The Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Matthew Kukah, has commended President Muhammadu Buhari for giving his approval for the establishment of Nok University, a private institution based in Kaduna State.
DAILY NIGERIAN reports that the university is among the 20 private universities recently approved by the Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja.
Speaking during the inauguration of the Board of Trustees and Governing Council of the university on Tuesday in Abuja, the clergy, who is also the Board Chairman of the university also commended the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, for his consideration of the application.
Mr Kukah also commended Prof. Rasheed Abubakar, the Executive Secretary, Nigerian Universities Commission, NUC, for changing the face of tertiary education in the country in the last few years.
“It is to his (Prof. Rasheed Abubakar) credit that from the start to the end of the process of acquiring the license, everything took less than one year,” he said.
Earlier, the founder of the university, Chief Anthony Hassan, who holds the traditional title of Dokajen Jaba Chiefdom, Kaduna State, said government alone could not meet the needs of students seeking admission into various universities in the country, especially science orientated courses.
“I considered the rate at which Nigerians were giving birth and the resources at the disposal of government are not adequate.
“So, I decided to contribute my own quota towards the development of education in Kaduna State in particular and Nigeria in general.
“So that the younger ones who are seeking admission will be able to gain admission and read the relevant courses,” he said.
He said the university was named Nok because of rich history of Nok culture known worldwide, adding that whoever heard the name would not ask which country was that because Nok culture exists for over 200 years ago.
“Since after the inception of the university before even the approval, we received calls from all over the world.
“There are some Germans who wanted to develop Nok culture but because they don’t have people who will support them locally they decided to keep their resource.
“But shortly, after I started this they indicated interest to bring in their resources to develop the Nok culture,” he said.
