Get Guardian on GoogleThe Federal Government, through the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, has appealed to members and leaders of the National Assembly to stop considering and passing bills that would create new federal universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.
In the letter, Alausa said that if the NASS continued to create new higher institutions, it would be against a moratorium the Federal Executive Council adopted last year.
In a copy of the letter dated 2nd November 2026 to the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio, the minister asked the National Assembly to support the Federal Government’s seven-year moratorium on new federal tertiary institutions.
He wrote that the appeal was made “in the interest of educational quality, fiscal sustainability and the efficient utilisation of public resources.”
The Federal Executive Council approved the moratorium at its meeting on the 13th of August 2025.
According to the minister, the decision followed concerns about “institutional proliferation, duplication of programmes, under-utilisation of existing facilities and the declining capacity of government to adequately fund and sustain the growing number of public tertiary institutions.”
He noted that legislative proposals for new institutions were still receiving attention “despite this clearly articulated policy direction.”
He acknowledged the constitutional powers of the National Assembly to initiate and enact legislation, but argued that such proposals should reflect national education policy, demonstrable needs and the financial implications of creating more institutions.
The minister further went on to say that the main task facing the sector was no longer simply widening access, but rather “the urgent need to strengthen existing institutions through improved infrastructure, adequate funding, recruitment of qualified academic and non-academic personnel, provision of modern teaching and research facilities, and improved institutional efficiency.”
Alausa listed the problems facing existing federal institutions as inadequate lecture halls, overcrowded classrooms, insufficient laboratories, shortages of qualified staff, accommodation deficits and deteriorating facilities.
“Spreading limited resources across additional institutions without first addressing these deficiencies will further weaken the capacity of existing institutions to deliver quality education,” he said.
Citing unfulfilled obligations as evidence of the strain on public finances, Alausa noted that under the 2013 to 2018 revitalisation commitment to the Academic Staff Union of Universities, valued at N1.3 trillion, only N250 billion was reportedly released between 2013 and 2021. Of the additional N150 billion approved in 2025 for the Needs Assessment Intervention, only N50 billion was initially released.
He said these gaps raised “legitimate concerns about the capacity to sustain additional institutions without corresponding and guaranteed budgetary provisions.”
