The Federal University of Applied Sciences in Kachia, Kaduna State, is set to begin academic activities this year, with Medicine, Pharmacy, and Nursing emerging as top programmes.
This follows the official transfer of the institution’s Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) from the Kaduna State Government to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Nigeria’s Minister of Education, Dr. Moruf Alausa, confirmed the development in Abuja when Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani, handed over the Certificate of Occupancy to him. He assured Governor Sani that all necessary financial provisions had been made to ensure a smooth take-off for the university.
‘’This university is going to take off. We already have the National Assembly approved the personnel, the recurrent overhead, and the capital budget in the 2025 budget,” Dr. Alausa said.
He further announced that the institution would admit its first batch of students in the 2025 academic year, reinforcing the government’s commitment to expanding higher education opportunities.
To accelerate the university’s development, the minister also pledged to secure funding from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).
“I’ll make sure that the university also gets TETfund allocation this year as well. So this is a happy day for the people of Southern Kaduna, people of Kaduna, and people of Nigeria at large,” he stated.
With the formal handover of the Certificate of Occupancy, the Federal Government now assumes full ownership of the university, paving the way for its official commencement.
“Over 200 hectares of land is being transferred by the Kaduna State Government to the Federal Government via the Federal Ministry of Education, we now have the full ownership of this university,” he said.
Dr. Alausa said the University will offer Sciences courses, especially in the medical sciences which are priority areas to the President Bola Tinubu led administration, even as the ministry focuses on STEM, Vocational and technical education as well as skill acquisition.
‘The Federal University of Applied Science, Kachia, would be offering courses in medicine, nursing, pharmacy, applied sciences in areas of applied mathematics, computers, AI and machine learning, and environmental studies among others,” he said.
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The Federal University of Applied Science, Kachia, formally known as NOK University, was handed over to the Minister of Education last Year, by the EFCC after a final forfeiture order by the court, over illegal financing of the school by the initial owner.
Governor of Kaduna State Uba Sani said the University of Applied Sciences Kachia is very special as it would engender development because of the nature of the courses that it would offer as spelled out by the Honourable Minister of Education.
‘’We believe that science is something that is very important, very critical, that will really help Kaduna to develop,’ he said.
He said the size of the land being given to the University by the Kaduna State government is as big as a whole district and far bigger than many universities in the country.
‘We are here with the Certificate of Occupancy (C of O), which is about 270 hectares of land, it’s whole district and bigger than many universities across the country,’ he said.
He commended the Nigerian President, Ahmed Bola Tinubu, for the FEC approval and the Vice President, Kashim Shetima, as well as Senator Sunday Marshal representing Kaduna South Senatorial District for their unwavering support that made the University to come to fruition, especially the seamless transition.
He applauded the Ministry of Education for the support and interventions granted to the state-owned institutions as well as the upcoming Federal University of Applied Sciences, Kachia.
He, however, said there was the need for both parties to partner in the areas of the quality of the institutions, in terms of facilities, teachers and lecturers.
‘Because no matter how much you build these institutions, if you don’t have adequate and qualified lecturers, we might not be able to succeed. It’s also very important because I’ve seen that we have a lot of deficit in many institutions across the country,” he said.
Governor Sani said there was also the need for synergy between the federal government and sub-national for all to succeed, especially at the basic education levels, which are the most critical, even for the tertiary institutions.
He said his administration has been giving priority to the education sector with critical investment leading to almost a million enrollments from primary to secondary school, including the out of school children.
‘When we came in, we had about 580,000 out-of-school children. But today, we have reduced the numbers only to about 250,000, and it’s still a work in progress,’ he said.
He said all public primary schools in the state are free, stressing that all the 56 boarding schools in the state are also being fed for free, three times a day, to encourage learning and discourage drop out.
“In the last one and a half years, since I came in, we built about 2,400 classes in all the local government areas of the Kaduna State. At the level of secondary school, we built 62 junior and senior secondary schools in Kaduna,” he said
The Senator representing Kaduna South Senatorial district, Sunday Marshal, in an earlier remark, said “the institution is a dream come true as it is a collective achievement for all the stakeholders that worked for the successful establishment of the institution in the state.”
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