Wigwe is borrowing from the playbook of wealthy Nigerians
like Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president, by venturing into tertiary
education. The license for the university was approved by the Nigeria
University Commission in June, bringing the total number of universities in
Nigeria to 238, of which 79 are state-run and 147 are private.
With 1,400 students expected to be enrolled next year, Wigwe
is betting that by leveraging technology, the institution will offer the same
quality of education as universities in the US and UK—where he plans to recruit
30% of teaching staff. Wigwe told BusinessDay that the university has built a
power plant to supply electricity to the university and will use holograms and
artificial intelligence to ensure a hybrid system for students. But like other
private-run universities, it is expensive for one of the world’s poorest
countries. Wigwe University’s annual tuition is pegged at around $12,500 plus
3.5 million naira ($4,171), per Bloomberg.
uLesson—Nigeria’s biggest and most capitalised edtech
startup founded by Sim Shagaya—recently matriculated students of its online
university Miva Open University. The argument about the scalability of
education in Nigeria, considering the country’s infrastructural challenges, is
valid.
Wigwe, who has decades of experience in the banking sector,
also hopes to train the “next set of leaders in banking” and will recruit some
of the country’s notable business tycoons, including Africa’s richest man Aliko
Dangote, to teach at the varsity.
Wigwe University will be led by Professor Miles Davis, the
former president of a private university in the United States, as the
Vice-Chancellor, and Professor Nelson Uzoechi-Uzoma Alino, a former professor
of accounting at Quinnipiac University, as the Deputy Vice Chancellor of
Administration, and Professor Dal Didia, a former professor of economics at
Jackson State University, as the deputy vice-chancellor of academics.