I was at my alma mater, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, to deliver a public lecture on The Challenges of Quality Higher Education in Africa as part of Diamond Jubilee anniversary. It was nostalgic. An opportunity to share on a topic that is after my heart and to network with new generations of academics that have come through the more than a decade’s MacArthur Foundations investment in higher education in Nigeria - 4 universities (ABU, Zaria, BUK, Kano, UI, Ibadan and UniPort, Port Harcourt);
268 Ph.D. and 222 MA/MSc beneficiaries and 310 non-academic staff.
Higher education is a critical part of Africa’s pathway to the Africa that Africans urgently crave. The post-colonial governments conceptualized universities as a national project symbolizing the aspirations of independence and national development. We must return to that vision if we want higher quality education. Government must take a higher responsibility.
In Nigeria, the increase in the number of universities is phenomenal: 270 as of December 2023 from one in 1960 and six in 1970. Currently, there are 52 federal universities, 63 state universities and 147 private universities. Despite the high number of private universities, the number of students in these universities is less than 10 percent of those in the public universities.
