News
Tunji Alausa’s Team records 10,000 digitised thesis submissions in three weeks
● Enrols 135 institutions for certificate verification
● Ekiti, Bayero Universities, Auchi Poly lead national digital submission
Early reports from the newly established national education record digitisation programme under the auspices of the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank (NERD) have shown that Nigerian students successfully uploaded and curated over 10,000 project entries in the first 3 weeks since the programme began.
The figure climbed to over 11,000 submissions by this weekend, with 158 post-graduate entries from a total of 242 active institutions, while over 40,000 students have been successfully enrolled into the NERD system.
The NERD programme, unveiled to Nigerians by Dr Tunji Alausa, the Minister of Education, has also onboarded 135 tertiary institutions for academic credential verification purposes as of press time.
From the live information analytics available on the NERD portal, Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti leads with a total of 990 curated entries, followed by Bayero University Kano, with a total submission of 611 as of press time.
Auchi Polytechnic, Edo State, ranks third on the list of highest early enrolment figures with a total student project entry of 532.
They are followed closely by Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma Edo State (493), Osun State Polytechnic Iree, Osun State (479), the University of Ilorin Kwara State (469), Bamidele Olumilua University of Education, Science and Technology Ikere Ekiti (462), Kaduna Polytechnic (379), the University of Benin Edo State (374) and the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, with 282 entries to make the list of 10 highest student submissions at the end of the first one month of the programme.
Science and Innovation, with entries of 5,952, lead the national students’ industry preference or knowledge pillars, and the figure is not derived from Science and Engineering students alone, as students from Arts and Social Science backgrounds were discovered to be pursuing research topics around innovation and similar cutting-edge thematic trends.
Other higher industry thematic preferences are Multidisciplinary 2,091, Engineering and Technology 1,958, Tourism and Entertainment 1,392, Infrastructure and Sustainable Development 952, while Humanities has 783 submissions.
The majority of the entries are accompanied by the names of the student, their supervisors and heads of departments.
Haula Galadima, NERD’s spokesperson, clarified that one of the strategic objectives of the Federal Government for the thesis digitisation, classification, and archiving scheme was to enhance the quality of supervision without directly meddling in the process.
She stated that lecturers across Nigerian institutions were likely to be more thorough with their supervisory work if they were aware that their names would accompany those works and would be available to or be seen by other researchers, captains of industry and entrepreneurs globally.
She also stated that “NERD now has precision metrics to track earned allowances computation in any institution in Nigeria, and this will help the government to see the quantum of supervisory works being done by our lecturers outside their rigorous class teaching schedules, field, or laboratory work.”
The report also indicates that a slightly higher number of female students successfully enrolled and submitted ahead of their male counterparts, with Male: 4,995 to Female: 6,142.
The information analytics can presently be monitored by clicking Data Analytics or Open Platform on the NERD portal at https://esmat.ned.gov.ng.
For the first time since independence, Nigeria, under the Tinubu-led administration, took a revolutionary decision to digitise, classify, and organise the thousands of yearly research outputs being produced in the nation’s higher institutions.
The goal is to improve the quality of those works, organise and curate them in a location where they can be easily accessed by the industry, as well as make them available to other researchers who can improve upon them for overall national growth and development as a net contributor to global knowledge in a measurable and accountable manner.
Basically, the Federal Government intends to leverage NERD as a strategic tool to promote institutional quality upgrade without directly getting involved or meddling in the institutional processes.
Under the NERD regulation, all academic outputs are to be deposited in the national databank regardless of institution type or proprietorship and regardless of the level of study, whether undergraduate or postgraduate.
Even though NERD has asked NYSC to excuse undergraduates whose process of clearance began in their respective schools before the October 6 enforcement date from the mandatory NERD compliance clearance requirement, since they fall in the transition period, undergraduate students across the nation’s institutions have continued to upload their academic works onto the NERD platform on an hourly basis.
The student’s national thesis digitisation project is one of the key services of the Nigerian Education Repository and Databank.
Other mandates of NERD are the ongoing National Academic Credential Verification scheme targeted at eliminating qualification fraud in the public and private sectors of Nigeria, as well as the National Students’ Clearing House scheme aimed at serving as the central record keeper post-admission across all institutions.
President Donald Trump said Monday in an interview with CBS that the war with Iran was “very complete” and that the United States was far ahead of his initial timeline of around a month.
US stocks jumped higher and oil prices sank in after-hours trading following Trump’s comments, despite the fact that there were no immediate signs of the conflict abating.
