The Executive Secretary, Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Hamid Bobboyi, says the commission has concluded plans to conduct an internationally accepted national assessment.

He disclosed this at a five-day workshop to develop test items for Nigeria’s 2022 National Assessment of Learning Achievement in Basic Education (NALABE).

Bobboyi said UBEC and UNICEF had put everything together to conduct an internationally accepted national assessment.

The national assessment is a survey of schools and learning to provide evidence about learners’ achievement in identified curriculum areas such as reading/literacy, mathematics/numeracy, science, and other skills for a clearly defined part of the education system.

In a statement signed by the Head, Public Relations and Protocol, David Apeh, Bobboyi said the workshop aimed to achieve “objectives amongst others to generate test items in four core subjects in primary 3, 5, and JS 2.

The executive secretary, represented by the Deputy Executive Secretary, Prof. Bala Zakari, said that since the inception of UBEC, the commission had conducted five studies, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2011 and 2017, based on its mandate enshrined in the UBE act of 2004.

The Director Quality Assurance, Mansir Idris, said the commission, in its quest to conduct a national assessment that will be recognised and acceptable by stakeholders nationally and internationally, identified the need to collaborate and work closely with international agencies like IEA, UNICEF, FCDO, and other agencies involved in large scale assessment for the development and standardised test items.

The federal government of Nigeria has announced digital literacy training for 45,000 teachers across 24 states.

The Registrar, Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), Professor Josiah Ajiboye, announced this during the third phase of the Global Partnership Education (GPE), Digital Literacy Training and Remote Learning Strategies for Teachers.

The lead role of the teacher training sub-committee of the GPE programme was ceded to the council by the Federal Ministry of Education.

According to Ajiboye, the training was designed to bridge the gap created by the outbreak of the pandemic that affected the Nigerian education system.​

He disclosed that Benue, Bauchi, Ebonyi, Enugu, Gombe, Jigawa and 10 other focal states were initially selected for the training.

He added that the digital literacy programme would train teachers and school leaders in emergency preparedness and response to provide safe school practices.

The TRCN registrar disclosed that each tranche of the training would involve 7,500 teachers.

“The first stage of this project was the training of 480 master trainers who would serve as facilitators in the upcoming training across Benue, Enugu, Kaduna and Sokoto,” he disclosed. “The minister of education added eight more states to the already selected 16 states making it 24, that means 45,000 teachers will now be trained overall. This will be the first phase of the GPE teachers training programme.”

After the circle of 16 focal states, he said 15,000 more teachers would be trained in eight focal states of Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Ekiti, Lagos, Osun, Oyo and Rivers.

Speaking on the one teacher one laptop initiative of the federal government, Ajiboye said the project was at the conclusive stage with the appraisal of the Nigeria Union of Teachers and a submitted document to the full adoption of the project.

The Governing Council of the Ekiti State University (EKSU), Ado Ekiti, has approved the promotion of 71 lecturers to professorship and readership cadres.

EKSU Vice Chancellor, Prof. Eddy Olanipekun, said the measure was targeted at motivating the academic staff and strengthening their commitment to building intellectual capacities of students through their contributions to scholarship.

Addressing journalists in Ado Ekiti, The VC gave the breakdown of the promoted academic staff, said that 30 new lecturers would earn professorial title while 41 would become readers.

Olanipekun also stated that scores of non-academic staff would be promoted based on the approval given by the council to buoy academic standard.

He said: “Council at its meeting held on February 10, 2022, approved the promotion of 30 new professors and 41 readers to strengthen academic performance of this university.

“It also gives the elevation of scores of non teaching staff to the positions of directors, deputy registrars, deputy bursars, deputy directors and senior chief technologists.”

Olanipekun said that the university’s leadership under his watch would not tolerate any act that could mar the reputation or debase the academic standard of the citadel of learning.

“Let it be known that the current administration in the university has zero tolerance for any act of misconduct.

“It is important to inform the general public that the current administration in the university places premium on the welfare of staff and students despite the paucity of funds,” he added.

A Gombe State Secondary School Principal, Bello Muhammed Abubakar, has been arraigned by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), over alleged fraud.

In a two-count charge brought before Justice Halima S. Muhammed of Gombe State High Court 2, ICPC told the Court that the accused person had defrauded unsuspecting admission seekers to the tune of N3,884,200.

The charge accuses Abubakar of collecting money from people under the guise of offering them admission into the unregistered Mukhtar Polytechnic Gombe and Goni Mukhtar College of Education Gombe State.

ICPC says Abubakar obtained the money by false pretence when he illegally operated “Mukhtar Polytechnic, Goni, Mukhtar College of Education, and Goni Mukhtar Linguistic Centre.”

All the schools were in one block of three classrooms in Gombe State between 2009 and 2015.

Counsel to ICPC, Mashkur Salisu, informed the Court how the School Principal was perpetrating the said offences before he was nabbed by operatives of the Commission during an intelligence-led operation.

The Commission has since shut down the said illegal institutions in which the accused person was operating.

The defendant’s actions are contrary to Section 13 and punishable under Section 68 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000, and Section 1(i) of the Advanced Fee Fraud Act, 2006.

When the accused person was admitted to take his plea, he pleaded not guilty to all the charges when they were read to him.

Counsel to the accused, A.B. Ebrany moved a bail application in favour of his client which was not opposed by the prosecution counsel.

The trial judge, therefore, granted the accused person bail in the sum of Two Million Naira (N2,000,000) and two sureties in like sum who must be residents within the jurisdiction of the court and must depose to an affidavit of means.

Failure of which he would be remanded in Gombe Correctional Centre.

The case has been adjourned till 29th and 30th of March for hearing.

The Federal Government if Nigeria says it has increased its National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme of N70 per day school feeding of a child in public primary school to N100.

The National Coordinator, National Social Investments Programme (NSIP), Umar Bindir said this at a two-day National Consultative meeting on public food procurement in the context of Nigeria’s National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme on Wednesday in Abuja.

According to Bindir, the programme which is under the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development.

The coordinator stated the difficulties experienced  implementing the N70 per child while the program started in 2016.

However, they believe Minister of Finance is giving a very good cooperation to ensure that this actually is implemented on time after President Mohammadu Buhari gave the approval  to raise the feeding from N70 to N100 per a child.

Bindir used the occasion to advise the team from all the states of the federation to key into the presidential gesture and the cabinet commitment to ensure that the initiative was a sustainable one.

“We also hope that the state government through the governors and their cabinets will also realised the importance of this programme meant to tackle poverty. “

According to him, the programme is not just about feeding the children but engaging women to become entrepreneur and good food providers.

“It is also about enhancing the value, the commercial and entrepreneur value of our small scale farmers.

“So we hope that this presidential approval in the rise will be understood by the states so that we can strengthen the programme, “ he explained.

Bindir further explained that the consultative meeting was aimed at putting together the implementing team of the NHGSFP in the country to discuss issues that had to do with food and feeding procurement.

“The National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme of Nigeria is recognised now globally as one of the most an ambitious programme of feeding our children in public schools.

“So the intention of this consultative programme is first to drive home the partnership works and to also establish that Nigeria is doing the right things.

“As well as to ensure that we enhance our implementation procedures so that we can go higher and become better,’’ he said.

In his contribution, the Country Representative, Resolve to Save Lives (RTSL), Emmanuel Agogo said that it was not the cost of the food that made it quality but the content of the food.

Agogo said that a nutritious food must be balanced, less salt and saturated fat.