The National Assembly has proposed the establishment of no fewer than 63 new universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education in the country, reports have revealed.

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

The latest development is however coming amidst the crisis rocking the education sector in the country.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUP) and Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) have since been on strike following the failure of the Federal Government to meet their demands.

COEASU, in July, extended its ongoing strike by three weeks.

The colleges of education lecturers had embarked on industrial action in June over the non-implementation of agreement entered with the Federal Government.

The union demands include non-commencement of renegotiation of FGN-COEASU 2010 Agreement, non-release of N15billion and B18billion revitalisation fund.

Others are non–implementation of 2014 Needs Assessment Report, payment of promotion arrears, payment of allowance to librarians, implementation of the consequential effect of the implementation of CONTISS15 on lower cadres.

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Others include poor funding and poor conditions across state-owned Colleges of Education, University Transparency and Accountability Solution (UTAS) and refusal to mainstream demonstration school staff in the payroll of the colleges.

ASUU, on the other hand, have been on strike since February 14, 2022, over the adoption of the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) of the government as the payment system in the university sector.

The university lecturers had also decried the poor funding of universities, non-payment of salaries and allowances of some of their colleagues, as well as the inability of the government to pay earned academic allowance to lecturers, among other issues.

Since the industrial action began, several negotiations between the union and the government have ended in deadlock.

Amid outcry over the effect of the industrial action on the nation’s tertiary education sector, various individuals and groups have asked the government to find a lasting solution to the crisis.

Nigeria currently has a total of 49 federal universities.

The official data from the National Universities Commission (NUC) also 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 the country at 219.

The Star