THE Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu and the Minister of State for Education, Prof. Anthony Anwukah, yesterday received briefings from chief executives of some parastatals in the ministry, noting their mandates, organisational structure, achievements and challenges.

The Executive Secretary of National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Julius Okojie; Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB), Prof. Dibu Ojerinde and Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), Prof. Suleiman Bogoro, took their turns to brief the ministers and the Permanent Secretary, Dr. (Mrs.) Folasade Yemi- Esan.

The meeting was aimed at acquainting the ministers about the operations of the parastatals. This is even as the ministers promised to carefully study the briefing documents submitted by the agencies.

Earlier, the Executive Secretary of NUC had briefed the ministers about the commission from its formation to the present day, saying that the NUC has grown from strength to strength over the years.

According to him, the main thrust of the Commission’s activities is to improve access and quality of university education in Nigeria, stressing that the Commission has continued to maintain high standard on the issue of accreditation of universities and their courses.

The number of accredited universities till date, he said, stands at 141, comprising 40 federal, 40 state and 61 private universities, adding that Nigerian universities now rank very high among international community system.

Similarly, Registrar of JAMB, Prof. Ojerinde, said the board has continued to improve on its services thereby easing the conduct of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and speedy release of result of the examination which is now completely computerised.

According to him, about 600 centres have been identified for the 2016 exercise, including special centres for the physically-challenged and candidates in the Diaspora.

Ojerinde, however, expressed worry over the discriminatory cut-off marks of 180 and 150 respectively adopted each year by the policy committee in favour of polytechnics and colleges of education, stressing that the practice defeats the aim of the UTME.

On his own, Executive Secretary of TETFUND, Prof. Bogoro, said the Fund has become a brand for many African countries, noting that five countries have now established similar fund modeled after the Nigerian experience.

Prof. Bogoro reiterated the strategic importance of the Fund, which he noted, has also been widely acknowledged to be the messiah of the education system.