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Tag: National Universities Commission

  • NUC gets €3million for ICT projects in 10 varsities

    NUC gets €3million for ICT projects in 10 varsities

    • Board targets reforms, better global rankings

    The National Universities Commission (NUC) has said it got €3 million as the first tranche of the €40 million loan secured from the French Development Agency to support Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) projects in 10 selected universities.

    The commission’s Executive Secretary, Prof. Abdullahi Yusufu Ribadu, announced this yesterday during the inaugural meeting of the 13th NUC Board at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.

    The 10 beneficiary universities include the University of Calabar (UniCal), the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), University of Ibadan(UI), the Federal University of Technology (FUT) Minna, and the University of Maiduguri (UniMaid).

    Others are: Bayero University, Kano (BUK); Modibbo Adama University (MAU), Yola; Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife; Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, and the University of Jos (UniJos).

     Ribadu noted that since assuming office about a year ago, the Commission has pushed forward several initiatives centred on research, entrepreneurship, digital transformation and skills development across Nigerian universities.

    He said: “We have secured €40 million loan from the French Development Agency for the ICT Blueprint Project in 10 selected universities. We have strengthened – only yesterday, the Director confirmed to me that the first tranche of €3 million has been deposited in our Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) account to kick-start the process.

    READ ALSO: Why I apologised to Afeez Owo – Wumi Toriola

    “We have strengthened internal financial management, expanded access to university education through the licensing of new private universities, and approved new programmes and units.

    “We have also supported the take-off of publicly funded universities, expanded open and distance learning centers, and continued system-wide quality assurance exercises. Currently, the 2025 Accreditation Exercise is ongoing.

    “These priorities continue to form the foundation of the Commission’s direction, and I am seeking your support in advancing them.”

    Ribadu assured the board of the commission’s full cooperation, saying the management stands ready to draw from the members’ expertise.

    “We will rely on your wisdom to guide us as we carry out our duties. I am confident that your collective experience will strengthen the Commission’s capacity to guide the Nigerian university system at a time when higher education continues to evolve.

    “We also look forward to using your networks to help advance projects and partnerships that will benefit the Commission and the entire university system,” he added.

    The Chairman of the 13th NUC Board, Emeritus Professor Oluremi Raphael Aina, expressed appreciation to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his sustained support for the university sector.

    He said the board was assuming its mandate at a time of transition for higher education, with global standards rising and expectations increasing.

    Aina outlined five central pillars that would guide the board’s work, covering performance evaluation, improved university rankings, digital literacy, research and institutional reforms.

    He said: “As we settle into this assignment, but permit me to present what I call five pillars that I believe will help guide our stewardship.

    “One, evaluation of NUC performance. We must examine in detail the Act that buffered and laid the foundation for the NUC. We also need to be conversant with the various amendments to the act, its vision and mission, guiding principles and ethics.

    “Then we must study the Commission’s operational challenges and landmark achievements. Going forward, we should compare ourselves against global standards, not sentiments, not history, and where we fall short, how we fall short, and why we must adjust boldly.

    “Two: aligning with the renewed hope agenda of the present administration, the president has made education a pillar of national rebirth with the establishment of the fund and other initiatives.

    “The signal sent to the world is that Nigeria is ready to reset and rebuild. Through our assignment, we must lead other key stakeholders in the higher education sector in pragmatically resolving the naughty and nagging agitation of the academic staff union and other university unions.

    “Advancements must also be made to enhance digital literacy and especially the use of artificial intelligence, AI, as tools to strategically reposition the universities nationally and internationally. Overall, it will also be a priority for the 13th board to work with the management for radical improvements in both the global and webometric ranking of our universities.

    “Three: identifying and dismantling obstacles to university quality. Governance deficiencies, fund constraints, research stagnation, et cetera, must no longer be accepted as normal. Our duty is to reform and make progress, not to manage decline.

    “Four, reviewing existing funding and exploring new channels for sustainable funding. Nigerian universities cannot thrive on ingenuity alone. The board must intensify the research for alternative funding sources. Strengthen utilization and explore emerging and local opportunities.

    “And five, investing in the welfare and capacity of NUC staff and regulatory infrastructure. The system cannot overperform its operators. Credible accreditation and monitoring require strengthened conditions of service and protected regulatory independence.”

    Aina added that the Board would fully leverage technology in its operations.

