FG Approves Establishment of 37 New Private Universities in Nigeria as NUC Gives Them Licenses

• The National Universities Commission (NUC) has issued provisional licenses to 37 new private universities
• The Executive Secretary of NUC, Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, urged the proprietors not to expect to get any financial rewards from their investment in education
• Rasheed disclosed that the 37 universities were approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on May 15

FCT, Abuja – The National Universities Commission (NUC) has urged proprietors of private universities not to expect financial rewards for establishing tertiary institutions in the country.

As reported by Leadership Newspaper, the Executive Secretary of NUC, Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, stated this while presenting provisional licenses to 37 newly approved private universities.

The 37 universities were approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on May 15.

Rasheed said:

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“In establishing universities, you don’t expect to get financial rewards. If your main motive is to make money, then you are in the wrong place. You are here to pay back to humanity.

“The establishment of private universities is in dire need of passion from people, so that passion should drive you.”

He explained the high demand and an increasing number of secondary school leavers have made access to university education a challenge in the country.

According to Rasheed, tertiary education was a prerequisite for human capital development in the country.

He said:

“The Nigerian statistics of high demand of tertiary education is grossly inadequate. Statistics put the number of enrolment in tertiary institutions at 2.23 million which is about 12 per cent of the total population of 220 million.”

List of approved federal, state and private universities in Nigeria

Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that the federal government, through the National University Commission (NUC), approved about 19 federal, state and private universities for operations between January and December 2022.

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An analysis of the data obtained from the NUC website showed that only one federal university was approved by President Muhammadu Buhari in the year 2022.

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In another report, the NUC inaugurated a committee in 2021 to create a new core curriculum and minimum academic standards for universities.

The committee constituted experts from various disciplines in Nigerian universities.

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In a similar development, a report by Agora Policy, a Nigerian think-tank committed to finding practical solutions to urgent national challenges, highlighted the tuition fees charged by some private universities in Nigeria.

The report by Bolaji Abdullahi recommended ways to reposition Nigeria’s public universities for national growth and competitiveness.