BY DAYO ADESULU
The Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, NUC, Professor Abubakar Rasheed, has presented two operational licences for two new universities to the governor of Lagos State, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
The additional two new universities bring the total number of universities in the country to 205.
Nevertheless, Rasheed pointed out that the present number of 205 universities in Nigeria cannot still meet the present demand for higher education in the country.
He said this in Abuja Tuesday while presenting operational licences for two new universities to Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
According to him, in spite of the increasing number of private universities in Nigeria, they could only account for 5.06 per cent of students in the nation’s ivory towers, leaving the remaining 94 per cent in public universities.
Justifying NUC’s decision to approve the University of Education, Ijanikin/Epe and the Lagos State University of Science and Technology, Rasheed said Lagos had been exceptional in the running of the Lagos State University for the past 39 years.
Earlier, Sanwo-Olu had said the new universities would provide massive opportunities for those seeking university education in the state.