The Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), Professor Abubakar Adamu Rasheed has expressed dissatisfaction at the inability of Nigeria Universities to absorb majority of admission seekers, stating that the establishment of more Universities will tackle the admission challenge.

The NUC boss made this known recently during a courtesy visit to his office by a delegation led by the Commissioner for Human Rights Promotion in Nigeria and Special Rapporteur on Women’s Right in Africa, African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights (ACHPR), Mrs. Lucy Asuagbor.

While addressing the delegation, Professor Rasheed lamented the growing number of young school-leavers who find it difficult to gain admission into tertiary institutions in the country, stating that students’ inability to gain admission into universities and polytechnics is as a result of limited available spaces in the nation’s tertiary institutions.

He said that the scenario in the country was such that over 1.3 million applicants seek admission into Nigerian universities, annually, while only 500, 0000 are admitted due to the limited carrying capacity of the existing universities – a situation he blamed on the number of universities that serve the country’s teeming population.

Drawing a comparison between Nigeria and Argentina, the NUC Chief noted that with a population of 39 million, Argentina had a total of 1,790 universities, while Nigeria, with 180 million people had only 152 universities to cater for them. He therefore hoped that the country in the next five years, will establish 100 more universities to solve the limited admission problem.

Professor Rasheed further restated the commitment of the Commission to ensure the processing of prospective applications for the establishment of new universities by aspiring proprietors to bridge the huge shortfall and meet the yearnings of and demand for university education in the country.

Applauding the achievements of the female gender in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), Professor Rasheed expressed satisfaction at the increased performance of the female children in the sciences. He pledged the Commission’s commitment towards encouraging enrolment of the girl-child in other areas like Engineering.

The Executive Secretary further stressed that the NUC would continue to promote and put policies in place to encourage the physically challenged to acquire university education. He revealed that proprietors of universities have been mandated to put in place physical facilities in their institutions to ease the sufferings of this special group of persons.

The Executive Secretary further stated that the NUS had introduced new programmes to address emerging national issues and ensure that universities in Nigeria were globally competitive in terms of programmes, curriculum and derivable.

He explained that the Commission was on the verge of developing software that would guarantee accurate and reliable data in the NUC. He added that the Commission was working with universities in the North East to develop adequate strategies to ameliorate insecurity in the region. One of such strategies, he revealed, include the establishment of a Centre for Koranic Studies.

In her remarks, the Leader of the delegation, Mrs. Asuagbor stated that ACHPR was saddled with the responsibilities of promoting human and people’s rights as well as interpreting Charters for the Commission. She said that the visit afforded the ACHPR the opportunity to understand the extent to which gender equality was advocated and promoted in the NUC.