Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello yesterday received a letter from the National Universities Commission (NUC) for the establishment of a new university at Kabba.
The governor received the provisional licence from Prof. Abubakar Rasheed who announced his resignation as the NUC Executive Secretary.
The new university is expected to take off academic and non-academic engagements in September.
With the latest approval, Kogi State now has three universities.
The other three are: Prince Abubakar Audu University at Anyigba and Confluence University of Science and Technology at Osara.
Rasheed said he would return to Bayero University in Kano (BUK) as a lecturer after serving as the NUC boss for seven years, exactly three years and a month to the expiration of his eight-year tenure.
He described the new university as his last baby at the commission, having granted approvals to numerous universities across the country during his tenure.
The NUC boss said the new university in Kogi State would be the 62nd among state government-owned in the country.
Rasheed notified the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) of the establishment of the institution.
He said: “On behalf of the commission, with effect from June 26, 2023, Kogi State University at Kabba has been recognised as the 62nd state-owned university in the country.”
Governor Bello said the Bill to establish the university was sent to the Kogi House of Assembly and passed into law.
The governor, who said there were mechanisms in place to establish the university, expressed the hope that the first set of students would be admitted into the institution before his tenure expires.
He also said the establishment of the university was meant to satisfy the age-long desire of the people of Kogi West, adding that the government had earmarked resources for immediate take-off of the university.
Bello assured the NUC and other stakeholders that the new university would be a birthplace for striking research and innovations that would herald solutions to socio-economic, political, and manpower challenges in Nigeria, Africa and beyond.
The governor presented documents containing academic briefs, the university’s law, master plan and other relevant information to the NUC management for possible consideration.
Rasheed, a close ally of immediate past Education Minister Adamu Adamu, was appointed the NUC Executive Secretary in August 2016 and reappointed in 2021.
The NUC boss, an academic, administrator and a professor of English Language, was Vice Chancellor of Bayero University in Kano (BUK) between 2010 and 2015.
It was gathered that the former executive secretary battled an undisclosed illness during the period.
A source said he had wanted to resign his position earlier but was prevailed upon to wait till the end of Adamu’s tenure.
