The federal government has announced a six-year suspension on the establishment of new universities, polytechnics and colleges of education across the country.
The decision was approved during the federal executive council meeting chaired by President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday.
Briefing State House correspondents after the meeting, Tunji Alausa, the minister of education said the temporary ban was introduced to strengthen the quality and sustainability of existing tertiary institutions.
According to him, the government is concerned about the growing number of institutions without adequate resources to sustain operations.
He noted that despite the increase in tertiary institutions, many Nigerians still struggle to secure admission into universities and other higher institutions.
The minister cited data from joint admissions and matriculation board indicating that more than 2.3 million candidates applied for admission last year, but fewer than 228,000 gained admission into public universities.
He said the policy would help improve standards while ensuring that existing private and public institutions remain financially viable.
In a related development, the council also restored the national commission for mass literacy, adult and non-formal education to full status as an independent commission.
Alausa explained that the move is part of efforts to address Nigeria’s high illiteracy rate, estimated at about 56 million people.
He said the commission had presented an ambitious plan to educate more than 50 million young adults within the next two to three years while also improving digital literacy across the country.
The initiative is expected to focus largely on rural communities through radio programmes, television campaigns and community learning centres.
The council further approved amendments to the national postgraduate medical college Act, recognising medical fellowships as equivalent to a PhD for academic advancement.
It also endorsed comprehensive insurance coverage for students in the country’s 180 federal unity schools.