The Federal Government has agreed to inject an additional ₦30 billion into Nigeria’s 74 federal universities over the next three years, in a move aimed at stabilising the troubled tertiary education system and reversing years of infrastructural decay.
The intervention, known as the Stabilisation and Restoration Fund, forms part of a newly signed agreement between the government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU). Under the deal, ₦10 billion will be released annually from 2026 to 2028, over and above existing budgetary allocations, with the National Universities Commission (NUC) responsible for managing the funds.
According to Section 4.3.3 of the agreement, the money is intended to support rehabilitation of facilities, improve teaching and learning conditions, and strengthen research capacity across federal universities.
Education experts have welcomed the initiative but warned that its success will depend largely on transparency, accountability and rigorous monitoring. They argue that without strict oversight, the fund risks becoming a short-term intervention that fails to deliver lasting improvements.
Beyond the ₦30 billion fund, the agreement commits the government to gradually increasing education spending to 15 per cent of the national budget, in line with UNESCO’s recommendation. This would be achieved through a yearly increment of 2.5 per cent, alongside a pledge to allocate half of the education sector’s capital budget to universities and to retain the policy of non-payment of undergraduate tuition fees.
Nigeria has historically fallen short of global benchmarks for education funding. Between 1999 and 2026, federal spending on education fluctuated widely, hitting a low of 1.69 per cent in 2011 and peaking at 13 per cent in 2008.
Although the 2026 budget proposes ₦3.52 trillion for education out of a total ₦58.47 trillion, critics insist this remains inadequate. Omole Ibukun of the Creative Change Centre noted that the allocation represents just 6.02 per cent of the total budget, far below international standards and insufficient to address deep-rooted challenges in the sector.
Meanwhile, the Congress of University Academics (CONUA) has distanced itself from the ASUU agreement, urging the government to expedite negotiations with all recognised university unions.
CONUA National President, Dr ‘Niyi Sunmonu, said that the union would not be subsumed into any other academic body, reaffirming its legal recognition by the National Industrial Court of Nigeria and international labour conventions. While acknowledging the conclusion of talks between the government and ASUU, Sunmonu stressed that broader, inclusive engagement remains critical to achieving stability and quality across Nigeria’s university system.
