The outgoing Vice Chancellor of Borno State University (BOSU), Prof. Umar Sandabe, says the five-year old institution has secured 100 per cent accreditation for its programmes.

Sandabe made this known on Wednesday in his valedictory speech in Maiduguri. 

“The first accreditation exercises for the 30 programmes in the university were conducted in November/December 2022 and the results were released in February 2023.

“The University secured full accreditation in 28 programmes and interim accreditation in two programmes thereby scoring 100 per cent accreditation.

“The faculties graduated successful students while the faculty of agriculture which is a 5-year programme is expected to graduate its students in next academic year,” Sandabe said.

Sandabe said the university had also applied to National Universities Commission (NUC) and has commenced engineering, medicine and law programmes.

He said that the university College of Health had gotten approval for MBBS, Radiography, Nursing, Biochemistry, Medical Laboratory and Health Information Systems.

“These programmes have already commenced this academic session 2023/2024,” Sandabe said.

He lauded some Federal Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies, particularly TETFUND, Ministries of Communications, Ministry of Agriculture, NNPC, North East Development Commission, and Federal Inland Revenue for their support in the area of projects in the young university.

Sandabe who lauded the management team of the university for the support accorded him as the pioneer vice chancellor, urged his successor to always consult widely and ensure frugal management of resources. 

The university was  established by the Borno Government in 2019 and commenced academic activities in January 2020. (NAN)

By David Torough, Abuja

Chibok Girls enrolled at the American University of Nigeria (AUN), Yola, recently convened in a solemn ceremony to commemorate the 10th anniversary of their abduction.

They passionately appealed to stakeholders to secure the release of their abducted sisters, who were still held captive.

A statement by Senior Director of Public, Yusuf Mohammed said AUN community members and Federal Ministry of Women Affairs representatives attended the emotional event.

The President of American University of Nigeria, Dr. DeWayne Frazier, stated that “the abductors of these women have failed because today after 10 years we are with some of the resilient women here, though we would not forget some of the many that are still left behind”.

 He added “to my ladies seated here, the people you see seated around you today are here because they love and care for you, and you mean something to each of us and the whole world”.

 The Director of Gender Affairs at the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, Friya Kimde Bulus, who represented the Permanent Secretary, Ambassador Gabriel Tanimu Aduda, said she was truly inspired by the Chibok Girl’s strong commitment to academic activities with enthusiasm and their dedication to various extracurricular activities.

“I salute the courage and positive determination of the young women seated here, the rescued and released Chibok Girls at the American University of Nigeria. They are not victims, but survivors and heroes”.

One of the Chibok girls and a Natural and Environmental Sciences Major at AUN Saratu, in her speech said “as we reflect today and say a prayer for our sisters who are still behind, we cannot help but think that tomorrow will be brighter than yesterday. Looking back to 14th April 2014, it was too dark to get a glimpse of brightness, but today, we discovered a light at the end of the tunnel”.

On her part, a communication and multimedia design major, Aisha said she was determined to make a difference in the society stressing that AUN has prepared her well to chase her dream.

 The venue of the event was filled with joy and optimism as balloons were released into the sky carrying messages of hope and love.

Prof. Olarenwaju Fagbohun, Lagos Coordinator, JAMB Equal Opportunity Group, says the board will refund fees paid by deserving visually-impaired candidates for the purchase of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination UTME forms.

Olarenwaju, a former Vice-Chancellor of Lagos State University (LASU), gave the assurance at the Distance Learning Institute (DLI), University of Lagos, centre for 2024 UTME  for visually-impaired candidates from Lagos and Ogun states.

According to him, a total of 88 candidates in this category registered for the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) for the centre but  only 82 were present.

He explained that only visually-impaired candidates with five ‘O’ Level credits in one sitting  would  benefit.

The coordinator said that the gesture was to encourage physically-challenge candidates.

“I will like to give kudos to the  Registrar of JAMB,  Prof Is’haq Oloyede, for all he is doing to push the frontiers of education in this country.

“This year, he went a step further to return money paid by visually-challenged candidates for the purchase of their registration documents- those who scored five credits at one sitting.

“They were not supposed to have paid for the forms,  but in a situation whereby they have already done that, their money will be returned to them here,  today.

“The process is that the  board, from the results uploaded by these candidates during registration for the examination, had already disaggregated all these and sent to all the centre coordinators nationwide.

“We have the list and the money already made available by the board, and the directive is that we must ensure that the concerned candidates get back their money immediately.

“We want them to know that they are Nigerians and that Nigeria recognises their roles and will want to harness their potential,” he said.

He said that the board would continue to explore means to ensure that no Nigerian child would be left behind in empowerment.

He noted that the special examination was being conducted in 12 centres nationwide.

“Before now, we allowed the candidates to just listen. The proctors will read aloud to them, but this year, we realised that some of them also want to use the braille and read on their own and then answer the questions.

“So, we, in addition to the option of ‘read aloud’ have also decided to introduce the option of ‘fully braille’.

“This means we will print questions on braille for the candidates and they will now use the braille answer sheets to answer the questions.

“Before the commencement of this year’s exercise, we started calling the candidates for this Lagos centre in the past one or two months, to put them on notice about where they would be sitting for the examination, which is the DLI of UNILAG.

“They were also told to get to the centre a day before, with their guides to ensure that they would not be under any pressure.’’

He said that the candidates were checked into hotels alongside their guides.

“They are being well taken care of, and whenever they will be returning to their respective destinations, they will be given transportation allowance,” he said.

The former  LASU vice-chancellor said  that efforts made by the organisers to get across to the six candidates who did not turn up for the examination were futile.

He said that phone  calls  to  numbers they supplied during registration did not respond.

He added that the organisers could not reach them through the e-mail addresses and WhatsApp numbers they supplied.

According to Fagbohun, a Professor of Environmental Law, the candidates would be tested in Government, Arabic, Use of English, Mathematics and Biology, among other subjects. (NAN)