The Minister of Education, Professor Tahir Mamman, has accepted 16 years as the admission age into tertiary institutions for the 2024/2025 academic session.

Mamman who had earlier pegged the admission age of undergraduates to 18, however made a u-turn after protests from stakeholders at the 2024 policy meeting organised by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).

The minister succumbed following the argument that students under the age of 18 had already registered, sat and passed the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and were awaiting admission.

The meeting held on Thursday in Abuja and had in attendance the JAMB Registrar, Ishaq Oloyede, vice chancellers, registrars and other stakeholders.

Leading the motion against the minister’s pronouncement, Professor Kayode Ijiadunola, who got massive support from other heads, registrars and admission officers participating in the policy meeting, proposed 16 as the minimum age requirement for admission into tertiary institutions.

“What happens to those who have written this year’s exams and passed their exams? We reject 18 years as the minimum age requirement and are proposing 16 years,” he said.

While the hall erupted in support of 16 years as a minimum requirement, the Registrar of JAMB asked where parents and candidates were rushing to.

“The only point is they have taken examinations and at that time they were not told or aware and therefore if we want to enforce it, it should be from subsequent years,” Professor Oloyede said.

The minister in response says, “I can work with that but I want to remind you of one thing, even that argument cannot stand if we want to go by the law which states 6-3-3-4 as our system of education, it won’t stand but for practical reasons, for this year, I will allow it to stand.”

Reiterating the minister’s decision amidst resounding applause, Professor Oloyede added, “We thank the minister for conceding but from next year we will enforce it.”

Professor Mamman, while delivering his address earlier as the chairman of the 2024 Joint Admissions Matriculation Board’s (JAMB) policy meeting on Education, had called for the enforcement of 18 years as the new minimum admission age for admission into tertiary institutions in the country.

Nasir el-Rufai, former governor of Kaduna, has asked John Tsoho, the chief judge of the federal high court, to reassign his fundamental human rights case to another judge.

In June, el-Rufai sued the Kaduna house of assembly over the allegation that his administration diverted N423 billion when he was the governor of the state.

The former governor, through Abdulhakeem Mustapha, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), filed the fundamental rights suit at the federal high court in Kaduna.

The matter came up for a hearing on July 8 but was adjourned after proceedings to July 17 by agreement of counsel.

However, according to a letter signed by Adetayo Adeyemo and addressed to the chief judge, the court did not sit on July 17.

“On the said 17th of July 2024, our principal, A.U. Mustapha, SAN, appeared in court with S.S. Umoru, Esq., and Habib Dauda, Esq., having arrived from Lagos a day earlier, but we were informed that the court would not sit. As a result, he proceeded back to Lagos,” the letter reads.

Adeyemo said they later got information that the court would sit on July 18.

“In view of this extremely short time, we caused a letter of adjournment to be written and filed in court. The said letter was filed and served on the court and all the counsel in the matter,” he said.

Nevertheless, Adeyemo said R.M. Aikawa, the presiding judge, went ahead to hear the suit on Thursday, allowing the respondents to adopt and adumbrate their processes.

“The action of the presiding judge to hear the matter without the attendance and appearance of the applicant smacks of extreme bias, injustice, and denial of a fair hearing against the applicant for a lot of reasons,” he said.

“The applicant was not put on notice for the proceedings of 18th of July, 2024 as expressly explained in the letter of adjournment. We only got a whiff of the hearing on the night of 17th of July which is an extremely short time for us to appear in court.

“Service of hearing notice in a matter is sacrosanct, and our courts have held severally that every party must be put on notice before his case can be heard, and this was done without putting the applicants’ counsel on notice.

“Equally important is the fact that the applicant was not given an opportunity to respond to the 1st respondent’s counter-affidavit and written address.

“The 1st respondent filed his processes out of time and followed same up with an application for an extension of time. Thus, it is elementary that the applicant’s time to respond to the processes would begin to count upon the grant of the application for an extension of time.

“In view of the foregoing, we humbly apply for a transfer of this matter from the trial court presided over by honourable justice R.M. Aikawa, whereby the relevant applications can be heard as the applicant has lost confidence in the judge to continue to hear and determine the matter. Justice must not only be done but must also be seen to be done.

“Having expressly refused to put the applicant on notice before hearing the matter and proceeding to hear the same when the applicant was still within time to respond to the 1st respondent’s application, the average man on the street could see which way the judge is headed.”

