The Federal Government has approved the establishment of nine new private universities across Nigeria, the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, announced on Wednesday.
Briefing State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by President Bola Tinubu in Abuja, Alausa listed the new institutions as 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.
According to the minister, the Tinubu administration inherited 551 pending applications for new tertiary institutions. Following the adoption of stricter approval guidelines, this number was reduced to 79 active requests, with nine receiving clearance on Wednesday.
Alausa noted that some of the newly approved universities had been awaiting accreditation for more than six years, with 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,” he said.
He further disclosed that the Federal Government has imposed a moratorium on new applications for private universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education, except for those that meet the new operational standards.
