The Federal Government has approved the establishment of nine new private universities across the country.
Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, announced the development on Wednesday while briefing State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by President Bola Tinubu in Abuja.
According to Alausa, the newly approved institutions include Tazkiyah University in Kaduna State; Leadership University in Abuja; Jimoh Babalola University in Kwara State; Bridget University in Mbaise, Imo State; Greenland University in Jigawa State; JEFAP University in Niger State; Azione Verde University in Imo State; Unique Open University in Lagos State; and American Open University in Ogun State.
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He revealed that the Tinubu administration inherited 551 pending requests for the establishment of tertiary institutions, which were subjected to stricter approval guidelines. This process reduced the list to 79 active applications, out of which nine were cleared on Wednesday.
The minister explained that many of the newly approved universities had been awaiting accreditation for more than six years, with their promoters having already built 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,” Alausa stated.
He added that the Federal Government has placed a moratorium on new applications for private universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education, except those meeting the new operational standards.
