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.ASUU’s perennial strikes, which have cumulatively cost students several academic years over the past two decades, are a symptom of this structural underfunding. When lecturers are owed months of salary and research grants are nonexistent, the quality of instruction degrades regardless of how many campuses the government builds.The consequences are measurable and damning: Nigeria has no university ranked within the top 1,000 globally on either the Times Higher Education or QS World University Rankings. Employers – local and foreign – routinely report that Nigerian graduates require extensive remedial training before they are workplace-ready. Brain drain compounds the crisis: the best-trained academics depart for better-funded institutions abroad, leaving a vacuum that proliferation cannot fill. There is also the problem of regulatory capture.The NUC, mandated to maintain quality standards, has been rendered largely decorative by political pressure. Approvals for new universities often bypass rigorous quality assessment. Proprietors of private universities – many of them politicians or religious organisations – leverage influence to accelerate licensing. The result is a landscape of institutions that exist on paper and on signboards, but not in any substantive educational sense.Related NewsEkiti varsity workers threaten strike over poor welfare, fundingFG sets December deadline for tertiary institutions ranking exerciseFG makes tertiary institution ranking compulsory for varsities, polytechnicsWhat must change is clear.First, the federal government must impose an immediate moratorium on new university approvals until the NUC completes a credible audit of every existing institution against minimum academic benchmarks. Those that fail must face suspension, merger, or outright deaccreditation – not exemption. Compassion in this context is corruption by another name.Second, funding must follow function. The Needs Assessment of Nigerian public universities, conducted as far back as 2012, estimated a funding gap exceeding N1.3tn. That gap has widened considerably since. Continuous underfunding while simultaneously approving new institutions is not a policy contradiction – it is a deliberate choice, and it must be named as such.Third, the NUC must be restructured as a genuinely independent regulatory body, insulated from political appointments. Its leadership selection should mirror models where quality assurance agencies have real authority – South Africa’s CHE and the UK’s QAA are instructive. Regulatory independence is not a luxury; it is the precondition for every other reform.Fourth, private universities must be held to identical accreditation standards as public ones, with no exemptions for religious affiliation or political ownership. Standards do not negotiate.Finally, quality cannot be separated from purpose. Nigeria’s university curriculum remains largely unchanged from colonial-era frameworks designed to produce civil servants, not innovators. Embedding research into undergraduate training, reforming assessment beyond rote memorisation, and aligning university output to national priorities in agriculture, health, and technology are not aspirations for the future. They are obligations already overdue.Nigeria does not need more universities. It needs the ones it already has to actually function.Oladejo is the Deputy Director, Centre for Information, Communication and Public Relations, Federal Polytechnic Ayede, Oyo State 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.ASUU’s perennial strikes, which have cumulatively cost students several academic years over the past two decades, are a symptom of this structural underfunding. When lecturers are owed months of salary and research grants are nonexistent, the quality of instruction degrades regardless of how many campuses the government builds.The consequences are measurable and damning: Nigeria has no university ranked within the top 1,000 globally on either the Times Higher Education or QS World University Rankings. Employers – local and foreign – routinely report that Nigerian graduates require extensive remedial training before they are workplace-ready. Brain drain compounds the crisis: the best-trained academics depart for better-funded institutions abroad, leaving a vacuum that proliferation cannot fill. There is also the problem of regulatory capture.The NUC, mandated to maintain quality standards, has been rendered largely decorative by political pressure. Approvals for new universities often bypass rigorous quality assessment. Proprietors of private universities – many of them politicians or religious organisations – leverage influence to accelerate licensing. The result is a landscape of institutions that exist on paper and on signboards, but not in any substantive educational sense.Related NewsEkiti varsity workers threaten strike over poor welfare, fundingFG sets December deadline for tertiary institutions ranking exerciseFG makes tertiary institution ranking compulsory for varsities, polytechnicsWhat must change is clear.First, the federal government must impose an immediate moratorium on new university approvals until the NUC completes a credible audit of every existing institution against minimum academic benchmarks. Those that fail must face suspension, merger, or outright deaccreditation – not exemption. Compassion in this context is corruption by another name.Second, funding must follow function. The Needs Assessment of Nigerian public universities, conducted as far back as 2012, estimated a funding gap exceeding N1.3tn. That gap has widened considerably since. Continuous underfunding while simultaneously approving new institutions is not a policy contradiction – it is a deliberate choice, and it must be named as such.Third, the NUC must be restructured as a genuinely independent regulatory body, insulated from political appointments. Its leadership selection should mirror models where quality assurance agencies have real authority – South Africa’s CHE and the UK’s QAA are instructive. Regulatory independence is not a luxury; it is the precondition for every other reform.Fourth, private universities must be held to identical accreditation standards as public ones, with no exemptions for religious affiliation