The National Association of Nigeria Students (NANS), has assured Nigerians that the body would press for adequate compensations for the families of killed students and those who lost valuables in the recent Jos crisis.

The NANS bemoaned the upsurge of religious and communal crises in the country, especially in Plateau State, which culminated in the deaths of students and country’s future leaders, and demanded that these gory incidents must be halted to safeguard the future of the Nigerian nation.

The NANS said it was burdened and overwhelmed by the spate of killings and kidnappings of students in the North-west and North-central states of the country.

The National President of NANS, Sunday Asefon, in a statement that was made available to newsmen in Ado Ekiti, yesterday, disclosed that NANS would holds a National Security Summit on October 28 to harness intellectual capacities of various groups in the country to tackle the ugly trends.

“The NANS under our leadership will vigorously pursue compensations for the families of our slain members and many students who lost valuables to this emergency. We call on government at all levels, security agencies to ensure that perpetrators of this evil are brought to book and made to face the full weight of the law. He added.

“The NANS, therefore, condoles with the people and government of Plateau State, the families of the slain students and promise to stand by them as they navigate this difficult time.

“We call on the government of Plateau State to go all out to restore peace and sanity to the state and also ensure that families who suffered loss of lives, properties, valuables, and means of livelihood are supported by every resource available to the state to enable them begin the process of healing.”

Asefon added that the NANS decided to convene a “Students National Security Summit” on October 28, 2021, in Abuja after a careful and all-inclusive consultation on the state of insecurity in our schools and campuses.

The NANS commended the Abia State Government, the Abuja Inhabitant Youth Empowerment Organisation (AOIYEO), the Kogi and Ekiti State Governments and other states that had shown great leadership in ensuring that students were evacuated to safety and also provided palliatives to students during this emergency.

The Vice-Chancellor, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Professor Suleiman Mohammed has said that the institution would commence College of Medicine and Health Sciences courses  and Faculty of Engineering courses in the 2021/2022 academic session.

Bala Mohammed stated this when he led other management of the university before the state House of Assembly Committee on Education on the institution’s 2021 budget assessment in Lafia.

The vice-chancellor said that the arrangement for the take-off of the two programs in the institution has reached an advanced stage with a target of the next academic session.

Bala Mohammed commended the committee for supporting the activities of the university to succeed.

He also appreciated Gov. Abdullahi Sule for given adequate attention to the university.

He, however, identified the challenges facing the university to include insufficient funds for staff salaries, unremitted funds by various channels of school fees collections, and insufficient budget provision.

The VC has assured of his continued determination to ensure that the standard of education is maintained in the institution for the overall development of the state.

The Chairman, House Committee on Education Hon Daniel Ogazi, said that the committee invited the institution to know its 2021 budget performance as well as other emerging challenges facing the institution with a view of fashioning out ways to address them.

Ogazi confirmed the assembly’s readiness to give the institution the most desire attention it deserves.

He also said that the Nasarawa State House of Assembly is supporting the location of Federal University Lafia Teaching Hospital at Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital (DASH) Lafia considering its proximity, benefits, and other advantages associated with the location.

The state Accountant General Zakka Yakubu, said that the state government is working hard to take over the salary of the core staff of the university for an improved standard of education among other sundry issues affecting the institution.

The National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, in Nigeria has stated its determination to partner with Fiscal Responsibility Commission to sensitise Corps Members on fiscal governance, transparency and public accountability.

In a statement signed by the Public relations Officer, Adenike Adeyemi said Director General of the Scheme, Brigadier General Shauibu lbrahim stated this when the Director- General of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission, Barrister Victor Muruako paid him a courtesy visit in his office in Abuja.

The DG noted that the Scheme which was established for the promotion of national unity and integration would continue to leverage on its achievements for the advancement of the socio-economic development of the country.

Brigadier General lbrahim advised all Corps Employers to tap into the potentials of Corps Members to boost the socio-economic development of the country.

He promised that the scheme is ready to collaborate with the Commission through the establishment of Community Development Service (CDS) groups that would sensitise Nigerians on the importance of good governance, transparency and accountability.

Ibrahim said that the Scheme established NYSC Water and Bread factories, NYSC Farms, NYSC Garment manufacturing factories, NYSC Cultural Troupe among others to boost its revenue drive and also train Corps Members with passion in such vocational businesses.

“You need to collaborate to have Corps Members drive your process because they are very versatile and there’s a need to harness their talents.

I also assure you that Corps Members will be available for your agency in form of Community Development Service group so that you can use them because it is better we prevent corruption than to cure it”, he said.

The Chairman Fiscal Responsibility Commission, Barrister Victor Muruako commended the National Youth Service Corps for its tremendous contributions to national development since inception in 1973, especially by living up to its objectives.

He applaud General lbrahim for his transformational leadership since he assumed duty as Director-General, describing the NYSC as the greatest driver of national cohesion among government agencies in the country.

Muruako said that sensitisation on fiscal responsibility should be adopted as one of the CDS programmes to place the youth on a sound pedestal to lead the country well.

He urged leaders at all levels of governance to offer support to Corps Members to unleash their innate abilities for societal development.

The Advisory Board for the Nigeria LNG-sponsored The Nigeria Prize for Literature, has announced “The Girl With The Louding Voice” by Abi Dare; “The Son Of The House” by Cheluchi Onyemelukwe-Onuobia and “Colours of Hatred” by Obinna Udenwe as finalists for the 2021 competition.

The announcement was made by the Chair of the Advisory Board for the Prize, Professor Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo during a virtual press conference held Friday, August 27, 2021.

The announcement followed the longlist of 11 books released recently out of 202 entries on prose fiction, received for the Prize.

The Nigeria Prize for Literature, Africa’s most prestigious literary award, rotates yearly amongst four literary categories: prose fiction, poetry, drama, and children’s literature.

The three shortlisted novels revolve around strong female characters, different unravelling circumstances and experiences of women in the modern world.

The judges who will decide the winning novel, which will be announced in October 2021, disclosed that the selection of the three novels was unanimous.

The judges, in their report, described the novels as full of suspense and intrigue. They stated that the novels “tell human and indeed universal stories of rural as against urban life, suffering and survival, loss and redemption, decline and renaissance, destruction and reconstruction, and death and rebirth.”

The chairperson of the panel of judges, Professor Olutoyin Jegede, is a Professor of Literature in English at the University of Ibadan. Other panel members include Professor Tanimu Abubakar, a Professor of Literature in the Faculty of Art, Ahmadu Bello University, and Dr. Solomon Azumurana, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of English at the University of Lagos.

The chair of the board, Professor Adimora-Ezeigbo, is a professor of English. She won the 2007 Nigeria Prize for Literature in the Children’s Literature category, alongside Mabel Segun. Other members of the Advisory Board are Professor Olu Obafemi, the 2018 recipient of the Nigerian National Order of Merit (NNOM), playwright, poet and Professor of English at the University of Ilorin, and Professor Ahmed Yerima, a professor of Theatre and Performing Arts, a playwright, theatre director, and a 2006 Laureate of The Nigeria Prize for Literature.

The award will run concurrently with NLNG’s Prize for Literary Criticism. The literary criticism prize carries a monetary value of N1 million.