The Federal Government on Wednesday announced a seven-year moratorium on the establishment of new universities and other higher institutions in the country, in a move aimed at halting the proliferation of poorly funded and underpopulated schools.
The decision followed a presentation by Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Despite the freeze, FEC approved the establishment of nine new private universities — Tazkiyah University, Kaduna State; Leadership University, Abuja; Jimoh Babalola University, Kwara State; Bridget University, Mbaise, Imo State; Greenland University, Jigawa State; JEFAP University, Niger State; Azione Verde University, Imo State; Unique Open University, Lagos State; and American Open University, Ogun State.
Alausa said the moratorium was necessary to address overstretched resources, decaying infrastructure, inadequate staffing, and dwindling enrolment in existing institutions. He disclosed that 199 universities received fewer than 100 applications via the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) in 2024, while 34 had zero applications. Similarly, the country’s 295 polytechnics and 219 colleges of education recorded poor enrolment figures.
“Several federal universities operate far below capacity, with some having fewer than 2,000 students. In one northern university, there are 1,200 staff serving fewer than 800 students. This is a waste of government resources,” he said.
The minister revealed that the Tinubu administration inherited 551 pending requests for new tertiary institutions. Over 350 dormant applications were deactivated, leaving 79 active cases, of which only nine met the stricter approval guidelines.
Alausa said some of the approved universities had been awaiting accreditation for over six years despite investing billions in infrastructure, blaming the delays on inefficiencies within the National Universities Commission (NUC). He noted that recent reforms had streamlined the process, enabling the government to clear the backlog.
