Focus on Improving Existing Universities, Not Adding More – Minister

The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, has attributed the proliferation of universities to mounting pressure from lawmakers.

Alausa spoke at the third edition of the 2025 Ministerial Press Briefing in Abuja on Thursday.

The Federal Government is under increasing pressure to reform the country’s education sector.

Almost 200 bills pending in the National Assembly for the creation of new universities, concerns are growing that the system is becoming overwhelmed.

Alausa emphasised that strengthening the capacity of existing institutions is more important than establishing new ones.

According to him, there is no need to pressure the President into approving more universities.

“We must focus on our capacities. We need to stop this from happening. There is so much pressure on the President, and we must be sensitive to it. Lawmakers are passing numerous bills.

“Today, I can tell you that there are almost 200 bills in the National Assembly. We cannot continue like this. Even though we have many universities, they lack the capacity to admit enough students. What we need now is to rebuild their capacities so they can offer more viable courses to our citizens,” he said.

He added that university enrolment rates are not keeping pace with the rising number of institutions.

“If you look at overall enrolment figures, private universities—despite making up just 1% of the system—account for only 7.5% of total undergraduate enrolment.

“The total number of undergraduates today is about 875,000, which is relatively low.

“We have universities with fewer than 1,000 undergraduate students, yet there is an intense demand for more universities to be opened. This must stop,” he said.

Alausa stated that several key proposals had been put forward to address the challenges facing Nigeria’s education sector.

On specialised universities, the minister urged these institutions to stick to their core mandate.

According to him, there is a need to reduce the number of non-technical courses in specialised universities and instead offer them in conventional institutions.

He also reaffirmed the Federal Government’s commitment to reducing the number of out-of-school children and creating pathways for them to access tertiary education.

Addressing speculation about the possible scrapping of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Alausa clarified that the Education Tax Fund would remain in place indefinitely.

“What we need to do now is secure more resources to develop infrastructure, build engineering workshops, and equip laboratories in our universities.

“We must also recruit internationally recognised teachers to ensure these universities deliver high-quality education that will gain recognition across the country.

“Regarding the education tax, I believe the tax fund will be further strengthened. I have heard some discussions in the new tax bill about subsidies being introduced by 2030,” he said.