Almost on a daily basis, bills requesting for the establishment of one university or the other in different parts of the country are brought to the National Assembly. These ranges from conventional universities to specialised ones, especially in agriculture, science and technology, sports, solid minerals and others. Many of the bills have either been passed on the floor of the House of Representatives and awaiting concurrence from the Senate or sent to the President awaiting assent or have been assented to. Now, the Executive is not comfortable with the deluge of bills requesting universities by the lawmakers. But the lawmakers have said it is right to make such request, TONY AKOWE reports
BY January 2024, the number of bills seeking to establish new federal universities rose to about 47. This was just about six months into the life of the 10th House of Representatives. A little over one year later, the number of bills seeking to establish higher institutions increased to over 150, while more are presented to the House on a daily basis by members. These bills form part of the several establishment bills lying in the parliament and receiving attention on a daily basis.
Incidentally, aside these bills in the House, there are other bills seeking to also establish higher edutional institutions by senators. While some have been passed and institutions established by government, many others have not been established. The deluge of establishment bills has raised serious concern, especially in the area of funding and quality.
More bills seeking to establish universities
Between January and March, the President has signed into law bills seeking to establish universities in different parts of the country. Two of such are to be located in Kachia, Kaduna State and Iyin Ekiti, Ekiti State. While the number of federal universities in Kaduna has thus risen to three (others being Ahmadu Bello University Zaria and Federal University of Education also in Zaria), the establishment of a Federal University in Iyin Ekiti brings to two, the number of federal universities in Ekiti State. These two new universities are billed to admit their first sets of students in September, this year.
In the 9th Assembly, many of these bills were passed but not signed by former President Muhammadu Buhari. Some of the bills not signed has been brought back to the 10th Assembly.
Minister on proliferation of federal varsities
Speaking during his 2025 Ministerial Press briefing, Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, had complained about the proliferation of federal universities even though existing institutions are still struggling with funding challenges. He said: “I want to use this opportunity to talk to our legislators, members of the National Assembly, please we need to stop this flood gate; they are passing a lot of bills. Today, I can tell you that there are almost 200 bills in the National Assembly for new universities. We can’t continue like this. Even the ones we have, we don’t have enough infrastructure there. The capacity for our universities to admit is not there. What we need to do now is to rebuild the capacity so that we can offer more viable courses to our citizens. What we now need to do is to now begin to mobilise more resources to develop infrastructures; more engineering workshops, build laboratories, recruit international standards teachers so that we can begin to get these universities to develop to deliver high quality education that we’ve been known for as a country”.
He stressed that as a result of the deluge of institutions, grants from TETFund per institution has reduced as more universities are established “and that’s why we have to stop this deluge of just opening universities, adding that the President has approved a tentative plan and that his ministry is working on a document to address the proliferation of universities.
Gbajabiamila’s warning in 2021
While presiding over plenary as Speaker in 2021, Femi Gbajabiamila, then speaker of the House, had cautioned against members bringing to the floor of the House, bills seeking to establish one institution without supporting the request with a funding plan. According to him, these requests puts a lot of burden on the government in the area of funding. He said then that those sponsoring such establishment bills must be able to say where the funds will be drawn from.
He said: “At a time of reduced revenue, with preexisting and worsening infrastructure deficits requiring significant investments, we cannot afford to keep establishing more institutions that impose a permanent liability on government income. I am not unmindful of the realities that often necessitate such legislation, yet we cannot ignore the facts that lie before us. Let us work together to reform and strengthen the institutions already in existence, and remove those no longer fit for purpose. I believe most sincerely that this is the pathway to a legacy that we can all be proud of.”
Interestingly, this warning did not stop members of the 9th Assembly from bringing in bills seeking to establish one institution of higher learning or the other, even when the President fail to sign those passed into law. Arguably, some of the bills never made it out of parliament because of rivalry between the Senate and the House as many lawmakers saw such establishment as status symbol in their constituencies.
At another plenary, Gbajabiamila called for stringent conditions for the establishment of universities in the country, to ensure high standard, adding that such stringent condition would prevent the proliferation of universities in the country.
He said: “There is a balance between demands by constituents and what is good when we know what is right. I think this matter will be resolved when we pass the National University Commission (NUC) bill, where perhaps, we can make establishment of universities more stringent. Otherwise, you will run into a situation where a state government or whoever will just come, get a building or three buildings together and say they want a university.”
He said the stringent measures will be in place until such a time when the government is no longer funding universities. At that time, Gbajabiamila did not get the support of his colleagues, especially his deputy, Ahmed Idris Wase, who argued then that many lawmakers have promised their constituents that they would attract tertiary institutions to their areas.
Why lawmakers craved for higher institutions in their communities
Ndudi Elumelu, who served under Gbajabiamila as Minority Leader, also said that lawmakers were under pressure from constituents on the establishment of university.
He said: “In my opinion, I think it is not wise to shut down every voice or every member on this floor as it relates to sponsoring a bill for the establishment of either college of education or polytechnic or university in their various communities. I said this because when you go to the constituencies and you are talking to the constituents, most often, the first thing they ask you is; why are you not bringing any school to your constituency? When you say it is not possible and they see your colleagues sponsoring same bills for the establishment of universities, it becomes a negative for you as an individual who is representing them. So, whether it is assented to by the President or not, it is not the issue; the issue is that member is able to show that he has the interest of his or her constituents at heart”.
Few lawmakers seeking the establishment of these institution have hinged their demand either on marginalisation of their people or the need to put existing facilities into proper use. For example, the establishment of the Federal University of Science and Technology, Kachia in Kaduna may have been premised on the fact that there are already existing facilities in the town for the institution. The facility which was supposed to house the Nok University was forfeited to the Federal Government through the EFCC as proceeds of crime after its completion. The institution was on the verge of admitting its first sets of students when the EFCC obtained a permanent forfeiture order against the owner of the facilities. Similarly, the sponsor of the bill to establish the Federal University of Sport, Afuze, Edo State also premised the demand on the existing facilities at the Afuze Games Village. But beyond the facilities, the sponsors of these bills have failed to say where the funds for the running of the institution will come from.
However, Chairman of the House Committee on University Education, Abubakar Hassan Fulata and his counterpart in Polytechnic and Higher Technical Education, Fuad Kayode Laguda, failed to respond to calls and messages sent to their phone on the issue. But a source close to Fulata told The Nation that the committee only considers requests referred to it by the House. The source said: “No committee Chairman has the right to prevent any bill from being processed, particularly private member bills. Bills, especially establishment bills, will only become law when assented to by the President. The President, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, decides which of the bills to sign into law.”
House Spokesman, Akintunde Rotimi was quoted as saying that individual members and not the House are the ones pushing for the establishment of the new tertiary institutions in their constituencies.
He was also quoted as saying that it was within the right of the lawmakers to sponsor bills for tertiary institutions, adding that the parliament would look at the proposals and take decisions on them. In addition, he said as much the government is talking about streamlining agencies, there are several areas in the country that are in dire need of educational institutions.
He said: “It is not the House that is proposing this bill; it is the individual members that are proposing what they believe is in the best interest of their constituencies and their constituents. And it is for them to marshal out the points and arguments, why they think that should be prior
