The National Universities Commission (NUC) has revealed that plans are in their final stages to announce the establishment of two new universities in Nigeria, News About Nigeria reports.
The acting Executive Secretary of the NUC, Chris Maiyaki, shared this information during an interaction with journalists in Abuja on Thursday.
Maiyaki mentioned that there is a huge demand for university education, with approximately two million candidates seeking admission each year, while the available quota ranges between 500,000 and 700,000.
The decision to establish additional universities has faced criticism from stakeholders, including the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and others in the tertiary education sub-sector.
Concerns have been raised about the increasing the number of institutions amid insufficient funding for existing ones.
Despite these objections, Maiyaki stated, “We have no choice but to, as a matter of deliberate policy, undertake the massification of universities.”
He said that the level of investment in education is a crucial factor in distinguishing developed nations from others.
Maiyaki acknowledged the challenges faced by families desperate to secure university education for their children and stressed the necessity of continuing to approve new 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,” Maiyaki revealed.
He argued that Nigeria needs to widen access to universities and referenced the experiences of countries like Brazil and Indonesia, which have over 1,000 universities with populations smaller than Nigeria.
Maiyaki clarified that the NUC is processing applications for the establishment of distance learning centres to provide quality education, adding that this doesn’t signify a return to the era of establishing distance learning centres.
Responding to allegations of private universities charging fees in dollars, the NUC boss stated that no tertiary institution is allowed to charge tuition fees in dollars.
He clarified that after an investigation, it was found that the said private university only charges dollars to foreign students, not domestic ones.
Maiyaki urged the media to clarify this information for the public.
