TETFund will sponsor only best quality infrastructures for Universities- Prof. Bogoro

By Chika Onyesi

The recently re-instated Executive Secretary of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Prof. Elias Suleiman Bogoro, has pledged to manage and elevate the Fund to an institution of reference for others.

He made the pledge while addressing the TETFund staff after his resumption

The Executive Secretary who returned to office amid ovation from staff and management said he was grateful for another opportunity to manage the Fund’s affairs better.

 “I struggled with tears on Monday when I resumed and I am so proud of you all and may God bless you. I will never forget your style of welcoming me because it has vindicated me. Other organization will learn how to run and manage human beings with respect”, he added.

He recalled that he was part of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) struggle that not only led to the establishment of the Fund, but ensured that its mandate of focusing on Public Tertiary Institutions was followed for maximum impact.

 “I never imagined that I will seat on the leadership of the institution we fought for through ASUU. We insisted that TETFund be streamlined to intervene in only in public tertiary institutions because government only intervenes where it will benefit the greater majority because according to National Universities Commission (NUC) Private Universities caters for only six per cent of student’s intake”, Prof. Bogoro noted.

The TETFund boss said the institution has contributed to restoring the glory of tertiary institutions in Nigeria through numerous interventions, including Infrastructural Development, Academic Staff Training and Development, Journal and Book Development.

While emphasizing the need for high quality services, Prof. Bogoro said there is no excuse for substandard projects, he maintained that only the best quality infrastructures will be sponsored by the Fund.

The Executive Secretary said improving the welfare of staff intellectually, through capacity building and the conditions of service to give every member of staff a sense of belonging are part of his six point agenda.

He said the Fund is expanding its partnership internationally with regards to capacity building of staff, with a view to equipping them to confidently face the challenges of their daily work schedules with the institutions.

JAMB suspends nine CBT centres over infractions, registers 869,709 candidates

By Chika Onyesi

 

About 869,709 candidates have so far been registered for the 2019 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, scheduled to take place in March.

This is according to data obtained from the Joint Admission and Matriculations Board, detailing registration activities between 10th to 25^th of January 2019.

According to the data, Lagos State has the highest number of registered candidates at 111,102 while Zamfara States trails behind with about 2,427 registered candidates.

The exam body has attributed the seamless 2019 UTME registration process to technological innovations introduced by the board.

The latest innovation according to JAMB allows candidates create their profiles by themselves using their mobile devices, thereby reducing wait time, spelling errors and crowds at registration centres.

Meanwhile, the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board have shut down the University of Benin, ICT Computer Based Test centre and nine other centers over unwholesome activities in the registration process. 

According to its weekly bulletin, the exam board said the 10 suspended CBT centres had breached stipulated guidelines for the registration of candidates.

“Before commencing the 2019 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and Direct Entry (DE) registration exercise, the Board had convened a meeting of all CBT operators in Lagos, where the guidelines on the exercise was deliberated and laid out for all to adhere to strictly’’ JAMB  says.

Some of the centres were indicted for charging higher than the stipulated amounts agreed at the meeting with operators and as directed by government.

Others were also faulted for violating the directive to sell the 2019 e-pins at N3, 500, excluding the cost of text reading, some had also flouted the N700 registration fee as agreed in the meeting.

While its searchlight is still beamed on some centres suspected of registrations infractions, the exam body said its monitoring teams spread all over the country will continue to monitor the on-going exercise, to ensure that Nigerians are not misled by unpatriotic operators.

Nigeria approves environmental release of Genetically Modified PBR Cowpea

The Nigeria government has approved for environmental release, the Pod Borer Resistant Cowpea (popularly called beans) developed by the Institute for Agricultural Research, (IAR) Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

The approval was contained in a decision document issued by the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA) granting permit for the environmental release of the PBR Cowpea which has been genetically modified to resist the insect pest - Maruca Vitrata.

The approval means the crop is safe and poses no harm to humans and the environment and can now be submitted to the National Variety Release Committee for consideration and registration as a commercial crop in Nigeria.

The PBR Cowpea, by this development, becomes the first genetically modified food crop to be approved in the country.

IAR in partnership with the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) commenced the research to address the deadly Maruca Vitrata attacks on beans in 2009 after series of efforts to use conventional breeding methods failed to produce results.

After 10 years of extensive research, government has deemed it fit to introduce the crop variety into the nation’s agricultural seed system having met all regulatory stipulations and scientific procedures.

The introduction will address the national cowpea demand deficit of about 500,000 tonnes and also improve the national productivity average of 350kg/hectare.

At a public display of the approval, the coordinating agency for agricultural research in Nigeria, the Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN) said after many years of research, the council was proud to present to Nigerians the first home-grown genetically modified food crop which has passed all necessary scientific tests and posed no danger to human health or the environment.

