FG sets fresh requirements for establishment of new private universities

The Federal Government has announced increase in the processing fees for new private universities to N30milion.

The amount, according to the National Universities Commission, (NUC), include N5 million for application form and N25 million as processing fee, respectively.

The NUC, in a statement on Monday, also announced imposition of a one year moratorium on establishment of new private universities in the country.

The commission said it has suspended all inactive applications including those of private open universities for a period of one year.

The statement signed by NUC Executive Secretary, Prof. Abdullahi Ribadu, explained that the one-year moratorium affects applicants that have not made progress on their applications or made submissions to the Commission for upwards of two years.

The NUC boss said the review of the application fee and other guidelines for establishment of private universities was in line with the provisions of the Education, National Minimum Standards and Establishment of Institutions, Act, CAP E3, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

He added that the law empowers the commission to provide guidelines for the establishment of all private universities in the country.

According to him, the fee for purchase of application forms for the establishment of a private university is reviewed from N1 million Naira to N5 million while the processing fee for the application is reviewed from N5 million to N25 million.

“The NUC will convey the reviewed Processing Fee of Twenty-Five Million (N25,000,000.00) Naira to applicants that have purchased Application Forms only.

“They are also expected to effect payments within a period of thirty (30) working days or risk forfeiture of their pending applications,” the statement read.

He stated that the move is part efforts to reposition private universities in Nigeria to better meet the needs of the citizenry and for better co-ordination of the development of the Private University Education sub-sector of the Nigerian University System (NUS).