The Federal Government has placed a moratorium on new applications for the establishment of private universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education across the country
This was after it had approved the establishment of nine new private universities.
The Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, made the announcement on Wednesday while briefing State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by President Bola Tinubu in Abuja.
The Minister said 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; and American Open University, Ogun State.
Alausa disclosed that the Tinubu administration inherited 551 pending requests for the establishment of tertiary institutions, which were subjected to stricter approval guidelines.
This, he said, reduced the list to 79 active applications, out of which nine were cleared on Wednesday.
He explained that many of the approved universities had been awaiting accreditation for over six years, with their promoters having already built campuses and invested billions of naira.
“Due to inefficiencies within the National Universities Commission (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.
The minister added that only private institutions that meet up with the new operational standards will be considered for the approval.
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