Federal Government Halts Establishment of New Tertiary Institutions for Seven Years
The Federal Government of Nigeria has imposed a seven-year ban on the creation of new federal universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education. This moratorium, announced by the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, received approval during a Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting chaired by President Bola Tinubu.
The primary motivation behind this decision is to address the decline in the quality of education caused by the unchecked proliferation of these institutions. According to Dr. Alausa, the main issue facing Nigeria's tertiary education sector is not a lack of access, but rather systemic inefficiencies, inadequate infrastructure, insufficient staffing, and declining student enrollment at many existing institutions.
Key details of the ban include:
Prioritizing Quality: The government intends to stop the creation of new, often under-utilized, institutions. Instead, it will redirect resources towards upgrading and expanding existing ones by improving infrastructure, hiring and training qualified personnel, and increasing student capacity.
Fiscal Prudence: Alausa gave an example of a federal university in the northern part of the country with over 1,200 staff for fewer than 800 students, highlighting the unsustainable financial burden on the government.
Maintaining Standards: The Minister described the moratorium as a "pragmatic step" to ensure that Nigerian graduates remain competitive and that the value of degrees from Nigerian institutions is not diminished globally.
Approval for Private Institutions: While the ban affects public institutions, the government did approve nine new private universities whose applications had been pending and which had met the required standards of the National Universities Commission (NUC). The moratorium also extends to new private polytechnics and colleges of education to prevent a similar issue of low student enrollment.
