PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu and the parliament are repeating the same mistake of overexpansion in Nigeria’s underperforming tertiary education system.
This follows the passage of the bill for the proposed Federal University of Oil and Gas Technology in Igbokoda, Ondo State, which cleared the Second Reading in the House of Representatives late last June. This move appears to be a road to nowhere.
The bill’s sponsor, Donald Ojogo, stated that the proposed university “will ensure the training of graduates, professionals, technicians, and craftsmen for the oil and gas industry. This will address the challenges of technical, human capacity, and technological inputs in the oil and gas sector.”
However, establishing universities without adequate funding and proper infrastructure undermines their core mandates of teaching, research, and community service, turning tertiary education into a mockery.
It paints a bleak picture of a country lacking a coherent plan for future generations in an increasingly competitive world.
How many Nigerian universities have conducted cutting-edge research or made a significant societal impact in the past three decades? The so-called brain drain has siphoned many renowned lecturers, driven away by poor welfare.
The reckless proliferation of universities began under President Goodluck Jonathan and reached absurd levels under the late Muhammadu Buhari.
The institutions established during these administrations were largely political giveaways, while existing universities languished in a comatose state.
Since taking office two years ago, the current administration has established over a dozen universities, renamed some and continues to add more. With no clear funding plan, this ignores Nigeria’s harsh economic reality.
Some polytechnics and colleges of education, originally intended to produce middle-level manpower, have been upgraded to university status against existing policies. This is ill-advised.
By February 2025, Nigeria had 274 universities, including 126 public institutions — federal and state-owned. Many are mired in infrastructural decay, neglect, and severe underfunding.
Despite the increase in number, the Tinubu administration’s allocation to education remains far below the 35 per cent average benchmark once achieved under Obafemi Awolowo in the defunct Western Region between 1954 and 1959. For 2024, the government budgeted N2.18 trillion, or 7.9 per cent, for education.
This funding crisis is draining Nigerian universities. In August 2024, the Eko Electricity Distribution Company disconnected the University of Lagos over an unpaid N472 million electricity bill.
The University College Hospital, Ibadan was plunged into darkness for over 100 days due to unpaid electricity bills. Yet, new universities continue to mushroom.
University libraries are poorly equipped, laboratories lack basic facilities for practicals, and staff welfare is shabby. These factors combine to produce a dearth of research output and an unimpressive faculty.
University unions frequently strike to protest gross underfunding and poor salaries.
A country with 297 universities missing from the top 1,000 QS global rankings over the past three years should be focused on strategies to improve and earn a place in future rankings.
The Federal Government has failed to fully honour a 2009 Memorandum of Understanding signed with ASUU to fund universities to the tune of N1.2 trillion. Instead, it has been busy creating new universities.
This is the mediocre educational environment into which the FUOGT and other new universities are being introduced.
Therefore, the proposed university represents unnecessary duplication in a country that already has the University of Petroleum in Effurun, Delta State, alongside conventional universities offering petroleum and oil and gas-related courses.
The same logic should apply to other new specialised and conventional universities. In cases where specialised universities do not exist, the government should establish colleges or faculties within existing universities to maximise cost efficiency in line with economic realities.
Federal and state governments should halt the unchecked proliferation of universities and focus on rehabilitating and funding existing institutions that have the expertise to add real value and elevate Nigeria’s standing on the world stage.
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