    “We will seek to leverage technology to ease our burden through adoption of digital platforms for the advancement of our collective objectives. And I have a charge for the board. This board, in whom I am well-pleased, carries with it the weight of expectations and aspirations of the Nigerian people,” he said.

  • FG bans award of honorary doctorate degrees to serving officials

    FG bans award of honorary doctorate degrees to serving officials

    The Federal Government, through the National Universities Commission (NUC), has placed a ban on the award of honorary doctoral degrees to serving public officials.

    The commission said the decision followed the alleged misuse of such degrees.

    The Executive Secretary of NUC, Prof. Abdullahi Ribadu, announced the ban yesterday while receiving a report from a committee investigating award and public use/misuse of honorary doctoral degrees by recipients in Nigeria.

    Ribadu said the Commission was compelled to act following alarming findings from a nationwide investigation into how honorary degrees are awarded and used.

    “These degrees are meant to recognise outstanding service or achievements, but unfortunately, they have increasingly been misused,” he said.

    According to Ribadu, the trend has been worsened by the rise of unaccredited and illegal institutions, both local and foreign, operating as honorary degree mills.

    Prof. Ribadu explained that NUC’s investigation uncovered widespread violations, particularly of the Keffi Declaration of 2012, an agreement by Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian universities to regulate the award of honorary degrees.

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    The declaration expressly forbids universities from awarding honorary doctorates to serving public officials and caution recipients against using the title “Dr” without proper disclosure.

    “This is not just a matter of ethics; it is a matter of law. Using the title ‘Dr’ based on an honorary degree without clarification amounts to false representation, which is punishable under various fraud-related laws in Nigeria,” Ribadu stated.

    He warned that misuse of honorary titles undermines the integrity of universities and diminishes public trust in genuine academic qualifications.

    According to him, the report identified 32 institutions to be operating as honorary degree mills in Nigeria.

    These, he said, include 10 unaccredited foreign universities, 4 unlicensed local universities, 15 professional bodies with no degree-awarding powers, and three other non-degree-awarding institutions.

    Some of these entities, the NUC revealed, even go as far as awarding fake professorships.

    Ribadu added: “Let us be clear. Awarding honorary degrees is a legal responsibility of Nigerian universities. The law empowers the NUC to regulate both the award and the use of honorary doctorate degrees in Nigeria.”

    He reiterated that only approved public or private universities are eligible to award honorary doctoral degrees.

    “Even then, recipients must use appropriate nomenclature such as Doctor of Literature (Honoris Causa) rather than adopting the title “Dr”, which is reserved for holders of earned doctorates and medical professionals,” he added.

  • NUC officials risk jail over alleged contempt

    NUC officials risk jail over alleged contempt

    • ‘Commission yet to reinstate ex-staff member’

    Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof Abdullahi Ribadu, and four other top officials have been accused of contempt of court.

    They allegedly disobeyed a court order to reinstate a former staff member, Mr Kunle Rotimi, and provide him with all denied entitlements.

    The order, upheld by the Appeal Court on June 28, 2024, mandated NUC to comply immediately.

    However, NUC management failed to do so, leading to the contempt charges

    The other defendants are NUC Deputy Executive Secretary, Mr Chris Maiyaki; Director of Finance & Accounts, Mrs. Hauwa Amos; Director of Human Resources, Mrs Victoria Omoredion and the Deputy Director of Legal Services Mr. Pascal Eruoga.

    The lower court had on July 6, 2020, ordered NUC to reinstate Mr Rotimi and give him all his denied entitlements, comprising payments of accrued salaries, allowances, emoluments, bonuses, privileges and benefits, from March 1996 up to the date of the judgment.

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    Dissatisfied, the NUC appealed, but the Court of Appeal in Lagos dismissed the appeal in its entirety.

    The Appeal Court upheld the verdict of the trial court on June 28, 2024, and ordered NUC to comply immediately.

    Ten months later, NUC management had not complied with the court order.

    The cause of action arose in 1995/96 when NUC management offered Mr Rotimi full sponsorship approval for training.

    He claimed that because he refused the demand for gratification by some management officials to facilitate the release of funds for the Master’s degree course at the University of Ibadan, his approved course allowances and salaries were unlawfully and arbitrarily withheld.

    This, he said, compelled him to resign voluntarily in protest.

    He claimed NUC maliciously rejected the resignation and dismissed him without a fair hearing.

