The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has thrown its weight behind the federal government’s recent seven-year moratorium on establishing new federal tertiary institutions, while simultaneously calling for the ban to be extended to include private universities.
The union’s position was detailed in a statement issued on Thursday and signed by its National President, Professor Christopher Piwuna.
ASUU, which has for over a decade campaigned vigorously against the unchecked proliferation of universities, described the government’s decision as “a step in the right direction.”
The statement highlighted the union’s long-standing concerns, noting, “For more than 10 years, our union has cried aloud on the harmful effects of establishing mushroom universities that the government has no plans to develop.”
It further criticized the trend of using university establishments as “compensation for political patronage,” acting in “total disregard for time-tested planning and ideas that hitherto went into establishing universities.” ASUU pointed to the Minister of Education’s recent revelation that over 30 universities had zero admission subscriptions as validation of their warnings.
A Call for Broader Action
While commending the policy, ASUU argued that the logic behind the ban must also apply to the private sector. The union urged the government to place a similar moratorium on the establishment of new private tertiary institutions to ensure a comprehensive approach to curbing proliferation.
This demand was coupled with expressed concern over a perceived contradiction in the government’s actions. The union questioned the rationale behind the government acknowledging that access is not the primary problem facing university education, only to subsequently announce the approval of nine new private universities.
The minister’s announcement last week followed his previous calls for the National Assembly to halt the consideration of over 200 bills seeking to establish new federal universities, underscoring the government’s focus on consolidating and improving existing institutions rather than expanding the number