That six-year moratorium on new tertiary institutions By Guardian Editorial Board on May 19, 2026 – Recommended Nigerian Newspaper Report 47

That six-year moratorium on new tertiary institutions By Guardian Editorial Board on May 19, 2026 – Recommended Nigerian Newspaper Report 47

The Federal Ministry of Education’s decision to put a temporary lid on the establishment of new universities in the country is a painful but perhaps necessary option. It is painful because existing universities cannot accommodate the large number of young Nigerians seeking higher education. A moratorium, as that placed by the government, means that the path to the higher education they crave is even narrower. On the other hand, given the public alarm occasioned by unrestricted proliferation of universities, which has compromised quality, there is a need for a break for the authorities in education to re-examine the position with a view to making necessary amends.

No country should feel comfortable with a situation in which universities have become glorified secondary schools, bereft of critical infrastructure, research facilities, quality and dedicated teachers and an environment conducive to learning. The challenge for the sector is to use the moratorium period to identify all the defects in the system and map out strategies to rectify them. If the stakeholders do not move quickly or take the challenge seriously, they will face the same unwholesome situation in six years’ time.

For the next six years, the Federal Ministry of Education has put a lid on the establishment of new universities in the country. The moratorium on new public tertiary institutions, which came into effect in August 2025 when the minister announced the temporary ban, has recently been expanded to include private universities, through the minister’s fresh moratorium in March 2026. As far as the government is concerned, the challenge of access to tertiary education has been overcome. There are now enough tertiary institutions. What remains is to standardise quality and align resources to areas of need, and avoid waste and duplication.

Minister of Education, Dr Olatunji Alausa, in justifying the move, said the ban was to address issues of quality and proliferation of institutions, which caused deterioration in infrastructure and manpower. He also alluded to the need to assist private institutions to be financially stable and sustainable. In March 2026, the minister followed up with a moratorium on the establishment of new private tertiary institutions. Effectively, the six-year temporary ban affects both public and private universities, polytechnics and colleges of education. The minister stated that in 2025, 2.3 million Nigerians applied to JAMB, and only 228,000 candidates secured placements in public universities. At the same time, Nigeria’s about 169 private universities are undersubscribed, catering to just around 5-10 per cent of the total student population.

The implication is that, despite more tertiary institutions, enrollment challenges persist. There are 72 federal universities, 108 state-owned universities, and 159 private universities in the country, with a combined carrying capacity of fewer than 1 million students. Despite what is considered to be increased access, most public schools are stretched. Private institutions don’t enrol enough students to take pressure off public institutions, a factor attributable to high school fees and related expenses.

The minister is worried that some federal-owned universities have fewer than 800 students that are serviced by over 1,200 staff members. Conversely, there are older public tertiary institutions that are stretched for space and facilities. Unfortunately, private institutions that were licensed to take pressure off public institutions have been unable to do just that. Data collected between 2017 and 2022 showed that 97 private universities admitted just 175,645 students.

There is room for improvement. A number of private universities are operating at very low capacity due to low investment. Most don’t have qualified teachers. They also don’t have a quality academic environment, making them look like glorified secondary schools. Let the six-year period be spent on improving what is on the ground.

Certainly, the quality of tertiary education is important and should not be compromised by numbers. The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has consistently challenged the government’s heedless proliferation of universities without adequate funding. Each time new institutions are established, chances are that older ones will be neglected, without a significant improvement in budget allocation to Education.

Given this scenario, the minister’s policy shift to focus on quality and align the curriculum to stamp out duplication and redundancy is instructive. Many institutions offer courses that they have no capacity to teach. Many state-owned institutions are established for political purposes. They were never established on a needs basis. There is a need for a creative overhaul of the system to improve quality and sustain accessibility.

The National Universities Commission (NUC) should be firm and decisive in its regulatory function. Let the attention shift from just manufacturing numbers to training hands-on solution providers to Nigeria’s multiple challenges. This is the time to align the country’s tertiary institutions with the urgency of industrialising and becoming developed and self-sustaining. Nigeria should not continue to depend on imports from India, China, and other countries for goods it can produce. Nigeria was once at par with these countries, but now lags behind because it lacks the discipline to translate the teachings and research of its tertiary institutions into industrial growth.

The minister’s desire to assist private institutions to remain financially stable is in the right direction, given that the students of those institutions are Nigerians expected to contribute to the country’s growth, like their counterparts in public schools. Private school operators had requested consideration for the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND). Some have also wondered why students in private institutions cannot access the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND). However, the minister’s mandate is first and foremost to public schools, which, if well-conceived and run in the first place, would have negated the need for private universities in the mould or context in which they are springing up. Whatever plans the government has for private universities should be managed to ensure that public institutions, which are already underfunded, are not put at further disadvantage.

Notably, only a handful of private universities are doing relatively well in terms of academic performance, research, and student enrollment. Others are struggling; lacking, as it were, functioning laboratories, quality staff and sustainable funding.

This moratorium should not be a time for inaction. It should rather be a period to expand and consolidate investments. The noble idea of private universities should not be turned into a competition based on religious and other banal sentiments. It must be needs-based with proven capacity to project growth and development. Rather than being perceived as an opportunity to make easy money, the moratorium should be implemented as a commitment to reinvigorating the education sector and contributing to nation-building.

Research Credits

*This compilation series was first researched, written, poster designed and last updated by Toju Micheal Ogbe.