Niger State governor, Mohammed Bago, has announced plans to upgrade the state-owned Abdulkadir Kuri University of Education, Minna, to a conventional institution to address the gaps in some fields.

Bago, who stated this while inaugurating the institution’s governing council, emphasised the need to run programmes like medicine, aviation, science and technology as well as climate change in the university.

The governor stated this during the inauguration of a 16-member governing council of Engineer Abdulkadir Kuri University of Education, Minna.The governor assured that funding has already been secured for the take-off of the institution, and restated his administration’s resolve to prioritise education from basic to tertiary level.

Specifically, Bago disclosed that the University of Agriculture and Climate Change, Mokwa, as well as the University of Technology and Innovation, Zungeru, will soon come on board.

He announced plans to offer scholarships to students who obtained five credits, including English and Mathematics, in their O’level examinations. Earlier, the Pro-Chancellor of the institution, Prof Kuta Yahaya, disclosed that the National Universities Commission (NUC) has approved all the 41 programmes presented for accreditation, while announcing plans to introduce 14 additional programmes for the 2023/2024 academic session.

He added that the commission has approved 3,000 admission quota for the institution, which has been communicated to the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB). He explained that the infrastructural quality and intellectual capacities of academic staff helped during the accreditation process.