FG urges Senate To Halt Approval of New Federal Tertiary Institutions for 7yrs
The Federal Government has urged the National Assembly to suspend the approval of bills seeking to establish new federal universities, polytechnics and colleges of education for seven years, citing funding constraints and concerns over declining academic standards.
The appeal was contained in a memorandum dated November 2, 2026, from the Federal Ministry of Education to the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio.
In the memo, Minister of Education Tunji Alausa said the Federal Executive Council approved a seven-year moratorium on the creation of new federal tertiary institutions at its meeting of August 13, 2025.
According to the minister, the policy is intended to address the growing proliferation of public tertiary institutions, duplication of academic programmes, under-utilisation of facilities and the government’s limited capacity to adequately fund the sector.
Alausa said the immediate challenge facing tertiary education is not the expansion of access but the strengthening of existing institutions through improved funding, infrastructure, staffing and research facilities.”
The Federal Government’s position is that the immediate challenge confronting the tertiary education sector is not merely the expansion of access, but the urgent need to strengthen existing institutions,” he said.
The minister expressed concern that proposals for additional federal tertiary institutions continued to receive legislative attention despite the government’s policy direction.
While acknowledging the National Assembly’s constitutional powers to enact legislation, he urged lawmakers to align such initiatives with national education policies, demonstrable educational needs and the financial implications of establishing new institutions.
Alausa said federal universities, polytechnics and colleges of education currently face significant challenges, including inadequate infrastructure, overcrowded classrooms, insufficient laboratories, shortages of qualified personnel and accommodation deficits.
He warned that spreading limited resources across additional institutions could further weaken the quality of tertiary education.
The minister also highlighted outstanding government obligations to public universities, noting that under the 2013-2018 Federal Government-ASUU revitalisation agreement of ₦1.3 trillion, only ₦250 billion was released between 2013 and 2021.
He added that of the additional ₦150 billion approved in 2025 for needs assessment intervention, only ₦50 billion was initially released.According to him, these funding gaps raise concerns about the government’s ability to sustain new institutions without guaranteed budgetary support.
The memo cited experiences in Ekiti and Imo states, where institutional consolidation and reviews were undertaken following the establishment of multiple tertiary institutions.
Alausa also stated that some state governments had approached the Federal Government to take over universities they could no longer sustain financially.
He said international examples, including Australia, Finland, Japan, the United States and South Africa, showed how institutional mergers and consolidation had been used to address financial pressures, programme duplication and administrative inefficiencies.
The minister further argued that substantial government resources are already being committed to interventions such as TETFund projects, the Nigerian Education Loan Fund, vocational and skills programmes, and staff welfare initiatives.
He warned that establishing new tertiary institutions entails long-term obligations, including infrastructure development, personnel recruitment, equipment procurement and recurrent expenditure.
According to him, institutions created without sustainable funding arrangements risk becoming financial liabilities that could require future restructuring, mergers or closure.
Alausa, however, said the moratorium was not intended to permanently prevent the expansion of tertiary education but to allow the government to consolidate existing investments, improve academic standards and ensure future growth is properly planned and financially sustainable.
He appealed to the Senate leadership and the National Assembly to support the policy by exercising restraint in considering and passing bills for the establishment of additional federal tertiary institutions during the moratorium period.”
The success of our education system should be measured not merely by the number of institutions established, but by the capacity of existing institutions to deliver high quality education, produce competent graduates and contribute meaningfully to national development,” the minister said.
