From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
President Bola Tinubu has directed the staggered commencement of universities approved in the twilight of the Buhari administration.
Minister of Education, Tahir Mamman made this disclosure after he briefed the president at the presidential villa on matters in relation to the education sector including the National Library project
Mamman revealed plans for the universities that previously lacked funding and staff to take off with government support, giving priority to technical schools.
In line with the Federal Government’s commitment to expanding access to higher education, the Buhari administration granted approval for the establishment of no fewer than 75 universities, encompassing federal, state, and private institutions within 7-years.
The Minister of Education noted that there were quite a number of universities and other institutions which “were approved in the last days of the last administration, which because of issues of funding and even staff, it may not be prudent to get these institutions to take off altogether at once.
“So Mr. President has directed we stagger their commencement (their takeoff) whether the government can properly support them.
“Honestly there are very many, probably about a dozen of them, if not more than a dozen or 14, that’s the number and you know tertiary institutions are highly capital intensive, they need a lot of money, especially at that takeoff stage, for infrastructure, staff recruitment and all other needs.
“So by the time you want to start off about 12, 14 institutions at once is a very heavy burden on the finances of government, so that’s why.
“Ordinarily we would have said we’ll review whether we should actually go ahead with that, but most of them are specialized institutions; colleges of education, agriculture, medicine and they are institutions that will support some of the mandates, priority areas of this government.
“We will have need for trained teachers, which colleges of education will provide and the same thing with agric. So that’s why government has not stepped down that approval, instead the President in his wisdom said we stager their implementation on the grounds of funds, essentially.
“We’re starting with about six, two of each; two agric, two colleges of education and then two medicine.”
Tahir responding to a question on the 37 private varsities, “There are private. Private institutions are investments of the proprietors who set them up, so government cannot stop them from doing that. He’s not going to scale down on anything, the only thing government has control over is its own institutions.
“This time around, we’re going to be conservative about the pace of development of tertiary institutions. The priority of this government is going to be on institutions that provide skills that enable its graduates to stand on their own. So that’s the direction we’re moving at the moment.”
On financial autonomy for universities, he said it is an ongoing conversation, but noted that the funds are not there for government to deploy on
“This is still an ongoing conversation because the funds are simply not there and in any case, the whole world, funding of institutions is a combination of parents, students, government and other stakeholders. It’s never government alone. So we’ll continue with the competition. That’s where we’re at the moment.”