
The Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), Professor Abdulahi Yusufu Ribadu, FCVSN, has described the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) as a critical development partner in the Nigerian University System (NUS).
He said this last Tuesday 10th June, 2025, when the AFD Country Director, Mr. Xavier Muron paid a courtesy visitto the Commission to discuss modalities for the flag-off and implementation of the Blueprint- ICT Development (ICT-Dev, Project) in the NUS.
The NUC Scribe stated that he recently hosted the post-closure meeting for 14 universities and 17 participating centers of African Centers of Excellence (ACE-Impact), noting that the meeting was to ensure that the ACE programme does not stop running because its funding life-span has ended.
He said: ‘’ we have to bring the participating universities together under the auspices of ACE-Alliance because we want them to collaborate and ensure sustainability of the programmme beyond AFD and World Bank funding’’.
The ACE programme was co-funded by AFD to provide regional specialization among participating universities within areas that addressed particular regional development challenges which officially would elapse by end of June, 2025.
Professor Ribadu noted that the Blue-print and revitalization of ICT infrastructure, and capacity building in 10-selected universities was a step in the right direction, as the NUC was committed to hosting all participating universities as well as funding partners and stakeholder to the lunch of the event which would feature issuance of certificate to the selected universities.
The Executive Secretary stated that AFD funding to the tune of Forty Million USD for the ICT-Development project was huge and a welcome development to the NUS.
He, therefore, stressed the need for the Honorable Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa as well as the French Ambassador to be in attendance at the event to launch the project, which both teams consented to and the second week of July was chosen as tentative date for the opening ceremony.
In his remarks, the AFD Country Director, Mr. Xavier Muron, noted that the NUC has been a long-time partner in its quest to contribute to the development of university education in Nigeria. He added that all was set for the French Agency to commit the approved Forty Million USD for the commencement of the Blueprint- ICT Development project.
He called for a timely flag-off of the programme which he noted as necessary since the ACE-Impact programme was officially coming to a close by end of June, 2025.
Mr. Muron stressed that his Agency was also targeting to ear-mark funds for Investment in the Digital and Creative Enterprise (iDICE) programme in the NUS which was to commence soon.
He called on the NUC to provide coordination for the Blueprint and the iDICE programmes in order to prevent over-lapping of activities since the two projects were aimed at ICT development at different levels within the NUS.
The AFD Country Director stated that the AFD was also engaged in other programmes within the Education Sector which were not under the supervision of the NUC.
He said ‘’ currently we are providing vocational training programme in Agriculture, and we are also partnering with the Federal Housing Authority (FHA), , to provide affordable student accommodation within the universities called Family Home Fund, though, the programme is still undergoing administrative process before approval at the Federal Ministry of Finance (FMF)’’.
Mr. Muron finally called for more commitment so as to ensure that the Blue-print ICT Development and iDICE projects embarked upon by AFD and the NUC yield the desired results.
In the AFD delegation was the Project Manager (Education), Ms. Dashen Plangnam. At the meeting were the NUC Deputy Executive Secretary (Administration), Mr. Chris J. Maiyaki; Acting Directors of: Research, Innovations and Information and Technology (DRIIT), Malam Lawal M. Farouk; Accreditation (DA), Engr. Abraham Chindusu; Open, Distance and e-Learning (DODel)Mrs. Fumilayo Morebishe; Executive Secretary’s Office (DESO), Mr. Jubril Momoh.