The Academic Staff Union of Universities has criticised the Federal Government for approving licences for nine new private universities despite announcing a seven-year pause on creating new federal tertiary institutions.
ASUU said the move raises questions about the government’s seriousness in addressing issues in Nigeria’s education sector.
In a statement signed by its president, Christopher Piwuna, on Thursday, the union said, “ASUU also watched in awe as the Federal Government announced the seven-year moratorium; they proceeded to announce the establishment of nine new private universities.
“If we agree that access is no longer an issue, why is the NUC giving more licences to private universities? While ASUU acknowledges the rights of private individuals to establish universities, education must be tightly controlled to ensure quality.”
The union said Nigeria currently has 72 federal universities, 108 state universities, and 159 private universities, totaling 339 across the country.
“So why not place a moratorium on both public and private? Past and present administration must cover their faces in shame for this scandalous proliferation of universities,” the statement read. “Failure to do this will continue to erase our universities from world rankings.”
ASUU, while commending the government for the moratorium, said it had been calling for the measure for over a decade.
“For more than 10 years, our union has cried aloud about the harmful effects of establishing mushroom universities that the government has no plans to develop. In total disregard for time-tested planning and ideas that hitherto went into establishing universities, we have watched universities turn into compensation for political patronage,” it said.
The Federal Executive Council, on August 13, approved a seven-year pause on establishing new federal universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education to address duplication and improve quality in existing institutions.
Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, who briefed journalists after the meeting chaired by President Bola Tinubu, said access to tertiary education was no longer a challenge.
“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.
He added that many institutions are struggling to attract students. “From the recent Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) admission exercise, many institutions had fewer than 100 applicants, while some recorded zero applications,” he explained.
Alausa said the government would review and reform the guidelines for approving private universities to ensure efficiency, warning that unchecked expansion of poorly subscribed institutions could produce ill-prepared graduates, weaken the value of Nigerian degrees, and worsen unemployment.
