Preparations are well underway for the first matriculation ceremony of a new tertiary institution in Abuja, which has approved 23 academic programmes for the 2025/2026 session. The event, set for March 7, will focus on a reform driven agenda titled “Addressing the Gaps in Nigerian University Education: A Practical Reform Agenda.”
The Vice Chancellor, Prof. Emmanuel Ibezim, revealed that the National Universities Commission has fully accredited courses in high demand fields. These include Pharmacy, Nursing, Law, Software Engineering, Cybersecurity, Physiotherapy, and Medical Laboratory Science. Others are Accountancy, Mass Communication, Anatomy, Public Health, Political Science and Information Technology. To ensure that eligible candidates can easily access these opportunities, the university has set a minimum Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination score of 150.
Ibezim explained that the institution operates a blended European Nigerian curriculum with support from visiting lecturers from partner institutions abroad. He stressed that the goal is to provide an alternative for students who might otherwise leave the country due to issues like industrial actions and unstable academic calendars. "We are delivering European standard education within Nigeria at affordable rates. This is our contribution to reversing educational migration and conserving foreign exchange for national development," he stated.
Regarding welfare and infrastructure, the Vice Chancellor noted that the campus is equipped with modern laboratories, digital classrooms, furnished hostels, and 24 hour electricity. He also addressed the funding challenges peculiar to private universities, noting that they operate without TETFund allocations and are currently excluded from the Nigerian Education Loan Fund scheme. Despite these constraints, he affirmed that the institution offers merit based and need based scholarships to support students.
The management has also set up committees to ensure zero tolerance for drug abuse and sexual harassment. On research, Ibezim highlighted priorities in commercially viable projects such as drone technology and computational drug research. He expressed optimism that the university would soon become a leader in innovation. "Our vision is that within five years, EUN will rank among Nigeria’s leading institutions in Cybersecurity, Nursing, Pharmacy, Software Engineering and Law, while producing globally competitive, skill driven graduates," he concluded.
