The Association of Provosts of Colleges of Health Technology and Nursing Sciences has appealed to the Federal Government to exempt their institutions from the seven-year moratorium on establishing new universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education.
In a communiqué issued at the end of its 2025 Quadrennial Conference in Abuja, and released in Lokoja by its Public Relations Officer, Dr. Nuhu Anyegwu, the Provosts warned that the policy would worsen the shortage of healthcare professionals in Nigeria.
They argued that the restriction could create an “intergenerational gap” of at least seven years in health and medical manpower across communities, further aggravating the country’s brain drain crisis.
The Association stressed that Colleges of Health Technology and Nursing Sciences are distinct from allied institutions referenced in the ban and should be exempted, given their prior approval and accreditation by professional health and medical councils.
The Provosts commended the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) for reforms in accreditation, including digitization and removal of rigid procedures, but urged the Federal Ministry of Education to end multiple accreditations by different professional councils.
They also decried the exclusion of their institutions from TETFUND’s funding schedule, calling on the Ministry of Education and NBTE to back the TETFUND Act Amendment Bill to include Health Colleges and Nursing Sciences.
At the conference, the Association re-elected its executives, with Dr. Johnson Adebayo Ojo emerging as Chairman and Malam Adamu Ahmadu as Secretary-General, among others. It also resolved to launch a research journal and set up a media committee for better publicity.
With Nigeria’s population exceeding 200 million, the Provosts emphasized that strengthening health education institutions is critical to addressing the nation’s healthcare needs.
The Federal Government had, on August 14, imposed the seven-year ban, citing proliferation of under-utilised institutions, overstretched resources, and declining academic quality as reasons for the moratorium.
