The American University of Nigeria opened its doors to its first students in 2005. Founded by the former vice president of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar, it is located in north-eastern Nigeria in Yola, the state capital of Adamawa state, the vice president’s home town. Having benefited from the U.S. system of instruction as a young man, Abubakar sought to make this style of education — emphasizing critical thinking, small classes, student participation, problem-solving, a US-style general education program, and an American-trained faculty — available to all qualified young people of Nigeria and, increasingly, to the rest of the world.