N1.3trn Owed, N250bn Paid, FG Begs Senate to Stop Creating Varsities It Cannot Fund

Kuni Tyessi in Abuja

Of the N1.3 trillion promised for the revitalisation of public universities between 2013 and 2018, only N250 billion, which is less than 20 per cent, was released between 2013 and 2021.

Of the additional N150 billion approved in 2025 for Needs Assessment Intervention, only N50 billion was released.

It is on the strength of the aforementioned figures that the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, has written to the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, begging the National Assembly to stop creating new federal universities, polytechnics and colleges of education for seven years.

In the memo dated November 2, 2026, marked FME/DUE/NASS/153/Vol.1/147 and sighted in Abuja on Friday, Alausa warned that Nigeria is funding failure and spreading scarce resources across more institutions, while existing ones collapse for lack of lecture halls, laboratories, hostels and lecturers.

According to the minister, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) had already approved the seven-year moratorium at its meeting of August 13, 2025.

The moratorium, he said, was to halt the “growing proliferation” of institutions, duplication of programmes, under-utilisation of facilities and the government’s declining capacity to fund the sector, but despite the policy, bills for new institutions have continued to flood the Senate.

“The immediate challenge confronting the tertiary education sector is not merely the expansion of access, but the urgent need to strengthen existing institutions,” Alausa stated.

The moratorium, he added, would allow government to “consolidate existing investments and improve the quality and carrying capacity of institutions already established”.

Alausa listed the deficits confronting federal universities, polytechnics and colleges of education to include inadequate lecture halls, overcrowded classrooms, insufficient laboratories, shortages of qualified personnel, accommodation deficits and deteriorating facilities.

“Spreading limited resources across more institutions without addressing the challenges confronting existing ones could further weaken the quality of tertiary education,” he warned.

“These funding gaps demonstrate the difficulty of meeting existing obligations and raise legitimate concerns about the capacity to sustain additional institutions without corresponding and guaranteed budgetary provisions.”

The minister cited Ekiti and Imo States as proof of what happens when politics outruns funding.

“The institutions established without sustainable funding arrangements may subsequently require costly restructuring, merger or integration by successor administrations,” he warned.

Alausa drew attention to Australia, Finland, Japan, the United States and South Africa, which are countries that have undertaken mergers and consolidation to cut costs, eliminate duplication, improve governance and strengthen research. Nigeria, he argued, should do the same and prioritise viability and quality over numbers.

The minister said the government is already stretched by competing interventions on TETFund infrastructure, the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), vocational and skills programmes, and the implementation of the Consolidated Academic Tools Allowance (CATA) and Consolidated Tertiary Institutions Tools Allowance (CONTTA) and creating new institutions without identified funding, he said, would undermine those programmes.

He stressed that establishing a university is not just passing a law, it imposes long-term obligations — take-off grants, land acquisition, infrastructure, recruitment, equipment, utilities and recurrent expenditure.

“Such obligations extend beyond the administration that initiates the establishment and become continuing liabilities for successive governments,” he stated.

Without feasibility studies, demonstrable need and credible funding, new institutions “may eventually become financial liabilities, compelling future administrations to undertake costly mergers, restructuring or outright closure, with attendant consequences for students, staff, public investments and the national education system”.

Alausa clarified that the seven-year moratorium is not meant to permanently deny access or stop future expansion where there is compelling national need, but it is meant to give government time to consolidate, fix deficiencies, raise standards and ensure future expansion is planned and sustainable.

He therefore appealed to Akpabio and the Senate leadership to support the policy.

“In view of the foregoing, I respectfully appeal to Your Excellency and the distinguished leadership of the National Assembly to support the Federal Government’s seven-year moratorium by exercising restraint in the consideration and passage of Bills for the establishment of additional Federal Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education during the period,” the memo stated.