Abuja based business mogul and proprietor, Abdurazaq Abubakar Toyin University (AATU), Alhaji AbdulRazaq Toyin, Thursday said former vice chancellor of the University of Abuja, Professor AbdulRasheed Nalah influenced his decision to establish a private university situated in Oke-Ogba Gannon, Kwara state.
Alhaji Toyin, a trained grade two teacher and son of a farmer, said his initial plan was to establish a standard hospital or secondary school on his large expanse of land located in the heart of Gannon community for which he had already put structures in place.
He however said the former two term vice chancellor of the University of Abuja and pioneer vice chancellor of the Kwara State University, Malete, made him change his decision after a visit to the site of the school.
Quoting Prof. Nalah, the proprietor said: “He said this is beyond a secondary school, my friend, if you will listen to me, why can’t you write NUC for license?
We wrote and we got the license and that was how this place became a university “.
Speaking with journalists on the sideline of a lecture to commemorate the maiden founders’ day/open house of the university, the proprietor who is also the chancellor of the university, said his mission is to see the university grow to become “a world class university like Harvard University.”
He expressed delight that the university, which took off with 600 students at inception, is positively impacting on the community by “providing jobs for them and also meeting the demands of admission seekers.”