NUC sets up committee to make tertiary education accessible

The NUC boss says the 143 universities in Nigeria can only accommodate 500,000 students.

The National University Commission has set up a committee to make university education accessible to more admission seekers in Nigeria.

Prof.  Abubakar Rasheed, the Executive Secretary of the commission made this known at a stakeholders’ seminar organised by the University of Bradford and Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR), in Abuja.

Represented by Mr Chris Maiyaki, a Director in his office, Rasheed said that the NUC is worried about the growing population of the youths in Nigeria and the high demand for tertiary education.

“Nigeria is projected to be the third largest population by the year 2050. The concern of NUC is how to educate this number of population when the time comes,” he said.

“The NUC just commissioned a committee headed by Prof. Peter Okebukola to bring out a blueprint that will help the country to survive the population.

“As you know that on annual basis, we have 7.5 million students aspiring to get admission to the universities, unfortunately, the available 143 universities put together can only admit 500,000 students,” he said.

NUC boss praises Nigerian Universities

Rasheed also said that the commission is also making effort to ensure that Nigerian universities catch up with global happenings.

He, however, commended the seven Nigerian universities for partnering with UK’s University of Bradford for joint research and teaching.

The institutions are University of Benin, Edo; University of Port-Harcourt, Rivers; University of Calabar, Cross River; Akwa Ibom State University; University of Uyo; Niger Delta University and African University, Bayelsa.