By Onu Okorie

National Universities Commission (NUC) approved 33 new universities across Nigeria in 2025, raising the total number of universities in the country to 309. However, the South-East was notably absent from the list of states that benefited from the establishment of new federal universities.
Data obtained from the NUC website showed that 20 of the 33 new universities were private institutions granted operating licences by the commission. The Federal Government established seven new universities, while state governments accounted for the remaining six.
The seven new federal universities are located in Rivers, Kaduna, Ogun, Osun, Ekiti, Oyo and Zamfara states. Notably, none of the five South-East states—Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo—was selected for a new federal university.
At the state level, Niger, Benue, Cross River and Imo established one new university each, while Ebonyi established two. This means that although two South-East states—Imo and Ebonyi—expanded their university systems through state-owned institutions, the region received no new federal university.
The distribution has therefore raised questions about the representation of the South-East in the Federal Government’s 2025 expansion of university education. While the establishment of new institutions increases access to tertiary education nationwide, the absence of any new federal university in the region stands out, particularly against the backdrop of the seven federal universities established in other parts of the country.