By John Oba
Abuja
A coalition of civil society group has commended the decision of management of National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), led by Professor Abdallah Adamu, to terminate the contract of two films that was handling the iLearning platform of the university.
Stating that the process was in order, the group advised the university management to sustain its efforts at enhancing transparency and accountability in the institution.
Briefing journalists in Abuja, the Executive Director, Initiative for Leadership and Economic Watch in Nigeria, Amb. Agbonkpolor Splendor, questioned the rational of engaging competent staff, but the manning of the university’s information and learning system was contracted to private films.
“The entire information management and learning platforms of NOUN were being handled by two private firms – Cyberspace and Emerging Platform, respectively. This practice was on despite the fact that the university had well trained and competent staff who could competently man the NOUN information and learning system.
“The greater bulk of work was being carried out by NOUN staff paid by the federal government with minimal inputs from these private firms.
The termination of the contract of these firms- in line with due process – is a healthy and welcome development,” he said.
Also, the Director of Media and Publicity, Empowerment for Unemployed Youth Initiative, Danesi Momoh, called on the leadership of the institution to sustain the successes recorded by the newly created e-Learning portal which replaced iLearn created by the old contractors.
Danesi said stakeholders in the education system should rise and jettison “all falsehoods being peddled by the fifth columnists targeted at ruining the great gains being recorded at the NOUN.”
