Vice Chancellor, Coal City University, Enugu, Prof. Afam Icha Ituma has appealed to the Federal Government to rethink it’s policies that has continued to deny it’s interventions on private universities.
Ituma stated that despite several appeals, the federal government’s Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETfund) and the Nigerian Education Loan Fund( NELFUND) interventions had been denied private universities and it’s students, stressing that such was not in the overall best of education in the country.

The Vice Chancellor who spoke at a press briefing in Enugu, said several requests and letters written by managers of private universities to be included in these interventions had not received a positive response and urged the government to rethink the policy in the interest of education .

“We have made several requests, we have written a position letter, requesting for the federal government to also consider private universities in their very noble initiatives. For instance, the TETfund project of federal government, which is very knowledgeable, and which is available to public institutions and not available to private institutions. Everything you see here is based on the support of the Board of Trustees.

“So we don’t have any support in terms of finance or in terms of anything whatsoever. That is not too good, given that we are providing human resources, training human resources for the broader-level markets. These human resources can work in the private sector, they can work in the public sector, and indeed we have been providing very high-quality human resources. Many of our graduates are already in top universities abroad doing their postgraduate, and some of them who are already working, the feedback has been constantly positive. So we have been contributing meaningfully in that regard.

” Coming to NELFUND, we participated in a number of meetings. I think it was the last one they had sometime this year. We were very optimistic, and enthusiastic that there would be a revisit of the issue that we are talking about. But unfortunately, we were also disappointed when they started saying that students of private institutions are not eligible to benefit from NELFUND. We find that as very discouraging, because there are a number of students who would want to study in private institutions like our own, knowing that we are at the forefront of university education in Nigeria; but because of financial consideration, they may not be able to come in here. So we want to urge the government, state, federal, to revisit its support for private institutions”, he stated

The Vice Chancellor, who also addressed reports making the rounds that the University owed it’s staff for several months culminating in a strike action, as well as overshooting it’s admission quota in the law faculty, said there was no iota of truth in the publications and urged the public to disregard them.

Ituma said as a responsible institution, Coal City University is founded on the principles of academic excellence, integrity. discipline, innovation, and respect for the dignity of every member of its community.

“We therefore consider it necessary to respond to certain allegations recently published, particularly by Sahara Reporters. We wish to state unequivocally that several of the claims contained in those reports are inaccurate, misleading, and fail to present a balanced account of the facts

“The University categorically refutes the allegations of non-payment of staff salaries and the alleged 6 months staff strike arising therefrom. Staff salaries have been paid consistently, and the University does not owe any salary arrears to its employees. Furthermore, there has never been any staff strike action in the history of the University. These allegations are entirely false, misleading, and devoid of any factual basis. They constitute a deliberate misrepresentation of the true state of affairs and an unwarranted attempt to tarnish the reputation and integrity of the University.

“With respect to the incident of June 10, 2026, let me assure the public that Coal City University, in line with our internal governance framework, acted promptly and responsibly upon becoming aware of the matter. Indeed, the University had already taken decisive preliminary actions before the publication of the reports. These included the suspension of the staff and students directly involved in the incident and the constitution of a Review Committee to investigate the matter and make recommendations to Management. Therefore, any suggestion that the University’s response was reactionary or prompted by external pressure is inaccurate”, he said.

He added that the public should note that the student at the centre of the matter is a beneficiary of the University’s scholarship programme, reflecting its commitment to expanding access to quality higher education for deserving students from diverse backgrounds.

“Coal City University remains committed to due process. The Review Committee has been mandated to examine the matter objectively and submit its recommendations to Management”, he added.

He added that the University aspires to be a world-class university and remains fully operational, stressing that all the 26 academic programmes currently offered by the University have received the appropriate approvals and accreditation from the National Universities Commission (NUC).