By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Professor Chris Piwuna has been elected as the next president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), replacing Professor Emmanuel Osodeke.

The new ASUU chief was elected at the 23rd National Delegates Congress of the group in Benin City, Edo State on Sunday.

He is a consultant psychiatrist at the University of Jos Teaching Hospital, Plateau State, and won the exercise contested alongside Professor Adamu Babayo of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi.

The ASUU president is also the Dean of Student Affairs at the University of Jos.

His predecessor is a Professor of Soil Science from the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State.

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The best graduating students of the Aliko Dangote University of Science and Technology, Wudil (ADUSTECH), Kano State have been assured automatic jobs.

This gesture was from Mr Aliko Dangote, who was reappointed as the Chancellor of the tertiary institution. He also donated N15 billion to the school during its 5th convocation ceremony.

In his speech, the businessman charged the university to be repositioned to lead the race of producing cutting edge research and highly skilled manpower that meets the requirements of market demands, industries and real problem solvers in the Nigerian society.

“It is in this vein that I wish to use this opportunity to announce the launch of the 5-year development plan which I envision for this institution.

“Over the next five years, we will commit the sum of N15 billion to the following projects: the design and construction of additional student hostels; the design and construction of a world class Engineering Lab; the design and construction of a world class multipurpose computer lab -open to all students of the institution which will also be equipped with 24-hour internet access to support academic research and the installation of a mini-solar plant to support access to power on campus,” the chairman of the Aliko Dangote Foundation (ADF) said.

“We also undertake to design and construct a befitting Senate building that will house the administration of this institution.

“Finally, we will also reserve post-NYSC employment slots for the best performing graduates in Engineering and other related courses that form part of our areas of interest at the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemical Plant and Dangote Cement Plants,” he added.

Mr Dangote said the funding for such an institution places a significant burden on the government, which is why, through ADF, it was able to offset the university’s electricity bill to ease the strain on their finances.

“Additionally, to support the infrastructural drive of the University, we built two blocks of Male and Female Hostels with 500 bed spaces each.

“We also ensured the availability of electricity in a specialized university like ours for continuous teaching, learning and research, via the connection of the university to a 33KVA line, and provided a 2.5 MVA transformer and six (6) step-down transformers. This, I believe, has gone a long way in solving the energy needs of the university,” Mr Dangote stated.

He, therefore, congratulated the vision of those who dreamt of the institution 25 years ago.

“An institution that began with a student population of 88 today has a population of more than 21,877 students and this combined convocation has a total of about 18,000 graduates. This is indeed a milestone,” he added.

In his address, Governor Abba Kabiru Yusuf of Kano State commended Mr Dangote for contributing financially and morally towards the development of the University, adding that, “All of us will continue to remember you as a visionary and African illustrious industrialist.”

The school’s Vice Chancellor, Prof. Musa Tukur Yakasa, said 18,000 students were being celebrated during the convocation ceremony, having graduated from the university in the last 10 years to date.

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFund) has denied claims of mismanagement in disbursing student loan funds.

This development comes after the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) said it was investigating alleged corruption in the disbursement of the funds.

In a statement by the fund’s Director of Strategic Communications, Mr Oseyemi Oluwatuyi, NELFund said ICPC’s comment was taken out of context.

“These reports, which suggest misappropriation and mismanagement of funds, are entirely false, grossly irresponsible, and deeply damaging to the integrity of an institution established to deliver financial hope to millions of Nigerians,” Mr Oluwatuyi said.

“All institutional fees are paid directly to verified institutions, while upkeep allowances go into the verified bank accounts of eligible students,” she said.

“The reports circulating in the public space are based on outdated figures and previous interventions that predate our operations.”

Equally, the ICPC has clarified its earlier statement on the student loan.

The institution’s spokesman, Mr Demola Bakare, said the agency’s move to investigate the disbursement of the funds was due to claims that 51 schools were involved in illegal deductions and exploitation related to the NELFund scheme.

“The ICPC confirmed that a clear case of discrepancies has been established in the administration of the student loan scheme and announced that its investigation will now extend to beneficiary institutions and individual student recipients,” the agency’s statement partly read.

In an update, Mr Bakare clarified that: “Unintentionally, the word ‘NOT’ was missing in the second to the last paragraph of our earlier press release in respect of an ongoing investigation regarding the Student Loan Scheme. The missing word created an erroneous impression that the alleged discrepancies or diversion had been established.

“We admit that this is not the case, indeed, we accept that the same part of the sentence also contradicted the whole paragraph. The paragraph ought to read: ‘The ICPC confirmed that a clear case of discrepancies has NOT been established in the administration of the student loan scheme and announced that its investigation will now extend to beneficiary institutions and individual student recipients.’

“For avoidance of doubt, the commission has only established the total amount of funds received and disbursed so far by NELFUND. The impression of diversion and the issue of discrepancies do not exist at this stage; the investigation would have to move into the receiving institutions and persons before any reasonable deductions could be made.”

It was claimed that out of the N100 billion approved for disbursement, about N71.2 billion was unaccounted for, prompting an investigation by the ICPC.