The National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) has introduced an e-ticketing platform ahead of its 20th anniversary slated for March 25.

The Vice-Chancellor of NOUN, Prof. Olufemi Peters, said in Abuja that the platform was introduced to resolve challenges encountered by students in real time.

“This helps us track the students’ challenges,” he said.

Peters noted that the institution had achieved so much in ensuring that Nigerians irrespective of their tight schedule, obtain quality education.

He said that 28,740 students would be graduating on Saturday as part of activities for the anniversary.

“The university wants to use the opportunity to showcase what it has achieved especially its exploits during the COVID-19 era.

“We have 21,339 undergraduates and 7,101 postgraduate students graduating.

“Among this number are 58 inmates out of which seven are postgraduate graduands.

“We have 14 centres in our prisons and we have been mandated to expand it.

“In all, we have 28,740 students graduating during our 12th convocation,” Peters said.

He disclosed that the graduating inmates were under scholarship adding that there were criteria to be among the beneficiaries.

Peters said the gesture was NOUN’s own way of discharging its corporate social responsibility to help the inmates lead a normal life after leaving the correctional centres.

He added that the first female Vice-chancellor of the University of South Africa (UNISA), Prof. Puleng LenkaBula, would be attending the convocation as the guest lecturer.

“Students of the five study centres in Abuja, first class and Masters students will come to the headquarters for the convocation, while others outside Abuja will join from the study centres in their various states.

“We have 141,000 active students and about 250,000 when you combine active and inactive students with 118 study centres nationwide.”

Two researchers in the Department of Food Engineering, University of Ilorin (Unilorin), Prof. Joshua Olaoye and Dr. Musliu Sunmonu, have won over a N788 million grant from Innovate UK.

The two researchers from the Faculty of Engineering and Technology won the grant for the 2022/2023 Africa AgriFood Knowledge Transfer Partnership (AAKTP)

The award was granted to Unilorin in partnership with De Montfort University, UK, and Microscale Embedded Limited, Abuja.

In his remark to the Unilorin Bulletin released on Monday, Olaoye, who is the Academic Lead for the project, explained that the grant award is agricultural based.

He said that the three groups, through their representatives, had earlier put up a collective proposal with major work done by Sunmonu of Unilorin as the Academic Supervisor.

“The lead supervisor is to create an enabling environment while the academic supervisor is the brain behind the project with the guidance of the lead supervisor. We must give kudos to Dr. Sunmonu for his resilience in this particular award,” he said.

According to him, the project has to be conducted in Nigeria and Unilorin is the only university to carry out the project under the ‘Innovate UK’ supervision.

“This is to ensure that we are doing the right thing in accordance with the demand of the granting body of the award.

“The company has to come again because it is not just paperwork alone; it transcends that. The focus is on how we can mitigate agricultural loss.

“Doing that involves coming out with the concept of putting all stakeholders within the agricultural value chain of multiple crops on the same page, such that we have producers.

“This particular research work will assist the farmers in doing the right thing at the right time to get the best productivity from the work they are carrying out,” he said.

Olaoye stated that this milestone would enhance the university’s Webometric ranking, and also give Unilorin opportunity for alumni to be employed in the project.

“When it starts, we hope that we will get a Laboratory where we will be training our students on Global Information Services,” he said.

The University of Lagos has announced the postponement of the resumption of academic activities from March 14 to March 21.

This is contained in a statement by the institution’s Head, Communication Unit, Mrs Adejoke Alaga-Ibraheem, on Friday in Lagos.

The Federal Government had directed that students of higher institutions across the country should vacate their schools ahead of the 2023 general election.

Alaga-Ibraheem said the shift in resumption date was due to the re-scheduling of the governorship and House of Assembly elections from March 11 to March 18, by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

“On behalf of the University Senate, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Folasade Ogunsola, has approved that the resumption of academic activities in the institution be postponed to Tuesday, March 21.

“However, all other activities of the university, including inaugural lectures and meetings (excluding teaching) should continue as scheduled.

“Once again, members of the university community are implored to remain safe and security conscious, as well as orderly, civil and responsible in utterances and engagements online and offline.

“Further updates would be provided as the need arises in the coming days,” she said.