By Felix Umande from Makurdi

The President of the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools, NAPPS, Benue State Chapter, Hon. Ada Sunday Ojo, has faulted the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, for assigning candidates to examination centres far from their homes, warning that the policy ignores the country’s fragile security climate.

Hon. Ojo spoke in an interview with Press Icon Newspape in Makurdi, while reacting to the abduction of JAMB candidates who were travelling from Makurdi to Otukpo on Wednesday night for an examination scheduled the next day.

“JAMB should have considered the security situation in the country and learnt to take precautionary measures,” Ojo counseled. “Candidates must not have to travel long distances to write their exams. The Board should split the numbers and post them to nearer centres.”

The NAPPS president insisted that JAMB must review its centre-allocation system to prioritise safety, arguing that posting teenagers across volatile routes at night exposes them to avoidable danger.

“If centres in Makurdi are full, then stagger the exam dates. Don’t move the children into risk.” Hon. Ada said.

Reports indicate that an 18-seater Benue Links bus was conveying passengers, most of whom were candidates scheduled to sit for the UTME the following day, when it was attacked by armed persons at the Ikobi area along the Makurdi–Otukpo road on Wednesday night.

During the incident, the driver and a few passengers managed to escape, while 15 passengers were reportedly abducted. Two of the abducted passengers subsequently escaped, bringing the number of those currently unaccounted for to 13.

In an official statement made on Friday, however the Benue Links Transport Company distanced itself from the journey, describing it as “unauthorised and conducted in clear violation of the company’s operational guidelines.”

According to the management, a standing directive prohibits all company vehicles from undertaking journeys beyond 6:00 p.m. due to prevailing security challenges. The driver, it added, acted “without the knowledge or approval of Management, removed the vehicle from the company’s premises, picked up passengers and embarked on the journey without due documentation or clearance.”

Because the trip was not officially recorded, the company added that it does not have comprehensive details of the affected passengers, “aside from indications that a majority were JAMB candidates.”

Meanwhile, the driver involved is currently in police custody as investigations continue to ascertain the full circumstances surrounding the incident.

The Benue State Commissioner of Police on his part said efforts are ongoing to locate and rescue the 13 missing passengers.

By Son Tertsea, Abuja

The Federal Government is to embark on the full automation of the authentication and evaluation of academic credentials, aimed at ending physical visits for verification processes.

In a statement on Thursday, the Federal Ministry of Education through the Director of Press and Public Relations, Folasade Boriowo, stressed that the reform is in furtherance of the current government’s digital transformation agenda.

“The Federal Ministry of Education has fully automated the process for the Authentication and Evaluation of academic credentials as part of ongoing efforts to strengthen transparency, improve data management, and enhance public service delivery,” the statement said.

The new arrangement requires applicants to register and upload documents via the ministry’s verification portal at essverify.education.gov.ng.

They are also expected to request their institutions to send transcripts directly from official institutional email addresses to ess1@education.gov.ng

Justifying the new system, the statement added, “This transition to a fully automated platform is expected to simplify procedures, reduce processing time, and further strengthen the integrity and credibility of academic credential verification in Nigeria,”

By Richard Abu, Abuja

The Nasarawa State University, Keffi Monday carried out environmental sanitation at Mokwala and Yelwa communities of Keffi town as part of activities lined up for the celebration of her 8th combined convocation ceremonies which was done by the staff of the university in collaboration with staff of the Nasarawa State Waste Management and Sanitation Authority.

During the event, the university is to also celebrate her 25 yeas of existence.

Earlier, there was an inter – denominational church service at the Chapel of Salvation on Sunday. .

Speaking at the venue of the sanitation, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Sa’Adatu Hassam Liman represented by the Vice Chancellor administration, Professor Halima Doma Kutigi, stressed the need for the sanitation exercise which she said became necessary to expose the students of the university to the practical sanitary conditions apart from the theoretical knowledge acquired in the classroom.

Professor Kutigi who is the chairman, health sub-committee.for the combined convocation said Keffi town has hosted the university for the past twenty five years and stressed the need to do the sanitation as part of its social responsibility to the town.

Furthermore, she said that the exercise was to expose students to practical health education and sanitation.

In his speech, the Director General of the Nasarawa State Waste Management and Sanitation Authority, Dr. Musa Isa Bello, pointed out that the agency has decided to collaborate with the university in the areas of sanitation so that the students will imbibe the spirit of keeping the environment clean.