FEC okays seven-year ban on creation of new federal tertiary institutions

FEC okays seven-year ban on creation of new federal tertiary institutions  

No federal tertiary institutions will be established jn any part of the country in the next seven years, the Federal Executive Council has declared.

The decision was taken at the FEC meeting presided over by President Bola Tinubu in Abuja on Wednesday.

This was said to have been done in a bid to address duplication and improve the quality of existing ones.

Briefing journalists after the FEC meeting on Wednesday, the Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, said access to tertiary education was no longer an issue in the country.

“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 stated.

Alausa said there are currently 72 federal universities, 108 state universities, and 159 private universities, in addition to polytechnics, colleges of education, monotechnics, colleges of agriculture, health sciences, nursing, and innovation and enterprise institutions.

According to him, the proliferation of institutions is not matched by corresponding demand or resources..

The minister said, “For the 2024-2026 academic sessions, about 2.1 million young Nigerians applied to our tertiary institutions.

“However, 199 universities had fewer than 99 applicants, and remarkably, 34 universities had zero candidates applying at all.

“This worrying trend repeats itself in polytechnics and colleges of education too. In fact, 295 polytechnics had fewer than 99 applicants, and 219 colleges of education suffered similar fates, with 64 colleges receiving no applicants at all.”