NUC boss frowns at proliferation of varsities

THE Executive Secretary of National Universities Commission (NUC), Professor Abubakar Rasheed, has condemned proliferation of universities in Nigeria without proper funding.

He vowed that the Commission would not compromise on ensuring that the quality of programmes as well as standards were established and maintained by the institutions.

Rasheed, spoke on Thursday in Abuja, where he presented a Letter of Recognition for the establishment of Gombe State University of Science and Technology, to the State Governor, Dr Ibrahim Dankwambo, at NUC Headquarters.

He, however, said he was not against the establishment of more viable universities since the existing 153 universities in the country were grossly inadequate to cater for admission needs of Nigerians.

He presented the Letter of Recognition for the establishment of the new University to the Governor after the relevant documents including the Academic  Brief, University master plan and the gazzeted law which was assented to by the Governor, were submitted to the Commission at the brief ceremony.

He said: “We are worried about the proliferation of universities without adequate funding by the proprietors whether private or public.

“We are also concerned about the dire need for more universities because the existing ones can only admit half of the number of candidates who seek university admissions annually,” he said.

He disclosed that Nigeria currently has 153 universities, saying the granting of Letter of Recognition for the Gombe State University, brought the number of universities to 154. The number of universities according to ownership are: 46 Federal, 45 Sate and 68 private universities.

Prof. Rasheed, also disclosed that the commission has recently sent proposal for the establishment of seven (7) new private universities to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for approval.

He noted Nigeria is on the way to seamless transition from a resource based economy to a knowledge based economy, saying this could not happen without proper investment in tertiary education.

He commended the Governor of Gombe State, Ibrahim Dankwambo, for not only ensuring proper funding of the existing Gombe Sate University, saying the NUC management did not hesitate to give the nod for the take off of the new Gombe State University of Science and Technology, because of what is seen on ground at the State’s first University.

The Governor, Dr Dankwambo, who said he was delighted at the expeditious approval for the take of the new University by the NUC, said he was committed to the proper funding of the University, including other State owned institutions.

He said the State, which is relatively peaceful in the North East following Boko Haram insurgency in the region, had been under pressure for admissions into institutions in the State.