or political ownership. Standards do not negotiate.Finally, quality cannot be separated from purpose. Nigeria’s university curriculum remains largely unchanged from colonial-era frameworks designed to produce civil servants, not innovators. Embedding research into undergraduate training, reforming assessment beyond rote memorisation, and aligning university output to national priorities in agriculture, health, and technology are not aspirations for the future. They are obligations already overdue.Nigeria does not need more universities. It needs the ones it already has to actually function.Oladejo is the Deputy Director, Centre for Information, Communication and Public Relations, Federal Polytechnic Ayede, Oyo State 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.ASUU’s perennial strikes, which have cumulatively cost students several academic years over the past two decades, are a symptom of this structural underfunding. When lecturers are owed months of salary and research grants are nonexistent, the quality of instruction degrades regardless of how many campuses the government builds.The consequences are measurable and damning: Nigeria has no university ranked within the top 1,000 globally on either the Times Higher Education or QS World University Rankings. Employers – local and foreign – routinely report that Nigerian graduates require extensive remedial training before they are workplace-ready. Brain drain compounds the crisis: the best-trained academics depart for better-funded institutions abroad, leaving a vacuum that proliferation cannot fill. There is also the problem of regulatory capture.The NUC, mandated to maintain quality standards, has been rendered largely decorative by political pressure. Approvals for new universities often bypass rigorous quality assessment. Proprietors of private universities – many of them politicians or religious organisations – leverage influence to accelerate licensing. The result is a landscape of institutions that exist on paper and on signboards, but not in any substantive educational sense.Related NewsEkiti varsity workers threaten strike over poor welfare, fundingFG sets December deadline for tertiary institutions ranking exerciseFG makes tertiary institution ranking compulsory for varsities, polytechnicsWhat must change is clear.First, the federal government must impose an immediate moratorium on new university approvals until the NUC completes a credible audit of every existing institution against minimum academic benchmarks. Those that fail must face suspension, merger, or outright deaccreditation – not exemption. Compassion in this context is corruption by another name.Second, funding must follow function. The Needs Assessment of Nigerian public universities, conducted as far back as 2012, estimated a funding gap exceeding N1.3tn. That gap has widened considerably since. Continuous underfunding while simultaneously approving new institutions is not a policy contradiction – it is a deliberate choice, and it must be named as such.Third, the NUC must be restructured as a genuinely independent regulatory body, insulated from political appointments. Its leadership selection should mirror models where quality assurance agencies have real authority – South Africa’s CHE and the UK’s QAA are instructive. Regulatory independence is not a luxury; it is the precondition for every other reform.Fourth, private universities must be held to identical accreditation standards as public ones, with no exemptions for religious affiliation or political ownership. Standards do not negotiate.Finally, quality cannot be separated from purpose. Nigeria’s university curriculum remains largely unchanged from colonial-era frameworks designed to produce civil servants, not innovators. Embedding research into undergraduate training, reforming assessment beyond rote memorisation, and aligning university output to national priorities in agriculture, health, and technology are not aspirations for the future. They are obligations already overdue.Nigeria does not need more universities. It needs the ones it already has to actually function.Oladejo is the Deputy Director, Centre for Information, Communication and Public Relations, Federal Polytechnic Ayede, Oyo State 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.ASUU’s perennial strikes, which have cumulatively cost students several academic years over the past two decades, are a symptom of this structural underfunding. When lecturers are owed months of salary and research grants are nonexistent, the quality of instruction degrades regardless of how many campuses the government builds.The consequences are measurable and damning: Nigeria has no university ranked within the top 1,000 globally on either the Times Higher Education or QS World University Rankings. Employers – local and foreign – routinely report that Nigerian graduates require extensive remedial training before they are workplace-ready. Brain drain compounds the crisis: the best-trained academics depart for better-funded institutions abroad, leaving a vacuum that proliferation cannot fill. There is also the problem of regulatory capture.The NUC, mandated to maintain quality standards, has been rendered largely decorative by political pressure. Approvals for new universities often bypass rigorous quality assessment. Proprietors of private universities – many of them politicians or religious organisations – leverage influence to accelerate licensing. The result is a landscape of institutions that exist on paper and on signboards, but not in any substantive educational sense.Related NewsEkiti varsity workers threaten strike over poor welfare, fundingFG sets December deadline for tertiary institutions ranking exerciseFG makes tertiary institution ranking compulsory for varsities, polytechnicsWhat must change is clear.First, the federal government must impose an immediate moratorium on new university approvals until the NUC completes a credible audit of every existing institution against minimum academic benchmarks. Those that fail must face suspension, merger, or outright deaccreditation – not exemption. Compassion in this context is corruption by another name.Second, funding must follow function. The Needs Assessment of Nigerian public universities, conducted as far back as 2012, estimated a funding