Education
World Bank donates $611million to support Nigeria’s universal basic education
Adamu, who made this disclosure in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital, while speaking at the launch of Better Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA), a program initiated by the World Bank to support the Nigerian government in strengthening education across the country, lamented that Nigeria has the highest number of the out-of-school children in sub-Saharan African with an estimation of 13.2 million.
At the launch were: Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo state, who was represented by his Deputy, Chief Moses Adeyemo, Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism Mr. Toye Arulogun among others.
Adamu who spoke through the Director, Basic Secondary Education in the Minstry, Dr. Lami Amodu noted that the government is strengthening the quality of basic education in Nigeria to confront factors that deny the children access to Basic Education.
He commended the World Bank for initiating BESDA and the provision of the sum of $611million in strengthening Universal Basic Education as well as addressing the first pillar of the Ministerial Strategic Plan (MSP) 2016 – 2019 on out-of-school children.
Adamu said that BESDA focuses on 17 states in the country which includes the entire 13 states of the North West and North East geo-political zones, Niger, Oyo, Ebonyi and Rivers, saying, “It is gratifying that Oyo State is the second among the 17 states that have successfully commenced the implementation process.
He said, “I am indeed very delighted over the bold step taken by Governor Ajimobi for being the second out of 17 states covered by BESDA to formally launch the program. This is a clear demonstration on Governor Ajimobi’s quality leadership and his personal commitment to education as well as the passion to revatilise our education sector in order to develop the abundant human capital of the state.
“Let me appreciate the world bank for initiating the BESDA and the provision of a total sum of $611million to support the Nigerian government in strengthening universal basic education as well as addressing the first pillar of the ministerial strategic plan 2016-2019 on out of school children”.
Adamu explained that BESDA is a program that will result in better life of all our children as the cardinal objective is to increase equitable access for out of school children, improve literacy and strengthen accountability for results at the basic education level in the focus states.
He added that ensuring the out-of-school children are back to school and learning will not be only a moral and legal obligation, but also a productive investment that will guarantee the future of our children and ensure that their rights are protected as enshrined in the Childs Right Act 2003.
Ajimobi said that the present administration in the state has done a credible directional road-map to guide the operation of all stakeholders in the education sector, noting that the State Government has also spent huge amount of resources with a view to ensure quantitative and qualitative education service delivery in the state.
He said “It is worthy to note that our government has not defaulted in the provision of matching grants for the provision of infrastructural facilities to enhance basic education delivery in the state. We commend the FG and the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) for ensuring the quality education at all levels. We cherish and consider a great privilege and wish to assure the Federal government of Nigeria that the state will put in place all necessary mechanism to ensure the successful implementation of BESDA.
Executive Secretary of the commission, Dr. Hamid Bobboyi while explaining the rationale behind the program, maintained that the BESDA was introduced in order to address the menace of out of school children especially in the northern part of the country.
Bobboyi who was represented by Mallam Wadata Wadaki posited that the rising rate of Boko Haram insurgency, Kidnapping, hooliganism among other social voces made the commission to introduced the program to address the menace of out of school children in Nigeria.
He lamented that Nigeria is still finding ways to reduce the menace of out of school children thirty years after the launch of education for all.
He said “We are launching BESDA to reduce out of school children particularly in the north. This led us to this situation to tackle the challenge. This is why we have to partner with the world bank. The out of school children has led to Boko Haram, cattle rustling, kidnapping are all indication of the menace of out of school children.
“It is sad that after 30 years of the launch of the education for all, we are still battling with the out of school children. I commended the Governor of the state for his efforts for the contributions”.
Education
2019 UTME: JAMB speaks on when results will be released
JAMB’s Head of Information, Dr. Fabian Benjamin, said the board discovered that some candidates who wrote the examination engaged in massive fraud and impersonation, putting their results in doubt.
Benjamin stated this in an interview in Abuja, on Wednesday.
He said the board had started screening the results of all the candidates who wrote the examination and would release them as soon as it finished the exercise.
Benjamin said: “We will not release the results in a hurry. We will do a lot of crosschecking and matchmaking to be sure that nobody that was engaged in illicit act go scot free.
