ASR Africa grants N5.5bn to 22 Nigerian tertiary institutions

By Business AM

The Abdul Samad Rabiu Africa Initiative (ASR Africa) has announced a N5.5 billion grant to 22 universities and institutions of higher learning across Nigeria worth 250 million naira each towards infrastructure projects under its ASR Africa Tertiary Education Grants Scheme (TEGS).

This, according to the Initiative, brings to 30, the number of tertiary education institutions benefitting from various ASR Africa education interventions in Nigeria.

Prior to the announcement, about eight Universities had benefitted from the ASR Africa TEGS Scheme – with some of the projects nearing completion.

Abdul Samad Rabiu, chairman of ASR Africa and BUA Group,in his remark, said ASR Africa believes in Africa’s capacity to leapfrog the development divide through the SDGs. He added that good, quality investments in education is one of the ways through which the Initiative can achieve its development goals.

“This is why education remains one of the three focal areas for ASR Africa’s interventions in Nigeria, and Africa and our investments in infrastructure for tertiary institutions are showing good promise,” Rabiu said.

Announcing the selected institutions, Ubon Udoh, managing director of ASR Africa said that the 22 beneficiary institutions for the 5.5 billion naira ASR Africa Tertiary Education Grants were chosen across Nigeria, based on carefully selected criteria.

According to Udoh, the next phase under the grants framework would be project selection and development of mutual accountability frameworks with respective universities which is expected to commence in the coming weeks.

The selected institutions which include federal, state, and privately owned universities are:

Bayero University,Kano; Adamawa State University; Federal University of Technology,Owerri; Federal University of Petroleum Resources,Effurun; Nigerian Law School (Lagos); University of Uyo; University of Lagos; University of Jos; Federal College of Education Technology, Gusau; Federal University Lokoja; Nasarawa State University; University of Port Harcourt; Federal University of Technology Minna;  Uthman Dan Fodio University;  Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike; Crescent University; Babcock University; Al-Qalam University; Baze University; Nigerian Defence Academy; Federal University Gashua, and the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru.