President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has asked Nigerian tertiary institutions to follow the guidelines for good governance and proper financial management developed by the federal government following their removal from the Integrated Personnel Payment System (IPPIS).

The president stated this at the 13th convocation ceremony of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) and Investiture of the new Chancellor of NOUN, Oba of Benin, His Royal Majesty Omo N'Oba N'Edo Uku' Akpolokpolo Ewuare II on Saturday in Abuja.

Tinubu said following the approval to take tertiary institutions off the payment platform, the Federal Ministry of Education, in collaboration with relevant stakeholders, developed guidelines for tertiary institutions in the country to ensure good governance and proper financial management.

President Tinubu, who was represented by the Deputy Executive Secretary, Academics at the National Universities Commission, Joel Saliu, said: "This administration will continue to promote open and distance learning approach as one of the strategies to improve access to education."

"To this end, four private open universities were granted licenses to operate along with NOUN. This is a demonstration of the commitment of the Federal Government to the vision of integrating technology into tertiary education delivery in order to improve quality, access and affordability."

Speaking, the Vice Chancellor of NOUN, Prof Olufemi Peters, said the university has grown from 1,230 students in 2003, to 170,000 active students in 2024 while the study centres expanded nationwide from 17 in 2003 to over 120 study centres, including those within correctional facilities across the country.

He said the varsity graduated a total of 22, 175 students with 15, 768 undergraduates and 6,407 post graduates out of which 22 bagged a First Class, 1, 886 Second Class Upper, 8,427 Second Class Lower, 3,782, Third Class and a few Pass degrees.