Education

The Federal Government has approved the establishment of nine new private universities across the country. Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, announced the development on Wednesday while briefing State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by President Bola Tinubu in Abuja. According to Alausa, the newly approved institutions include Tazkiyah University in Kaduna State; Leadership University in Abuja; Jimoh Babalola University in Kwara State; Bridget University in Mbaise, Imo State; Greenland University in Jigawa State; JEFAP University in Niger State; Azione Verde University in Imo State; Unique Open University in Lagos State; and American Open University in Ogun State. Read Also: FEC Bans Creation of New Federal Tertiary Institutions for Five Years He revealed that the Tinubu administration inherited 551 pending requests for the establishment of tertiary institutions, which were subjected to stricter approval guidelines. This process reduced the list to 79 active applications, out of which nine were cleared on Wednesday. The minister explained that many of the newly approved universities had been awaiting accreditation for more than six years, with their promoters having already built campuses and invested billions of naira. “Due to inefficiencies within the NUC, approvals were delayed. We have since introduced reforms to streamline these processes, and today’s approvals are a result of clearing this backlog,” Alausa stated. He added that the Federal Government has placed a moratorium on new applications for private universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education, except those meeting the new operational standards.

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. Read Also: Sa’adatu Rimi College Holds 2023/2024 Matriculation for BUK-Affiliated Students “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.

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC), Nigeria, has released revised results for the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for school candidates, following the discovery of grading discrepancies that significantly affected performance statistics. During a press briefing on Friday at the Council’s national office in Yaba, Lagos, the Head of WAEC Nigeria, Dr. Amos Dangut, admitted to a major error in the marking of serialised examination papers, which distorted the actual performance of candidates. “With deep sorrow and regret, I, on behalf of the Registrar to Council, Management, and Staff of WAEC Nigeria, apologise for the discrepancies discovered in the grading of serialised papers. This is very difficult for us to say, but we have to admit that it is very embarrassing,” Dr. Dangut stated. Read Also: WAEC 2025 Result Glitch: A Technical Flaw or a Deeper Educational Crisis? He explained that WAEC had implemented a new security feature known as paper serialisation, which is already in use by another national examination body. However, during post-examination reviews, it was discovered that the English Language Objective Test (Paper 3) was scored with incorrect answer keys due to a wrongly assigned serialised code file. Other subjects affected by serialisation included Mathematics, Biology, and Economics. “We investigated and found that a serialised code file was wrongly used in the printing of the English Language Objective paper, which led to marking with incorrect answer keys. It is important to clarify that candidates who took the exams via computer-based testing were not affected,” he added. With the error corrected, 1,794,821 candidates representing 91.14 per cent obtained credit and above in a minimum of five subjects (with or without English and Mathematics). Notably, 1,239,884 candidates, or 62.96 per cent, obtained five credits including English and Mathematics, a significant jump from the previously reported 38.32 per cent. Among them, 657,819 were female candidates (53.05 per cent), while 582,065 were male (46.95 per cent). Despite the correction, the new performance level still reflects a decline of 9.16 per cent from the 72.12 per cent recorded in 2024. A total of 1,969,313 candidates sat for the examination, including students from WAEC-accredited schools in Benin Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, and Equatorial Guinea, which follow the Nigerian curriculum. The Council also provided special arrangements for 12,178 candidates with special needs, including 112 visually impaired, 615 hearing impaired, 37 physically challenged, and 52 with spastic or mental challenges. Their results have also been processed and released. “So far, 1,763,470 candidates (89.55 per cent) have had their results fully processed. However, 205,916 candidates (10.45 per cent) still have one or more subjects pending due to technical issues,” Dangut said, assuring that efforts are ongoing to complete the processing and release the outstanding results. Meanwhile, the results of 191,053 candidates (9.7 per cent) have been withheld due to suspected examination malpractice, an improvement from the 11.92 per cent recorded in 2024. Investigations are ongoing, and affected candidates may lodge complaints at waecinternational.org/complaints. “WAEC will continue to sanction all cases of examination malpractice. All hands must be on deck to sanitise the system,” he reiterated. WAEC advised candidates to access their results via www.waecdirect.org and apply for digital certificates, which will be available within 48 hours of verification. Hard copy certificates will be ready within 90 days. However, candidates sponsored by indebted state governments will not be able to access their results until the outstanding payments are settled. “We appeal to the concerned authorities to do the needful to enable affected schools and candidates to access their results,” Dangut urged. He concluded with an unreserved apology to stakeholders. “We acknowledge the emotional ordeal that candidates, parents, teachers, school administrators, Ministries of Education, and the media must have endured. This is a trying time for us at WAEC. We are doing everything possible to ensure that such an incident does not recur.” WAEC expressed gratitude to the Federal Government, the Minister of Education, and state education authorities for their support throughout the review and resolution process.