FG approves establishment of 12 private Universities

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the issuance of provisional licences for the establishment of 12 private universities across the country.

Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed disclosed this to State House correspondents at the end of the Council meeting, presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, on Wednesday in Abuja.

He said the affected universities would be located in Kano, Niger, Gombe, Sokoto, Delta, Abia, Anambra and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

He said: “Council approved the memo for the issuance of provisional licences for the establishment of 12 proposed private universities.

Mohammed said the Minister of State, Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba presented the memo on behalf of the National Universities Commission and it was approved by the cabinet.

According to him, each of the new universities will be mentored by the old universities nearer to them.

He argued that establishment of additional universities for an over 200 million-populated country was necessary if the policy of educating a larger percentage of youngsters was to succeed.

Similarly, FEC gave approval to the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, to revise the estimated total cost of the contract for the extension of the inner southern expressway, from the outer southern expressway to the southern parkway.

Mohammed, who stood in for the Minister of the FCT, said the augmentation was in the sum of N1.4 billion.

He explained that the augmentation would raise the contract sum from over N17 billion to over N18.5 billion, to be completed in 12 months.

The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola also revealed that the Council approved N36.1 billion for the rehabilitation of Keffi-Nasarawa-Toto road in Nasarawa State.

The Minister also explained that the new Executive Order 11 signed by President Buhari would help improve the life span of all public buildings.

According to the minister, Nigerians stand to gain a lot from the Executive Order, adding that this was the first time the Nigerian government is making maintenance a matter of national policy.