lactating mothers in IDP camps in 2015.

The women were drawn from Bama, Gwoza, Kukawa, Dikwa, Ngala, Marte, Munguno, and Nganzai local government areas, adding that the areas were worst hit by the insurgency.

He noted that VSF had so far empowered over 3,000 women with N20,000 grant at the IDPs camps in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.

“The goal was to assist 5,000 IDPs who are worst hit by the insurgency to enable them set up their businesses, generate incomes and become self reliant.

“The women were encouraged to form cooperative societies of 50 groups where we encourage them to open account on their own.

“We want to see how we can assist these women who have suffered a great deal in the hands of the insurgents,’’ he said.

He said the agency is planning to scale up the numbers of beneficiaries from 3,000 to 4,000 by September this year in the three affected states.

“About 1,500 would be selected from Borno, 1,500 from Adamawa while Yobe was earmarked 1,000.

“This month we will be flagging off our Victim Support, we are looking for areas where we can make positive impact in these states,’’ he said.

Ojo said that there is also a plan to support the rehabilitation, reconstruction and relocation bill.

“So we are presently into construction of 500 houses in Borno, rehabilitation of police out posts, health facilities and community centres,’’ he said. (NAN)

2016 UTME UPDATE: JAMB Says “No Special Centre”

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) on Sunday said it would not create any special centre for the 2016 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the UTME, which will be Computer Base Test (CBT) mode all through, is expected to begin on Monday, February 29.

This is contained in a statement signed by the Head, Media and Information of the board, Dr Fabian Benjamin, and made available to NAN in Lagos.

According to the statement, the attention of the board was drawn to protests by some alleged prospective candidates in Edo and Lagos states over the closure of the board’s registration portal in preparation to the UTME.

“The board sincerely sympathises with the plight of these prospective candidates

“It is indeed the wish of the board that the Nigerian youth desirous of tertiary education are given ample opportunity to register for its examination.

“This is why it began the sale of its application document in August 2015, which is about seven months ago.

“In the advertisement for the sale of the registration documents, the board clearly stated that the sales would close by January.

“But due to public appeal it extended the registration process to February,” the statement read in part.

The board further stated that it could not allow candidates to register perpetually, adding that it had a time table and it adheres strictly to it.

It noted that this was to allow tertiary institutions to begin admission processes early.

“We all must work to enshrine the culture of discipline in the system and ensure that tertiary institutions calendars are not truncated.

“It is most unfortunate that some candidates waited until our website was withdrawn before making attempts to register,” the board stated.

It noted that every aspiring candidate was expected to know the procedure as proper publicity involving the media was done.

NAN reports that more than one million candidates have so far registered for the examination on the all CBT platform within and outside the country.

More than 500 centres were also accredited for the conduct of the examination within and outside Nigeria. (NAN)