“I think the war is very complete, pretty much. They have no navy, no communications, they’ve got no air force,” Trump told CBS News by phone.
“Their missiles are down to a scatter. Their drones are being blown up all over the place, including their manufacturing of drones,” he added. “If you look, they have nothing left. There’s nothing left in a military sense.”
Trump told the US broadcaster that the United States was “very far” ahead of his initially stated war time frame of four or five weeks.
The US leader has given similar assessments in recent days of battle damage from the US-Israeli strikes that began on February 28, but had not gone as far in saying that the war was nearing an end.
Just last Friday, Trump issued a statement that Iran’s “unconditional surrender” was the only acceptable outcome for ending the war.
And his comments came about an hour after the Pentagon posted on social media that the United States had “only just begun to fight.”
CBS reported that when asked if he thought the war could wrap up soon, Trump answered: “Wrapping up is all in my mind, nobody else’s.”
Trump also threatened Iran if it tried to close the Strait of Hormuz, the shipping lane where oil tanker transit has already virtually halted, sending energy prices soaring around the world.
He said he was “thinking about taking it over” even as he insisted that traffic was starting to move.
The US president however had few words for Iran’s new supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who was elected to replace his slain father Ali Khamenei.
“I have no message for him. None, whatsoever,” Trump said, adding that he had someone else in mind to lead Iran.
Trump earlier told the New York Post he was “not happy” with Mojtaba Khamenei’s appointment.
AFP
Nollywood icon Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde has opened up about the strength and trust that have sustained her 30-year marriage, revealing she has never had to confront her husband over infidelity.
In an interview on the Afropolitan podcast, the actress and philanthropist described her union with husband Matthew Ekeinde as built on mutual trust, selflessness, and zero ego clashes. She emphasized that she has never fought over another woman in their three decades together.
“I’ve been married to him now 30 years. I’ve never fought over a girl, you know?” Omotola said. “He doesn’t disturb me. If I have to go to my work, I go to my work. I come back. He trusts me totally. I trust him.”
The mother of four stressed that divorce is not an option for her personally, though she made it clear she is not against it for others.
“Divorce is not an option for me. It doesn’t mean it’s not an option for you. Let’s get that straight. I’m not against divorce,” she clarified. “I just always believe that marriage is a very personal thing. My marriage can never be the same thing as your marriage. No two marriages are the same because no two persons are the same.”
Omotola explained that every relationship has different “ingredients,” and what works for her may not apply to others facing trust issues or betrayal.
“You might be dealing with someone that has broken your trust and you’re trying to build that back,” she noted. “So those things are different… For me, how do you want to penetrate? It’s going to be very hard because I know this person. I’ve been with this person for 30 years, since I was 18.”
The veteran actress praised her husband’s character, describing him as “very selfless” and free of ego, qualities she credits for the peace and longevity of their marriage.
With over three decades in the acting profession, Omotola is known for movies like Blood Sister, RattleSnake: The Ahanna Story, Alter Ego, amongst others.
The Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) has warned that petrol prices could surge to nearly N2,000 per litre if current trends persist.
This is following Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals’ hike of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), to N1,175 per litre from N995 on Monday.
PETROAN urged the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) to urgently boost domestic refining capacity to insulate Nigeria from global petroleum market shocks. PETROAN president, Dr Billy Gillis-Harry said, “PMS could rise close to N2,000 per litre while AGO may approach N3,000 per litre if the situation persists,” Dr Harry warned.
PETROAN specifically called on NNPC Group CEO Engr. Bayo Ojulari to restart production at local refineries, including the Area 5 Plant at Port Harcourt and Warri Refinery, which operated briefly before shutting down for profitability assessments.
Dr Harry linked the volatility to the Israel-US-Iran conflict, with drone and missile attacks disrupting oil routes and supply chains. Before the crisis, he noted, petrol sold at N774 per litre (now over N1,000, up 30 per cent) and diesel (AGO) at N950 (now N1,400+, up 49 per cent).He stressed rehabilitating government refineries to leverage Nigeria’s crude reserves under NNPC custody, making them less vulnerable than import-reliant private ones.
Continued hikes, he warned, would fuel inflation, job losses, economic hardship, higher transport costs, and pricier goods—PMS powers daily mobility, AGO industry.
Dr Harry lauded President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s oil and gas reforms, urging him to order immediate refinery restarts for citizen relief and economic stimulus.
Iran war ‘pretty much’ over – Trump
‘I’ve never fought my husband over infidelity’ – Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde
Petrol May Hit N2,000 per Litre Amid Refinery Price Hike, PETROAN Warns
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