ABUJA — The Federal Government has approved the establishment of nine new private universities across Nigeria, ending years of delays in the accreditation process.
Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, announced the approvals on Wednesday while briefing State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The newly approved institutions are:
- Tazkiyah University, Kaduna State
- Leadership University, Abuja
- Jimoh Babalola University, Kwara State
- Bridget University, Mbaise, Imo State
- Greenland University, Jigawa State
- JEFAP University, Niger State
- Azione Verde University, Imo State
- Unique Open University, Lagos State
- American Open University, Ogun State
Alausa revealed that the Tinubu administration inherited 551 pending applications for new tertiary institutions, which were subjected to tougher approval standards. This screening reduced the list to 79 active requests, out of which nine received the green light on Wednesday.
According to the minister, several of the newly approved universities had been awaiting accreditation for over six years, despite having completed campuses and invested billions of naira.
“Due to inefficiencies within the NUC, approvals were delayed. We have since introduced reforms to streamline these processes, and today’s approvals are a result of clearing this backlog,” Alausa said.
He added that the government has now placed a moratorium on fresh applications for private universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education — except for those that meet the newly introduced operational standards.
Comments