gap exceeding N1.3tn. That gap has widened considerably since. Continuous underfunding while simultaneously approving new institutions is not a policy contradiction – it is a deliberate choice, and it must be named as such.Third, the NUC must be restructured as a genuinely independent regulatory body, insulated from political appointments. Its leadership selection should mirror models where quality assurance agencies have real authority – South Africa’s CHE and the UK’s QAA are instructive. Regulatory independence is not a luxury; it is the precondition for every other reform.Fourth, private universities must be held to identical accreditation standards as public ones, with no exemptions for religious affiliation or political ownership. Standards do not negotiate.Finally, quality cannot be separated from purpose. Nigeria’s university curriculum remains largely unchanged from colonial-era frameworks designed to produce civil servants, not innovators. Embedding research into undergraduate training, reforming assessment beyond rote memorisation, and aligning university output to national priorities in agriculture, health, and technology are not aspirations for the future. They are obligations already overdue.Nigeria does not need more universities. It needs the ones it already has to actually function.Oladejo is the Deputy Director, Centre for Information, Communication and Public Relations, Federal Polytechnic Ayede, Oyo State ASUU’s perennial strikes, which have cumulatively cost students several academic years over the past two decades, are a symptom of this structural underfunding. When lecturers are owed months of salary and research grants are nonexistent, the quality of instruction degrades regardless of how many campuses the government builds.The consequences are measurable and damning: Nigeria has no university ranked within the top 1,000 globally on either the Times Higher Education or QS World University Rankings. Employers – local and foreign – routinely report that Nigerian graduates require extensive remedial training before they are workplace-ready. Brain drain compounds the crisis: the best-trained academics depart for better-funded institutions abroad, leaving a vacuum that proliferation cannot fill. There is also the problem of regulatory capture.The NUC, mandated to maintain quality standards, has been rendered largely decorative by political pressure. Approvals for new universities often bypass rigorous quality assessment. Proprietors of private universities – many of them politicians or religious organisations – leverage influence to accelerate licensing. The result is a landscape of institutions that exist on paper and on signboards, but not in any substantive educational sense.Related NewsEkiti varsity workers threaten strike over poor welfare, fundingFG sets December deadline for tertiary institutions ranking exerciseFG makes tertiary institution ranking compulsory for varsities, polytechnicsWhat must change is clear.First, the federal government must impose an immediate moratorium on new university approvals until the NUC completes a credible audit of every existing institution against minimum academic benchmarks. Those that fail must face suspension, merger, or outright deaccreditation – not exemption. Compassion in this context is corruption by another name.Second, funding must follow function. The Needs Assessment of Nigerian public universities, conducted as far back as 2012, estimated a funding gap exceeding N1.3tn. That gap has widened considerably since. Continuous underfunding while simultaneously approving new institutions is not a policy contradiction – it is a deliberate choice, and it must be named as such.Third, the NUC must be restructured as a genuinely independent regulatory body, insulated from political appointments. Its leadership selection should mirror models where quality assurance agencies have real authority – South Africa’s CHE and the UK’s QAA are instructive. Regulatory independence is not a luxury; it is the precondition for every other reform.Fourth, private universities must be held to identical accreditation standards as public ones, with no exemptions for religious affiliation or political ownership. Standards do not negotiate.Finally, quality cannot be separated from purpose. Nigeria’s university curriculum remains largely unchanged from colonial-era frameworks designed to produce civil servants, not innovators. Embedding research into undergraduate training, reforming assessment beyond rote memorisation, and aligning university output to national priorities in agriculture, health, and technology are not aspirations for the future. They are obligations already overdue.Nigeria does not need more universities. It needs the ones it already has to actually function.Oladejo is the Deputy Director, Centre for Information, Communication and Public Relations, Federal Polytechnic Ayede, Oyo State The consequences are measurable and damning: Nigeria has no university ranked within the top 1,000 globally on either the Times Higher Education or QS World University Rankings. Employers – local and foreign – routinely report that Nigerian graduates require extensive remedial training before they are workplace-ready. Brain drain compounds the crisis: the best-trained academics depart for better-funded institutions abroad, leaving a vacuum that proliferation cannot fill. There is also the problem of regulatory capture.The NUC, mandated to maintain quality standards, has been rendered largely decorative by political pressure. Approvals for new universities often bypass rigorous quality assessment. Proprietors of private universities – many of them politicians or religious organisations – leverage influence to accelerate licensing. The result is a landscape of institutions that exist on paper and on signboards, but not in any substantive educational sense.Related NewsEkiti varsity workers threaten strike over poor welfare, fundingFG sets December deadline for tertiary institutions ranking exerciseFG makes tertiary institution ranking compulsory for varsities, polytechnicsWhat must change is clear.First, the federal government must impose an immediate moratorium on new university approvals until the NUC completes a credible audit of every existing institution against minimum academic benchmarks. Those