The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has queried the approval of licences for new private universities by the Federal Government.
The union, while recalling the recent seven-year moratorium announced by the government, questioned the rationale behind the new licences if access to university education in the country was not a problem.
“ASUU also watched in awe as the Federal Government announced the seven-year moratorium; they proceeded to announce the establishment of nine new private universities.
“If we agree that access is no longer an issue, why is the NUC giving more licenses to private universities? While ASUU acknowledges the rights of private individuals to establish universities, education must be tightly controlled to ensure quality,” the union said in a statement signed by its President, Christopher Piwuna, on Thursday.
“The government must therefore promote quality education and shun profiteering in the education sector. We have 72 federal and 108 state universities, and 159 private universities, bringing it to a total of 339 universities, giving each state and the FCT an average of nine universities, excluding polytechnics and colleges of education.
“So why not place a moratorium on both public and private? Past and present administration must cover their faces in shame for this scandalous proliferation of universities.
“Failure to do this will continue to erase our universities from world rankings. University administrations and the regulatory agency must equally share in the blame for the wrong staff mix highlighted in the minister’s pronouncement,” it added in the statement.
While commending the government for the moratorium placed on the establishment of new universities, ASUU said the issue had long been advocated.
It said the government should have long taken its advice and put a hold on establishing new universities.
“For more than 10 years, our union has cried aloud about the harmful effects of establishing mushroom universities that the government has no plans to develop. In total disregard for time-tested planning and ideas that hitherto went into establishing universities, we have watched universities turn into compensation for political patronage.
“So, ASUU was not surprised when the Minister of Education stated that over 30 universities had zero subscriptions for admission. We have drawn the attention of the authorities to the fact that spreading scarce resources over a large surface area was meaningless and wasteful,” the union stated.
The Federal Executive Council had on August 13 approved a seven-year moratorium on the establishment of new federal tertiary institutions across the country to address duplication and improve the quality of existing ones.
The Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, told journalists that 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.
He said what was rampant was a duplication of new federal tertiary institutions, and a significant reduction in the current capacity of each of these institutions, tertiary institutions, universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education.
In the memo, which was approved in the council meeting, it was also stated that the ministry would review and reform the guidelines for the approval of new private universities to ensure efficiency.
Alausa also added that it was observed that from the recent Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) admission exercise, many institutions had fewer than 100 applicants seeking admission.
The minister warned that unchecked proliferation of poorly subscribed institutions risked producing ill-prepared graduates, eroding the value of Nigerian degrees internationally, and worsening unemployment.
“If we want to improve quality and not be a laughing stock globally, the pragmatic step is to pause the establishment of new federal institutions,” the minister stated.
Meanwhile, the union has reiterated its call on the Federal Government to address outstanding issues affecting public universities and academics.
According to ASUU, the issues include the renegotiation of the 2009 ASUU-FGN agreement, sustainable funding of our universities, and the revitalisation of universities.
Others, it said, were the outstanding 25 to 35 per cent salary arrears, promotion arrears for over four years, and third-party deductions.
It said it was not pleased with the level of government commitment to the welfare of lecturers who retired since the commencement of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) in 2024.
ASUU noted that retired members of the union had continued to bear the brunt of the government’s “anti-people policies”.
The statement added, “Lamentably, the FGN has always turned a deaf ear to all our pleas. As always, it is the FGN that has consistently pushed our union to embark on a strike action, and it is clear that ASUU may have no other option than to embark on an action to press the FGN to listen to our demands and do the needful.”