North-West University to be established in Kano state

  The National Universities’ Commission (NUC) on Tuesday in Abuja approved the establishment of North-West University, in Kano.

Presenting the certificate to Gov Rabiu Kwamkwaso of Kano State, Prof. Julius Okojie, the Executive Secretary of NUC, said that the number of universities in Nigeria was still a far cry from the number required to enhance access to university education in the country.

Okojie saidthat a university could not succeed without proper funding and as such “ Kano has to be ready to fund the new university. ‘’

He advised the governor to channel the take-off of the university on the right footing in compliance with NUCprinciples.

Okojie urgedthe governor to encourage scholarship thereby creating room for competition where only the best would be rewarded.

He said this would lead to the enhancement of quality education in the sector.

He pledged the commission’s commitment to support the new university and make sure that it grew to be one of the leading universities in the country.

In his remark, Kwankwaso said that the North-West University was established to address the needs of Kano State and others in the North-west zone, which were the educationally less developed states.


He said with the rising population of Kano to 12 million people, two universities were grossly inadequate for such a state.

“There is demand for more universities in the zone

“For example, between 2000 and 2006, the zone produced 37,726 qualified candidates annually for university admission, while all the universities in the zone could admit only a maximum of 20,000 candidates.

“Kano alone produced 26,696 qualified candidates between 2008 and 2011. Many of these could not get placement in existing universities, thus we decided to establish a second university in addition to the Kano University of Science and Technology. ’’

Kwankwaso said all that was needed for the take-off of the new university was in place, including an appropriate site for the institution within Kanometropolis with a land area of 137.9 hectares.

He added that the government was working on an implementation framework for the evolution of the university in three phases.

The first phase (2012-2016), is the establishment of six faculties, 14 departments and 19 undergraduate programmes.

Under the second phase (2016-2020), the six pioneer faculties shall introduce additional programme and departments, while five additional ones running 15 programmes will be established, the governor said.

He said phase three (2020-2024) would be concerned with the introduction of postgraduate programmes and the establishment of school of postgraduate studies.

Rep. Farouk Lawan, the Chairman, House Committee on Education, said that the establishment of more universities in the country was crucial to increase access to university education to the people.

He commended the governor for the initiative, adding that “the university having met the legal requirement, was just in time to salvage the growing need of university education.’’ (NAN)

Source: DailyPost