Amended Act will make NOUN equal to other Nigerian varsities —Okebukola

The National Open University of Nigeria says the recent signing
of its (Amendment Act, 2018) will place it at par with all
recognised universities in Nigeria.

The Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council of the university,
Prof. Peter Okebukola, said this at a news conference on Thursday
in Lagos.

According to him, with the act recently gazetted and published
on Dec. 3, 2018, will further strengthen the university to provide
Open and Distance Learning opportunities to millions of
Nigerians.

“We want to extend our gratitude therefore to the Federal
Government of Nigeria, under the leadership of President Muhammadu
Buhari for signing the NOUN amendment Act.

“This has recently been gazetted and published on the 3rd of
December 2018 as National Open University (Amendment) Act 2018.

“With this recognition, the university is now placed at par with
all recognised universities in Nigeria under the various Acts that
amended the provision of higher education in Nigerian
universities.

“What this means for the students also is that they now have a
vista of opportunities that they did not have before.

“For instance, for those who are reading Law, it will enable
them access after graduation to take on their training in the Law
School as negotiations between the university and the Council for
Legal Education on this, has almost reached a breakthrough.

“It also will allow those who are eligible to be mobilised for
NYSC to go for NYSC but to me, what it means is that it elevates
the NOUN to the same level with other universities, in terms of
status and provisions as the others.

“So, we can operate as they operate, we have the same general
guidelines for our operations and so no one will say NOUN is
substandard to the others,” he said.

Okebukola said the council had also approved March 23 and March
23, for the university’s 2019 convocation ceremony, where
approximately 18,000 students will be graduating.

He added that a total of 17,000 students would be officially
admitted into the university for the 2018/2019 academic session
during its matriculation ceremony scheduled for March 3, in all the
study centres across the country.

Okebukola, who lauded the TETFund for intervening in capital
development and in staff capacity building and also urged
continuous funding for NOUN, being a specialised university that
enroles the largest number of students in Nigeria.

The Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Abdalla Adamu,
reiterated the management’s commitment to producing quality
graduates needed to take the country to the next level.

“Our university remains the university to beat in the country
and Africa as a whole, going by our programmes, study materials,
affordability, and others,” Adamu said.

(NAN)