The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has criticised the Federal Government’s sanctioning of new private universities, despite its recent announcement of a seven-year embargo on the establishment of new higher institutions.
ASUU, in a statement signed by its president, Christopher Piwuna, on Thursday, questioned the move, claiming that access to university education in Nigeria is no longer a challenge.
He said, “ASUU also watched in awe as the Federal Government announced the seven-year moratorium; they proceeded to announce the establishment of nine new private universities.
“If we agree that access is no longer an issue, why is the NUC giving more licences to private universities?
“While ASUU acknowledges the rights of private individuals to establish universities, education must be tightly controlled to ensure quality.”
ASUU lamented what it described as the “scandalous proliferation” of universities, accusing past and present administrations of using licences as political patronage.
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The statement adds, “The government must therefore promote quality education and shun profiteering in the education sector.
“We have 72 federal and 108 state universities and 159 private universities, bringing it to a total of 339 universities, giving each state and the FCT an average of nine universities, excluding polytechnics and colleges of education.
“So why not place a moratorium on both public and private? Past and present administrations must cover their faces in shame for this scandalous proliferation of universities.
“Failure to do this will continue to erase our universities from world rankings.
“University administrations and the regulatory agency must equally share in the blame for the wrong staff mix highlighted in the minister’s pronouncement.”
While applauding the government for eventually implementing its proposal for a moratorium, ASUU warned that expanding private colleges would exacerbate poor staffing, remove Nigerian universities from worldwide rankings, and devalue degrees.
“For more than 10 years, our union has cried aloud about the harmful effects of establishing mushroom universities that the government has no plans to develop.
“In total disregard for time-tested planning and ideas that hitherto went into establishing universities, we have watched universities turn into compensation for political patronage.
“So, ASUU was not surprised when the Minister of Education stated that over 30 universities had zero subscriptions for admission.
“We have drawn the attention of the authorities to the fact that spreading scarce resources over a large surface area was meaningless and wasteful,” the union stated.
On August 13, the government Executive Council ordered a seven-year ban of new government tertiary institutions in order to enhance those that already exist.
Tunji Alausa, Minister of Education, claimed that several universities were operating below capacity, with some northern institutions housing fewer than 1,000 students.
“Several federal universities operate far below capacity, with some having fewer than 2,000 students.
“In one northern university, there are 1,200 staff serving fewer than 800 students. This is a waste of government resources,” he stated.
Meanwhile, ASUU reaffirmed its call for the government to address long-standing concerns impacting public institutions and professors, including the renegotiation of the 2009 agreement, revitalisation funds, outstanding salary arrears, and promotion backlogs.
