Governor Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso of Kano state has laid the foundation of Northwest University in the state capital, the second state-owned university which is expected to gulp billions of Naira.
At the ceremony held at the permanent site at in Kano city, the governor explained that his administration decided the construct the university on the 137.9 hectares of land, which was given to the Libyan government long before 1999 for the construction of a university, but they failed to develop it.
Already, contracts have been awarded for the construction of two Faculty complexes of institutions while some existing structures previously on the site will be converted to appropriate university structure.
Governor Kwankwaso, who stated that the new institution is a conventional university, as against the state University of Technology Wudil, which was also established by him in 2000, explained that the need to have more universities in the Kano is so apparent because the only two existing universities in the state cannot cope with its growing student’s population.
He remarked that as its name implies, the new university will by and large cater for students for the North West region of the country, appealing to state governors in the zone to join hands with the government of Kano state toward sustaining the institution.
The governor said his administration is paying serious attention to the development of all levels of education in the state, specifically noting that quite a number of abandoned projects in tertiary institutions in the state have been completed by his administration while new ones have been embarked upon.
In his speech earlier, the chairman of the Implementation Committee of the Northwest University, Prof. Hafiz Abubakar explained that the committee worked tirelessly to articulate the framework of the institutions, pointing out that it is the fastest university in the country to receive NUC recognition, having being granted recognition within six months of conceiving the project.
Prof. Abubakar explained that the institution will take off with an initial six faculties and shall introduce more departments and programmes including a postgraduate school in subsequent years. He stated that already, principal officers have been appointed for the university and thanked the NUC for speedily certifying the institution.
The Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyah Ahmad Rufa’i, who was represented on the occasion by Professor Sagir Adamu Abbas assured that her ministry supports the project and will back it up to ensure success.
She commended the administration of Governor Rabi’u Kwankwaso for sponsoring 501 Kano indigenes to acquire post graduate degrees abroad, to enable them man the institutions established by the government, describing the initiative as praiseworthy.
Senate President, David Mark, the Speaker House of Representatives, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar as well as the governors of Kaduna and Katsina states sent goodwill messages on the occasion.