Okojie And Liberalization Of The University System

By Dan Amor

A breezy and cheering news item on page 38 of The Authority  (Daily) of Monday January 4, 2016, made my day. Titled, "NUC targets more private varsities", the report, quoting the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Julius Okojie, circulated that the Commission would ensure that more private universities are established in the country in the near future.

 

*Prof. Julius A Okojie

Indeed, Prof. Okojie must be commended for the quantum leap his tenure as Executive Secretary of NUC has brought to the university system in Nigeria. With a paltry 73 universities (both public and private) in the country upon assumption of office in August 2006, Okojie, a scholar of international repute and professor of forestry, has grown the number of universities in Nigeria to 141 in less than a decade. That Nigeria with a population of about 170 million already has a total number of 141 universities is not even encouraging as this is not enough to meet the yearnings and aspirations of our teeming youths for tertiary education.

According to a recent study, the United Kingdom with a population of about 60 million has 120 universities while the United States of America with a population of about 260 million has 345 universities. India, with a population of about 1.5 billion people has 398 universities while Australia with 17 million people has 36 universities. It is against this backdrop that I support the establishment of more private universities in Nigeria.

In 1999, the Federal Government licensed the establishment of four private universities namely, Heritage University in Kaduna; Igbinedion University at Okada, Benin City; Babcock University at Remo, Ogun State, and Madonna University in Onitsha, Anambra State. This was a step in the right direction. Also, in 2003, the National Universities Commission (NUC) approved the establishment of more private universities, among which are: Bowen University, Iwo; Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State; Redeemers University, Ede, Osun State. Besides a few private universities that had existed before such as Benson Idahosa University, Benin City; Pan African (now Pan Atlantic) University, etcetera, we now have new ones including Bells University of Technology; Lead City University; several newly established State universities and the 13 new Federal universities established in one fell swoop by the Goodluck Jonathan administration.