200 Universities Are Not Enough for Nigeria, Says Sam Maduka Onyishi
- Educational experts say Nigeria has a huge demand for education at the tertiary level with a population of 214,783,314 as of Monday, March 14, 2022
- An education enthusiast, Sam Maduka Onyishi is building a university in his home state of Enugu to help address the issue
- As of the year 2021, the number of universities in Nigeria was 170, with private individuals owning 79 out of the number
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Enugu - Sam Maduka Onyishi has declared that the over 200 universities in Nigeria are not enough for the high demand for university education in the country.
The popular entrepreneur who is currently building the Sam Maduka University, Ekwegbe, Nsukka in Igbo-Etiti local government area of Enugu state, says with the huge population of the country, Nigeria will need more universities to meet the needs of fresh secondary school leavers.
Onyishi, chairman of Peace Mass Transit and C & I Leasing made the comment in an interactive session with journalists after a tour of the facility.
Source: Facebook
He said with the country’s increasing population and high demand for it, coupled with the obvious constraints students experience in gaining admission into public tertiary institutions, the need for more universities that would offer quality education to the students, cannot be over-emphasized.
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He further said his university would make its graduate become employers of labor rather than being job seekers.
Source: Facebook
According to him, there will be a faculty of entrepreneurial studies within the facility to ensure that graduates of the university are self-reliant in the modern competitive job market.
His words:
“People should be able to go to school and come out of school; if you get employed somewhere, it’s good but even if you don’t get a job, you should be able to employ yourself. I believe in education for self-reliance. That’s the reason for the motto of our school 'Knowledge, Self-Reliance and Service.'
“I am laying a foundation for that because it’s an entrepreneurial university; the plan is that any graduate of our university should be able to run his or her own business, the course the graduate read, notwithstanding.
“So if you are reading History in our university, you should read history and leave the school and be able to employ yourself. If you are reading Health Sciences or Law, you should be able to read all those courses and be able to employ yourself.
“We are going to teach you all these courses in a manner that by the time you come out of the university, you should be a lawyer that can employ yourself. You should be a lawyer for wealth creation or History for self-employment or self-reliance.”
Onyishi noted that profit is not the reason for him building the university, adding that it is a way for him to give back to society which he has always done.
At the moment, there is an ongoing building of massive infrastructure on the over 300 hectares acquired by the university.
Onyishi said the university's secondary school – Maduka College will commence in September 2022 while Sam Maduka University proper will start its academic activities in December 2022.
He said the university will have regular gas-powered electricity within the school, administrative office, students hostels, lecturers quarters, ICT hub, faculty of law, while the secondary school has what it takes to run a model private secondary school with a focus on quality education.
More universities in Delta state necessary, says Governor Ifeanyi Okowa
In a related development, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa has insisted that the establishment of three new universities in Delta state was very important.
The governor was reacting to the recent criticisms by the Academic Staff Union of Universities concerning the new tertiary institutions.
Governor Okowa said the institutions were set up to ensure that no qualified student from the state was denied admission into the university.
NUC releases list of 12 Nigerian universities to operate Distance Learning Centres
Meanwhile, the National Universities Commission (NUC) has released the list of Nigerian universities that have the approval to operate distance learning centres.
The commission in a bulletin published on Monday, September 20, also stated that the National Open University of Nigeria which has 72 study/resource centres nationwide is currently the only approved open university in Nigeria.
The universities that have the NUC's approval to operate distance learning centres across the country include the Distance Learning Centre, University of Ibadan, University of Lagos, Distance Learning Institute, the University of Maiduguri, Centre for Distance Learning among others.
Source: Legit.ng
