The Federal Government has declared a seven-year ban on the creation and licensing of new Federal universities, polytechnics and colleges of education in Nigeria.
Nigeria currently has a total of 295 universities, comprising 63 federal, 63 state, and 161 private universities, offering a wide range of academic programmes.
Recently, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) had drawn attention to what it called the unhealthy proliferation of universities and declining enrolment.
Some Federal universities, the government lamented, currently operated far below capacity, with some having fewer than 2,000 students.
In one northern institution, the Minister disclosed, there are 1,200 staff serving fewer than 800 students.
The decision to impose a moratorium on establishment of new tertiary schools was taken on Wednesday at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
It came after a memo was presented to the Council by the Minister of Education, Dr. Olatunji Alausa, targeted at arresting the proliferation of tertiary institutions which the government and ASUU said were currently under-utilised.
The memo called for the massing of resources to improve existing schools.
Briefing State House correspondents after the FEC meeting, Minister of Education, Alausa, noted that access to tertiary education in Nigeria was “no longer the problem.”
He reaffirmed the position of the ASUU and allied education unions that the main challenge now was the unchecked duplication of Federal tertiary institutions, a situation that led to alarming inefficiencies, poor infrastructure, inadequate staffing, and declining student enrolment.
On under-population of Federal universities, Alausa said: “This is a waste of government resources. Today, we have 199 universities where fewer than 100 candidates applied through JAMB for admission. In fact, 34 universities recorded zero applications.
“The situation is not limited to universities. Out of 295 polytechnics nationwide, many had fewer than 99 applicants last year, while 219 colleges of education recorded similarly poor enrolment. Sixty-four colleges of education had no applicants at all.”
He warned that if the trend continues, Nigeria risked producing poorly trained graduates, losing international respect for its degrees, and worsening unemployment as thousands of ill-prepared graduates entered a saturated job market.
The moratorium, he stressed, would enable the government to mobilise resources to upgrade facilities, recruit qualified staff, and expand the carrying capacity of existing federal tertiary institutions.
“If we want to improve quality and not be a laughing stock globally, the pragmatic step is to pause the establishment of new federal institutions. This way, we can sustain the respect the world has for our graduates,” Alausa said.
He pointed out that Nigeria currently has 72 federal universities, 42 federal polytechnics, and 28 federal colleges of education, in addition to hundreds run by states and private investors. There are also specialised institutions such as colleges of agriculture, health sciences, nursing, and innovation enterprise institutions, many of which are also under-enrolled.
Notwithstanding the freeze, the Minister disclosed that FEC also approved nine new universities.
He explained that these were not fresh proposals but long-pending private applications, some dating back over six years, and they had already undergone rigorous evaluation under the National Universities Commission (NUC).
“When we came in, there were about 551 applications for private universities. Many had been in limbo for years because of inefficiencies in the NUC’s processing system,” he said.
The Minister said his team overhauled the process, deactivating more than 350 inactive applications and introducing strict new guidelines with clear timelines.
Out of 79 active applications, nine met the criteria and were approved.
“These are private investments where billions of naira have already been spent on infrastructure. It would have been unfair to deny them approval because of past inefficiencies. But this does not affect the moratorium on federal universities, polytechnics and colleges of education,” Alausa emphasised.
He added that similar moratoriums are already in place for new private polytechnics and colleges of education to prevent a further glut of poorly subscribed institutions.
The Minister applauded President Tinubu for backing the reforms, saying the decision reflected the administration’s determination to deliver “world-class” education to Nigerians.
“Mr. President believes fervently in education and has given us the mandate to ensure every Nigerian has access to the highest quality of education comparable to anywhere in the world,” he said.
The seven-year freeze, the Minister added, is intended to be a reset button for Nigeria’s tertiary education system, shifting focus from quantity to quality.
