Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Barrister Abdulraheem Adebayo Shittu, has said that a specialised university solely for Information and Communications Technology related courses will take off in Abuja in September, a top official has said.
Adebayo Shittu, who disclosed this when the 31-member committee on the proposed ICT university submitted its report in Abuja Monday, also said the university would further boost ICT development in Nigeria.
Though the Federal Executive Council would still need to deliberate on the report, he said he was confident it would be adopted by FEC
According to the minister, FEC would likely come up with a memorandum on the proposed school after their deliberation in the two weeks.
He said the specialised ICT tertiary school, which would be the first of its kind in Africa, is expected to create thousands of jobs across Nigeria.
The ministry, he said, was already sourcing for the Vice Chancellor for the school while the lecturers would be sourced mostly from India, Malaysia, United Kingdom, United States, Canada, South Korea and other countries.
He said the university would have it curriculum structured in such way that every student who pass through the school would not only come out of it grounded in his/her course, but would also automatically be a potential jobs creator.
He said the school would be jointly funded by the government and the private sector, with assistance from some foreign-based IT companies.
The minister said quite a number of private companies had already signified their willingness to be part of the school and this makes the September take off date very feasible.
Earlier in his speech before the submission of the report, the chairman of the committee, former executive secretary of the National University Commission (NUC)Professor Julius Okojie said the specialised ICT university would give the country an edge over other countries competing in Africa.
He urged the federal government to employ the best hands to work in the school.
