The National Universities Commission has issued provisional licences to 12 new private universities approved by the Federal Executive Council on April 6.
This brings the number of private universities in Nigeria to 111.
The presentation of the licences to proprietors of the universities was done by Adamu Adamu, Minister of Education, at the NUC auditorium in Abuja on Thursday.
The new universities are Pen Resource University, Gombe; Al-Ansar University, Maiduguri, Borno State; Margaret Lawrence University Galilee, Delta State; Khalifa Isiyaku Rabiu University, Kano, Kano State; Sports University, Idumuje, Ugboko, Delta state; and Bab Ahmed University, Kano, Kano State.
Others are Saisa University of Medical Sciences and Technology, Sokoto, Sokoto State and the Nigerian British University, Asa, Abia State; Peter University, Achina/Onneh, Anambra State; Newgate University, Minna, Niger State, European University of Nigeria, Duboyi, Abuja, FCT and Northwest University, Sokoto, Sokoto State.
The Minister, stressing the need for more universities in the country, said, “Government is well aware of the need to improve the country’s human development index ranking knowing that countries that are consistently well-ranked in human development indices have maintained a respectable number of universities relative to their population.
“In the 2020 UN human development index, Nigeria dropped three places to 161 out of 189 countries and territories. These are some of the matters we aim to address.
“As usual the provisional approval for these universities to operate is intended to create room for effective mentoring and qualitative growth within the first three years of operation.”
Adamu said that the universities would be affiliated to older generation universities for academic and administrative mentoring which would be moderated by the NUC.
The Minister urged the proprietors to sustain funding towards improving infrastructure, equipment for teaching and learning as well as human resources to earn the universities accreditation by NUC.
Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, Executive Secretary of the NUC, hailed the proprietors of the new universities, saying that “The NUC has embarked on radical re-engineering of the curricula in the Nigerian universities to meet global standards and international best practices toward preparing Nigerian graduates for relevance in world economy.
“The Benchmark Minimum Academic Standards has been revised to Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standards by NUC along with the programme best experts and industry stakeholders.
“The CCMAS, which will soon be unveiled to the public provides 70 per cent of what should be taught along with the expected outcomes, while universities will provide 30 per cent based on their individual contextual peculiarities and characteristics.
“The establishment of more private universities under the strict supervision of NUC is an antidote to the proliferation of illegal source of worry and embarrassment to the nation and a menace to quality university education delivery.’’
On behalf of the proprietors of the new universities, the Proprietor of Al-Ansar University, Maiduguri, Borno State, Dr Muhammed Dikwa, assured the NUC that its guidelines shall be strictly adhered.
