‘NUC has no powers to sanction foreign universities’

A professor of Management Science, David Iornem, says the National Universities Commission (NUC) has no power to sanction any foreign university, as each country has its own criteria for the establishment of its universities.

He also said any Nigerian student, who attended a university outside Nigeria should be allowed to go for the one-year mandatory service.

Iornem, founder of Ecole Superieure Univesaitre in Cotonou, Benin Republic, said establishing a university in Cotonou was not as cumbersome as in Nigeria.

‘For instance, in Benin you don’t have to be a millionaire like in Nigeria or acquire a vast land and build gigantic structures before you can set up a university. You can start a university in a rented building.”

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He said Benin Republic had been able to bring university close to the doorsteps of its citizens like what was obtainable in Ghana.

“This is what we are hoping to see in Nigeria, so that the 400,000 Nigerian students currently studying in Ghana will find a place here in Nigeria,” he said.

Iornem said that having operated a university in a rented building, the government of Benin Republic had granted him the right to start the construction of the permanent site of the university.

‘Hopefully, we will be laying the foundation for the permanent site on 29, August this year and in the next two years, we would have been done with the construction of the administrative blocks, lecture theatres, as well as the classrooms.

He also said the university was starting with over 50 students and would be running a Bachelor Degree in Business Administration, adding that “in future, we will start programmes in Accounting and ICT.”

Iornem who is a visiting professor in many universities in Nigeria urged the NUC to allow more private universities to come on board, as the 186 universities in the country were inadequate to meet the demand of the growing population.