NASU, CONUA, NAPTAN Reject Government Plan to Scrap Courses
The federal government has ignited a fierce backlash after declaring its intent to phase out university courses it deems irrelevant to Nigeria’s economic future. Tunji Alausa, the Minister of Education, warned students that social science disciplines may soon face the axe, citing a lack of alignment with market demands. He explicitly discouraged students from using Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) credits for courses lacking clear professional paths. The government now seeks to pivot the entire tertiary system toward technical skills and mandatory entrepreneurship certification.
Critics within the academy and parental advocacy groups have promptly dismissed the proposal as ill-conceived. Dr. Niyi Sunmonu, president of the Congress of University Academics (CONUA), argued that the government should focus on evolving curricula rather than discarding entire fields of study. He noted that modernising disciplines to include Artificial Intelligence and data science is the logical path forward. Total elimination, he warned, invites unnecessary disruption to the intellectual foundation of the nation.
The Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) similarly challenged the minister’s narrow definition of relevance. Dr. Makolo Hassan, the union’s president, questioned whether the government intends to reduce university education to a handful of professional degrees like Law or Engineering. He pointed out that humanities and language studies continue to provide value to society. The consensus among staff unions is that course content matters more than its title.
The National Parent Teacher Association (NAPTAN) has urged the government to proceed with extreme caution. President Alhaji Haruna Danjuma expressed deep anxiety over the prospect of families investing in education that the state suddenly deems obsolete. Parents are demanding clear data and expert scrutiny before any radical policy shift takes root. They refuse to accept such sweeping changes without a transparent explanation of the criteria involved.
The minister’s plan relies heavily on embedding entrepreneurial training, termed EPIC, into all degree programmes by 2027. He envisions a future where graduates emerge as business creators rather than mere job seekers. However, this vision assumes that the market can absorb thousands of micro-entrepreneurs without addressing the underlying structural economic decay. While the government pledges billions in support schemes, academics remain sceptical of the top-down approach.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has remained largely silent, pending a formal review of the proposal. With no list of the affected courses yet provided, the educational sector remains in a state of nervous anticipation. For now, the government’s attempt to enforce industrial relevance has only succeeded in uniting its traditional adversaries against it.