Former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Attahiru Jega, has gotten a fresh appointment with the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Igbere TV reports.
Igbere TV reports that Jega was appointed Chairman, Committee on Internalisation of Admission into Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria by the Admissions body.
This comes weeks after the ex INEC boss formally joined partisan politics ahead 2023 general elections.
Igbere TV had reported that Jega joined the People’s Redemption Party (PRP) on August 3, and he was said to have been appointed to head a committee in the party.
JAMB said in its weekly bulletin obtained by Igbere TV on Monday that the Jega-led admission committee is expected to come up with strategies on international admissions, partnerships and academic programmes, as well as the promotion of foreign language programmes.
“The immediate past Chairman of INEC, Prof Attahiru Jega, has been appointed as Chairman of the Committee on Internationalisation of Admissions into Tertiary Educational Institutions in Nigeria. The committee was conceived during the 2019 Conference of Rectors, Vice-Chancellors and Presidents of African Universities in Egypt in July”, the statement partly read.
“The JAMB registrar said setting up the committee had become necessary in the view of the prevailing localisation of tertiary institutions in the country. The committee is encouraged to support tertiary institutions, particularly the universities, on how to attract foreign candidates into the Nigerian education system.
“The Jega-led committee is also charged with suggesting veritable means through which the foreign centres of JAMB can attract more candidates, especially Nigerians in the diaspora, to apply for admission in Nigerian universities”, the statement added.
The JAMB Registrar, Prof Is-haq Oloyede, who inaugurated the committee, said its duty was to put in place the machinery to attract foreign students into Nigerian tertiary institutions, starting from the 2019/2020 academic session.
According to the bulletin, the former INEC Chairman said, “I have gone through the terms of reference underscoring the intention of the board to internationalise the nation’s universities. If this is achieved, it will improve the rating of our universities and appreciate their capacity to compete with their international counterparts.”
Igbere TV reports members of the committee to include a former Vice-Chancellor of the National Open University, Prof Olugbemiro Jegede, and a former Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Prof Olushola Oyewole and seven others.
