The senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has amended the Law that established the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) and made provision for the graduates of NOUN to participate in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme and the Law School.
The amendment followed a clause by clause consideration of the report of the Senate Committee on Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), chaired by Senator Jibrin Barau on the amendment of NOUN Act. The review aligned NOUN’s Act with the requirements of the Universities Miscellaneous Provisions (Amendment) Act 2012, which regulate all universities in the country.
In his submission, Chairman of the Committee, Senator Jibrin Barau said the amendment would address the wrong perception that NOUN was an on-line university. He allayed the fears of would-be and current students of the NOUN that the certificates obtained were valid and equal to any from any university in Nigeria and the world. The major difference was the mode of delivery and other related assessment methods, he maintained.
He observed that the usage of the two concepts of correspondence and part-time to describe the university had significantly affected the way the public viewed its programmes and was partly the reason Law graduates of the NOUN were refused admission into the Nigerian Law School as well as their exclusion from the National Youth Service Scheme.
He added that NOUN was duly established and licenced with enabling laws and had full complements of required human and material resources to deliver its mandate.