The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, has directed vice chancellors of federal universities to justify manpower requests with evidence of labour market demand, graduate employability and alignment with Nigeria’s human capital development priorities.
In a directive dated October 19, 2026, with reference number FME/HME/27/TED/Vol.IV/104, the minister expressed concern over rising manpower requests from tertiary institutions, stressing that such demands often fail to account for their financial implications for the Federal Government.
Addressing vice chancellors of all federal universities, Alausa stated that recruitment should primarily focus on vacancies arising from staff attrition, including retirement, resignation, death, dismissal and transfer, or meet additional staffing needs supported by clear evidence.
And if requests for new staff were as a result of new courses, programmes or institutional expansion, the minister said that universities must demonstrate actual labour market demand, graduate employability and relevance to national human capital development.
That is not all. Universities should also prove that proposed courses are unique and do not duplicate programmes already offered by other institutions.
As the minister explained, the existing process for manpower requests was disconnected from the additional personnel costs imposed on the Federal Government, which bears the entire financial burden.
“The current process of manpower requests by Tertiary institutions is completely ‘decoupled’ from the additional personnel cost implications of these requests, which is 100% being borne by the Federal Government of Nigeria,” he said.
Alausa was also worried that some recruitment requests were intended to support courses with limited labour market demand and insufficient alignment with national workforce needs.
He directed universities to ensure that all manpower requests undergo strict assessment based on clearly defined criteria, highlighting the need for prudent spending, efficiency and strategic workforce planning.
To ensure compliance of relevant authorities with the directive, it was copied to the ministers of Finance and State for Education, the Accountant-General of the Federation, the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education and the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission.
Others that were also copied include the Director-General of the Budget Office, the Chairman of the Federal Character Commission and the Director of Human Resource Management at the Federal Ministry of Education.
