By Abdulmumin Murtala – Kano
The founder of the Maryam Abacha American University of Nigeria (MAAUN) Professor Adamu Abubakar Gwarzo, has instituted a benchmark in the operations and running of a private university in Nigeria and in the North in particular.
Since the establishment of the university in Maradi, the Niger Republic in 2013, the first English speaking university in the Republic of Niger and also the first bilingual university in Sub-Saharan Africa, named after Maryam Abacha, the wife of former Head of State, Gen Sani Abacha, for her effort in mobilising and supporting African countries, a lot have been achieved in the sector in Nigeria.
These among others include the introduction of courses that have provided access to a lot of students aspiring for them and enhancing the practice of such professions in the north in particular and Nigeria in general.
A very good example is that of the Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing. Such is not obtained in the northern universities. As of 2010, only three people were known to have a graduate degree in Nursing in Kano State, but presently they are in their hundreds with thousands more studying to graduate in the field.
It is indeed an investment but the ease with which students are offered scholarships to study in the university is unprecedented. Presently, Prof Gwarzo has offered 100 per cent scholarship to 500 students studying Nursing, Medical Laboratory Science and Mass Communication, based on the records available from the information office of the university.
It might look like an expensive venture for one to go all the way to the Niger Republic to study but with the Federal Government’s approval of establishing 20 new universities, it had since been eased with the current creation of the same University in Kano.
The Maryam Abacha American University of Nigeria, which is licensed to operate in Kano has since reached over 97 per cent completion of the required infrastructure at the Hotoro GRA in Nasarawa Local Government Area of Kano, a metropolitan area. This alone has brought the entire area to life with land and other property owners investing in the construction of commercial student hostels, business centers, and restaurants. The presence of the university in the area has raised the value of a property initially valued at N70 million to N150 million and even more.
A businessman has since acquired property within the area and built a 100-rooms hostel as he awaits the admission and resumption of students to the school.
This has since lifted the financial status of the area the university is located with the founded of the university also building a community secondary school in the area. Not less than two thousand people will be employed directly by the university either as lecturers or as administrative and security staff.
Fatima Aliyu is a graduate of Nursing from the university and is planning to commence her Master’s degree as soon as the school begins operation in Kano. She was one of those that enjoyed the 100 per cent scholarship offered to study at the University in Maradi.
She confirmed to Vanguard that the university is indeed one of the highly-rated private universities in the country.
“I am proud to be not only a graduate of the Maryam Abacha American University of Nigeria but also a beneficiary of the 100 per cent scholarship.
“I benefited from the magnanimity of the founder of the university Professor Adamu Gwarzo who has been struggling to ensure that more people become educated as this will reduce redundancy and enhance development in the country” she stated
With the successful establishment of this university in Kano, Prof Gwarzo has since acquired and set another land along Nnamdi Azikiwe Way in Kaduna for the establishment of the same university but with the name, Franco British International University, Kaduna.
Indeed the activities of Prof Gwarzo in providing and enhancing tertiary education in Nigeria has made a very big difference in the north which is having only about 25% of the total number of private universities in Nigeria.