National Universities Commission Headquarters
Nigeria has more universities than almost any other country in sub-Saharan Africa. As of 2025, there are over 270 accredited universities listed by the National Universities Commission – federal, state, and private – up from just five at independence in 1960. That number tells one story.
The World Bank’s repeated assessments of Nigerian graduate employability tell another: a significant proportion of university graduates lack the competencies required for the labour markets they are entering. Together, these stories describe a system that has mastered the art of producing certificates while abandoning the business of producing education. The proliferation is not incidental. It is policy.
Federal and state governments have, over the decades, treated university establishment as a patronage tool – a ribbon-cutting exercise that delivers political dividends without demanding academic accountability. Between 2011 and 2019 alone, the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan approved nine new federal universities in one fell swoop – one in each of the states that previously lacked one.
The gesture was politically elegant. Academically, it was reckless. The problem is not the number of universities per se. Expansion has consistently outpaced investment, staffing, and infrastructure. The NUC’s own accreditation reports reveal that a disturbing number of Nigerian institutions – particularly the newer private and state-owned ones – run programmes without adequate laboratory facilities, without a sufficient number of qualified academic staff, and sometimes without functional libraries.
