NUC: 150 new private universities to be approved in 3 years

Adamu Abubakar Rasheed, executive secretary, Nigeria Universities Commission, NUC, says 150 new private universities will be established in the next three years.

While criticising those calling for the suspension of approval for the establishment of private schools, Rasheed noted that the 152 universities in Nigeria are not sufficient for the country’s population.

Speaking at the first founders day lecture of the University of Medical Science, Ondo state during the weekend, he said anyone calling for the stoppage of issuance of license to more universities is ignorant.

Rasheed also noted that Nigerian universities cannot isolate themselves from the rest of the world.

The NUC boss said Argentina has 1705 universities despite its population of about 44 million.

He disclosed that several other developing countries with lesser population than Nigeria have over 300 universities.

‘’Presently, 243 applications are being processed for private universities, so in the next two to three years, we will have about 150 private universities,” he said.