The Federal Government has granted operating licences to nine new private universities, marking a significant push to expand higher education access while enforcing tighter quality controls across Nigeria’s tertiary sector.
The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, announced the approval on Wednesday after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Bola Tinubu at the State House, Abuja.
The new institutions are: Tazkiyah University, Kaduna State; Leadership University, Abuja; Jimoh Babalola University, Kwara State; Bridget University, Mbaise, Imo State; Greenland University, Jigawa State; JEFAP University, Niger State; Azione Verde University, Imo State; Unique Open University, Lagos State; and American Open University, Ogun State.
Dr Alausa revealed that the Tinubu administration inherited 551 pending applications for the establishment of universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education. Following a rigorous review under new operational standards, the list was trimmed to 79 active cases, of which nine were cleared for approval.
Some promoters, he noted, had been waiting over six years for licences despite completing infrastructure and investing billions of naira. He attributed delays to inefficiencies within the National Universities Commission (NUC), adding that reforms have now streamlined the process.
“Due to inefficiencies within the NUC, approvals were delayed. We have since introduced reforms to streamline these processes, and today’s approvals are a result of clearing this backlog,” Alausa said.
The approvals come against the backdrop of sweeping policy changes in the tertiary sector. In February 2025, the NUC imposed a one-year moratorium on processing new private university applications, alongside steep fee increases to discourage unserious bids and ensure applicants met strict academic and infrastructural benchmarks.
Earlier in April 2025, the Federal Government approved 11 private universities whose applications had reached advanced stages before the moratorium.
This tightening of the rules followed the January 2025 announcement of a seven-year ban on establishing new federal tertiary institutions, aimed at consolidating funding and resources for existing ones.
The latest approvals bring Nigeria’s tally of private universities to unprecedented levels, a move the government says is necessary to meet rising demand. Stakeholders argue that while private universities can reduce pressure on public campuses, affordability and equitable access remain pressing issues.
Despite Wednesday’s approvals, Dr. Alausa confirmed that the moratorium on new applications remains in force, except for promoters who can demonstrate full compliance with the revised framework.
“This is not a free-for-all. Only those meeting the highest standards will be licensed,” he said.
