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Obasanjo to visit Adamawa next
Monday
LERE OJEDOKUN, Abuja
PRESIDENT
Olusegun Obasanjo will next Monday, perform the ground-breaking ceremony of ABTI-American
University, Yola, Adamawa State.
The new university, modelled after
America�s educational system is to be built on a 500-acre land in Jimeta with
September 2005 as take-off date.
Licensed by the National Universities
Commission (NUC) a year ago, the institution is a partnership between ABTI group
of schools and the University of Washington DC, United States (U.S).
A statement by the Senior Special
Assistant (Public Communications and Media Affairs) to the Vice President, Dr.
Onukaba Adinoyi Ojo said the university would start-off with three schools-arts
and science entrepreneurial studies and business management as well as
information technology communication (ICT).
"The selection of these core areas of
studies underscore the vision of ABTI-American University�s founders to assist
in accelerating the nation�s development," he noted.
Initial enrolment has been put at 200
students and it was expected to rise to 7,000 over a period of 10 years.
He added that a five-year management and
consultancy agreement had been signed between ABTI schools and the U.S partners
on January 1, this year.
Under the agreement, the American
University would provide advice and assistance on the recruitment of senior
management team, building of physical facilities, designing of curriculum and
other tasks.
The institution, the statement further
said, would conduct admission to qualified prospective students through the
Joint Admissions and matriculation Board (JAMB) and it would not discriminate on
the basis of gender, race, religion or political affiliation.
Plans were also said to be in place to set
up exchange programmes with other major universities in the world while tuition
would be made lower than what was paid at similar institutions in the Middle
East, Europe and North America.
Dr. Ojo revealed that the country would
conserve a lot of foreign exchange because the university would make available
at home what some Nigerians sought abroad paying through their nose.
President of the University of Washington,
Benjamin Ladner said the vision was to make the institution "a model for
American style of education in one of Africa�s most important countries".
Aside, he explained that the initiative
would meet a great need in Nigeria and Africa, especially guest for high quality
university education, noting that the venture indeed, was in line with the
global vision of the U.S university.
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