In April, the Kaduna assembly inaugurated a 13-member committee to examine the loans, grants, and project implementation in the state during el-Rufai’s tenure.

The lawmakers said most of the loans obtained and projects implemented did not follow the “due process”.

They also called for the prosecution of some of the commissioners and officials who worked under el-Rufai.

The National Orientation Agency (NOA) says it has identified sponsors of the proposed nationwide protest.

There have been reports that some Nigerians, under various bodies, are planning a nationwide protest between August 1 and 10 against the rising cost of living and the economic hardship in the country.

In a statement on Thursday, Paul Odenyi, deputy director of press at NOA, said the agency has “successfully” identified the sponsors of the proposed nationwide protest and likely flashpoints where it may occur.

Odenyi quoted Lanre Issa-Onilu, director-general (DG) of the agency, as saying that the protest promoters intend to “project Nigeria as an unstable country to the international community”.

Issa-Onilu urged the promoters of the proposed nationwide protests to pursue dialogue instead of recourse to disorder.

“The identities of many of the brains behind the protest have been known, along with their collaborators who are safely residing abroad, and the government is taking necessary actions to stop their subversive plans,” the statement reads.

“The intentions of the elements behind the planned protest are not about governance or the state of the economy but a decoy to destabilise the country, cause mayhem, and carry out arson, killings, and maiming of innocent citizens for narrow political reasons.

“The NOA is intensifying efforts in civil intelligence gathering and sensitisation of community leaders, parents, and youths across the 774 local governments on the need for vigilance and collective preventive actions.”

On July 3, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said a “shadowy group” was organising a protest against its operations.

Subsequently, NOA announced that it had mobilised 4,000 of its personnel nationwide to track the activities of the group organising the protest.

…Orders 50% slash on grains

… Says Niger don’t rely on FAAC for projects

Following the planned nationwide protest against hunger and economic hardship, the Governor of Niger State, Mohammed Umaru Bago has disclosed that the youths of the state will not be joining their counterparts in other parts of the country.

New Telegraph reports that August 1st to 10th of this year has been slated for the nationwide protest.

Speaking at a town hall meeting with stakeholders at the Justice Legbo Kutigi conference centre in Minna on Thursday the Governor said “Our youths are peaceful and would not be drawn into any protest.”

Accordingly, he said “We, as youths of Niger state have distanced ourselves from the nationwide protest because we are peaceful and want peace and tranquillity.

You can start demonstrations but you cannot end demonstrations. To youths who are agitating for this protest, let us end this agitation, let us communicate and dialogue on the best way forward.”

The governor then announced the release of 50,000 metric tonnes of grains which he said would be sold at 50 per cent of its current price.

In his words: “We have over 100, 000 metric tonnes of food in our reserves, we will be releasing 50,000 metric tonnes to be sold at 50 per cent of its current price. And before the end of the year, we will slash food price by 90 per cent”.

Also, the Governor of Niger state declared his support for the autonomy of local governments but urged them to sit up as several of them could not pay salaries for a year.

Speaking on the reliance on Federal Allocation, Governor BAGO said “Niger state government does not depend on FAAC to finance its projects or move the state forward.

I do not need FAAC in Niger state. The roads I am building, the projects I have undertaken is not being done by FAAC. We are producing and that is the secret behind what we are doing. There are people who have invested in Niger state in the next five years.

“The food I am giving out at 50 per cent subsidy was originally meant for export but due to the hardship faced by the people, we have opened our warehouses to feed Nigerlites.”

The Emir of Bida and the Chairman of the council of traditional rulers of Niger state, Alhaji Abubakar Yahaya said that protest is not a way to go urging the youths not to join in the temptation of joining the planned nationwide protest.

The Speaker of the House of Assembly, Honorable Abdulmalik Sarkindaji in his address also called on the youths of the state not to be part of the protest stating that the state will organize programmes for the youths to engage in while others are protesting in other states.

Also, chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria CAN Niger state, Most Rev. Dr. Bulus Dauwa Yohanna admonished Nigerlites to embrace whatever would lead to peace.

According to him “let us remain peaceful and pray for the state, the government and then support government’s programmes and policies.”

Governor Bago presented cars to members of the House of Assembly, Commissioners, Judges, Chief Imam of the state, the state CAN Chairman, and Service Chiefs.