The Federal Government has cited the case of a federal university with about 1,200 staff members and fewer than 800 students as an example of inefficiency in the tertiary education system, reinforcing its decision to halt the creation of new federal tertiary institutions for the next seven years.

The FG further noted that the government inherited 551 pending requests for the establishment of tertiary institutions, which were reviewed under stricter guidelines, reducing the active applications to 79. Of these, nine private universities were approved this week.

Speaking after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja on Wednesday, Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, said such staffing levels represented a waste of resources and reflected a broader problem across federal universities.

“Let me give you specific examples of one university in one of the regions in the country. They have less than 800 students, and they have a staff strength of 1,200,” he said. “Several federal universities today have less than 2,000 students. So, it’s just a waste of government resources.”

Alausa did not name the institution but said many of the inefficiencies stemmed from the proliferation of new institutions without adequate planning.

The minister said the current challenge in the education sector was not access but quality, adding: “We are doing this to further halt decays in tertiary institutions which may in the future affect the quality of education and consequently cause unemployment of graduates from some of these institutions.”

Alausa directed the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) to dedicate its 2025 funding solely to rehabilitating existing infrastructure rather than constructing new facilities.

The decision comes amid long-standing funding disputes between the government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), which has criticised the creation of new institutions when existing ones remain underfunded.

ASUU has warned of an imminent strike over the government’s failure to conclude the renegotiation of a 2009 agreement covering university funding and academic staff welfare. The union said the most recent renegotiation process, led by the Pro-Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Yayale Ahmed, was concluded eight months ago but has not been implemented.

Meanwhile, in less than two years, President Bola Tinubu’s administration has established more than 12 new federal tertiary institutions—including eight universities—despite initial delays over funding concerns. There are also more than 200 bills before the National Assembly seeking to establish additional universities.