The Federal Government has approved the establishment of nine new private universities across Nigeria, bringing the total number of licensed private institutions in the country to 169.
Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, announced on Wednesday while briefing State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
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
- American Open University, Ogun State
Alausa revealed that the Tinubu administration inherited 551 pending requests for the establishment of tertiary institutions, which were reviewed under stricter approval guidelines. The list was eventually reduced to 79 active applications, with nine granted full approval on Wednesday.
According to him, many of these universities had been awaiting accreditation for over six years, despite 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 part of clearing this backlog,” the minister explained.
He further disclosed that the Federal Government has placed a moratorium on fresh applications for private universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education, except for those that meet the new operational standards.