    He sued at the National Industrial Court in suit marked NICN/ LA/646/2018 and later NICN/LA/53m/2020.

    The court ordered the respondent to reinstate him and pay him his accrued entitlements.

    Dissatisfied, the respondents appealed and still lost, but refused to obey the judgment 10 months after.

  • NUC identifies poor governance, funding, others in varsities

    NUC identifies poor governance, funding, others in varsities

    The National Universities Commission (NUC) has identified poor governance, academic corruption and inadequate funding as some of the critical issues affecting tertiary education in the country.

    Acting Executive Secretary of the NUC, Chris Maiyaki, made this statement during the 2024 Registry Lecture at Babcock University, Ilishan, on Tuesday.

    Maiyaki said there had been a decline in the nation’s university system over the past three decades, compared with the remarkable achievements of earlier period.

    The theme of the lecture is “Role of The Administrator in Changing University Environment; Issues and Prospects”.

    According to Maiyaki, Nigerian graduates were once celebrated both nationally and globally, but the current landscape is marred by social vices, manpower shortages, economic pressures and incessant strike actions.

    Read Also; Nigerians and their travails

    He urged university administrators to embrace technology and artificial intelligence to revolutionise their institutions, emphasising that effective administration and governance were key to institutional success.

    “We had our glorious years but then we had the downturn and there are a lot of factors for that; economic pressure, gradual decline in funding, value of the Naira in the real term is no longer enough.

    “Some of these are also attributed to poor governance systems and also sometimes the broken family system. We have fallen short in procuring state-of-the-art modern current journals, books, and laboratory equipment in some cases.

    “We need more PhDs; we need to stabilise; the system has suffered a lot of instability due to a combination of factors. We need sustained constant funding and so many, things to be done,” he said.

     Maiyaki urged administrators to broaden their focus and cultivate strong relationships with external stakeholders to contribute to the development of an effective system that supports long-term growth and excellence in higher education.

     He also called for a collaboration to create the desired future, assuring the Federal Government’s support in creating policies that would direct institutions towards accomplishing their goals.

    “May I sound a note of optimism that all hope is not lost as we have some good and cheery news to report.

    “Nigeria has shown improvement in the universities ranking and that shows that in spite of everything we’re going through, we have shown a lot of resilience.

    “We have recently re-engineered our curriculum with critical stakeholders to bring it to speed because it must be in tandem with global best practices.

    “I appeal to Babcock University and all other Nigerian universities to continue to work with the commission to forge ahead towards creating a future in which higher education values are defined by excellence, equity and global competence.

    “We must continue to search for a way out as giving up is not an option,” he said.

    The university’s Vice Chancellor, Prof. Ademola Tayo, said the lecture was a platform, where key issues about the university system were raised and interrogated.

    Tayo added that it was an opportunity for participants to exchange ideas in a friendly non-threatening manner while at the same time broadening their horizons as practitioners, scholars, administrators and Nigerians.

    According to him, the lecture will stimulate all stakeholders to do more for the country as it affects the educational sector.

  • Varsity poised to empower students as change agents

    Varsity poised to empower students as change agents

    • By Korede Omololu-David

    Promoter of New City University, Aiyetoro, Ogun State, Mr. Akin Akingbesote has said the university was poised to deliver world-class education that will empower its students to become leaders and change makers in their chosen fields.of endeavour. He noted that the institution  is founded on the principles of integrity, inclusivity, and social responsibility and the belief  in the power of education to transform lives and build a better future for all.

    He spoke during the first visitation and inspection visit to the proposed campus of the university by officials of the National Universities Commission, NUC.

    Akingbesote said the university was committed to having positive impact on society, while producing well rounded graduates.

    He said: “Beyond the bricks and mortar, beyond the curriculum and the facilities, it is our ethos and values that truly set us apart. Our university is founded on the principles of integrity, inclusivity, and social responsibility. We believe in the power of education to transform lives and build a better future for all. Our commitment to diversity and equity is unwavering and we are dedicated to creating a campus culture that celebrates differences and values in every individual.

    “As we look forward to opening our doors to students and prepare in earnest for our inaugural academic year after your highly anticipated approval, the feeling of excitement is pervading. We are confident in our ability to deliver world-class education that will empower our students to become leaders and change makers in their chosen fields. We are ready to embark on this journey, and we are grateful for your guidance and support along the way.”

    He stressed the need for  promoters of educational institutions, and  beneficiaries  to use education for nation building and development.

