The Federal Government has proposed a seven-year ban on the establishment of new federal universities, polytechnics and colleges of education, citing inadequate funding, infrastructure deficits and declining academic standards in existing institutions.
The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, made the appeal in a memo to Senate President Godswill Akpabio, urging the National Assembly to suspend consideration and passage of bills seeking to establish additional federal tertiary institutions during the period.
Alausa said the Federal Executive Council approved the moratorium on August 13, 2025, as part of efforts to address the proliferation of tertiary institutions, duplication of academic programmes and underutilisation of existing facilities.
He disclosed that the Federal Government still owed about one-point-three trillion naira under its 2013–2018 revitalisation agreement with the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, despite releasing only 250 billion naira between 2013 and 2021.
The minister also said that only 50 billion naira had initially been released out of the additional 150 billion naira approved in 2025 for university intervention.
He identified inadequate lecture halls, poorly equipped laboratories, overcrowded classrooms, shortage of qualified lecturers and deteriorating infrastructure as major challenges facing existing institutions.
Alausa cited Ekiti State as an example of the financial implications of establishing multiple tertiary institutions, recalling that three state-owned universities were consolidated into one institution, Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, in 2011.
He maintained that the government would rather concentrate resources on improving existing institutions, strengthening academic standards and addressing manpower shortages than establish more institutions without sustainable funding arrangements.
The minister, however, acknowledged the constitutional powers of the National Assembly to establish tertiary institutions but urged lawmakers to consider national needs and the long-term financial implications of such decisions.
He warned that institutions established without adequate funding could eventually become financial liabilities, forcing future administrations to embark on costly mergers, restructuring or closures.
Alausa said Nigeria’s educational progress should be measured by the quality of graduates and the capacity of existing institutions to deliver effective education rather than the number of universities, polytechnics and colleges established.
