August 1, 2022

 No fewer than 63 bills have been tabled before the senate and the House of Representatives for the creation of new universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education since the beginning of shutdown of activities in public tertiary institutions in the country in 2022.

The academic staff union of universities, academic staff union of polytechnics and colleges of education academic staff union has, however, warned the government against the establishment of new institutions, while failing to fund the existing ones.

Nigeria has a total of 49 federal universities. The official data from the national universities commission also revealed that the country has 59 state universities and 111 private universities.

The national board for technical education also puts the number of federal polytechnics at 40; state owned at 49 and private at 76.

While a total of federal and state owned colleges of health are 70; Nigeria currently has 17 private colleges of health.

Also, the national commission for colleges of education put the total number of colleges of education in Nigeria at 219.

An analysis of the 63 bills on creation of new institutions being considered by both the senate and the House of Representatives revealed that 26 bills are for federal universities; 33 bills for federal colleges of education; agriculture; health; technology; and forestry among other specialized colleges.

The lawmakers also proposed four bills for the creation of new polytechnics.

However, a professor at the Adekunle Ajasin University, Ondo State, Victor Olumekun, has faulted the lawmakers for turning the establishment of new institutions into constituency projects.