Senate moves to amend Act
By Taiye Odewale
Abuja
The Vice Chancellor of the National Open University, {NOUN}, Abuja, Professor Abdallah Uba Adamu, yesterday made case for the law students of the university to be admitted into law school after graduation and national youth service {NYSC} for its graduates within required age range.
Adamu made the call to the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFUND during a public hearing on the Bill for an Act to amend the National Open University Act, No 6 of 1983, to provide for the inclusion of ICT as another means of providing tuition in the university throughout Nigeria.
“If the Act is amended to cover all the grey areas the problem of our students not being called to bar by the Nigerian Law School will become history, because for now the law school considers our law program as a correspondence course, while the National Youth Service Corps sees us as part-time, but the proposed amendments, will address these problems,” he explained.
Other areas which need to be considered for amendment as disclosed at the public hearing, deals with the issue of admission into the University, a situation which according to Adamu, had been a source of standing controversy between NOUN and the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
Adamu, equally demanded for a change of name from National Open University to National Open University of Nigeria as part measure to adequately redefine its status and give the institution a proper identity.
He explained that the inclusion of such concepts as “correspondence and part-time, gives the impression that NOUN is not a full university but a temporary measure”.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Tertiary Education and TETFUND, Senator Jibril Barau , has reaffirmed Senate’s commitment to uplifting the standard of NOUN through necessary legislations to enable it compete favorably and at par with similar universities in the world.
“We will create an enabling environment to make it the best in the world,” he assured.
