A Nigerian lecturer, Dr Nsikak Akpan is currently on a quest to break the Guinness World Record, GWR, for the longest lecture.

Akpan was permitted by the GWR to break the existing longest lecture currently held by an Indian Professor, Arvin Mishra who lectured for 139 hours 52 minutes 42 seconds lecture in 2014.

The Provost of Foreign Links College started the quest on Monday, September 23 inside the school campus, Moro, Ife-North local government, and as of the time of filing this report Wednesday afternoon, has lectured for 54 hours.

The Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU, alumni is delivering a lecture on, “the relationship between man’s environment and health”, with students of the school sitting as audience.

He is set to complete the task on Sunday, September 29, 2024, by 5 pm.

When completed, he would be the first Nigerian lecturer to complete such a task.

According to him, the quest is aimed at giving back to the academic environment as he attempts to tell the world about the consequences of abusing the environment on man.

Applications for the Commonwealth master’s scholarship for the 2024/25 academic year are now open in Nigeria.

The education ministry’s federal scholarship board, which coordinates such government-affiliated programmes, is calling for applications.

The Commonwealth scholarship is managed by the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (CSC) in the UK and is led by international development objectives.

It is awarded to people with the potential to make a positive impact in their countries and on the global stage.

As part of the UK’s Commonwealth commitment, an estimated 700 students are annually sponsored to undertake postgraduate degrees.

To be eligible for the award, an applicant must be a citizen or permanent resident of a Commonwealth country, have an undergraduate degree of at least upper second class (2:1), and be unable to afford to study in the UK without a scholarship.

Candidates are either agency-nominated in their countries or nominated by non-governmental charitable bodies.

The federal scholarship board, while calling on Nigerians to apply for the CSC’s master’s and doctorate scholarships, said Nigerian candidates must additionally have a youth service exemption or discharge certificate.

It said applicants must have gotten at least two admissions from UK universities and print out their application form before submission.

The FSB said the applications are open from September 10 and will last until October 15, 2024.

In funding, the Commonwealth scholarship provides airfare for the scholar’s travel to and from the UK.

Their full fees are covered by an agreement between the CSC and the UK university.

To date, over 31,000 have taken up a Commonwealth scholarship or fellowship since the first group of 175 arrived in the UK in 1960.

AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, the Kwara state governor, has appointed Folorunsho Salman as the pioneer acting vice-chancellor of the newly established Kwara State University of Education (KWSUED).

In July, the National Universities Commission (NUC) issued an approval that recognised the conversation of Kwara’s college of education in Ilorin to a university.

The state assembly had passed the relevant legislation, with a delegation submitting the institution’s academic brief and a physical master plan to the NUC.

Rafiu Ajakaye, the chief press secretary to the governor, confirmed to TheCable on Tuesday that Medinat Folorunsho Salman will now become the institution’s pioneer acting VC.

Salman is a professor of mathematics education.

Until her appointment, she was a senior lecturer at the department of science education and coordinator of the educational technology centre at the University of Ilorin.

Salman earned her Bachelor of Education from Ahmadu Bello University Zaria in 1985.

She obtained a master’s degree in Mathematics Education at the University of Ilorin in 1990 and a doctorate in Mathematics Education in 1998.

Salman is the first female professor from the Ilorin Emirate.

Her research interests are Mathematics Education, gender issues in mathematics & science education, and innovation in mathematics education for the developing world.