58 inmates graduate as NOUN holds 12th convocation

The National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) says 58 inmates from various correctional facilities are among graduands participating in its 12th convocation scheduled for March 25.

At a briefing in Abuja on Tuesday, Olufemi Peters, the vice-chancellor of institution, said seven of the 58 inmates are post-graduate students.

Peters said the inmates are among 28,740 students — comprising 21,339 undergraduates and 7,401 postgraduate students — that would be graduating during the convocation.

“I can tell you how these inmates are excited and grateful. They are all on scholarship. It is part of our social responsibility. We have 14 such centres in all our correctional centres. The ministry of interior wants us to extend these centres to more prisons,” he said.

“We want them to have a meaningful life after their years at the correctional centres.

“We have 6 first class students, 2,306 second class upper division, we have 11,075 students who are having second class lower divisions. We have 5,558 students who are having 3rd class. Out of this we are graduating 58 inmates.”

The VC also announced that the institution has secured accreditation for 30 programmes from the National Universities Commission (NUC).

“I want to inform you that 30 programmes of the university were given accreditation — 28 have full accreditation and two have interim accreditation,” he added.

“We have about 114 study centres across the country. There is hardly any agency of the government that has this type of spread. This is massive and it is something that we are very proud of”.