Senate shelves bill to move Nasarawa polytechnic, asks sponsor to seek new school
- The Senate has stopped a bill that sought to move a Federal Polytechnic from Nasarawa West to Nasarawa Eggon.
- Senate President Godswill Akpabio said the school has already become a university, so moving it would mean moving the university.
- Senator Envulu-Anza Danladi accepted the advice to bring a fresh bill for a new polytechnic in Nasarawa Eggon.
The Senate on Tuesday set aside a bill that would have moved a Federal Polytechnic in Nasarawa State from Nasarawa West to Nasarawa Eggon in Nasarawa North. The bill's sponsor, Senator Envulu-Anza Danladi, was instead asked to return with a new proposal to create a fresh polytechnic in Nasarawa Eggon.
The bill, the Federal Polytechnics Act (Amendment) Bill, 2026 (SB. 1065), came up for second reading during plenary. Senate President Godswill Akpabio, who presided, advised Danladi to withdraw it.
Why the bill was stopped
Danladi, who represents Nasarawa North, argued that his district has no federal tertiary institution. He said the polytechnic in Nasarawa West had been upgraded to a university, leaving his area without one.
Akpabio said the plan as drafted would create a problem. Because the polytechnic has already become a university, moving it would amount to moving the university itself. He warned that the community hosting the institution would not welcome that.
He said the bill could not go for second reading in its current form because it was about relocation.
Akpabio asked Danladi to leave the upgraded institution where it is and bring a separate bill to establish a Federal Polytechnic in Nasarawa Eggon. He said the Senate would back such a bill and he believed President Bola Tinubu would too, since the old polytechnic no longer exists as a separate institution.
To explain his point, the Senate President compared it to a primary school that is upgraded to a secondary school. Once upgraded, he said, the primary school no longer exists, so it cannot be taken to another location.
Danladi accepted the guidance and thanked Akpabio. The bill was then stepped down.
What happens next
Danladi is expected to prepare a fresh bill for a new Federal Polytechnic in Nasarawa Eggon. If it passes, the school would widen access to technical and vocational education in Nasarawa North, which the senator said has no federal institution of higher learning.
