Andy Asemota
The Ninth Assembly of the Senate has initiated bills for the establishment of no fewer than 40 federal universities in the last two years, findings by ThisNigeria have shown.
The upper legislative chamber has also passed over 12 bills seeking to establish universities in the country within the period under review.
This comes as many stakeholders have expressed mixed reactions to the development.
The current Senate was inaugurated on June 11, 2019.
The current Senate has since its inauguration on 11th June 2019, to date considered and passed no fewer than a dozen bills seeking an act of the Red Chamber to establish the different universities across the country.
Findings also indicate that about 30 other bills have sailed through the first reading during the Senate plenary, while many of the bills have passed the second reading and awaiting the reports of its Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFund before they pass the third reading.
They include the bills for the establishment of the Federal University of Education, Kontagora; City University of Technology, Auchi; Modibo Adamawa University of Technology, Yola; Federal University of Technology, Manchok, Kaduna State; Federal University of Education, Ankpa; Federal University of Agriculture and Technology, Funtua; Federal University, Birnin Kebbi and the Federal University of Environmental Technology, Saakperwa Tai Ogoni, Rivers State, have been passed by the Assembly.
The Nigerian Army University, Biu; Nigerian Steel University, Ajaokuta; and the University of Agriculture, Jalingo, have also been endorsed by the Upper Legislative Chamber.
Others said to be awaiting the reports of the Senate committee include bills for the Federal University (Special) Oyo Town, Oyo State; University of Aerospace and Aeronautics, Oka Akoko; the National University of Health and Medical Sciences, Iyin Ekiti, and the Federal University of Science and Technology, Lay, Taraba State.
Acknowledging the findings, a principal officer of the Senate, who spoke in confidence, blamed the lawmaker’s bid to set up more varsities on the inadequate carrying capacities of the existing universities across the nation.
The senator, who did not want his name in print, alleged that annually no fewer than 1.5 million candidates sit for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and that less than a quarter of the number secure admission to the nation’s tertiary institutions.
The lawmaker attributed the candidates’ inability to secure admission to the limited space and number of universities in the country.
The Senate, he, therefore, noted would ensure the passage of the bills to allow the executive to increase the number of universities in the country.
He added, “You have to think of this before you start criticizing our efforts. It is not wrong to have new and more universities because of the population of this country. Most times, the majority of students that apply for admission to existing universities are rejected not on the basis of their qualification but for one reason or the other that have to do with inadequate facilities and carrying capacities”.
Meanwhile, some stakeholders, including lecturers have kicked against what they termed the “proliferation” of universities in the country.
An academic, Dr. Jamilu Galandachi, faulted the claim of the Senator, saying the country has not got the wherewithal to run so many universities.
Galandachi said, “Proliferation of universities will not augur well for the development of education because the federal government cannot even finance the existing ones not to talk of establishing new ones.
“Rather than establish new ones, it is better for the government to adequately finance the existing ones. Most federal universities are complaining of no funds, especially with the introduction of IPPIS. Thank God, we have TETFund. If not for the agency, I wonder what the nation’s ivory towers would have been like”
Also, Prof. Lawal Olatunde, an Abuja-based university teacher, urged the federal government to concentrate on financing the existing universities to avoid a crisis.
“The proposed universities are too many. In every state, there is a federal university already. And in some states, you find two or three federal universities. Giving the number of private universities, I don’t think it is a wise idea to establish new universities now,” Olatunde said.
Another lecturer, Prof. Sarah Anyanwu, of the University of Abuja, cautioned the authorities on the idea.
Anyanwu, who is the President of, Nigerian Economic Society, said, “There are many things that go with setting up more federal universities. We have to think of adequate funding. You know, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is always fighting against underfunding of Nigerian universities.
“Apart from staff welfare which is secondary, we have to also do a lot in terms of facilities – hostels, lecture rooms, theatres, internet connectivity, sports centers, e-learning, libraries stocked with current books not outdated books, e-libraries, sanitation especially with this COVID-19 pandemic, the safety of students, lecturers and other members of staff. So it is not a child’s play.”
On the likelihood of approving more universities in the next two years, she noted that the heavy debt burden on the nation did not call for more universities.
She stated, “So when they think of all this, I don’t think they will go on approving more federal varsities. The existing universities need to be well funded before they start talking of new federal and state universities,” she advised.
But for a lecturer at the Nile University Nigeria, Prof. Ganiyat Adesina-Uthman, the establishment of more universities was akin to a double-edged sword.
“I can’t say the new federal universities they are about to establish are not a welcomed development. Again, I can’t say I am happy to know of the development. It is mixed feelings for me because I studied in Malaysia and I always use the country as an example. Malaysia campuses have become the second home for Nigerians to study, especially those trying to look at the cost-benefit analysis of education.
“Education tourism is what that country is actually doing to attract more students. Hitherto, Nigeria had been in that position, if you look at the University of Ibadan and the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State. You see, foreigners were coming in for education tourism but because of degrading facilities and many other factors including our inability to maintain and sustain some of those good structures in those institutions, the story has changed. We are not even trying to upgrade them.
“Again, we need more universities, if I may go back to my Malaysian experience, there is no way a student in Malaysia will say he or she could not get a place in Malaysian universities unless that student is not qualified. They are able to gain admission without much ado unlike what our children go through in UTME, post-UTME, among other qualifying examinations.”
Adesina-Uthman also stressed the need for some existing universities to be upgraded to international standards and made flagship institutions with flagship programs that they can deliver best internationally instead of establishing many mushroom universities that may not be more than glorified secondary schools.
She further argued that the nation needed new universities considering the huge population of school leavers that could not secure admission due to limited space.
“It is a bit difficult for me; we should aspire to be where any child that is eligible for admission is offered admission and there are adequate facilities. If you go to Malaysian universities, you would think you are in a different world. May God have mercy on us in this country.
“About 40 new federal universities? Fine! But let us take politics out of it because some of them are politically motivated. Government should look at the social benefits of the universities before they are approved. What is the government’s plan for the new universities or they just want to establish them for vanity purposes,” she asked.
Gbagyis, Egbas, what they have in common
Recall, that no fewer than 40 bills for the establishment of federal colleges of education, agriculture, nursing, and midwifery among others are also at different stages of their passage into laws at the Red Chamber.
Therefore, the education sector could be said to have to take the front seat in the first half of the four-year term of the current Senate as about 100 of the 742 bills submitted by the executive and the legislators at the plenary of the Senate so far are for the establishment of various tertiary institutions of learning.
