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 yesterday while addressing State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting chaired 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
American Open University, Ogun State
According to Alausa, the Tinubu administration inherited 551 pending applications for new tertiary institutions, which were reviewed under stricter guidelines.
The review reduced the number to 79 active applications, of which nine were approved yesterday.
He revealed that many of these universities had been awaiting accreditation for over six years, with their promoters already investing billions of naira in infrastructure.
Delays, he said, were caused by inefficiencies within the National Universities Commission (NUC), but recent reforms had streamlined the process.
Alausa further disclosed that the government has placed a moratorium on new applications for private universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education, except for those meeting the updated operational standards.