Education
Akpabio pledges enabling laws to enhance polytechnics’ capacity
Senate President Godswill Akpabio has promised to ensure enabling laws that would enhance the capacity of the nation’s polytechnics.
Akpabio, represented by Sen. Dandutse Muntari, was speaking in Abuja on Friday at a One-Day Retreat for National Assembly Members, Chairmen of Governing Council, Rectors and other Stakeholders in the education sector.
The event was organised in collaboration with the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE).
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the retreat has the theme:’ Repositioning the Nigerian Polytechnics to Deliver on Nigeria’s Industrialisation and Youths Empowerment ‘.
Akpabio explained that President Bola Tinubu, under the renewed hope agenda, was committed to ensure the sustainability of employment opportunities and create industrial development through the polytechnics.
According to him, the retreat is apt as Nigeria wants to improve the capacity of the polytechnics in Nigeria so that they could be innovative and also create job opportunities for Nigerians.
“Skills acquisition and all innovation starts with the polytechnics, so there is a need to change the curriculum and also look into the funding of polytechnics so that they can achieve what others did not achieve.
“For example, most of the developed countries, especially China and the rest of European countries, depend on skills acquisition to make inventions and innovations.
“So, it is important we harness these innovations and that is why we want to use the polytechnics and the educational system under our leadership to ensure that we have sustainable development,” he said.
Speaking on the planned industrial action by the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), he called for comprehensive dialogue noting that strike was not a solution to most of these challenges in the institutions.
He further explained that the presidency and the leadership of education were doing their best in spite of the challenges, to ensure that prompt payments of their demands were made in addition to providing infrastructural development in the institutions.
Declaring the retreat open, the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, said it was imperative to strengthen polytechnics education in the country.
Alausa was represented by the Director, Department of Polytechnics Education and Allied Institutions in the ministry, Alex Usman.
He said this was necessary as polytechnics education played a central role in addressing the challenges of unemployment, underemployment and the growing demand for skilled labour.
“Education is the bedrock of any nation’s development and technical education in particular is a catalyst for industrial growth and innovation.
“The world is moving rapidly towards a knowledge driven economy where skills, creativity and technological advancement determine the strength of a nation.
“The importance of repositioning Nigerian polytechnics is strategic to drive the industrialisation agenda and empower youths who are the backbone of our economy,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Executive Secretary, NBTE, Idris Bugaje, encouraged polytechnics to stop paper qualifications but deliver on skills and employability to ensure skills qualification for graduates.
Bugaje, while emphasising the importance of the retreat, said it would synergise stakeholders to deliver on the mandate of Polytechnics education.
In a goodwill address, the President of ASUP, Shammah Kpanja, called on stakeholders to be mindful of the need to always avert industrial action in repositioning polytechnics education.
Kpanja pledged to continue to partner with the government in ensuring a seamless academic calendar in the polytechnics across the country.
The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has commenced the disbursement of upkeep payments to students who successfully updated their bank account details from digital wallets to commercial bank accounts.
This was announced in a statement released on Friday in Abuja by the Director of Strategic Communications of the Fund, Mrs. Oseyemi Oluwatuyi.
Oluwatuyi described the development as a significant breakthrough in addressing earlier disbursement delays.
“Over 3,600 students, who previously registered with digital-only banking platforms, have now successfully received their backlog of upkeep payments after updating their details to conventional commercial bank accounts on the NELFUND portal,” she stated.
“We appreciate the patience and understanding of all affected students during this period. Your resilience and cooperation have made this progress possible,” she added.
The NELFUND spokesperson advised students who have yet to update their bank details to raise a support ticket via the official NELFUND portal to request access for the update.
She further urged affected students to report through the IT office of their respective institutions, which would compile and forward all related cases to NELFUND for prompt resolution.
“NELFUND remains committed to ensuring that no eligible student is left behind. This resolution process is part of our broader effort to enhance the efficiency, transparency, and student-centered delivery of our support services,” she said.
Oluwatuyi encouraged students to continue engaging only through official NELFUND channels and to assist their peers who may need help navigating the update process.
She also provided contact options for inquiries, stating that the fund can be reached via email at info@nelf.gov.ng or through its official social media handles: X (formerly Twitter) @nelfund; Instagram @nelfund; and Facebook & LinkedIn: Nigerian Education Loan Fund – NELFUND.
The Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has issued a directive to all accredited tertiary institutions to verify and upload their students’ data on the newly digitised Student Loan Application System (SLAS).
This was disclosed in a statement released in Abuja on Wednesday by the Director of Strategic Communications at NELFUND, Mrs Oseyemi Oluwatuyi.
According to Oluwatuyi, the SLAS platform has been fully digitised to streamline and accelerate the student loan processing experience for both institutions and applicants.
“With this upgrade, all accredited institutions are now required to request access to SLAS to verify and upload student data related to loan applications,” she said.
She described the move as “a critical step that ensures the timely processing and disbursement of approved student loans.”
Institutions that have not yet been onboarded onto the system, she said, are advised to send an access request to registration@nelf.gov.ng without delay.
“Once granted access, institutions will be able to view a real-time dashboard of their students’ loan applications, verify submitted data, and track the status of each application,” Oluwatuyi explained.
She called on all institutions to take immediate action in the interest of their students, stressing that verification and data upload by institutions are mandatory steps before final approval and disbursement of loans can be completed.
On the students’ side, Oluwatuyi noted that if an application status currently shows “Verified,” it means the application has passed initial checks. However, final approval and disbursement depend on the institutions’ confirmation and data upload.
“Once this process is completed, your status will be updated to ‘Disbursed’ when the payment of your fees has been processed,” she added.
She also encouraged students to reach out to the fund for assistance via email at info@nelf.gov.ng.
Other official communication channels include:
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X (formerly Twitter): @nelfund
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Instagram: @nelfund
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Facebook & LinkedIn: Nigerian Education Loan Fund – NELFUND
The National Universities Commission, (NUC), has given full accreditation to the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), for her Law programme.
According to the Public Relations Officer of ESUT, Mr Ikechukwu Ani, this is contained in a letter addressed to the institution’s Vice Chancellor, Prof. Aloysius Okolie, on Wednesday in Enugu by the NUC.
Ani said that in the letter, the Executive Secretary of NUC, Prof. Abdullahi Ribadu said the report was contained in the result of the October/November 2024 accreditation of academic programmes in Nigerian universities.
Ani disclosed that other programmes in the institution accredited by the NUC include Master of Science in Business Management; Education Computer Science; Education Physics and Agricultural Engineering.
Other accredited programmes he said were Quantity Surveying; Urban and Regional Planning; and Applied Microbiology.
He said that the letter quoted Section 10 (1) of the Education National Minimum Standard and Establishment of Institutions, Act CAP E3, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 as empowering the NUC to lay down minimum academic standards for all academic programmes taught in Nigerian universities.
He said the session also empowers the NUC to accredit such programmes.
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