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Nigeria does not have enough universities to enable its youths compete on the global stage effectively, the President/Director of Studies, the London Academy of Business School (LABS) Dr Larry Jones-Esan has said.
Speaking after meeting the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC) in Abuja to seek the commission’s recognition for the commencement of academic programmes of the business school in partnership with the University of Sunderland, the United Kingdom, in Abuja, Jones-Esan said Nigeria needs to embark on rapid expansion of higher institutions to compete.
He hinted that though the school is already operating in Lagos, it still needs the recognition of the NUC to expand its programmes to Abuja.
He bemoaned the inadequate number of universities in Nigeria, saying with about 200 million population, Nigeria needs more ivory towers to absorb the tertiary education needs of the country.
“If two million people apply for university admissions every year in Nigeria and only 700,000 students can admission, that is a problem and that is a challenge that must be solved immediately. That is the gap the University of Sunderland wants to partner with Nigeria to solve. So, the university coming to Abuja comes at the right time. We thank the delegates from the University of Sunderland for working with the London Academy Business School in making sure that this gives results as quickly as possible,” he stated.
On his part, an Associate Professor from the Faculty of Business Law and Tourism, University of Sunderland, Dr Derek Watson, said: “The meeting with the Executive Secretary was very productive. What we have agreed on today, is the criticality in following the compliance procedures. In addition to that, we would source credible academics to deliver our programmes from London Academy Business School (LABS) who are qualified teachers and practising consultants. The student will get the same experience as those students studying in England.”
Commenting on the January 2024 commencement date at the Public Service Institute of Nigeria, Abuja, Dr Derek assured that students in Nigeria will have the same academic standards as their counterparts in the UK, while the management at the same time promised to respect the environment and guidelines from the NUC.
According to him: “The meeting with the NUC is for us to get the recognition that we are allowed to run the Sunderland courses in Abuja. We do not need the NUC accreditation. What we need is recognition. That is very important because if we run any course in Nigeria without them recognizing it, that degree is useless and they cannot do NYSC. Therefore, we do not want that to be the case.
“So, for us to do that, we have to get their permission first before we go out there and start recruiting students otherwise, we will be shooting ourselves in the foot. If they come here and say you are doing something illegal, you will pay a fine before you get out of that. So, what we have done is that we bring those people in and come in as the CEO of the London Academy Business School, to make sure that we have them aware of what we are doing. One thing that came out very clear is that they want people to work with them but work in a way that they respect the authority and respect the system and the environment.”
Earlier, the team visited the Public Service Institute of Nigeria along Kubwa Road, Abuja, which is going to serve as the study centre where it was received by the Administrator of the institute, Dr Abdul-Ganiyu Obatayinbo.
The Administrator said the environment was far better than what the University of Sunderland has in the UK, adding that the institute is saddled with the responsibility of building the capacity of public and civil servants.
He said that the institute has a 500-seat auditorium, 12 different halls of 30-seater capacity each, hostels with 202 bedrooms, a hospital, security quarters, a sports complex, entrepreneurship centre among other facilities that would make teaching and learning conducive.
Some of the courses to be offered at the undergraduate level include Computer Science, Business and Management, Network System Engineering among others, while Business Administration, International Business Management, Education Leadership among others will be offered at the Master’s level.
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