FG Places 7-Year Ban on New Federal Tertiary Institutions

[Shekinah Brama]

The Federal Government has announced a seven-year moratorium on the establishment of new federal tertiary institutions across Nigeria — a move aimed at addressing what it calls the “duplication of institutions” in the country’s education sector.

The decision was approved at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on Wednesday, August 13, 2025, chaired by President Bola Tinubu. This means that for the next seven years, no new federal universities, polytechnics, or colleges of education will be created.

Why the Ban?

Explaining the decision, Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, said Nigeria’s challenge in tertiary education is no longer access, but the growing duplication of institutions, which has led to a sharp decline in both infrastructure and manpower.

“In our country, access to quality tertiary education is no longer an issue,” Alausa said. “What we are witnessing today is the proliferation of new federal tertiary institutions, which is weakening the capacity of existing ones and degrading both physical infrastructure and human resources. If we do not act decisively, this will erode educational quality and damage the international respect Nigerian graduates currently enjoy.”

Nigeria Already Has Enough Institutions

The Minister noted that the country already has 72 federal universities, 108 state universities, and 159 private universities — alongside numerous polytechnics and colleges of education. There are also specialized institutions such as monotechnics, colleges of agriculture, colleges of health sciences, nursing schools, and innovation and enterprise institutes.

According to him, the numbers prove an over-proliferation of institutions without matching demand or funding.

The Numbers Tell the Story

For the 2024–2026 academic sessions, about 2.1 million applicants sought admission into Nigerian tertiary institutions. However, 199 universities had fewer than 99 applicants each, and 34 universities recorded zero applicants.

The situation is similar in other categories:

• 295 polytechnics had fewer than 99 applicants.

• 219 colleges of education had similarly low interest.

• 64 colleges of education recorded no applicants at all.

Alausa described this as a serious waste of resources, citing one example from northern Nigeria where a federal university had fewer than 800 students but employed over 1,200 staff — a model he called “unsustainable.”

The Way Forward

The Minister stressed that the ban on new federal tertiary institutions is a strategic step to fix inefficiencies and ensure optimal use of resources. The government’s focus will now shift to:

• Upgrading existing institutions

• Improving physical infrastructure

• Boosting manpower capacity

• Expanding the carrying capacity of current universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education

“We must raise the quality of our education system so that Nigerian graduates can maintain — and even enhance — the respect they enjoy worldwide,” Alausa said.

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