The recent revelation that federal lawmakers are planning to pass bills for the establishment of 200 more federal universities across the country not only highlights the recklessness of lawmakers at the Nigeria’s National Assembly but also underscores their disconnect from the challenges faced by existing universities—or, worse, their deliberate neglect of reality for selfish interests.
Currently, Nigeria has 278 universities: 64 are federally owned, 67 belong to state governments, and 147 are privately owned. All government-owned institutions are suffering from severe financial deprivation, running outdated courses that have been overtaken by technological advancements. They are poorly funded for research, and the morale of both academic and non-academic staff is at an all-time low due to poor remuneration. This is where effective legislation should come in—not by exacerbating existing problems with further expansion.
In a previous editorial, we opposed the establishment of Bola Tinubu Federal University as proposed by the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Benjamin Kalu. Our stance remains unchanged. The federal government is yet to fully implement the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) it signed with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in January 2009. The government’s failure to uphold its commitments has led to perennial strikes by ASUU members. Instead of proposing new universities, lawmakers should use their legislative power to compel the executive arm to fulfill these agreements without further delay.
From the North to the South, government-owned universities in Nigeria cannot compete favourably with international institutions, which is why they are consistently ranked poorly on the global stage. Covenant University, founded by Bishop David Oyedepo, has ranked as Nigeria’s No. 1 university for three consecutive years (2023, 2024, and 2025) in the Times Higher Education (THE) Rankings. This achievement is a testament to what private investment and proper management can accomplish, something the government has failed to replicate in public universities.
The federal lawmakers’ indifference to the plight of public universities is evident in their personal choices—none of them enroll their children in these institutions because they know the universities are a shadow of their former selves.
Once-prestigious institutions such as Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), the University of Ibadan (UI), and the University of Lagos (UNILAG) are all living on past glory due to consistent government neglect.
For instance, the University College Hospital (UCH), an arm of the University of Ibadan, was plunged into total darkness for over three months due to an accumulated debt of N3.1 billion owed to the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) since 2019. IBEDC had no choice but to disconnect the hospital from the national grid on October 26, 2024. The historic teaching hospital endured the blackout until February 12, 2025, when power was partially restored in some sections of the facility. To date, no one knows how many lives were lost due to this government neglect. What have lawmakers done to prevent such a crisis from happening again? Would they tolerate sitting in darkness in their chambers for even an hour? They lack compassion.
Meanwhile, power bills are crippling the internally generated revenue of many universities, and their infrastructure, including lecture halls, is in deplorable condition. The Education Minister, Dr. Tunji Alausa, deserves commendation for opposing the lawmakers’ latest charade. He rightly pointed out that Nigeria needs to invest more resources into reviving existing universities rather than expanding a system that is already in a state of collapse. As he stated, “so that we can offer more viable courses to our citizens.”
Lawmakers should abandon their attempts to influence the establishment of federal universities in their constituencies—an approach similar to what state governors do. Creating more universities is not the only way to demonstrate their effectiveness. Instead, they should properly utilize their constituency project funds, which run into billions annually, to drive real change in their senatorial districts and constituencies.
Rather than pushing for new institutions that will likely be underfunded in the coming years, lawmakers should channel their legislative powers and influence toward improving infrastructure, building engineering workshops, and establishing well-equipped laboratories in existing universities.
The federal government’s recent decision to impose a one-year temporary halt on the registration of new private universities should be extended to government-owned ones. The number of universities a country has does not determine the quality of its education.
Lawmakers should be inspired by the world-class universities they see abroad when they attend their children’s graduations and work to replicate those standards at home. Only then can Nigeria’s universities become truly competitive on the global stage.
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