    Read Also: 12 varsity students charged with killing colleague freed

    On what led to the establishment of the university, he said he was inspired by the love of his parents for education.

    ” At this point, it is pertinent to let you know the motivating factors that led to today’s event. First, the love of my parents for education, especially my father of blessed memory, Chief Samuel Akingbesote, a great farmer, hunter and trader, who described education as a weapon of liberation from poverty, diseases and ignorance, ” he said.

    The Chairman of the Planning and Implementation Committee of the university, Prof. Ralph Akinfeleye, said the aim of the university is to be relevant and make education a veritable tool for development.

    “We want to establish a university of relevance,therefore we promise to follow the CCMAS of the NUC. We will follow provisions of the law according to JAMB. We want to promote education for growth and not gain. We want to promote excellent pedagogy. We want to promote loco parentis. We will maintain standard and quality control,we will also bring town to gown. Our Mass communication faculty will be of high standards as well as our Law faculty. We will ensure top standard across all our faculties. We will manufacture our own water,bread and poultry to demonstrate our entrepreneurship bent,” he said.

    The leader of the NUC team, Barrister S Adejoh, said the commission has been performing its statutory function of regulating the university sector since 1974.

    He said the future of education lies in private sector participation.

    He  said: “ The NUC is charged with orderly development of education in Nigeria. We have 149 private universities in Nigeria. The future of education lies in private education. University education is a social service,I commend the promoters. We support and encourage and see that your vision is realised. The impression we have is that you mean business.We will provide suggestions for improvement.

    The team were conducted  round the campus to examine facilities.

  • It’s illegal for tertiary to collect tuition in dollar, says NUC

    It’s illegal for tertiary to collect tuition in dollar, says NUC

    No tertiary institution operating in Nigeria is allowed to charge tuition fees in dollars, the National Universities Commission (NUC) reiterated yesterday.

    Acting Executive Secretary of the Commission, Chris Maiyaki, who made the emphasis at a news conference in Abuja, told reporters that it is illegal to do so.

    He was reacting to a statement by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) inviting proprietors of private universities and other institutions of higher learning charging fees in dollars.

    Maiyaki 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.

    He clarified that the institution only charged foreign students in dollars and not Nigerian students.

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    The NUC boss said: “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.”

    The executive secretary also said that the commission would continue to approve more varsities as long as they are of standards and have the capacity for sustainability.

    He disclosed that the commission would issue licence to two universities by next week to add up to the already 270 existing in the country.

    According to him, it would give room for access to tertiary education and stem the tide of Nigerians going outside the country to study.

    “Due to the huge gap in demand and supply of university education, the NUC will continue to give approval for the establishment of more varsities,” he said.

    Maiyaki added that the commission would continue to process applications for Distance Learning Centres (DLC) to give room for education access.

    He said the agency has reconstituted Committee on Degree Mills to mitigate against the upsurge in the proliferation of unapproved degree-awarding institutions.

    “To mitigate against the upsurge in the proliferation of unapproved degree-awarding institutions, the reconstituted Committee on Degree Mills had been working against their proliferations, with hope to fight and win the growing incidence that had continued to give an unsavoury image to the system, among others,”

    On the financial realities of tertiary institutions, the NUC chief executive charged the institutions to think outside the box and established advancement offices for the internalisation of programmes.

    He said this would encourage them to generate adequate revenue for the running of the institutions.

  • More is better

    The demand of Professor Ishaq Oloyede, Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), that the Federal Government place an embargo on the licensing of new universities in Nigeria does not seem to us as right.

    Speaking during the fourth convocation lecture of the Federal University, Dutse, in Jigawa State, Professor Oloyede argued that “universities should not be established just to boost the ego of rich individuals and politicians” because it was not conducive to the development of an effective tertiary education system. He advised that Nigerians actively support the strengthening of the education sector and advocated the allocation of at least 15 per cent of the national budget to education.

    As an ex-Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilorin and current JAMB registrar, Professor Oloyede is well placed to perceive many of the faults and shortcomings of Nigeria’s university system, especially the precipitous decline in standards of teaching and research. And with its 43 federal universities, 48 state-owned universities and 79 private universities, it does seem that Nigeria has more than enough universities to satisfy the needs of its citizens.

    It is, however, incorrect to mistake number for adequacy. The 170 universities that we have may sound like an impressive statistic, but it actually conceals several important facts, many of which undercut Oloyede’s contentions.

