By Mariam Abeeb
Stakeholders in the education sector have thrown their weight behind the Federal Government’s decision to place a moratorium on the establishment of new tertiary institutions.
The federal government has announced a seven-year moratorium on the creation of new federal universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education, citing under-enrolment, resource strain, and inefficiency in existing institutions.
The decision, reached at a Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting chaired by President Bola Tinubu in Abuja, the government said that the moratorium was part of measures to reform the higher education sector.
In an interview with pressmen in Abuja, the stakeholders argued that expanding the capacity of existing institutions would be more impactful and cost-effective .
The Vice-Chancellor of Abiola Ajimobi Technical University, Prof. Adesola Ajayi, said the proliferation of universities in recent years has stretched Nigeria’s already limited educational infrastructure.
Ajayi noted that, while Nigeria has varieties of university, including federal, state, and specialised institutions, many of them operate far below capacity, due to inadequate infrastructure and facilities.
“Most of our first, second and third generation universities can increase their intake by up to 25 per cent or even 50 per cent of their current enrollment, but they don’t have the infrastructure and facilities to do so.
“They don’t have the laboratories, the workshops, the classrooms that will accommodate the students.
“We already have the different categories of higher institutions, expansion of access by infrastructural upgrade is better than expansion of access by establishing new ones.
“The fund for the establishment on new schools should be deployed to address these infrastructural deficit in the existing institutions,” he said.
The vice Chancellor said their are higher institutions that have less than 1,000 students, even 10 years after they were established.
According to the VC, many newly established universities, particularly those located in remote areas, lack basic infrastructure and struggle to attract workers
He added that some tertiary institutions were inaccessible to the students and staff members.
“It is unfortunate that our politicians are seeing these higher institutions as dividends of democracy that must come to their corners.
‘Most of these institutions they attracted to their communities are not accessible. They are in remote areas and do not have the facilities and infrastructure to attract students and workers.
Ajayi suggested that a 10–15 year pause on creating new university, would give the government time to significantly expand capacity of existing institutions, by channelling resources into upgrading their infrastructure and facilities.
