The National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) has said the World Bank and another unnamed leading bank in the country, have pledged to sponsor and enrol about 100 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the various camps across the country to access education in the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN).
NOUN’s Vice Chancellor, Prof. Abdulla Adamu, said this yesterday in Abuja, at the first public lecture of the institution delivered by President and CEO, Commonwealth of Learning (COL), Prof. Ashas Kanwar, themed, “Can ODL Reach The Unreached? Lessons from the Commonwealth.”
He said the World Bank was willing to provide education facilities to states to educate Nigerians, urging state governments to avail themselves of such facilities.
“We mentioned to one of the leading banks in Nigeria about the challenges we face with educating people with IDPs and with our willingness to help them and a representative of that bank made an unofficial statement but they say they will back it up, that they will sponsor 100 IDPs in the camps.
“So we are still working out the modalities for which they can pick up 100 individuals from all the IDP camps and enrol them for National Open University. The bank will pay.
Adamu also revealed that the varsity hoped to provide education for one million less privileged Nigerians who can’t afford to pay for it through sponsorship with corporate organizations.
He said that Nigeria, like the rest of the world, was facing the challenges of expanding access, improving quality and ensuring equity in higher education.
“Globally, virtually all countries are facing the triple challenge of expanding access, improving quality and ensuring equity, especially in higher education.
“Underpinning this challenge is the growing and urgent need to train and continuously refresh the knowledge and skills of each open and distance learning (ODL) stakeholder in an increasingly globalized knowledge economy.
“While the challenge is global in nature, its impact is particularly pronounced in Africa, which has the world’s highest illiteracy rates, lowest participation rates, huge capacity development needs and a massive demand for tertiary education.”
The NOUN VC said, “So if the states buy the idea of sponsoring these people, then the World Bank will support it. But why will the states not buy it because it doesn’t cost them anything. We have an opportunity to educate a huge number of our people who don’t have the money because they are poor or have a lot of other things on their minds.
“So these are good strategies that will lead to greater access and equity so that more and more people will get educated.”
He said there was need to intensify efforts to ensure that internally displaced persons and poor people were captured by NOUN and where communities cannot provide financial support, the institution was looking at corporate and international organizations to see how much assistance they could provide to reach the unreached.
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