The penchant for unrestrained establishment of universities in the country, despite the decrepit state of existing ones, as a result of gross underfunding, is highly counterproductive. The past two administrations took this act to ridiculous levels. Still, it is incredible that the Tinubu government has equally embraced this, despite the fact that objective conditions suggest the contrary.

In the first three months of this year, nine of these institutions have sprung up, including the repurposing of existing public tertiary and even moribund private universities. Also, 11 privately owned universities were granted licences within this period. Though the latter belongs to individuals, they would likely impact the academic ecosystem negatively, as they will inexorably draw from the same human resource pool that a national needs assessment in 2012 reported as its sickening capacity deficit. This has not been remedied in any significant way since then.

Among the new universities are: Federal University of Sports in Afuze, Edo State; Federal University of Technology and Environmental Sciences, in Iyin, Ekiti State; Federal University of Agriculture in Obio-Akpa, Oruk Anam Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom; Federal University of Environment and Technology in Ogoni; and Federal University of Agriculture and Development Studies, Iragbiji, Osun State. All of them were birthed in February.

Earlier this month, Tai Solarin University of Education, owned by the Ogun State government, was taken over by the Federal Government, just as Yaba College of Technology in Lagos, was upgraded to a university. A moribund, privately-owned Nok University in southern Kaduna, was acquired too by the centre. Approval was also given for the establishment of Federal University, Umunna, Okigwe, Imo State. As a result, Nigeria has an aggregate of 278 universities, comprising 64, which are federal, 67 belonging to states, and 147 that are privately-owned. Last year, four colleges of education were upgraded to universities.

More of these “citadels of learning” are on the cusp of legislative approval, including, the Bola Ahmed Federal University of Nigerian Languages, to be located in Aba, Abia State. A bill to this effect is in the House of Representatives, championed by one of its principal officers from the state. It is sad that about 200 bills for the creation of more of these glorified secondary schools are before the National Assembly. The lawmakers who are their masterminds are unbothered by ASUU’s perennial strikes over the government’s failure to fund the education system adequately, by releasing N1.3 trillion to revitalise the system over five years, in line with the 2009 agreement between the Federal Government and ASUU.

Paradoxically, the Federal Government, which is the major catalyst of the proliferation of universities, has raised the alarm through the Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa. In his recent 2025 ministerial press briefing, he categorically said, “We need to stop this from happening. There is so much pressure on the President…We have enough opportunities out there for students to go to universities.” This is a fact that those in the education policy space have long emphasised.

In 2018, the Registrar of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Ishaq Oloyede, said so unequivocally that the country does not need more universities, as the existing ones are capable of absorbing qualified candidates. He was data-driven in his analysis. For instance, out of 1.6 million students who took the 2018/19 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), only 700,000 candidates had the minimum requirement of O’level credits in five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics, which are mandatory for admission.

From these statistics, it is evident that 800,000 candidates were not qualified for university admission at the time. Besides, not all the 700,000 who took the UTME passed to the level of securing the cut-off marks of their respective universities. The extrapolation from this, therefore, is that reason and logic do not support decisions to establish a rash of new universities. To cite Indonesia as having 2,000 universities, or the comparable proportions in Brazil, Russia and the US, as protagonists of these new universities are wont to do, is most unreflective or even unreasonable. Are they so unsophisticated as not to be aware that these countries have robust economies to support such considerations, as opposed to Nigeria, which is borrowing N13 trillion this year to fund its budget deficit?

Universities, by their very nature, as centres of teaching, learning, research and innovation, have basic standards they must meet, being in the global grid of knowledge production. They should not be decreed into existence by the whims and caprices of politicians.