Licences to expand Nigeria’s private higher education sector

Nigeria’s National Universities Commission (NUC) has moved ahead with a major expansion of Nigeria’s private higher education sector, granting provisional licences to 20 new private universities. The approval brings the number of private universities in Nigeria to 99, increasing the country’s overall university tally to 197.

The approval of new universities seeks to meet expanding demand for higher education in Nigeria, as public universities struggle to accommodate an increasing number of qualified applicants for places.

“Going by the population in the country, we need even more universities,” Sarafadeen Adebisi, the national general secretary of the Association of Nigerian University Professional Administrators (ANUPA), told University World News. “The only issue is: how do we maintain standards?”

The newly approved universities will serve Africa’s most populous country, which recorded 201 million people in 2019 and an annual population growth of 2.6%.

Some had already started operations in the hope that the commission would grant its blessing, and others have established themselves as colleges of further education that have now been upgraded to universities.

Private universities

Capital City University, Kano State; and Claretian University of Nigeria, Nekede, Imo State, are two that have already started operations. Thomas Adewumi University, Oko-Irese, Kwara State, had been operating secondary services, but this year started higher education services.

James Hope University, Lagos, is another private university growing from secondary school services: James Hope College, a co-ed boarding school for 11- to 17-year-old students, in Agbor, Delta State in southern Nigeria.

In 2020, James Hope announced the acquisition of the American International School Lagos Lekki Campus facility to establish a James Hope College branch in Lagos, which it is now upgrading to a university.

Other universities approved provisionally for official incorporation, in central and northern Nigeria, include Philomath University, Kuje, Abuja (Nigeria’s capital); Maryam Abacha American University of Nigeria, Kano state; Al-Istiqama University, Sumaila, Kano; Khadija University, Majia, Jigawa State; Ahman Pategi University, Pategi, Kwara State; and the University of Offa, Kwara.

Also, Ave Maria University, Piyanko, Nasarawa State; Mewar International University Nigeria, Masaka, Nasarawa; NOK University, Kachia, Kaduna State; Edusoko University, Bida, Niger State; Karl Kumm University, Vom, Plateau State, and Anan University, Kwall, Plateau State, were granted NUC recognition.

Also granted provisional licences in southern Nigeria were Topfaith University, Mkpatak, Akwa Ibom State; Mudiame University, Irrua, Edo State; Havilla University, Nde-Ikom, Cross River State; and Maranatha University, Mgbidi, Imo State.

Quality assurance

As with all private universities, these bodies will be relying on student fees and other private income and support. James Hope University, for example, has been supported by the Jim Ovia Foundation founded by Jim Ovia, the founder of Zenith Bank, one of Nigeria’s largest commercial banks.

The NUC will supervise standards and quality assessment at these new institutions, issuing provisional licences based on standards demonstrated thus far, which will be checked through periodic assessments.

The NUC will also be accrediting courses that universities offer based on their competence. Departments or faculties falling below these standards may be stripped of their accreditation for certain courses.

The expansion has been broadly welcomed.

“These new private universities will give many other students the opportunity to go to school,” Kikelomo Oladele, a second-year mass communications student at Lagos State Polytechnic, a public university, told University World News.

Chiamaka Ikechukwu, a journalist working for the Voice of Nigeria public radio, based in Lagos, agrees: “It’s a good thing,” she said.

“I would want to go back to university to do a higher degree programme, probably in a private school because the length of time will be reduced for me. Although the private schools are [more] expensive, if you have the money, you can easily access university for education.”

In Nigeria, private universities gained a solid reputation for abiding by their academic calendars. For instance, while the COVID-19 pandemic forced many education institutions to shut down across the country, some private universities such as Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo; and Adeleke, Ede, continued their academic work online. In many public universities, all academic activities largely came to a halt.

One problem is that government-run universities struggle to operate efficiently even when there is no global pandemic: “We are overwhelmed in public universities,” Dr Olunifesi Suraj, senior lecturer of mass communication at the University of Lagos, told University World News.

Given the number of students, “people have to look for other ways to get educated”, so private universities are important but, “there should be quality in the system, not just quantity”, he said.

Private or public?

One major concern highlighted by Suraj was that existing universities needed more support from the government: “The existing ones are poorly funded and now the government, through politics, is establishing all types of universities while the existing ones are not well funded. It’s like having more children without taking care of the ones you have,” he warned.

Suraj called for a suspension in issuing further private licences for universities until an independent audit of all existing universities is undertaken across Nigeria to assess standards: “If there’s a political will, there should be a white paper on universities in Nigeria – both for private and public,” he said.

Adebisi said he was confident private universities would succeed in such an audit: “I am in a state university, but I have gone round almost all universities in Nigeria as national secretary of ANUPA and I can say private universities are far better in terms of quality and facilities than federal and state universities,” he said.

Private universities, with higher fees, generally have a smaller and more manageable student population than their public counterparts that are mostly short staffed, he added.

Josephine Akarue, the deputy director of communications at Babcock University, told University World News more private institutions would help.

“If we had enough universities, we would not be having institutions where the lecturer would be overwhelmed with workload or having to strain himself to be heard above his voice or the noise of 600 to 1,000 students in one hall,” she said.

She also stressed that private universities needed to bring added value: “What we are looking at is, if you come into the industry what do you bring to the table?”

Newcomers

Thomas Adewumi University is certainly focusing on economically useful skills, teaching medicine, science and technology. “We are also focusing on entrepreneurship,” a senior lecturer who requested anonymity, told University World News.

He welcomed the fact that the university integrates a works centre into its education. In fact, “if you get to our campus, 80% of the furniture we are using is produced in our campus. So that’s our focus. We want our graduates to be job creators.”

Thomas Adewumi, according to the lecturer, officially started work on 16 May.

“This is our first year,” the lecturer noted. “We have an experienced staff and experienced management team who have been deputy vice-chancellors, vice-chancellors in various schools, and registrars in various schools,” he added.

“I, for instance, have lectured in many institutions, from polytechnic to university level. I think, with this calibre of people, we are going places.”

In the meantime, Thomas Adewumi University will be following COVID-19 principles and protocols, according to the senior lecturer: “Our hostels are also very spacious. Two in a room [generally]. And, we say, maximum four.”

The university is named after the founder, Thomas Adewumi, who has been in education for 40 years, including experience running Thomas Adewumi International College, a private, co-educational boarding school for pupils aged 11 to 18, also based in Kwara State.

Claretian University, founded in south-east Nigeria by the Roman Catholic Claretian Missionaries, has opened online applications for the 2021-22 academic year and is offering a quality broad range of courses, it says, including arts, sciences and medicine.

“Our featured courses are selected through a rigorous process and uniquely created for each semester,” said a university note.