Unless the federal government offers financial assistance to private universities, many of the institutions may collapse soon. The above is the fear of the Vice Chancellor of Achievers University, Owo, Ondo State, Prof Tunji Ibiyemi. He made the statement last friday during the 9th matriculation ceremony of the institution held at the Trinity Hall of the university.
Prof Ibiyemi noted that there was an urgent need for the federal government to help offset the extra cost incurred by candidates in private universities above their counterparts in public universities. Besides,the university don called on the government to ensure access to TetFund by all Universities in Nigeria regardless of being public or private.
The VC also called for flexibility in the programmes being run in the various private universities, explaining that a private university may decide to offer programmes in basic medical sciences or engineering alone.
“If the federal government fails to address these issues, many private Universities will soon collapse. This will further complicate the the sorry situation in the sector today. The outcome then will be Armageddon for all of us,” he warned.
The university don urged the new students to shun vices that could derail their destiny or lead to their early exit from the university, calling on parents and guardians to constantly monitor their wards. A total of 256 students matriculated with 207 in the College of Natural and Applied Sciences and the remaining 48 are in the College of Social and Management Sciences.
The VC said five new NUC approved programmes have been added for the Institution. These include B.NSC Nursing, B.SC Criminology and Security Study, B.SC Sociology, B.SC Public Administration and B.SC Mass Communication.
The guest lecturer at the matriculation ceremony, Dr S.O Oduleye of the Department of Biological Sciences of the University urged the new students to set goals for themselves with the choices they make between now and 2019. The university’s Pro-Chancellor, Dr. Bode Ayorinde, enthused that all courses in the academic programmes of the Institution are duly accredited by the NUC.
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This is a strange submission is the federal govt suppose to support private universities now.if the promoter cannot fund them why set them up