By Samuel Solomon
The Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, has raised concerns over rising manpower requests by federal universities, warning that recruitment decisions are placing additional financial burdens on the Federal Government’s personnel budget.
This is just as the Ministry of Education, in a statement by its spokesperson, Boriowo Folasade, maintained that the recruitment waiver process for federal tertiary institutions remains in force, contrary to reports that President Bola Tinubu had removed the requirement.
Alausa, in a letter dated October 19, 2026, directed vice-chancellors of all federal universities to subject manpower requests to stricter scrutiny, insisting that additional recruitment must be justified by staffing needs, labour-market demand and national human capital development priorities.
The letter, with reference number FME/HME/27/TED/Vol.IV/104 and titled “Directive on Vetting of Manpower Requests from Tertiary Institutions,” said many institutions were submitting requests without adequately considering the financial implications for the government.
“The current process of manpower requests by Tertiary institutions is completely ‘decoupled’ from the additional personnel cost implications of these requests, which are 100 per cent being borne by the Federal Government of Nigeria,” Alausa stated.
The minister also expressed concern that some recruitment requests were intended to support courses with limited labour-market demand in Nigeria.
He said the pattern of requests did not always reflect national human capital development priorities or existing gaps in the labour market, stressing the need for more prudent and strategic workforce planning across the tertiary education sector.
In the letter, Alausa directed universities to classify manpower requests under two categories: vacancies arising from staff attrition and additional recruitment.
He said vacancies created by retirement, resignation, death, dismissal or transfer could be considered for replacement, while requests beyond attrition, including those linked to new courses, programmes or expansion, must meet specific conditions.
According to the minister, institutions seeking approval for additional recruitment must provide “clear evidence of market demand, employability of graduates and relevance of such courses to the improvement of human capital development of Nigeria.”
They must also demonstrate that proposed courses are unique and do not duplicate programmes already offered by other institutions.
Alausa said the measures were necessary to promote prudence, efficiency and strategic manpower planning in the education sector, urging vice-chancellors to ensure full compliance with the directive.
The letter was copied to the Minister of Finance, Minister of State for Education, Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education, Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, Director-General of the Budget Office, Chairman of the Federal Character Commission and Director of Human Resource Management in the ministry.
The directive comes amid rising personnel costs in the federal university system.
An analysis of the Federal Government’s 2026 budget estimates published in January showed that personnel-cost allocations for the country’s 20 largest federal universities increased from N438.85bn in 2025 to N533.1bn in 2026, representing an increase of N94.25bn, or about 22 per cent.
The education ministry, in Monday’s statement, said the clarification on the recruitment waiver process became expedient following reports that federal universities had been exempted from obtaining recruitment waivers from the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.
The ministry said the reports might have arisen from the speech delivered by Tinubu’s representative at the maiden convocation ceremony of the Federal University of Health Sciences, Azare, Bauchi State, on October 17, 2026.
“For clarity, the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation approves establishment waivers for Federal Institutions, while recruitment waiver requests are considered and approved by a Committee chaired by the Honourable Minister of Education,” the statement read.
The ministry explained that the OHCSF retained responsibility for determining authorised staff establishments and assessing manpower requirements across federal institutions.
It added that the office was also represented on the waiver committee chaired by the Minister of Education.
The statement disclosed that the committee “evaluates the staffing needs of tertiary institutions against their approved establishments to determine the justification for additional recruitment.”
Reaffirming the continuation of the process, the ministry said, “The Ministry therefore emphasises that the existing recruitment waiver protocol, which has been in operation over the past few years to promote greater institutional efficiency and autonomy, remains in force.”
It added, “All requests must continue to comply strictly with the established approval process.”
The ministry also restated its commitment to accountability in the management of human resources across federal tertiary institutions.
