Premium Times reported that the minister of education, Adamu Adamu, who was represented by the ministry’s permanent secretary, Sonny Echono, disclosed this at a media briefing in Abuja on Monday, June 21.

President Muhammadu Buhari has also approved N18 billion for the establishment of the four specialised universities, The Nation stated.

List of states to host the new universities

1. Jigawa state

2. Akwa Ibom state

3. Osun state

4. Bauchi states

Adamu also said the federal government will establish a National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Abuja to serve essentially as a postgraduate centre devoted to research and innovation.

The minister noted that the move was in line with a promise made by the Buhari administration to establish an apex National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Abuja with six satellite universities of technology, one in each geo-political zone of the country.

He said the NIT will be patterned after similar institutions in Singapore and Malaysia.

Four other existing technology universities to be upgraded

Meanwhile, the federal government has also resolved to upgrade and equip four existing Universities of Technology. Those to be upgraded are:

1. University of Technology, Yola (northeast)

2. University of Technology, Akure (southwest)

3. University of Technology, Owerri (southeast)

4. University of Technology, Minna (northcentral)

Two of the four new universities will also be technology-focused and would be established in 2021.

The remaining two will be focused on health, nutrition and medical sciences as Nigeria takes a strong step to medical tourism to countries like India, UAE, Egypt, Europe and the United States.

Out of the N18 billion take-off grant approved for the new project, N4 billion each will be allotted to the two Universities of Technology and N5 billion each to the two Universities of Health Science.

The funding will be drawn from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).

The upgrade of the existing four universities of technology and the national institute of technology would come up in 2022.