The management of Dana Air has, in a statement on Tuesday, confirmed reports that one of its aircraft with registration number 5N BKI skidded off the runway at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos on Tuesday morning.

While expressing regret that the aircraft which flew from Abuja to Lagos, skidded off the runway in an attempt to land, it expressed relief that no casualty was recorded, stating that it had informed the Accident Investigation Bureau and the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority of the incident.

The statement read, “Dana Air regrets to inform the public of a runway incursion involving one of our aircraft, registration number 5N BKI, which was flying from Abuja to Lagos today 23/04/24

“We are relieved to confirm that all 83 passengers and crew onboard the flight disembarked safely without injuries or scare as the crew handled the situation with utmost professionalism.”

“We have also updated the AIB and NCAA on the incident and the aircraft involved has been grounded by our maintenance team for further investigation.”

The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, has hinted that the Federal government would review age requirement for admission into tertiary institutions in the country.

The minister, who pegged 18 years as benchmark for admission into universities, advised parents not to push their underage wards to higher institutions, especially university education, below the age of 18.

Mamman spoke to journlaits after monitoring the ongoing Unified Tertiary matriculation Examination, UTME, in some of the centres in Abuja.

The minister said he is not happy with the age of some candidates that applied to write the examination, noting that they are still far before required age to seek admission into universities.

He, however, applauded the conduct of the examination, describing it as peaceful just as he said irregularities where were visibly noticeable in the past, has drastically reduced.

He said: “The examination process is seamless. The environment is comfortable for students. That’s how it should be, especially with the use of technology in our affairs and the educational system. It makes life easy for everybody and seamless.

“As we know, this examination is going on throughout the country. It is being monitored everywhere seamlessly and from the report I have heard, the malpractice level is very low, just a 100 out of 1.2million.It is the use of technology that has made that happen, so this is very good.

“The other thing, which we noticed, is the age of those who have applied to go to the university. Some of them are really too young. We are going to look at it because they are too young to understand what the university education is all about.

“That’s the stage when students migrate from a controlled environment where they are in charge of their own affairs. So if they are too young, they won’t be able to manage properly.

“That accounts to some of the problems we are seeing in the universities.

“We are going to look at that. 18 is the entry age for university. But you will see students, 15, 16, going to the examination. It is not good for us. Parents should be encouraged not to push their wards, children too much.”

He hinted that beneficiaries of the Federal government students loan will cut across both higher education and skill acquisition, saying it was important that “students who are not being able to proceed to tertiary education, should be able to have a meaningful life even after secondary school, even primary education actually.”

According to him, the percentage of admission out of the registered number of candidates that applied, is “about 20 percent- universities, polytechnics and colleges of educations.”

He continued:  “They are our children, our wards living with us. This is why the issue of skills acquisition is very important because, any students, who is not able to proceed to tertiary education, should be able to have a meaningful life even after secondary school, even primary education actually.

“The only solution to that is skill; by talking skills right from the time they entered school, for the primary school. Somebody should finish with one skill or another. That is part of the assumption of the 6-3-3-4 system.

“It is assumed that by the time a student finishes up to JSS level, he would have acquired some skills. If he does not proceed to senior secondary level, he would have acquired some skills that will help him navigate life and cease to be a burden on parents and society.

‘That is why skill is just the most important thing for us now. We are going to drive through the education sector for both public and private sectors, to empower the young ones.

“Tertiary education is encouraged but not every child needs to go to the university or polytechnic. It is mandatory and government is in support and there is a constitutional requirement to educate every Nigerian child up to that level of education. But with the introduction of the Student Loan Scheme, access will not be a problem.

“Parents will now be supported both for tertiary and even the skills we are talking about. That is one of the most important policies government has been able to provide,” he added.

By Eric Elezuo

Human rights activist and constitutional lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, has denied authorship of an article titled “Why Has EFCC Not Arrested Yari and Mattawale Bello Despite Similar Court Order”, and making the rounds in the media space, saying the allegation was a lie from the pit of hell.

Ozekhome made the remarks in a statement made available to The Boss, declaring that he “did not, never did, nor will I ever contemplate spewing out such odious inanity and banal statement devoid of common sense and reasoning”

In the statement, he noted:

“How can I, Matawalle’s friend and lawyer of many years, utter such nonsense? How could I be linked with a statement suggesting meddling into a matter that is subjudice; or media trial, ad homine application of laws; or conviction before trial, when the whole world knows me for preaching and writing human rights, due process democracy and good governance for over four decades?

“I hereby WHOLLY DENOUNCE the writeup. I also hereby humbly urge MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC TO IGNORE the statement and its banner headline, all of which are utterly false, baseless, unfounded and which are simply idiotic.

“They constitue nothing but hallucinations from the fertile imagination of the writer. Such statements are spewed by faceless idle internet crawlers that nobel laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, once historically described as “millipedes of the internet”.

“It is apposite to note here that the issue of me being the author can not even arise because the faceless author still quoted an alleged earlier statement purportedly made by me of I defeating the EFCC 11 times.I couldn’t have been authoring a statement, yet quoting myself, saying, “No wonder the renowned senior advocate, Mike Ozekhome described the anti graft agency with the following statement. EFCC is a paper tiger, i have taken them to court eleven times and defeated them,” he wrote.

He further advised the members of the public to “Please, ignore the statement and consign it to the trashcan of history where it rightly belongs.”