Amid nationwide ASUU strike, National Assembly proposes 63 new varsities, others

No fewer than 63 bills have been tabled before the Senate and the House of Representatives for the creation of new universities, polytechnics, colleges of education since the beginning of shutdown of activities in public tertiary institutions in 2022.

Nigeria has a total of 49 federal universities according to the data from the National Universities Commission which alsoa revealed that the country has 59 state universities and 111 private universities.

The National Board for Technical Education also puts the number of Federal Polytechnics at 40; state owned at 49 and private at 76.

While a total of Federal and state owned colleges of health is 70; Nigeria currently has 17 private colleges of health.

Also, the National Commission for Colleges of Education put the total number of colleges of education in Nigeria at 219.

As reported by The Punch, the 63 bills on creation of new institutions being considered by both the Senate and the House of Representatives revealed that 26 bills are for federal universities; 33 bills for federal colleges of education; agriculture; health; technology; and forestry among other specialised colleges.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities, Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics and Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union have, however, warned the government against the establishment of new institutions while failing to fund the existing ones.

Recall that that ASUU on February 14, 2022, embarked on the industrial action over what the union described as the failure of the government to address some of its demands.