Mani centre advocacy team at the council chair’s office
The newly-established Mani Community Study Centre in Katsina State has launched series of advocacy campaigns, which signalled the full commencement of operations at the centre.
As a community centre, the first port of call was the office of the Chairman, Mani Local Government Council, Dr. Yunusa Sani Bagiwa.
The visit, tagged “Familiarisation and Advocacy visit” being the first contact between the university community and the stakeholders in the area, and to intimate and create awareness on the mode of operation as well as the benefits to the community and beyond.
The director of the centre, Mr. Shamwil Salisu, shortly after introduction of his team, narrated the historical trend in the evolution of the National Open University of Nigeria from 1983 to date.
Moreover, he buttressed on the mode of the university’s delivery system as an Open and Distance Learning institution.
Salisu all the programmes run by NOUN are accredited by the National Universities Commission (NUC), as Commonwealth of Learning (COL), with headquarters in Vancouver, Canada, and African Centre for Distance Education (ACDE) with its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya.
He explained the three philosophies of affordability, accessibility and flexibility upon which the university operates on, adding that NOUN operates a transparent and open admission policy.
Speaking on the requirements, the director said the university do not consider Joint Admission and Matriculation Board Examination (JAMB) as a prerequisite but candidates must have the basic Mathematics and English Language as well as any other three relevant subjects.
The director, therefore, called on the chairman to consider sponsoring students to study in the various courses and to encourage staff to enroll as their studies will not affect their official duties and responsibilities.
He also appealed for the construction of a parameter fence and public toilet borehole for water supply and drainage.
The centre director used the visit to extend the condolences of the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Olufemi Peters and the entire university community to the chairman and the good people of Mani on the demise of Late Hajiya Yaha Mani, the former chairman of the council.
Reacting to the director’s speech, the chairman expressed his appreciation for having NOUN in the community.
Bagiwa promised to see the area in which the local government could key-in for the intervention and promised to mobilise his counterparts to also support the centre.
He assured the director that he would do hid best to ensure that other council chairmen from the zone also sponsor students.
The council chairman thanked the NOUN Vice-Chancellor for the condolences and extended his special regards the entire university community.
