The Nigerian government has placed a seven-year ban on creating new federal universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education.
The Nigerian government has imposed a seven-year ban on establishing new federal tertiary institutions. Education Minister Tunji Alausa announced the decision on Wednesday after Federal Executive Council approval, saying it aims to address infrastructure decay and strained resources in existing institutions.
“The current challenge in Nigeria’s education sector is no longer access, but proliferation,” Mr Alausa said. “We are doing this to halt decays in tertiary institutions which may in the future affect education quality and cause unemployment of graduates.”
He directed TETFund to focus its 2025 budget solely on rehabilitating existing facilities.
PREMIUM TIMES had earlier urged the government to halt the proliferation of universities and address underfunding that leaves campuses without basic amenities.
Despite previous funding concerns, President Tinubu’s administration has established over a dozen tertiary institutions in under two years. The ban comes amid mounting union tensions, with ASUU warning of an imminent strike over stalled implementation of the renegotiated 2009 agreement.