By Dr. Nana Akaeze .
The Awake Voice
This is my voice. This is my belief.
Nigeria does not lack higher institutions.
Nigeria lacks the leadership courage to make many of those institutions globally respected.
According to the National Universities Commission, Nigeria now has more than 300 universities, including federal, state, and private universities. The NUC’s current public data shows 69 state universities and 182 private universities, with federal universities making up the rest.
The National Board for Technical Education data also shows hundreds of technical and vocational institutions, including 355 polytechnics in its dashboard with over 200 accredited colleges of education.
What are WE waiting for.
So the question is no longer whether Nigeria has institutions.
The question is whether those institutions are being led in a way the world can take seriously.
Every year, Nigerian parents struggle to send their children abroad for education. UNESCO data reported by WENR shows that about 146,286 Nigerian higher education students were studying abroad in 2023 and #’s continue to grow. This is not just student mobility. It is a message.
It means many families still believe that foreign institutions offer what Nigerian institutions should be offering at home.
Stability, credibility, quality, order, respect for time, research culture, and global recognition.
The Central Bank of Nigeria has also shown the economic weight of this problem. CBN data cited in reports stated that Nigerians spent about $28.65 billion on foreign education between 2010 and 2020. In the first half of 2023 alone, Nigerians reportedly spent $896 09 million on foreign education.
Think about that!
Let us pause there.
If even half of that ten-year foreign education spending had been invested seriously in Nigerian higher education, that would be more than $14 billion going into laboratories, libraries, digital classrooms, research grants, faculty development, student housing, technology, global partnerships, and better pay for lecturers.
Imagine what $14 billion could do if properly managed.
Imagine the jobs. Imagine the research centers. Imagine the scholarship funds.
Imagine the modern classrooms.
Imagine foreign students coming to Nigeria, instead of Nigerian families draining their savings to send children abroad.
What are WE doing. We need a change of Mindset. Put the right people in charge.
Embrace change and facilitate accountability.
So, money alone will not solve the problem.
Leadership must change.
Nigeria must stop placing people in higher education leadership because of politics, loyalty, ethnicity, religion, friendship, or entitlement.
Qualified candidates must lead. Visionary candidates must lead. People who understand research, technology, global ranking, funding, faculty welfare, student experience, and international collaboration must lead.
A university cannot rise above the quality of its leadership. That’s why we hear of Fake Professors leading some Nigerian institutions.
How come?
New ideas are resisted. Digital systems are delayed. Diaspora scholars are ignored. Alumni are underused. Parents are treated only as fee payers. Private-sector partnerships are not pursued seriously.
That must stop.
Parents, alumni, community leaders, businesse and professional bodies must begin to contribute to institutional development.
Nigerian higher education cannot depend on government alone. Great universities across the world are built through a combination of public funding, private giving, alumni endowments, research grants, industry partnerships, and visionary leadership.
But people will not give to systems they do not trust.
That is why transparency matters.
That is why leadership matters.
That is why accountability matters.
If Nigerian institutions want the world to take them seriously, they must become serious themselves.
Pay lecturers better. Reward research.
Stop outdated recruitment practices.
Appoint qualified leaders.
Protect academic calendars...
Publish financial reports.
Listen to new ideas.
Build institutions that can compete.
Since Nigeria has the population. Nigeria has the talent. Nigeria has the diaspora. Nigeria has the money.
What Nigeria needs now is sustainable, receptive change.
Stop politicizing institutions, and receruit qualified people to lead.
TO BE CONTINUED...
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