The federal government has approved the licences for the operation of nine new private universities in Nigeria.

This was disclosed by the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, while briefing newsmen on Wednesday after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Bola Tinubu.

He stated that the current administration received a backlog of 551 applications for the establishment of tertiary institutions in the country, with some pending for more than six years.

Alausa said, however, that upon review, the list was trimmed to 79 active cases, and 9 of them were granted approval on Wednesday during the FEC meeting.

Naijaonpoint reports that the newly approved private universities and their locations 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 blamed the inefficiencies and bottlenecks for the initial delays in licensing the institutions.

“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.

He added that many of the approved institutions already had campuses and had invested billions of naira while awaiting accreditation.