“We will release the results as soon as we finish checking the results to ensure that all those ones that we caught in various illicit registration acts are properly dealt with and those that we could not arrest are withheld.
“We will release the results when we finish doing our screening. We are screening the whole results.
“We don’t have the numbers now but we won’t release any result until we are sure of the whole thing.”
Benjamin also said the board was investigating cases of biometric verification failure in some states.
He assured that the board would do the needful once it finished its investigation and found the reported cases to be genuine.
“We will not be able to say genuine now until we do our due diligence. We are investigating because I told you that we have cases of illicit registration and we discovered that some of them created some scene when they discovered that their time for the exams clashed and they could not write the exam.
“We are giving everybody the benefit of doubt. We will look at all the perimeters and ensure that no one whose case is actually genuine suffers injustice.
“When we finish our exams we will be able to look at the whole thing (biometric issues),” he added.
Education
10 LASPOTECH officials arrested over alleged attempted murder
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) gathered that the LASPOTECH unionists were arrested for molesting JAMB examiners conducting UTME on the campus.
Spokesman for Lagos Police Command, DSP Bala Elkana, confirmed the arrest to NAN on Tuesday, saying that the suspects were undergoing interrogation at Special Investigation Bureau of the command.
Elkana said the suspests were arrested for an alleged attempt to murder some JAMB officials who were carrying out official duties at the institution.
However, the police spokesman did not explain how the unionists attempted to kill the JAMB officials.
“They are undergoing interrogation at the headquarters for attempted murder. They will be charged to court as soon as investigation was concluded,” he said.
LASPOTECH Spokesman, Olanrewaju Kuye, who also confirmed the arrest, told NAN that the affected staff were arrested over alleged molestation of two JAMB staff on official duty on the campus.
He said that the matter was reported by JAMB to the police for investigation.
“The molested JAMB officials reported to the police.
“ The Polytechnic management only apologised to JAMB when we heard of it because we have not been allowed into our offices by the striking unions since January.
“Since we are not on ground, we cannot really ascertain what happened, but would only depend on the report from the investigation of the police.
“It is now a case of the police, JAMB versus the union and not the management,” he said.
The spokesman said the incident was an embarrassment and loss to the institution as JAMB immediately relocated its CBT centre from the polytechnic to another venue.
Education
JAMB speaks on UTME results, suspension of Computer Based Test (CBT) centres, others
Dr Fabian Benjamin, the board’s Head of Media and Publicity, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Bwari.
He said that as of April 13, over 1.2 million have successfully written the examination scheduled to end April 17.
NAN reports that over 1.8 million candidates are expected to sit for the board’s UTME that commenced nationwide on April 11.
Benjamin said the process of the examination has so far been successful, adding that the board was addressing some of the challenges that came up during the exercise.
He also said that the board was still investigating those who were unable to be verified through its biometric process and would come out with a stand on the matter.
Speaking also on the issue of results, Benjamin said that no results have been released yet.
He explained that the board was still screening the results as the examination was ongoing and also because more fraudulent activities were being identified in the process.
He said: “We have to keep screening these results because there are lots of issues we discovered like multiple registrations, impersonation and the likes, so we are still fishing them out.
“Some have been arrested and those yet to be arrested, we have their records, we will fish then out. However, candidates should expect their results very soon.”
He added that the board’s suspension of some Computer Based Test (CBT) centres nationwide has not affected the candidates.
Benjamin explained that adequate examination centres was provided to all who registered for the examination.
The board in its weekly Bulletin of the Office of the Registrar for April 15 said that it uncovered and arrested ‘Professional Examination Writers’ who writes examination for candidates for a fee.
According to the bulletin, 50 of such fraudulent persons were apprehended in centres across the country as a result of various intelligence gathering.
The bulletin also said that the board suspended 49 CBT centres from participating in the ongoing exercise.
The suspended centres which are spread across the country were suspended for failing to live up to expectations in ensuring a seamless examination.
30 of the exam centres were suspended during the start of the exam on April 11, while the other 19 were blacklisted during the registration exercise; 10 of the centres are located in the FCT.
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