FG Approves Nine New Private Universities

The Federal Government has given the green light for the establishment of nine additional private universities across Nigeria.

Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, made the announcement on Wednesday after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting chaired by President Bola Tinubu at the State House in 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 new tertiary institutions, which were subjected to more rigorous evaluation criteria. After review, the list was trimmed to 79 viable applications, with nine approved at the latest FEC meeting.

He explained that some of the universities had been awaiting clearance for over six years despite already constructing campuses and investing heavily in infrastructure. “Due to inefficiencies at the NUC, many approvals were stalled. We have now reformed the process, and these approvals are part of efforts to clear the backlog,” the minister said.

Alausa also disclosed that the Federal Government has imposed a temporary halt on new applications for private universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education, except those meeting the revised operational benchmarks.