At least 63 bills have been proposed before the Nigerian Senate and the House of Representatives for the creation of new universities, polytechnics, colleges of education amid poor funding of the educational sector and an industrial action by university lecturers that is in its fifth month.
Reports have it that there are 63 bills on creation of new institutions being considered by both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Twenty-six of the bills are for federal universities; 33 bills for federal colleges of education; agriculture; health; technology; and forestry among other specialised colleges.
Nigeria has a total of 49 federal universities. The official data from the National Universities Commission 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.
There are 70 federal and state-owned colleges of health and 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.
The lawmakers also proposed four bills for the creation of new polytechnics.
