WorldStage— The Federal Government of Nigeria has appealed to the National Assembly to stop approving bills for the establishment of new federal universities, polytechnics and colleges of education for seven years, warning that continued proliferation of tertiary institutions could worsen the country’s education funding crisis and undermine academic standards.
The appeal was contained in a Federal Ministry of Education’s memo dated November 2, 2026, and addressed to the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio.
In the leak memo, marked FME/DUE/NASS/153/Vol.1/147 and sighted in Abuja on Thursday, the ministry urged the Senate leadership and other lawmakers to exercise legislative restraint in considering bills seeking to establish additional federal tertiary institutions in support of the Federal Government’s seven-year moratorium.
According to the memo, the minister of education, Dr Tunji Alausa, disclosed that the Federal Executive Council (FEC), at its meeting of August 13, 2025, approved the moratorium as part of efforts to address what he described as the growing proliferation of public tertiary institutions, duplication of academic programmes, under-utilisation of existing facilities and the government’s declining capacity to adequately fund the sector.
According to him, the immediate challenge facing Nigeria’s tertiary education system is no longer simply the expansion of access but the need to strengthen existing institutions through improved funding, infrastructure, personnel and modern teaching and research facilities.
“The Federal Government’s position is that the immediate challenge confronting the tertiary education sector is not merely the expansion of access, but the urgent need to strengthen existing institutions,” the minister stated.
He added that the moratorium would provide an opportunity to “consolidate existing investments and improve the quality and carrying capacity of institutions already established.”
The memo expressed concern that legislative proposals for additional federal tertiary institutions continued to receive attention despite the government’s policy direction.
While acknowledging the constitutional powers of the National Assembly to initiate and enact legislation, Alausa maintained that such initiatives should be guided by prevailing national education policies, demonstrable educational needs and the financial implications of establishing new institutions.
He warned that spreading limited resources across more institutions without addressing the challenges confronting existing ones could further weaken the quality of tertiary education.
“Existing Federal Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education are confronted with serious funding and infrastructure deficits, including inadequate lecture halls, overcrowded classrooms, insufficient laboratories, shortages of qualified personnel, accommodation deficits and deteriorating facilities,” he stated.
The minister argued that creating more institutions under such circumstances could compound the difficulties facing the sector rather than improve access to quality education.
One of the major concerns raised in the letter was the Federal Government’s outstanding financial commitments to the revitalisation of public universities.
The memo was also copied to the Senate Majority Leader, Senator Michael Opeyemi Bamidele.
