THE recent decision by the Federal Government to impose a seven-year moratorium on the establishment of new universities, polytechnics and colleges of education, citing the proliferation of underutilised institutions across the country, has caused a stir in the academic community.
Although the move has garnered support from industry stakeholders, including the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Congress of University Academics (CONUA), who have advocated for greater attention to strengthen the existing tertiary academic institutions, particularly those recently established, to ensure they meet the required standards, skeptics believe that the federal government should rather take steps to to rejig lapsing institutions.
With 72 universities, 41 polytechnics, and 27 colleges of education, all owned by the federal government, Nigeria stands alone at the top of countries with the highest number of public-owned tertiary education institutions in Africa. Yet, this feat is a sharp contrast to the ugly reality bedevilling the higher education sub-sector, where years of inattention have rendered many of these institutions impotent.
Attesting to this, the Minister of Education, Dr Olutunji Alausa, at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, said the duplication of federal academic institutions has spread resources thin, resulting in some universities, operating far below capacity. Alausa said the freeze is expected to enable the government to refocus resources on improving existing institutions by upgrading facilities and improving staff welfare.
We commend the Federal Government for this initiative, even as we consider it long overdue, especially since the creation of these universities now appears to be abused for extraneous intents. Today, citadels of learning are being cited to score political marks or as business ventures, without considering their necessity. A situation where a measly 2,000 students are found in federal universities, or where about 1,200 staff are engaged to serve less than 800 students, is gross underutilisation.
To this end, the Federal Government should have taken calculated measures to ensure that areas that are underserved and viable are not affected by this fiat, rather than placing a blanket suspension. In the South, for instance, yearly applications into universities hover around 15,000, contrary to the 199 quoted by the education minister to receive fewer than 100 applications.
In such regions, aborting the establishment of more federal tertiary academic institutions may be catastrophic for a population projected to grow at a rate of two per cent every year for the next seven years. If nothing is done and fast to assuage the negative fallout of this decision, the existing universities, already busting at the seams, would explode, while our children are exposed to the predatory tendencies and capricious nature of privately-owned institutions.
Besides, we find it rather ironic that the Federal Government, despite the ban, proceeded to further proliferate with the approval of nine new universities from a whopping 551 requests inherited by the Bola Tinubu administration. Approvals for the establishment of universities should not be on compassionate grounds.
Beyond the moratorium, we believe that reviewing the curricula of these institutions to reflect the emerging global needs should also be looked into to make them truly productive. More emphasis should be placed on strengthening the sciences, engineering and technology courses, to make them much more viable. This can only be done by channelling resources to equip laboratories, workshops, libraries and classrooms in our universities, polytechnics and colleges of education. This, however, is not to undermine the place of the arts and humanities.
Going forward, we call on the government to take advantage of this opportunity and strengthen existing universities, polytechnics and colleges of education with the needed infrastructure. If possible, the moratorium can be reviewed and limited to deserving areas.
More so, we hold that in considering the establishment of more institutions in future, tainted interests should be discarded so that we can have universities that create, preserve and transmit knowledge while fostering innovation and critical thinking, and not a bunch of dilapidated buildings with decorative abbreviations occupying space.
