Some state governments have appealed to the Federal Government to take over their universities amid mounting financial difficulties and growing concerns about their ability to sustain the institutions.

The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, disclosed this in a memorandum addressed to Senate President Godswill Akpabio on November 2, 2026, while seeking legislative support for a seven-year moratorium on the establishment of new federal universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.

According to the minister, some state governments have approached the Federal Government because they can no longer adequately meet the financial and administrative responsibilities associated with running their universities.

Although Alausa did not identify the states involved or disclose the number of institutions affected, he cited the experiences of Ekiti and Imo states as examples of the difficulties associated with establishing and maintaining multiple tertiary institutions without sustainable funding arrangements.

The disclosure comes amid growing concerns over the financial sustainability of public universities in Nigeria, recurring industrial disputes involving university lecturers, deteriorating infrastructure and demands for improved staff welfare.

Alausa argued that the country’s immediate priority should be strengthening existing institutions rather than continuously establishing new ones without adequate financial provisions.

He warned that expanding the number of universities without addressing their funding challenges could further weaken the quality of tertiary education and undermine academic standards.

The minister also highlighted the Federal Government’s outstanding financial commitments to the revitalisation of public universities.

According to the memorandum, under the 2013–2018 Federal Government agreement with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the government committed ₦1.3 trillion to university revitalisation.

However, only ₦250 billion was released between 2013 and 2021, representing less than 20 per cent of the original commitment.

Alausa further disclosed that of the additional ₦150 billion approved in 2025 for the Needs Assessment Intervention, only ₦50 billion was initially released.

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He said the funding gaps demonstrated the difficulty of meeting existing obligations and raised questions about the government’s capacity to sustain additional institutions without guaranteed budgetary provisions.

The minister identified inadequate lecture halls, overcrowded classrooms, insufficient laboratories, shortages of qualified lecturers, accommodation deficits and deteriorating facilities as some of the major challenges confronting public tertiary institutions.

He maintained that spreading limited resources across more universities without addressing existing deficiencies could further weaken the sector.

Alausa also recalled that Ekiti State consolidated three state-owned universities into a single institution, Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti, in 2011.

He cited institutional reviews and integration exercises undertaken by Imo State following the establishment of several tertiary institutions under previous administrations.

According to him, these experiences demonstrate the risks of establishing universities without proper feasibility studies and sustainable funding arrangements.

He warned that institutions created without adequate financial planning could eventually become liabilities for successive administrations, forcing governments to undertake costly mergers, restructuring or closures.

The minister also referenced international examples, including Australia, Finland, Japan, the United States and South Africa, where institutional mergers and consolidation have been used to address funding constraints, duplicated academic programmes and administrative inefficiencies.

He argued that Nigeria could adopt similar measures to improve governance, strengthen research capacity and ensure more efficient utilisation of available resources.

Beyond the requests for federal takeovers, Alausa urged the National Assembly to support a seven-year moratorium on establishing new federal tertiary institutions.

He said the Federal Executive Council (FEC) had approved the moratorium at its meeting on August 13, 2025, as part of efforts to address the proliferation of public tertiary institutions.

However, the minister expressed concern that lawmakers were still considering bills seeking to establish additional institutions despite the policy.

He acknowledged the constitutional powers of the National Assembly to initiate and pass legislation but urged lawmakers to consider national education priorities, demonstrable needs and the financial implications of establishing new institutions.

Alausa stressed that setting up a university involved more than passing an enabling law, as it required land acquisition, take-off grants, infrastructure, recruitment of academic and non-academic personnel, equipment, utilities and recurrent expenditure.

He warned that institutions established without credible long-term funding arrangements could exist only on paper, without the resources required to deliver quality education.

The minister clarified that the proposed seven-year moratorium was not intended to permanently deny Nigerians access to tertiary education or prevent future expansion where compelling national needs existed.

Rather, he said the measure would allow the government to consolidate existing investments, improve academic standards and address infrastructure and staffing deficiencies.

The development comes against the backdrop of recurring industrial disputes between state governments and university lecturers over salaries, allowances, earned academic benefits and the implementation of agreements with ASUU.

The union has consistently maintained that state governments must honour applicable agreements with lecturers in their institutions rather than rely solely on commitments made by the Federal Government.

The disputes have disrupted academic activities in some institutions and raised questions about the ability of certain state governments to provide stable funding for university education.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government announced on October 25, 2026, that it had disbursed ₦38.93 billion to 166 public tertiary institutions under the Needs Assessment Revitalisation Fund.

The allocation covered 79 universities, 46 polytechnics and 41 colleges of education, with the money earmarked for approved infrastructure and teaching-related projects.

Despite the intervention, Alausa’s latest memorandum suggests that substantial funding and infrastructure challenges remain across Nigeria’s tertiary education sector.

The minister appealed to Senate President Akpabio, Senate Majority Leader Michael Opeyemi Bamidele and other lawmakers to support the proposed moratorium.

He maintained that the success of Nigeria’s education system should be measured by the quality of its institutions, teaching, research and graduates rather than simply the number of universities established.