Higher Education in Nigeria: Challenges and Opportunities 1

Higher Education in Nigeria: Challenges and Opportunities

Jennifer Byrd
Northwestern University
Higher Education in Nigeria: Challenges and Opportunities 2


With one of the fastest growing economies in the world, Africas most-populous country,
Nigeria, has great potential. Goldman Sachs identified Nigeria as one of its Next Eleven
economies in 2005 and Citigroup in 2011 declared it a Global Growth Generator country based
on growth potential and profitable investment opportunities. The Nigerian government has
rallied around a Vision 20:2020 plan that aims at placing Nigeria among the 20 largest world
economies by 2020. Demographics are certainly on the countrys side. A recent task force
chaired by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of the World Bank and David Bloom of Harvards School of
Public Health pointed out that by 2030 Nigeria will be one of the few countries in the world that
has a numerous supply of young workers. Youth, not oil, will be Nigerias most valuable
resource in the twenty-first century, the report says.
But in order for the country to live up to its promise, these workers must be well
educated and be able to find gainful employment. If not, they could be a force for instability and
social unrest (Nigeria The Next Generation 2010). In order to prevent this, Nigeria with the
help of international partners must improve its education system. Currently, nearly 32 percent
of the country is illiterate; with gender differences significant (the literacy rate for men is 75.7
percent, but just 60.6 percent for women.) Despite being a member of the Organization of
Petroleum Exporting Countries and making billions from oil exports over the past thirty years,
70 percent of Nigerians live below the poverty line (CIA World Factbook.)While the country
clearly faces numerous difficulties in its primary and secondary education sectors, this paper will
focus specifically on the countrys tertiary education system. Once proud Nigerian universities
are struggling with funding and staffing issues and are barely able to serve the small percentage
of Nigerian students who are able to secure a spot (only about 20 percent of all high school
graduates who qualify make it into these institutions.) Demand for quality higher education far
Higher Education in Nigeria: Challenges and Opportunities 3

exceeds supply in Nigeria, and government and university officials must come up with new
strategies to serve these students.
History of Nigerian Higher Education
The roots of higher education in Nigera go back to the colonial period when leaders
demanded a university as a means to their own emancipation (Ajayi, 1975). The British colonial
rulers established the Yaba Higher College in 1932 in order to provide well qualified assistants
in medical, engineering, and other vocations as well as teachers for secondary schools (Okojie,
2008). The limited scope of the college generated greater pressures on the colonial government
to expand opportunities for higher education. In 1948 the University College of Ibadan was
established as an external branch of the University of London. The new university absorbed the
Yaba Higher College. The University of Ibadan became an independent university in 1962,
following the country gaining independence from Britain in 1960. The early 1960s saw the
establishment of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and the Universities of Lagos and Ife.
Propelled by the increased income from oil and the increased demand for higher education in the
country, universities continued to be established and already existing regional universities were
taken over by the federal government. By 1980, Nigeria had established a well-regarded higher
education system offering instruction at an international standard in a number of disciplinary
areas. The universities of Ibadan and Ahmadu Bello, for example, earned global recognition for
their research in tropical health and agriculture, respectively (Saint, 2003). Only a small number
of top students could attend the colleges and standards were high. Funding for research was
readily available during the oil boom years of the 1970s (Bollag, 2002).
But political pressures soon led to a rapid expansion in the number of universities in the
country without regard to adequate funding and adequate data on manpower requirements
Higher Education in Nigeria: Challenges and Opportunities 4

(Pereira, 2007). After the crash of oil prices in the second half of the 1980s, the universities were
hit hard financially and many of the strongest academics at these universities left the country for
better opportunities in the U.S. or Europe (Pereira, 2007). Quality of programs, staff and
facilities greatly declined. A string of military governments in the 1980s and 1990s reduced
university autonomy, and incentives and rewards for research productivity, teaching excellence
and associated innovation disappeared (Saint, 2003). Cronies of military dictators were often
named vice chancellors of the universities without regard to academic protocols. Many believed
the neglect by the military leaders during this time was intentional since the universities were at
the forefront of the opposition to military rule (Bollag, 2002). Violence often gripped the
campuses where so-called cults (student gangs) terrorized other students into giving up limited
dormitory bed space, intimidated faculty members for better grades, and invaded women's
dormitories to rape students (Bollag, 2002). The cults, which usually had sons of military and
police officers in their ranks, strong-armed the administration to relax admission requirements
and inflate grades for their members (Guidice, 1999).
Current state of Nigerian universities
Following the return of a democratically elected government in 1999, several positive
policy changes were made, but the universities had been damaged greatly. Universities started
seeing an increase in funding (but it did not keep up with demand), vice-chancellors could no
longer personally select 10 percent of each years incoming student body, university governing
councils were reconstituted and had broader representation, more private universities were
licensed and university staff was exempted from public service salary scales and regulations
(Saint, 2003). In 2000, the government granted federal and state universities autonomy over their
budgets and governance. The autonomy policy gave university councils responsibility for the
Higher Education in Nigeria: Challenges and Opportunities 5

