The federal government has denied reports that it is selling off public universities to private investors.

The Minister of Education, Prof Tahir Mamman, said there has been misinformation on one aspect of the ministry's policy in respect to tertiary education.

The minister who stated this during a meeting with Heads of agencies, parastatals and directors at the ministry of education in Abuja, on Tuesday, said, "This is an absolute lie and completely false."

"This government believes in the provision of government institutions and has not shied away from the force that the government needs from the private sectors. For decades now, private sectors have played a major role in the provision of tertiary education and there are more private universities in Nigeria than public universities combined," he said.

"What the government has done is to open up the tertiary education level in particular, the universities for global competitiveness that allow those who operate in this area at international level to come into the country and set up institutions open for collaboration with our local universities under guidelines of what is called trans-national education."

He explained that other parts of the world have benefitted from having international institutions setting up campuses or new institutions in those countries, which has taken standards in those countries.

"They have also saved those countries foreign exchange and brought more money into the country and that is what the government has done, it has opened up tertiary education so that people from the rest of the world can invest in our tertiary institutions system. Government is not parting with any of its institutions," the minister said.

The minister, however, emphasised that the meeting is very important to assess their mileage, the direction taken in the implementation of key policies and review progress, possible challenges and also reaffirm commitment to overcome all the challenges.