“As the coordinating agency for the over 15 agricultural research institutes in Nigeria, we have identified modern biotechnology as one scientific tool whose potentials can help improve crop and animal production and we have done this with all sense of responsibility, bearing in mind both national and international protocols that guide the deployment of genetic modification.” the Executive Secretary of the ARCN said.

The Executive Director IAR, Prof. I. U Abubakar in a presentation summarising the process that lead to the development of the PBR cowpea said the decision to venture into genetic modification in cowpea breeding was as a result of pest infestation that has over the years made cowpea farming difficult as farmers get less for their efforts and even have their lives exposed to danger due to chemical spraying to keep the pest away.

“Cowpea is the most important food grain legume in Nigeria. The low yield of the crop in Nigeria is due to many constraints particularly pod boring insects which cause up to 90% yield loss in severe infestation cases.”

Dr Abdourhamane Issoufou, AATF Country Director said since the mid 1980s, cowpea scientists have declared maruca as the main limiting factor of cowpea production in Africa hence the intervention of the AATF based on its principles of providing access to appropriate technologies by small scale farmers. 

“AATF was able to obtain access to the Cry1Ab gene used for this modification on humanitarian basis and worked with institutions in Nigeria, Ghana, Burkina Faso and Malawi for the transformation. Today, Nigeria stands tall in the comity of nations for effectively managing and bringing to fruition this dream.

The research results have shown that the PBR-cowpea is safe for human and animals, completely resistant to Maruca; leads to yield increase of 20% with fewer sprays of chemical insecticides,” he noted.

Prof. Alex Akpa, Acting Director General, National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) said that by the approval, Nigeria has registered her name among the global scientific community as a country capable of finding solutions to her challenges.

“After 10 years of laboratory works and on-field trials, Nigerian scientists have developed its first genetically modified food crop, the PBR Cowpea, we are proud to be associated with this noble development” Akpa said.

MORE ON PBR; http://www.aatf-africa.org/

South Sudan vaccinates health workers against Ebola

The Ministry of Health of South Sudan, with support from the World Health Organization (WHO), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, UNICEF and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other partners, today started vaccinating health workers and other front-line responders against Ebola as part of preparedness measures to fight the spread of the disease. 

Vaccination began in Yambio, Gbudue State, but health workers in Tombura, Yei and Nimule as well as the capital city, Juba, will also be offered the vaccine. These are high-risk areas bordering the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), now experiencing its tenth outbreak of Ebola. The outbreak began 1 August 2018. Neighbouring countries have not reported any cases of Ebola, but preparedness is crucial.

As part of these preparedness activities, South Sudan received 2 160 doses of the Ebola vaccine (rVSV-ZEBOV) from Merck, the vaccine developer. The vaccine offers protection against the Zaire strain of the virus, which is the one affecting DRC at present.

“It is absolutely vital that we are prepared for any potential case of Ebola spreading beyond the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa. “WHO is investing a huge amount of resources into preventing Ebola from spreading outside DRC and helping governments ramp up their readiness to respond should any country have a positive case of Ebola.”

Vaccination is one of a raft of preparedness measures South Sudan is putting into place. WHO has deployed more than 30 staff members to support these activities.

In particular, WHO has helped train 60 health workers in good clinical practice principles and protocol procedures to administer the yet-to-be-licensed Ebola vaccine. To detect any travellers entering the country who may be infected with the virus, the Ministry of Health, with the support of its partners, has established 17 screening points. Nearly 1 million people have been screened to date.

WHO is also supporting engagement with communities, active surveillance for the disease at the community and health facility levels, strengthening capacity for infection prevention and control and case management, and supporting dissemination of Ebola information through the media. Local laboratory capacity to test samples taken from people suspected of having Ebola is also being strengthened. Protective gear for responders has been stockpiled in a dedicated warehouse.

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, in addition to its work making the Ebola vaccine stockpile available, is providing US$2 million to support the WHO’s vaccination efforts in countries neighbouring the DRC, including South Sudan.

“Although research is ongoing, the evidence so far suggests the Ebola vaccine is a highly effective tool to help stop epidemics and can be used to prevent this national outbreak from becoming a regional one,” said Dr Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi. “Vaccinating front-line workers and health workers in South Sudan border regions will be crucial: an outbreak in South Sudan would be deeply concerning.”

Uganda began vaccinating its front-line workers in November 2018. So far, more than 2 600 health workers in eight high-risk districts have been immunized. In DRC, more than 66 000 people have been vaccinated – more than 21,000 of them are health and other front-line workers. Rwanda also plans to vaccinate its front-line responders.

The yet-to-be-licensed rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine has been shown to be highly protective against the Zaire strain of the Ebola virus in a major trial. Though not yet commercially licensed, the vaccine is being provided under what is known as “compassionate use” in the ongoing Ebola outbreak in North Kivu province of DRC as part of recommendations from the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization. This vaccine was also used in the Ebola outbreak in Equateur province of DRC in May–July 2018. 

Copyright WHO