Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has said he established the American University of Nigeria (AUN) in Yola, Adamawa State, to contribute to the development of northern Nigeria rather than pursue profit.

Atiku said he could have located the university in Lagos or Abuja if commercial returns had been his primary motivation.

He made the clarification on Friday while responding to criticism over his contribution to addressing the out-of-school children crisis in northern Nigeria.

Atiku said establishing AUN in Yola was intended to bring world-class education closer to a region that had long faced limited access to quality educational opportunities.

“If profit had been my primary motivation, I could easily have located the university in Abuja or Lagos, where the commercial advantages would have been greater,” he said.

He said he chose Yola because he wanted to invest in his people, create opportunities and contribute to the development of the North.

The former vice-president also disclosed that AUN was no longer his personal or family property, saying he had signed a deed of gift transferring ownership of the institution to the community.

According to him, the university has also implemented programmes aimed at supporting vulnerable children, including the Feed and Read initiative, which provides meals while teaching literacy and numeracy to Almajiri children.

He added that AUN’s Technology-Enhanced Learning for All programme had helped more than 20,000 internally displaced children learn to read through educational radio programmes.

Atiku further said the university awarded scholarships to young women who escaped Boko Haram captivity following the Chibok schoolgirls’ abduction in 2014.

He maintained that every Nigerian child should have access to education and should not be left on the streets begging.