FG denies plans to hand over universities to private investors

The federal government has disputed claims that it is selling public universities to private investors.

Prof. Tahir Mamman, the Minister of Education, stated that there has been misinformation about one aspect of the ministry’s strategy regarding tertiary education.

The minister declared this during a meeting with heads of agencies, parastatals, and directors at the Ministry of Education in Abuja on Tuesday: “This is an absolute lie and completely false.

“This government believes in the provision of government institutions and has not shied away from the force that the gov­ernment needs from the private sectors. For decades now, private sectors have played a major role in the provision of tertiary edu­cation and there are more pri­vate universities in Nigeria than public universities combined,” he said.

“What the government has done is to open up the tertiary education level in particular, the universities for global competi­tiveness that allow those who op­erate in this area at internation­al level to come into the country and set up institutions open for collaboration with our local universities under guidelines of what is called trans-national education.”

He added that other parts of the world have benefited from international universities establishing campuses or new institutions in their countries, raising standards in those countries.

“They have also saved those countries foreign exchange and brought more money into the country and that is what the government has done, it has opened up tertiary education so that people from the rest of the world can invest in our tertiary institutions system. Govern­ment is not parting with any of its institutions,” the minister said.

The minister, on the other hand, emphasised that the meeting is critical for assessing their mileage, the direction taken in the implementation of major policies, reviewing progress, identifying potential problems, and reaffirming commitment to overcoming any challenges.