The article discusses Covenant University in a town outside Lagos, Nigeria. As a privately run, Christian university, it breaks with a Nigerian tradition of free public higher education. The demand among Nigerian youth for higher education is beyond what the state can provide, leaving an opening for private institutions.
Twenty five private universities will converge on Joseph Ayo Babalola University (JABU) in Ikeji-Arakeji, Osun State for the 5th edition of the Nigeria Private University Games Association, NPUGA slated for December 14 to 22, 2013.
Students of tertiary institutions under the aegis of National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) yesterday staged a protest in Ado- Ekiti against the prolonged strike of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
Surat Group, owners of the Nigerian Turkish Nile University (NTNU), have recorded another first in Nigeria as the four-year old institution held its maiden convocation for 77 students. Parents and guardians in their gay outfits watched with pride as their wards graduated from four years of hard work, luckily in an institution not encumbered by the incessant strikes the tertiary institutions in Nigeria are known for.
The Madonna University Alumni Association has urged the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) to soft-pedal on its threat to massively clamp down on private universities in the country as a result of the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union, (ASUU).
The Federal Government last week announced the granting of licences to enable seven new private universities to operate. With that approval, the number of recognised universities in the country rose to ninety-six, thirty-four of them private.
Vice-Chancellors of private universities have expressed great concern and sympathy for Nigerian students whose careers are currently being threatened by the face-off between the Federal government and ASUU which has kept them at home for over three months, noting that there is an urgent need to end the ongoing strike for the good of the nation.
Founded in 2005, the Crescent University, Abeokuta, Ogun State, has come a long way. The Registrar, Ademola Ajibola, a lawyer, in this interview with Editor, Education, TAYO LEWIS insists that rather than encouraging a depreciation of standards, private varsities are raising a standard which is putting parents’ minds at rest.