The Federal Government has granted approval for the establishment of nine new private universities across Nigeria.
The Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, announced the decision on Wednesday during a briefing with State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Bola Tinubu in Abuja.
The newly approved institutions include 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; and American Open University, Ogun State.
Alausa revealed that the Tinubu administration inherited “551 pending requests for the establishment of tertiary institutions”, which were reviewed under stricter approval guidelines. This process reduced the applications to 79 active cases, out of which nine received approval on Wednesday.
He further explained that several of the approved universities had been awaiting accreditation for over six years, with their promoters having already developed 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,” the minister said.
Alausa added that the Federal Government had now placed a moratorium on new applications for private universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education, except for those that meet the new operational standards.
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