appointment of senior officers and gave university senates authority to decide on curriculum
(Saint, 2003). The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) administers a national
university entrance examination and informs universities of applicant scores. A National
Education Bank is charged with providing merit scholarships and student loans (Saint, 2003).
While Nigeria now has several of the policies and institutions in place to have a successful
higher education system, the country is still rattled with many challenges.
Some of the biggest concerns are similar to those that other countries in this era of higher
education massification face; issues surrounding capacity, access and quality. As mentioned
earlier, only a fraction of students who pass the JAMB exam can gain a spot at a university in
Nigeria. Due to the high demand, several illegal universities (diploma mills) have popped up
around the country (Lindow, 2009a). With more than two-thirds of the Nigerians under the age of
30 and 40 percent below the age of 15, this will only grow if capacity issues are not addressed.
Funding remains a major issue, as many universities struggle to pay adequate wages to lecturers
and frequent labor strikes close down universities for months at a time. Basic infrastructure
(buildings, classrooms, dormitories) and information and communications technology
infrastructure (computers, internet access, electrical wiring) are both problem areas for many
Nigerian universities, as well as electricity and bandwidth constraints (Ekundayo & Ekundayo,
2009).
Ways Forward Connections with the Diaspora
Nigerian university administrators are now in the slightly unique situation of building
back once-great universities. Because of that, the universities have some options other countries
seeking to build world-class universities may not have, namely reaching out to alumni and
members of the Diaspora for support. It has been estimated that more than 21,000 Nigerian
Higher Education in Nigeria: Challenges and Opportunities 6

academics and medical doctors are working in the United States (Ekundayo & Ekundayo, 2009).
There are more in Europe. Many Nigerian universities are just starting to hire alumni-relations
officers and starting annual-giving campaigns to raise funds for scholarships, new dormitories,
libraries, and computers (Lindow, 2010). It has not been easy, because many people in and from
Nigeria are used to the idea that the government should completely fund higher education. In
addition, the labor strikes leading to long university shut-downs cast a negative light on many
institutions. Roger Makanjuola at Obafemi Awolowo University in Ife-Ife described the lack of
trust when he tried to talk to alumni about donating to the university. People felt that standards
had dropped. The attitudes toward the university were negative. As far as the alumni were
concerned, if they gave us money, we would steal it (Lindow, 2010). Over time, Mr.
Makanjuola was eventually able to convince some donors he was passionate about improving
Obafemi Awolowo University, and was able to raise enough money to paint several of the
universitys run-down buildings and build new dormitories (Lindow, 2010). The potential for this
type of fundraising at African universities is great, and two U.S. foundations, the Carnegie
Corporation of New York and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, have joined
together to hire the Council for Advancement and Support of Education to help train people at
African universities in fund-raising skills.
But much depends on how these alumni and potential donors feel about university, the
country and the stability of both. In general, the political situation in Nigeria has begun to
stabilize since 1999 (although still not completely stable) and Diaspora members want to do their
part to help bring back Nigerian universities. The Nigeria Higher Education Foundation was
established in 2004 by prominent Nigerian academics in the United States to support Nigerian
universities, with seed money from the MacArthur Foundation. Among its many activities, the
Higher Education in Nigeria: Challenges and Opportunities 7

foundation works closely with five partner universities (Ahmadu Bello University, Bayero
University, University of Ibadan, University of Nigeria, Nsukka and University of Port Harcourt)
to identify funding and grant opportunities. It also maintains a database of subject matter experts
in the Diaspora and connects those experts with Nigerian universities in the hope that
partnerships are established. Sola Olopade, a pulmonologist at the University of Chicago and his
wife, Funmi, a geneticist at the University of Chicago who won a genius grant from the
MacArthur Foundation in 2005, have helped to establish the Healthy Life for All Foundation, an
organization to promote academic health research in Nigeria. The foundation sponsors research
that builds on Funmi Olopade's work in Chicago that examines the molecular genetics of breast
cancer in African and African-American women (Lindow, 2010).
In addition, the Nigerian government set up a program called Linkages with Experts and
Academics in the Diaspora in 2007 to attract experts in the Diaspora to come to Nigerian
universities on a short-term basis, which the Nigerian government hopes might keep them in the
country permanently. To lure the academics back, the program offers a month stipend, air travel
and accommodations. On its website, the program says it has been able to create appropriate
engagement-positions and job satisfaction for Nigerian academics and experts so that they will
not be attracted away. That is, conversion from brain-drain to brain-gain (Brief Update on
Linkages with Experts and Academics in the Diaspora Scheme). Other Diaspora connections
have been far less formal, with professors at Western universities sending colleagues in Africa
PDFs of research papers that they may not have access to or helping them pay a membership fees
to academic associations (Lindow, 2009b). A young lecturer at the University of Ibadan
described the Diaspora as his generations lifeline and essential to keeping intellectual output
at the universities alive.
Higher Education in Nigeria: Challenges and Opportunities 8

