The National Universities Commission, NUC, says it approved and licensed 75 universities in the past seven years of the present administration as part of Federal Government’s policy to ensure access to university education.
Executive Secretary of NUC, Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, who stated this in Abuja at a media parley with education correspondents on, said 10 federal, 15 states and 50 private universities were approved during the period.
Prof. Rasheed affirmed that there are currently 220 universities in the country, 50 federal, 59 states and 111 private, and that many more licenses are being processed.
Prof Rasheed said the National Universities Commission (NUC), has no hand in the appointment of Vice-Chancellor for tertiary institutions in the country, stressing that the appointment of Vice-Chancellors rest squarely on the Governing board of Universities.
According to him, “even the Minister of Education or the President of the Federal Republic have no hands in the appointment of Vice-Chancellor of any university.
On the issue of illegal universities, Rasheed said that the commission was in collaboration with ICPC to weed out the system.
“We have set up a committee to look into that and I can tell you that we are doing a lot to end the ugly trend of the illegal mills”, he said.
He urged members of the public to assist in reporting illegal universities as the task of safeguarding the quality of the university system is not only that of the NUC.
According to him, the commission is facing very serious challenges from the universities, even as he called for concerted effort to ensure that the system continues to thrive.