Davidson Njoku — In this first instalment of our Full Report on private universities in Nigeria, Davidson Njoku x-rays their rapid increase, performance as well as the hopes and pitfalls ahead.

The recent announcement by the Minister of State for Education, Hajiya Aishatu Jibril Dukku on the Federal Government's approval of seven new private universities elicited mixed reactions from stakeholders in the education sector. With the granting of licenses to enable the seven new institutions to operate, the number of recognised universities in the country is now ninety six. Out of this figure, 27 are federal universities, 34 belongs to the private sector while the rest are state universities.

The widespread apprehension generated by the approval of seven new universities emanated from the lingering fear that the proliferation of private universities will lower the bar of academic standard and turn most of these private tertiary institutions into glorified secondary schools.

The first federal university in the country was established in 1948. Between 1948 and now, which is a period of 61 years, the number of federal universities have grown to 21.Similarly, the first state university in the country came on board in 1976, and by 2009,33 years later, the number has gone up to 32.On the other hand, the first private university in Nigeria was established barely 10 years ago in 1999 but today, we have 34 private universities.

The seven new babies in the private university sector are Wellspring University, Urbuobanosa, Edo State; Nigerian Turkish Nile University Abuja; Godfrey University, Ugwuoma - Nike, Enugu State; Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State; Oduduwa University, Ipetumodu, Osun State; Rhema University, Obeama-asa, River State; and Paul University, Awka, Anambra State.

The Minister of State for Eduation, Hajiya Dukku while announcing the granting of operational licence to these seven after a meeting of the Federal Executive council hit the nail an the head. She stated bluntly that the approval is aimed at addressing the inadequacy of the current situation in the nation's tertiary education. For instance, she said, only 220,000, or less than 20 per cent of the 1.3 million candidates that sat for the 2009 matriculation examination, would be admitted because of limited spaces in existing universities.

Given this scenario, the question most Nigerians are asking, is whether more universities, rather than enhancing the capacity and functionality of existing private and public universities, would salvage the nation from the current doldrums in the tertiary education sector. This is moreso in view of the fact that despite unprecedented increase in the number of private universities in the country and which have dwarfed the number of both federal and state universities.these private institutions can only contribute about 3.5 per cent to the total number of student enrolment.

The 27 federal universities in the country contributes about 610,645 or 55.7 to student enrolment; the 32 state universities - 448.392 or 40.9 per cent; while the 34 private universities contributes an abysmally paltry figure of 37, 275 or 3.4 per cent.

The common reason for this low student enrolment ratio by the country's private universities, is that like most other private universities around the world, these private sector initiatives are usually elitist in nature. The tuition is far beyond the reach of the average Nigerian and ranges between N350,000 and N1 million per semester.

Secondly, many of the existing private universities in the country seems to have kicked off in a hurry and can only accommodate minimal number of students. Such institutions usually find it difficult to meet the conditions for the full accreditation of a substantial number of their courses.

The fact remains that proper funding and good management which are the basic criteria for the healthy growth of public universities, are equally the unavoidable basic criteria for sustainable healthy growth of private universities. It follows therefore that the level of funding and good management is what makes the difference between one private university and the other in terms of infrastructural development and sound academic products. Such proper funding and good management revolves around proper planning, visionary and focused leadership, high ethical standard and glaring sense of responsibility.

Good enough, an impressive number of the existing private universities in the country personifies these enviable rich attributes and have made the nation proud as far as functional private university establishment is concerned. Today, one cannot talk of qualitative university education in Nigeria without making adequate mention of such private universities as Babalola, Bowen Covenant, Igbinedion, Lead, Caceb, Madonna, Ajayi Courther, Crawford, Bells university of Technology, Crescent, Achievers, Benson Idahosa, African University of Science and Technology, Redeemers University,Veritas, Fountain, Cetep, American University of Nigeria, Western Delta University, Wesley University of Science and Technology, Joseph Ayo Babalola University, Wakari Jubilee University, Novena, and Pan African University.

Although some of these universities stands out shoulder - high above the others, they all displays the attribute of getting more improved and better focused with age.

One key area in which many of the existing private universities in the country are found to be downstream is the area of meeting the accreditation criteria in Nigerian universities system.

The criteria for scoring and evaluating a programme are: employers rating (3 %), library(12 %) academic content (25 %), physical facilities (25 %). An accreditation panel of professors in the relevant programmes carries out the scoring, with the guidance of officials of the National universities commission.

A full accreditation status which entails that a programme will not be re-visited for the next five years is achieved when a programme scores 70 per cent and above in addition to scoring 70 per cent and above in four other core areas.Yet such full accreditation amounts to only one out of twelve unavoidable criteria's for assessing the academic status of private and public universities.