Ways Forward Partnering with Foreign Universities/Open and Distance Learning
The British Council, a U.K.-based body that specializes in international educational and
cultural opportunities, has focused quite a lot of attention on Nigeria lately. The council
estimates that around 14,000 Nigerian students attend British universities (that number is around
6,200 in the U.S., according to the Chronicle of Higher Education), but the council wants to
recruit U.K. universities to partner with Nigerian universities in order to expand access to higher
education in the country. According to a posting on its website, the British Council and the
National Universities Commission have been working to develop a cross-border higher
education framework, where U.K. schools can set up branch campuses in Nigeria or provide
open and distance learning. A focus of current pilot programs is entrepreneurship education
because there is a growing interest in the country that graduates have skills to create their own
businesses, rather than look for white-collar jobs (Fatunde, 2011). In another public-private
partnership, Patrick Ezepue a lecturer of applied statistics at Sheffield Hallam University is
coordinating the Nigerian Mathematics, Statistics and Economics Research Consortium, which is
researching problems confronting Nigerias banking and telecommunications sectors. In order to
conduct the research, he is partnering with a multi-disciplinary group of academics and graduate
students in the social sciences, applied science and management sciences in Nigerian universities
(Fatunde, 2011). Other areas if interest for partnership the British Council has been thinking
about includes programs that bring oil industry experts to Nigeria to teach students so graduates
can work in that industry once they finish, or programs in the hotel management and tourism
area, because it has lately been a growth sector in the country (Fatunde, 2011).
The Lagos Business School has been regularly partnering with other business schools
around the globe since essentially its founding in 1991. In a speech at the British Councils
Higher Education in Nigeria: Challenges and Opportunities 9

Going Global 3 conference, Albert Alos, who helped establish and grow the school, said
collaborative initiatives were one of the most effective ways to build capacity for quality
education in Nigerian universities (Alos, 2008). Lagos Business School, which started as an
independent institution but is now part of the Pan-African University in Lagos, is a member of
the Global Business School Network, an organization that works to improve faculty development
and business school curriculum, as well as build partnerships between its members - which
include some of the top business schools in the world (Alos, 2008). The network allows faculty
at Lagos Business School to work with faculty all over the world in order to develop quality case
studies that can be used in classes. The school has also partnered with the Goldman Sachs 10,000
women program, where 50 women per year participate in the schools Certificate in
Entrepreneurial Management program (Alos, 2008).
Partnerships in business-related areas seem to be growing in Nigeria, but given ongoing
violence in the country and political instability, it is unlikely foreign universities will want to set
down any firm roots in the country in the near future. Open and Distance Learning programs
have the potential to serve a large number of students in Nigeria, but only if internet access
improves. The Partnership for Higher Education in Africa, a joint initiative of the Carnegie
Corporation, The Ford Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the Kresge
Foundation, has established a Bandwidth Consortium that negotiated an agreement with a
satellite service provider to bring vastly expanded Internet bandwidth, at approximately one-third
the cost, to academic institutions on the continent. The partnership also helped train new network
engineers that would manage the universities IT networks and brought educational technology
to improve teaching and learning at African universities. This work has been crucial in building
Higher Education in Nigeria: Challenges and Opportunities 10

the information and communications technology infrastructure that was so badly needed on the
continent.
The National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) provides open and distance learning to
some 40,000 students in Nigeria and offers more than 50 programs and 750 courses (Ekundayo
& Ekundayo, 2009). The universitys administrative headquarters in Lagos and has 28 study
centers spread across the country. It delivers course materials in print and electronic format, with
most centers containing several computers. NOUN says its goals are to ensure more access to
education, provide life-long learning and reduce the costs of education. Given the growth of
information and communication technologies taking place on the continent, NOUN is planning
to introduce more e-learning initiatives with the support of the African Virtual University,
African Council for Distance Education and the International Council for Distance Education
(Ekundayo & Ekundayo, 2009). These initiatives could make a huge difference in a country
where so many are desperate for education.
Conclusion
In many ways, the globalization of higher education offers Nigerian universities many
positive opportunities through connections with the Diaspora and online and distance learning.
Of course, the ease of movement among highly-qualified academics, which is a characteristic of
globalization, hurt the country in the 1980s and 1990s when it lost many of its best and brightest
to American and European universities. But with enhanced information and communication
technologies, these experts can now reconnect with the universities that produced them and offer
guidance and help to students who hope to follow in their footsteps. Nigeria is often talked about
as a potential economic powerhouse, but violence, political instability, poverty and lack of
opportunity keeps it a troubled state. Perhaps new education partnerships and strategies can
improve this.
Higher Education in Nigeria: Challenges and Opportunities 11

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