From Victoria Jigah, Abuja
The Federal Government, has declared that it has no intention to handover federal universities to the private investors.
Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, who stated the position of the government at a meeting with heads of agencies, parastatals and directors of the Federal Ministry of Education in Abuja, said that, the government only opened up tertiary institutions for corporation and to steer global competitiveness.
Prof. Tahir, stressed the need to allow those who operate universities at the international level to come into the country and set up institutions either for themselves or in collaboration with our local universities.
The Minister who stated these while reacting over insinuations in the public space particularly in the report of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), which accused the Federal Government of making plans to handover federal universities to private investors, stressed that there was no plan whatsoever to sell off federal universities to private investors.
He said; “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.
“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 said.
Mamman also said that, other parts of the world have benefitted from having international institutions setting up campuses or new institutions in those countries, which has taken standards in those countries.
According to him; “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”.
Mamman said that the plan was in no way a move to sell the federal institutions, saying that guidelines on transnational education had been in place just as he emphasised the importance of the meeting that aimed to assess their mileage, the direction taken in the implementation of key policies and review progress, possible challenges and also reaffirm commitment to overcome all the challenges.
The minister said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu made it clear since inception that the ministry is one of the core mandate of his government.
In his words; “If we get it right at the ministry of Education, it will be nice for the rest of the country because, it is the manpower hub of the country and the mother ministry responsible for producing the leadership and manpower for the country”.
