Governor Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso of Kano State has laid the foundation of Northwest University, the second state-owned university.
At the ceremony at the permanent site in Kano, the governor said that his administration decided to build the university on the 137.9 hectares of land given to the Libyan government long before 1999 for a university, which it failed to develop.
Already, contracts have been awarded for the construction of two faculty complexes while some structures on the site will be converted to appropriate university structure.
Kwankwaso said the new institution would offer all programmes – unlike the other university in Wudil, which focuses on technology.
He justified the need for more universities in Kano, saying the Kano State University of Technology, Wudil, and the Bayero University, Kano, cannot cope with the growing student population.
As its name implies, the governor said the new university will cater for students from the Northwest region of the country, appealing to other governors in the zone to support Kano in sustaining the institution.
In his speech earlier, the chairman of the Implementation Committee of the university, Prof. Hafiz Abubakar, said the committee worked tirelessly to articulate the framework of the institution, pointing out that it is the fastest university in the country to receive NUC recognition, having been granted recognition within six months of its conception.
Abubakar said the institution would take off with an initial six faculties and would introduce more departments and programmes including a postgraduate school in subsequent years. He added that principal officers have been appointed for the university and thanked the NUC for speedily certifying the institution.
The Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyat Ahmed Rufa’i, who was represented on the occasion by Professor Sagir Adamu Abbas, assured the State of her ministry’s support for the project.
She praised Kwankwaso for sponsoring 501 Kano indigenes to acquire post-graduate degrees abroad, to enable them man the institutions established by the government. She said the initiative was praiseworthy.
Senate President, David Mark, the Speaker, House of Representatives, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar and the governors of Kaduna and Katsina states sent goodwill messages on the occasion.