A five-man delegation from El-Amin International Nigeria Limited, owners of El- Amin International Primary and Secondary Schools in Minna and Abuja, on Wednesday, 17 July, 2013, paid a visit to the Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), Professor Julius A. Okojie, OON, to submit a proposal for the establishment of El-Amin University, Minna, Niger State.

Welcoming the team, Professor Okojie said the NUS had grown from humble beginnings, during the colonial era, to a position where more universities had been established to provide access to the high demand for tertiary education. He decried the recent trend whereby, people prefer foreign universities, most of which he said, were just affiliates of other universities, to Nigerian ones. He added that the huge finances involved in such foreign institutions, if invested in the NUS, could make Nigerian universities more competitive, thereby contributing to national development. He stressed that it was cheaper to get quality education in Nigeria and that the Federal Government was determined to provide quality education to its teeming youths.

The Executive Secretary noted that, out of 128 universities in the country, 50 were private and had impressively contributed to the development of the NUS. He further stated that the Government had embarked on building a critical mass for the NUS, through the Presidential Scholarship for Innovation and Development (PRESSID) scheme and the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Scholarship Awards. He said that out of the 101 PRESSID awardees, 13 were from a private university, attributing the feat to the stability in the academic calendar of private universities.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/National-Universities-Commission/153655261473222?ref=hl#