The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said the former finance director at the Nigerian health ministry, Anthony Hassan, built the Nok University with the proceeds of fraud.

The move is unprecedented and it is not clear whether students will continue to attend classes at the university in the northern state of Kaduna.

It is also unclear if Mr Hassan has entered a plea.

As well as ordering the university's seizure, the federal high court in the capital, Abuja, ruled that a bottled water plant and a luxury hotel owned by Mr Hassan be forfeited.

The authorities have been intensifying their anti-graft measures recently.