Tinubu okays the take-off of 6 out of 14 newly approved varsities

President Bola Tinubu has approved commencement of academic activities in six of the 14 new universities established in the last days of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

The Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman, disclosed this after meeting behind closed-doors with President Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, yesterday.

Fielding questions from State House correspondents, Prof. Mamman said the initial phase would involve the launching of two universities in the fields of agriculture, two in colleges of education, and two focusing on medicine.

“There are very many, probably about a dozen of them, if not more than a dozen or 14, that’s the number and you know tertiary institutions are highly capital intensive, they need a lot of money, especially at that takeoff stage, for infrastructure, staff recruitment and all other needs.

“So by the time you want to start about 12, 14 institutions at once is a very heavy burden on the finances of government, so that’s why,” he said.

The minister explained that the government would consider reassessing whether to proceed with other institutions. He affirmed that these institutions were strategically aligned with the key mandates and priorities of President Tinubu’s administration.

He said: “Ordinarily, we would have said we’ll review whether we should go ahead with that, but most of them are specialized institutions.”