The Newgate University, Minna, Niger State, has announced the refund of school fees from 100 to 400 levels to the best graduating student of the institution, Hauwa Maude Kulu, who also graduated with first-class honours from the Department of Public Health.
Chancellor of the University, Judge Kaigama (SAN), disclosed this during the 2025 maiden graduation ceremony of the University, held at the school premises on Wednesday, 3rd December 2025, in Minna, Niger State.
According to the university chancellor, “The student was also awarded with automatic employment and admission if she wants to read further,” he stated.
Newgate University was the first private university in Niger State, established in May 2022.
Earlier in his remarks, the Governor of Niger State, Muhammad Umaru Bago, represented by his Deputy, Comrade Yakubu Garba, had promised that his administration would continue to support the university so as to enable it to achieve the desired objective of bringing education closer to the people.
“Our administration support to this university was not an act of charity; it was a purposeful investment in the future of Niger State,” Bago emphasised.
The governor maintained that his administration remains committed to strengthening the partnership with the university to enhance academic quality, noting that the government had taken bold steps to uplift education at all levels.
He applauded the students for working hard to achieve academic excellence, urging them to carry the values they have learnt into the world.
The Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of Newgate University, Dr Hassan Nuhu, has called on higher institutions to raise job creators and not job seekers if Nigeria must get it right economically.
According to him, “True to our name, Newgate stands as a gateway to new opportunities, a cradle where ideas are born, nurtured and transformed.
“It is where bold ideas from both staff and students are incubated, refined and released to the world.
“We are not here to merely award degrees; we are here to equip destinies. We are not producing job seekers; we are raising job creators, inventors, builders, and entrepreneurs whose footprints will define the next decade.”
The Vice Chancellor, Professor Sadiq Yusuf, said that 14 students graduated with first-class honours, 81 with second-class upper, 88 with second-class lower, and 24 with third-class degrees.
He said the institution’s rapid growth since it began academic activities with 350 students in 2022 now boasts 2,000 students across 13 academic programmes in four faculties.
He said that ten of these programmes have received full accreditation from the Nigerian University Commission (NUC).
Lateefah Ibrahim