The Federal Executive Council (FEC), presided over by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has approved a five-year moratorium on the creation of new federal tertiary educational institutions across Nigeria.
The decision, reached during Wednesday’s FEC meeting, means no new federal universities, polytechnics, or colleges of education will be established until at least 2030.
Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, said the measure is aimed at addressing systemic inefficiencies in the sector, noting that the challenge is no longer access but the duplication of institutions, which has weakened infrastructure and manpower.
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“In our country, access to quality tertiary education is no longer the main issue,” he stated. “What we are facing is an over-proliferation of new institutions, which reduces the capacity of existing ones and degrades both infrastructure and staffing. If we do not act decisively, the quality of education will suffer and erode the global respect our graduates currently enjoy.”
Alausa highlighted that Nigeria already has 72 federal universities, 108 state universities, and 159 private universities, alongside numerous polytechnics, colleges of education, monotechnics, and specialized schools. However, many of these operate far below capacity.
For example, he revealed that in the 2024–2026 admission cycles, 199 universities had fewer than 99 applicants, while 34 had no applicants at all. Similarly, 295 polytechnics and 219 colleges of education recorded fewer than 99 applicants, with dozens attracting zero candidates.
“This is a waste of resources,” Alausa said, citing one federal university in the North with fewer than 800 students but over 1,200 staff members. “Such situations are not sustainable.”
He explained that the moratorium will allow the government to redirect resources toward upgrading facilities, expanding the capacity of existing institutions, and strengthening manpower.
“Our goal is to improve quality, not quantity,” he stressed. “We want Nigerian graduates to continue to command respect anywhere in the world.”
Alausa commended President Tinubu for his commitment to education reform, noting that his political will has been instrumental in advancing the policy.
Nine New Private Universities Approved
Despite the moratorium, the minister confirmed that nine new private universities have been approved by the council. He clarified that these approvals were part of a longstanding backlog at the National Universities Commission (NUC), with some applications pending for over six years.
“Investors had already built campuses and committed billions of naira,” he said. “We cleared over 350 inactive applications and streamlined the process, leaving 79 active applications, nine of which have now been approved.”
The moratorium will also cover new applications for private universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education, with only proposals that meet the new rigorous standards being considered in the future.
Alausa warned that without such reforms, graduate unemployment could worsen and Nigeria’s human capital index could decline due to the increasing number of graduates lacking employable skills.
“This policy is necessary to safeguard educational quality and ensure our graduates can meaningfully contribute to the economy,” he reiterated.
