Bill to convert YabaTech to university passes second reading in senate

The legislative push to convert Yaba College of Technology (YabaTech) in Lagos into a full-fledged university received a major boost as a bill to that effect scaled second reading in the Senate.

During Tuesday’s plenary session, the Deputy Senate President, Senator Barau Jibrin (APC, Kano North), who presided over the sitting, referred the bill to the Senate Committee on Tertiary Education and TETFUND for further legislative scrutiny, with a directive to report back in four weeks.

Titled “A Bill for an Act to provide for the Establishment of the Yaba Federal University of Technology and Vocational Studies, Yaba, Lagos State and to make comprehensive provisions for its due management and administration and for other related matters, 2025 (SB. 738),”

Leading the debate on the general principles of the bill, Senate Leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele (APC, Ekiti Central), stated that the bill “seeks to transform and upgrade the YabaTech to Yaba Federal University of Technology and Vocational Studies, Yaba, Lagos State, which has already been done via a presidential fiat.”

He further emphasized, “This Bill seeks to establish Yaba Federal University of Technology and Vocational Studies Yaba, Lagos State. The Bill was read the first time in this Hallowed Chamber on Tuesday, 11th March, 2025.”

Bamidele added, “Nigeria’s steady march towards education for all in the shortest possible time has taken a giant leap with the introduction of this Bill for an Act to provide for the establishment of this University.”

Expressing personal enthusiasm, he said, “I am personally excited by the prospect of transforming this Polytechnic to a University of Technology and Vocational Studies as it will motivate both students and academic staff, just as it will upgrade its facilities and enhance its capability to achieve its objectives.”

The new university, he noted, would “encourage the advancement of learning and hold out to all persons without distinction of race, creed, sex or political conviction the opportunity of acquiring a higher and liberal education.”

He listed several benefits of the transformation: “Provide courses of instruction and other facilities for the pursuit of learning in all its branches, and to make those facilities available on proper terms to such persons as are equipped to benefit from them; Encourage and promote scholarship and conduct research in all fields of learning with emphasis on technical education.”

Bamidele also pointed out that the institution would “relate its activities to the social, cultural and economic needs of the people of Nigeria; and undertake any other activities appropriate for a university of the highest standards.”

He stressed the necessity of educational reform for national progress: “If Nigeria, as planned, should aim to become one of the world’s twenty leading economies of the world in this 21st century, we must be ready to adjust and position our educational institutions so that its products are geared towards technological challenges inherent in such projections. Our educational authorities are moving to revamp our institutions for these objectives.”

Once enacted, the university would have the statutory authority to expand its operations: “Yaba Federal University of Technology and Vocational Studies, when enacted by the National Assembly, will have power to establish such campuses, colleges, faculties, institutes, schools, extra-mural departments and other teaching and research units within the University as may from time to time seem necessary or desirable subject to the approval of the National Universities Commission.”

On structural continuity, he clarified: “To ensure continuity in the administration of the university, all property held by or on behalf of the Yaba Polytechnic shall be vested in the University and be held by it for the purposes of the University. Notably, all staff of the Polytechnic are hereby transferred to the University and previous service in the Polytechnic shall count as service for the purposes of any pension payable by the University.”

He affirmed the readiness of the institution for the transformation, stating, “The institution is prepared to undertake the educational and other modifications that are a natural corollary of transforming to a university. The institution is also prepared to remain true to its core mandate of producing well-trained manpower capable of driving the technological, management and business goals of the nation.”

Referencing global best practices, he concluded, “In this regard, it will seek to emulate the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) which has built upon a tradition of distinction to become one of the world’s foremost educational institutions.”

“I am fully satisfied that the provisions in this Bill are adequate to ensure the takeoff of the proposed University and I will not hesitate to encourage my colleagues to support it at all stages of its journey to becoming a law of the Federation of Nigeria,” Bamidele said.