A specialised university solely for Information and Communications Technology related courses will take off in Abuja in September, a top official has said.

Minister of Communications, Barrister Adebayo Shittu, who disclosed this when the 31-member committee on the proposed university submitted its report in Abuja Monday, also said the institution would further boost ICT development in Nigeria.

Though the Federal Executive Council would still need to deliberate on the report, the Minister said he was confidence it would be adopted the body.

According to the Minister, FEC would likely come up with a memorandum on the proposed school after its deliberation in the two weeks.

He said the specialised ICT tertiary school, which would be the first of its kind in Africa, is expected to create thousands of jobs across Nigeria.

The Ministry, he said, was already sourcing for the Vice Chancellor, while lecturers would be attracted mostly from India, Malaysia, United Kingdom, United States, Canada and South Korea, among others.

He said the university would have it curriculum structured in such a way that every graduate would not only be grounded in his/her course, but would also automatically be a potential job-creator.

He said the school would be jointly funded by the government and the private sector, with assistance from some foreign-based IT companies.

The Minister said quite a number of private companies had already signified their willingness to be part of the school and this makes the September take off date very feasible.

Earlier in his speech before the submission of the report, the Chairman of the committee, who is also former Executive Secretary of the National University Commission (NUC), Prof. Julius Okojie said the specialised university would give the country an edge over other countries in Africa.

He urged the Federal Government to employ the best hands to work in the school. (Daily Trust)

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