The National Universities Commission has said that the North-East and North-West regions have only five private universities of the total 79 presently in the country.
The NUC Executive Secretary, Prof Abubakar Rasheed, said this in Abuja when he received the Bishop, Sokoto Diocese of the Catholic Church, Matthew Kukah, in his office.
Kukah visited the NUC boss to present a bid document for the establishment of the proposed Sherah Hassan University, Kachia in Kaduna State.
The documents handed over to the NUC Executive Secretary were the Master Plan, the Academic Brief, the Soil Investigation report as well as the Environmental Impact Assessment of the proposed university.
Rasheed said the commission would continue to encourage all well-meaning northerners to give back to society by investing in the education sector.
The NUC boss said there was the need to develop tertiary education in the northern region in order to remain relevant and economically viable.
He said, “Based on the geographical spread of the 79 private universities in the country, 13 are located in the South-South, 14 in the South-East, 36 in South-West, 11 in North-Central, two in North-East and three in North-West.
“From this breakdown, it is obvious that the entire northern states need to invest more in education in order to remain relevant and economically viable. It is against this backdrop that the commission has continued to encourage all well-meaning northerners to give back to society by investing in the sector.
“The proposed Sherah Hassan University, Kachia, is not only the first private university in Southern Kaduna, but the first indigenous university in the region. However, university education is not a profit-making venture, but a social investment that must be seen as an opportunity to invest in the development of the minds of the people.”
