FG okays establishment of 12 new varsities

From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja

The Federal Executive Council  (FEC) meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, granted approval for the establishment of 12 new private universities.

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, who briefed journalists on behalf of the Ministry of Education at the end of the meeting, said the 12 universities would be mentored by already existing ones in their various locations, especially in the recruitment of principal officers, academic and administrative staff, availability of human and material resources for the commencement of any academic programme, among others.

Mohammed said the country  does not have enough universities to accommodate the teeming population of youths desirous for university education, hence the licences for the new universities.

He said the Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba presented the memo on behalf of the National Universities Commission for the universities and it was approved by the cabinet.

He listed the states where the universities are sited to include Kano, Niger, Gombe, Sokoto, Delta, Abia, Anambra and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. 

The proposed private universities are Pen Resource University Gombe, Gombe State; Al-Ansar Univeristy, Maiduguri, Borno State; Margaret Lawrence University, Delta State; Khalifa Ishaku Rabiu University Kano, Kano State;  Sports University Idumuje Ugboko, Delta State; Bala Ahmed University Kano; Saisa University of Medical Sciences and Technology, Sokoto State; Nigerian-British University Hasa, Abia State; Peter University Acina-Onene, Anambra State; Newgate University, Minna, Niger State;  European University of Nigeria in Duboyi, Abuja and t North-West University Sokoto.

Asked if the strike by university unions was discussed at the meeting, Mohammed said  the relevant ministries and agencies were interfacing with striking unions like Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Non-Academic Staff Union of Allied and Educational Institutions, (NASU) and National Association of Academic Technologists, (NAAT) to end the strike.