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FG to establish vocational hubs, entrepreneurship centres in tertiary institutions
President Bola Tinubu says his administration has concluded arrangements to establish 24 skills and vocational hubs in polytechnics across the country.
The president who was represented by the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, disclosed this at the 38th convocation ceremony of Bayero University Kano (BUK).
He said the Federal Government would also establish entrepreneurship centres in the universities across the country.
The president said the administration was also planning to revive 970 Tsangaya Centres for integrated learning and development of Almajiri education system in the country.
“We are also building 91 vocational schools in the secondary schools across the country to ensure that all levels of education feel the impact of our policy,” he said.
The Vice Chancellor of BUK, Prof. Sagir Abbas, disclosed that the institution was now ranked as the 5th best university in Nigeria.
“Over the last two years, for example, the university has made a number of giant strides.
“Bayero University, Kano, emerged the 4th Best university in Nigeria in the February 2023 ranking of universities released by Times Higher Education (THE).
“I am delighted also to inform you that in the latest 2024 World University Assessment by the Times Higher Education of United Kingdom, BUK was ranked the 5th best in Nigeria
It is trailing Covenant University, the University of Ibadan, the University of Lagos and Federal University of Technology, Akure as 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th respectively.
“In addition to emerging 5th best university, BUK is also the Best University in the North-West, North-East, South-East and South-South zones.
“Bayero University was ranked the second best university in Nigeria in terms of international outlook, coming after Covenant University.
“We will not relent in our determination to improve the visibility of the university on the global scene by consistently being visible on the university website as well as publishing research work in reputable journals.
“We will also engage in more collaboration with individuals and industries at the international level,” he said.
Abbas also disclosed that the staggered convocation, which began on Tuesday witnessed the award of Bachelor’s degrees to 11,284 qualified candidates from 18 faculties and the School of Continuing Education.
“Bayero University is a globally top-ranked university with commitment to education, research and community services. Over the last couple of years, the university has been pursuing some vision plans
They include transformation from a basically teaching to a research-based university, transformation from a predominantly Arts/Humanities to Science-based university.
“It is also transforming to a communications technology driven university, to become a global best practice university,” he said.
The vice chancellor said the university’s management and the Senate were working tirelessly to attain the anticipated objectives.
The ceremony held at the institution’s Convocation Arena on Gwarzo Road, Kano, and featured the award of higher degrees, first degrees, honorary degrees, diplomas and prizes to deserving students.
Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, and the President of the African Development Bank, Dr Akinwumi Adeshina, were awarded Honorary Doctorate degrees at the ceremony.
Nigerians may experience an increase in the prices of premium energy products diesel and petrol as the Dangote Petroleum Refinery temporarily halts the sale of petroleum products in Naira.
“This decision is necessary to avoid a mismatch between our sales proceeds and our crude oil purchase obligations, which are currently denominated in US dollars,” the company said in a statement yesterday.
The $20billion refinery based in Lagos said the sales of its products in Naira have exceeded the value of Naira-denominated crude it has received from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).
“As a result, we must temporarily adjust our sales currency to align with our crude procurement currency,” the company explained.
The refinery said it remained committed to serving the Nigerian market and would resume the sale of its product to the local market in Naira as soon as it received crude cargoes from the NNPCL in Naira.
“As soon as we receive an allocation of Naira-denominated crude cargoes from NNPC, we will promptly resume petroleum product sales in Naira,” it said.
The announcement by the refinery comes amid its price war with the NNPCL.
As part of moves to reduce the strain on the US dollars, and guarantee price stability of petroleum products, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in July 2024, directed the NNPCL to sell crude oil to Dangote Refinery and other local refineries in naira and not in United States’ greenback.
In the beginning of March 2025, the NNPCL said its Naira-denominated crude sales agreement with the Dangote Refinery was structured for six months with March 2025 as the expiration date.
The state company, however, said that talks were on to replace the contract, and that over 48 million barrels of crude oil have been made available to Dangote Refinery since October 2024 under the Naira-denominated arrangement.
The NNPCL also said it had made over 84 million barrels of crude oil available to the private refinery since it commenced operations in 2023.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, faces energy challenges, with all its state-owned refineries non-operational for decades until 2024. The country was heavily reliant on imported refined petroleum products, with the state-run NNPCL being the major importer of the essential commodities.
Fuel queues are commonplace in the country. Prices of petrol more than quadrupled since the removal of subsidy in May 2023 by President Bola Tinubu, from around ¦ 200/litre to about ¦ 1,000/litre, compounding the woes of the citizens who power their vehicles, and generating sets with petrol, no thanks to decades-long epileptic electricity supply.
Last December, the billionaire industrialist commenced operations at the facility situated in Lagos with 350,000 barrels a day. The refinery, which was initially bogged by regulatory battles, hopes to achieve its full capacity of 650,000 barrels per day by the end of the year. The refinery has begun the supply of diesel and aviation fuel to marketers in the country and now petrol.
Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna has overtaken Egypt’s Omar Assar to become Africa’s highest-ranked player in the world, now sitting at 18th in the week 12 ranking released on Tuesday.
Aruna moved up from 19th place in week 11 to 18th in the latest ranking, while Assar dropped from 17th to 19th.
Denmark’s Jonathan Groth took over Assar’s 17th place, moving up from 18th.
Despite finishing as runner-up at the 2025 ITTF Africa Cup, Aruna’s impressive performances at the WTT tournaments this year have boosted his ranking.
Aruna remains the only African male player to have reached the semi-finals of the WTT Contender Doha, repeating his 2023 feat earlier this year in January.
This achievement has propelled him ahead of Assar, who beat him to become the champion of the 2025 ITTF Africa Cup.
Aruna’s next tournament is the WTT Contender Chennai which serves off in India from March 23 to 20.
In the women’s singles, Egypt’s Hana Goda maintained her top spot in Africa, moving up one place to 26th in the week 12 ITTF ranking. Her compatriot, Dina Meshref, remained static at 33rd, holding her position as the second-best-ranked female player in Africa.
China’s Wang Chuqin retained his position as the second-best player globally, behind his compatriot Lin Shidong, who continues to hold the top spot. Japanese superstar Tomokazu Harimoto dethroned China’s Liang Jingkun as the third-best player in the world after his semifinal finish in Chongqing.
In the women’s ranking, the top five remained unchanged, with China’s Sun Yingsha holding onto her top spot after retaining her WTT Champions Chongqing title.
