The Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, chaired by President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday, approved a seven-year moratorium on the establishment of new federal tertiary educational institutions across Nigeria.
The ban covers universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education.
Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, explained that the current challenge in Nigeria’s education sector is no longer access to federal tertiary education but the duplication of institutions, which has caused significant deterioration in infrastructure and manpower.
“In our country, access to quality financial education is no longer an issue,” Alausa said.
“What we are witnessing today is duplication of new federal tertiary institutions, a significant reduction in the current capacity of each institution, and degradation of both physical infrastructure and manpower.
If we do not act decisively, it will lead to marked declines in educational quality and undermine the international respect that Nigerian graduates command,” he said
The scale of the problem
Alausa said there are currently 72 federal universities, 108 state universities, and 159 private universities, in addition to polytechnics, colleges of education, monotechnic, colleges of agriculture, health sciences, nursing, and innovation and enterprise institutions.
According to him, the proliferation of institutions is not matched by corresponding demand or resources.
“For the 2024-2026 academic sessions, about 2.1 million young Nigerians applied to our tertiary institutions.
However, 199 universities had fewer than 99 applicants, and remarkably, 34 universities had zero candidates applying at all.
This worrying trend repeats itself in polytechnics and colleges of education too. In fact, 295 polytechnics had fewer than 99 applicants, and 219 colleges of education suffered similar fates, with 64 colleges receiving no applicants at all.”
Inefficient resource allocation
The minister pointed to cases where institutions operate far below capacity, citing an example from the northern region.
“A federal university had fewer than 800 students but employed over 1,200 staff members. This is simply not sustainable.”
He stressed that running so many underpopulated institutions unnecessarily stretches government funding and undermines quality.
Alausa said the government will redirect resources toward upgrading existing institutions, improving infrastructure, increasing manpower, and expanding the capacity of universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education.
“We need to improve the quality of our education system and increase the carrying capacity of our current institutions so that Nigerian graduates can maintain and enhance the respect they enjoy globally,” he said.
He praised President Tinubu’s commitment to education reform, saying the president is dedicated to providing Nigerians with world-class education and has been instrumental in driving the reforms.
