The Federal Ministry of Education on Tuesday issued
provisional licences to the six newly established private universities. The
Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, gave the provisional licences to the
institutions in Abuja.
The institutions are Admiralty University Ibusa in Delta;
Spiritan University Neochi, Abia; Precious Cornerstone University in Ibadan,
Oyo State; Pamo University of Medica Sciences, Port Harcourt; Atiba University
in Oyo, Oyo State; and Eko University of Medical and Health Sciences, Ijanikin,
Lagos State.
Adamu, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary of the
ministry, Mr Sonny Echono said the Federal Executive Council approved the
take-off of the universities on Dec. 6. Dec. 6.
He said that the approvals were given to the universities to
provide quality education in Nigeria.
He said the approval had increased the number of private
universities in the country to 74.
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| Mallam Adamu Adamu |
He said, “The problems of access to quality education in
Nigeria has poised serious challenges and therefore required serious efforts to
address them.
“The approval of the universities tends to address the issue
of access to university education.
“Private
universities in Nigeria have contributed and will continue to contribute to the
development of education in the country.
“The competition of private universities has contributed
to healthy delivery within the system.”
He called on the institutions’ administrators to ensure
the highest standard of best practices to achieve academic excellence in their
programmes.
Earlier, the Executive Secretary, National Universities
Commission, Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, said quality control must be strictly
adhered to.
He said, “With about two million candidates applying for
admission into universities annually, the university system is only able to
accommodate about 500,000 students yearly.
“And so, there is need to license more universities to help
deal with the challenge of access to education.”
Also, Former head of state, Gen. Abdusalami Abubakar called
on Nigerians to maintain peace in the country to ensure educational
development. Abubakar also urged universities to maintain and ensure
quality education for the betterment of all Nigerians.
He said with a total of 160 universities in Nigeria out of
which 74 are private universities, 46 states and 40 federal universities, there
was the need to ensure peace to achieve educational development.
He called for the engagement of the youths educationally,
adding that the universities should be adequately equipped for meaningful development.
(NAN)
