The National Universities Commission is finalizing arrangements to unveil the establishment of two additional universities, increasing the total number of institutions in the country to 272.
The acting Executive Secretary of the commission, Chris Maiyaki, disclosed this while engaging with journalists in Abuja on Thursday.
Maiyaki emphasized that the NUC would persist in approving new universities to address the admission shortfall in the country.
He pointed out that with around two million candidates applying for university admission annually, the available admission quota ranges between 500,000 and 700,000.
Maiyaki’s position emerges amidst the resistance from the Academic Staff Union of Universities and other stakeholders in the tertiary education sub-sector against the government’s proliferation of institutions at both Federal and State levels.
Stakeholders have consistently emphasized that creating new universities amid insufficient funding for existing ones is not a viable approach. Consequently, they have urged the government and the NUC to cease granting approvals for new public universities.
“We have no choice but to as a matter of deliberate policy undertake the massification of universities,” Maiyaki said.
He mentioned that the distinguishing factor between developed nations and others today is the extent of investments made in education.
Maiyaki stated that on an annual basis, nearly two million candidates apply for university admission, yet only a range of 500,000 to 700,000 students secure admission.
He said, “You need to see the anguish and the frustration on the faces of families who are desperate to make sure that their children attend university education every admission session. It is very tough and challenging for university leaders and NUC and so we have no choice but to continue to approve the universities.
“The approval for two more varsities to bring the number of universities in the country to 272 has been concluded and will be announced next week.”
He asserted that Nigeria will persist in expanding access to universities by approving additional institutions to meet the demands and ensure the supply of quality education.
Highlighting that nations like Brazil and Indonesia, with populations less than Nigeria’s, have over 1,000 universities, he mentioned ongoing efforts to revitalize the university system through transnational education, permitting foreign universities to establish and operate in the country.
The Executive Secretary mentioned that the commission is currently handling applications for the setup of distance learning centers, which will be closely monitored to ensure the delivery of quality education.
The NUC boss, however, underscored that this does not signal a revival of the era for establishing distance learning centers.
In response to a statement from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission urging proprietors of private universities and other higher learning institutions in Nigeria to collect fees in dollars, he clarified that no tertiary institutions are permitted to charge tuition fees in dollars.
He said the commission had made an inquiry into the allegation and thus investigated but discovered that the said private university was not charging fees in dollars.
“On the dollarisation of tuition fees in this said university, we have investigated it and the university is not charging fees in dollars.
They only charge dollars to foreign students. So I want the media to join hands with us to tell the public that no Nigeria university is allowed to charge fees in dollars,” he said.
