An American university in Southern California has complained against the National Universities Commission (NUC) for not granting it license to operate in Nigeria.

Founder of the American Heritage University of Southern California Professor Tony Ogiamien who paid a courtesy visit on the Minister of State for Education, Barrister Nyesom Wike, on Monday in Abuja said its interaction with NUC ended in December, 2011.

Ogiamien who was the former Dean of Law at the University of Benin said the university was licensed by the State of California Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education to offer degrees in Business Administration, Law and post-graduate degrees in Jurisprudence, Public Policy and Business Administration.

He said the university had different cross-border education projects in Malaysia, Macedonia, Vietnam, Dubai, Philippines and Pakistan which it would like to replicate in Nigeria but was yet to receive positive response from NUC.

He said since the team from the university visited NUC for an extensive interaction in December 2011 it was yet to get any response from the commission.

Wike in his response said one of the federal government's agenda for education was to expand access even at the tertiary level hence approval by the Federal Executive Council last week to establish three more universities.

He said government was also encouraging more private sector participation in the tertiary education sub-sector and the NUC would not deliberately frustrate any private university.

He said NUC may not have responded because it was still considering the university's proposition and if it met the necessary requirements it would be granted provisional licence.