Minister of Education Tunji Alausa
Federal Government has asked the National Assembly to suspend the approval of bills seeking to establish new federal universities, polytechnics and colleges of education for seven years, citing mounting funding obligations, infrastructure deficits and concerns over the declining quality of tertiary education.
The request, contained in a November 2, 2026, in a leaked memo from the Federal Ministry of Education to the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, raises fresh questions about the sustainability of Nigeria’s expanding tertiary education system amid persistent funding shortfalls in existing institutions.
The memo, marked FME/DUE/NASS/153/Vol.1/147 and sighted in Abuja, urged the Senate leadership and other lawmakers to exercise restraint in considering establishment bills, in line with a seven-year moratorium reportedly approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on August 13, 2025.
In the document, Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, argued that Nigeria’s tertiary education crisis had moved beyond the challenge of expanding access to the more pressing need to strengthen institutions already in existence.
The government’s position, however, comes against the backdrop of a growing number of demands for new federal institutions, particularly from communities seeking improved access to higher education and greater federal presence.
The ministry’s memo suggests that such demands are increasingly colliding with the government’s capacity to finance the institutions already established.
Funding gaps expose fragility of existing institutions
A major concern highlighted in the memo is the Federal Government’s failure to fully meet previous financial commitments to public universities.
Alausa disclosed that under the 2013–2018 Federal Government-ASUU revitalisation agreement, which involved a commitment of ₦1.3 trillion, only ₦250 billion was reportedly released between 2013 and 2021.
The minister also stated that of the additional ₦150 billion approved in 2025 for Needs Assessment Intervention, only ₦50 billion was initially released, leaving a substantial outstanding balance.
The figures, if sustained by official budgetary and disbursement records, underscore the funding pressures confronting the sector and raise questions about the financial basis for establishing additional institutions.
The memo identified inadequate lecture halls, overcrowded classrooms, insufficient laboratories, shortages of qualified personnel, accommodation deficits and deteriorating facilities as some of the challenges facing existing federal universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.
“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,” Alausa stated.
would mark a significant shift in federal tertiary education policy, from expansion driven by the establishment of new institutions to consolidation aimed at improving the quality and sustainability of existing ones.
