Four new private universities have been approved by the Federal Executive Council.
The Council, at its first meeting in 2019 presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, approved the universities on Wednesday.
The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, gave the names of the universities while briefing State House correspondents after the meeting.
The new higher institutions are Greenfield University, Kaduna; Dominion University, Ibadan, Oyo State; Trinity University, Ogun State; and Westland University in Iwo, Osun State.
Adamu stated that the universities met all the requirements for approval.
He added that they all submitted their master plans, academic briefs and list of facilities.
The minister also said the report of visitation panels by the National Universities Commission, gave the schools a nod for approval.
Nigeria now has 73 universities, including the latest four schools.
Also approved by FEC was N1.7bn for the installation of the second phase of Controller–Pilot Data Link Communication for the Kano Flight Information Region.
The Kano flight information region covers Abuja and Lagos airports, according to the Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Serika.
He explained that the project was meant to improve on communication and safety during flight operations.
The Mambilla Hydro Power Project also got an approval of N800m.
The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola (SAN), explained that the Mambilla project would consume at least 18 million bags of cement, adding that it would create jobs.
He added, “Apart from the mining jobs, you need to transport them and you are looking at 900,000 trucks, and the 42,000 tones of steel that will be required to build this. You can see the economic impact of Mambilla.”
The Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, said, “The Federal Executive Council approved two memos from the Ministry of Petroleum. One was an Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Installation contract for the 12 inch by six inch Opoho-Okoho flexible pipelines in OML 119, which was awarded to messrs National Oil Verco completion and MELCURT Nigeria Limited.
“The second approval was on the Escravos to Lagos gas pipeline phase one for additional unforeseen works in engineering.”
Punch