    The first of these has to do with the so-called crisis of access facing the country. In spite of their growing numbers, Nigeria’s universities simply cannot cope with the flood of candidates seeking admission. In 2017 and 2018, 1,736,571 and 1,662,762 candidates, respectively, registered for JAMB’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME). When these figures are set against the estimated 600,000 spaces which constitute the combined annual admission capacity of universities, it can be seen that a lot of candidates fail to obtain admission into tertiary educational institutions every year. Of course we know that not all these candidates had the minimum admission requirement of five credits, including English Language and Mathematics as at the time of sitting for the UTME, the number cannot be as huge as to come so low to 600,000 available spaces.

    The second issue has to do with the notion that reduced numbers are synonymous with increased quality. Professor Oloyede clearly believes that placing an embargo on the continued establishment of universities is very likely to result in stronger institutions that are better focused on their core competencies.

    In actual fact, the efficiency of any university depends on the quality of supervision of regulatory bodies like the National Universities Commission (NUC), whose oversight process is often riddled with anomalies. Universities repeatedly fail to measure up to their own mission statements and are let off without sanction. Schools routinely import mercenary lecturers to meet staffing quotas during accreditation and go unpunished. New departments are set up without meeting the minimum requirements of NUC resource verification teams and nothing happens to  the institutions concerned.

    The failure of regulation is one of the most important reasons for the steep drop in the quality of Nigeria’s universities. The overall number of schools is of less relevance than their adequate regulation; when universities are properly supervised, standards will be maintained, regardless of how many or how few they are.

    Several countries with effective tertiary education systems are known to have many universities relative to their overall populations. They include the United States (5,758 universities); Japan (1,223); and France (1,062). These are all nations which understand that increased numbers are not necessarily indicative of low quality or poor performance.

    It may indeed be true that many of the new universities arguably serve to boost the outsized egos of the prominent individuals who are their promoters, but this alone cannot be sufficient reason to deny licenses to institutions that have met the very detailed conditions required to set up a university in Nigeria. The Education (National Minimum Standards and Establishment of Institutions) Amendment Decree No. 9 of 1993 sets out guidelines that are so expensively exhaustive that only the most committed proprietor would even contemplate them.

    Nigeria needs more universities. They are vital to ensuring that more candidates are able to acquire a university education. They are crucial to providing the human resources the country so desperately needs. Their overall number cannot be an inherent liability if laid-down regulatory and procedures are strictly adhered to.

  • NUC okays nine more courses for varsity

    Vice-chancellor, Ondo State University of Science and Technology, (OSUSTECH), Okitipupa,  Prof Sunday Ogunduyile, has announced that the National Universities Commission (NUC), has granted full accreditation to nine additional programmes of the institution.

    The programmes include Biology, Computer Science, Geophysics, Industrial Chemistry, Mathematics, Microbiology, Physics (Interim), Zoology and Fisheries (for Faculty of Agriculture).

    Ogunduyile spoke in Akure, Ondo State capital, on  the achievements recorded under his watch in the last two years.

    He said the accreditation status was granted for the aforementioned programmes on January 17, following an earlier visit to OSCOTECH by NUC accreditation team between October and November last year.

    Ogunduyile lauded the Visitor to the University and Governor of Ondo State, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, and his deputy, Agboola Ajayi, for their unwavering commitment to the infrastructural development of the institution, since the present administration came on board. He explained that the institution which once had only one-faculty (Science) since its establishment in 2008, now has Faculty of Engineering comprising departments of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Civil Engineering.

    He said: “Since I came in about two years ago, we have also established the Faculties of Agriculture, Food Science Technology, Agricultural Technology, and Department of Statistics. These translate into more openings for more students to be offered admission. We are not stopping there, we are in the process of establishing Marine Engineering as well as Maritime, Geology and Petroleum and Gas.

    According to him, management realised that one faculty university will not be able to achieve its lofty objectives is  in the areas of exploitation of oil, gas, bitumen, glass, sand, forest, aquatic and other resources that exist in Ondo State.

    He appreciated the government for the construction of major roads into the campus, adding that the governor has also empowered the institution to complete three out of 17 uncompleted buildings on its permanent site.

    Ogunduyile also thanked the institution’s Governing Council led by Prof Akinbo Adesomoju, the entire staff and students for their support and cooperation so far which has greatly assisted the institution to record such numerous successes within the last two years.

