It appears as if running a private university in the country is the new goldmine, what with the increasing number of operators springing up and getting issued licences.
At the twilight of former President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure when the Federal Government presented provisional licences to 37 private university proprietors, three former state governors were among the beneficiaries. They are former governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke, who got the licence to operate Duke Medical University, Calabar; former governor of Bayelsa State, Henry Seriake Dickson who got a licence to operate Hensard University, Toru-Orua and Attahiru Bafarawa, a former governor of Sokoto State, who got a licence to operate Amaj University, Kwali-Abuja.
Similarly, Professor Adamu Abubakar Gwarzo, the founder of Maryam Abacha American University, also got licences to operate two additional universities: Canadian University of Nigeria, Abuja and Franco British International University, Kaduna State. So far, the number of private universities now stands at 147 and the total number of universities in the country is put at 264. Authorities claim new universities are imperative due to rising demand for tertiary education and increasing number of secondary school graduates.
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