    Ogunduyile said within the last two years of his leadership, the number of students admitted into the institution to study different courses has tremendously increased to above 5000 as against less than 1,000 being recorded since 2008.

    He stressed that for the first time since 2008, OSUSTECH has just been enlisted by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, (TETFUND), saying that the need assessment group would soon announce the intervention to the university.

    He said the state government has assisted the university on the electrification project with a step down substation in the school for stable electricity.

  • NUC grants provisional licences to four private universities

    Four new private universities were on Tuesday in Abuja granted provisional approval by the National Universities Commission (NUC) to commence academic programmes.

    The Federal Executive Council approved the establishment of the four private universities in January.

    Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, presented the provisional licences to the universities in Abuja.

    The universities are: Greenfield University, Kaduna State; Dominion University Ibadan; Trinity University Laloko, Ogun State and Westland University, Iwo, Osun State.

    He said issue of access to university education in the country continued to pose serious challenges, noting that it requires continuous effort to address.

    The minister, who was represented by Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, said the emergence of private universities had provided an environment for heavy competition that stimulates improvement in quality service delivery.

    Adamu said the approval was a clear manifestation of the continued mutual partnership between the government and private sector to ensure the provision of quality education in the country.

    The minister explained that private universities in the country had contributed immensely to the opening up of access to education over the past 20 years.

    He said: “For the avoidance of doubt, the provisional licence for the four universities to operate is intended to create room for mentoring and qualitative growth within the first three years of their operations.

    “During the probation period, the four universities will be attached to older generation universities for academic and administrative mentoring.

    “It should also be noted that substantive licence will only be issued to the universities if they are adjudged of being worthy of it after the three years of probation.”

    NUC’s Executive Secretary, Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, said the four universities had been under its scrutiny since 2006.

    Read Also: Nigerian varsities not ranked in 14 years – NUC

    Rasheed said that there was need to increase the number of universities, taking into consideration the country’s increasing population.

    He added that with the country’s population, only about two million students can access university education.

    The NUC Boss said: “Only less than 6 per cent students’ enrolment is in private universities.

    “We hope the NUC work closely with you to ensure we introduce courses that are more attractive to prospective students and more appropriate to our current move to reposition the education system in Nigeria.

    “All over the world, private initiatives are welcome.  Proper education cannot be handled by government alone.

    “The NUC is not ready to sacrifice quality on the altar of access; we must ensure adherence to quality; we do not want to encourage you to run the university with impunity.”

    Rasheed added that the commission was currently processing about 270 applications.

    Chairman, Board of Trustees, Dominion University, Bishop Taiwo Adelakun, who spoke on behalf of other beneficiaries, appreciated the commission for the approval and pledged to keep to the mandate establishing the universities.

    With the approval, Nigeria has 173 universities, out of which 79 of them are private.

     

  • Why I will continue to take tough decisions – Buhari

    President Muhammadu Buhari has declared that his administration would continue to take tough decisions in order to create a better future for the youths.

    Speaking at the 28th Convocation Ceremony of the Federal University of Technology, Minna, Buhari noted that he knows that most of the decisions taken by his administration are tough but it is for the development of the Nation.

    “My administration is taking some tough decisions today in order to create a good and better tomorrow for the youths.”

    The President who was represented by the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Professor Abubakar Adamu Rasheed further stated that Nigerians need to embrace the idea of making more decisions if they want to have a prosperous nation.

    He added that his administration had doubled its effort in stamping out corruption stressing that, “we will continue to wage war against corruption and impunity until we succeed in creating a prosperous economy.”

    The President further disclosed that his administration had employer over seven million Nigerians in its N-Power scheme and disbursed loans to 259,451 individuals across the nation.

    Read Also: Buhari in Kano: I’ll continue to fulfil my promises

    “Our achievements in government are visible enough for all to see, feel and touch throughout the country. We are also committed to delivering its promises to improving security, creating job opportunities and eliminating corruption.”

    In his address, the Chancellor of FUT Minna, Professor Abdullahi Bala said that 4,443 students are graduating out of which 3,671 students are awarded First Degrees and 772 will be awarded Postgraduate Degrees and Diplomas.

    He added that in the First Degree category, 72 are awarded First Class Degree, 941 Second Class Upper Degree, 1,905 Second Class Lower Degree, 707 Third Class Degree and 46 Pass Degree.