that fail must face suspension, merger, or outright deaccreditation – not exemption. Compassion in this context is corruption by another name.Second, funding must follow function. The Needs Assessment of Nigerian public universities, conducted as far back as 2012, estimated a funding gap exceeding N1.3tn. That gap has widened considerably since. Continuous underfunding while simultaneously approving new institutions is not a policy contradiction – it is a deliberate choice, and it must be named as such.Third, the NUC must be restructured as a genuinely independent regulatory body, insulated from political appointments. Its leadership selection should mirror models where quality assurance agencies have real authority – South Africa’s CHE and the UK’s QAA are instructive. Regulatory independence is not a luxury; it is the precondition for every other reform.Fourth, private universities must be held to identical accreditation standards as public ones, with no exemptions for religious affiliation or political ownership. Standards do not negotiate.Finally, quality cannot be separated from purpose. Nigeria’s university curriculum remains largely unchanged from colonial-era frameworks designed to produce civil servants, not innovators. Embedding research into undergraduate training, reforming assessment beyond rote memorisation, and aligning university output to national priorities in agriculture, health, and technology are not aspirations for the future. They are obligations already overdue.Nigeria does not need more universities. It needs the ones it already has to actually function.Oladejo is the Deputy Director, Centre for Information, Communication and Public Relations, Federal Polytechnic Ayede, Oyo State The NUC, mandated to maintain quality standards, has been rendered largely decorative by political pressure. Approvals for new universities often bypass rigorous quality assessment. Proprietors of private universities – many of them politicians or religious organisations – leverage influence to accelerate licensing. The result is a landscape of institutions that exist on paper and on signboards, but not in any substantive educational sense.Related NewsEkiti varsity workers threaten strike over poor welfare, fundingFG sets December deadline for tertiary institutions ranking exerciseFG makes tertiary institution ranking compulsory for varsities, polytechnicsWhat must change is clear.First, the federal government must impose an immediate moratorium on new university approvals until the NUC completes a credible audit of every existing institution against minimum academic benchmarks. Those that fail must face suspension, merger, or outright deaccreditation – not exemption. Compassion in this context is corruption by another name.Second, funding must follow function. The Needs Assessment of Nigerian public universities, conducted as far back as 2012, estimated a funding gap exceeding N1.3tn. That gap has widened considerably since. Continuous underfunding while simultaneously approving new institutions is not a policy contradiction – it is a deliberate choice, and it must be named as such.Third, the NUC must be restructured as a genuinely independent regulatory body, insulated from political appointments. Its leadership selection should mirror models where quality assurance agencies have real authority – South Africa’s CHE and the UK’s QAA are instructive. Regulatory independence is not a luxury; it is the precondition for every other reform.Fourth, private universities must be held to identical accreditation standards as public ones, with no exemptions for religious affiliation or political ownership. Standards do not negotiate.Finally, quality cannot be separated from purpose. Nigeria’s university curriculum remains largely unchanged from colonial-era frameworks designed to produce civil servants, not innovators. Embedding research into undergraduate training, reforming assessment beyond rote memorisation, and aligning university output to national priorities in agriculture, health, and technology are not aspirations for the future. They are obligations already overdue.Nigeria does not need more universities. It needs the ones it already has to actually function.Oladejo is the Deputy Director, Centre for Information, Communication and Public Relations, Federal Polytechnic Ayede, Oyo State What must change is clear.First, the federal government must impose an immediate moratorium on new university approvals until the NUC completes a credible audit of every existing institution against minimum academic benchmarks. Those that fail must face suspension, merger, or outright deaccreditation – not exemption. Compassion in this context is corruption by another name.Second, funding must follow function. The Needs Assessment of Nigerian public universities, conducted as far back as 2012, estimated a funding gap exceeding N1.3tn. That gap has widened considerably since. Continuous underfunding while simultaneously approving new institutions is not a policy contradiction – it is a deliberate choice, and it must be named as such.Third, the NUC must be restructured as a genuinely independent regulatory body, insulated from political appointments. Its leadership selection should mirror models where quality assurance agencies have real authority – South Africa’s CHE and the UK’s QAA are instructive. Regulatory independence is not a luxury; it is the precondition for every other reform.Fourth, private universities must be held to identical accreditation standards as public ones, with no exemptions for religious affiliation or political ownership. Standards do not negotiate.Finally, quality cannot be separated from purpose. Nigeria’s university curriculum remains largely unchanged from colonial-era frameworks designed to produce civil servants, not innovators. Embedding research into undergraduate training, reforming assessment beyond rote memorisation, and aligning university output to national priorities in agriculture, health, and technology are not aspirations for the future. They are obligations already overdue.Nigeria does not need more universities. It needs the ones it already has to actually function.Oladejo is the Deputy Director, Centre for Information, Communication and Public Relations, Federal Polytechnic Ayede, Oyo State First, the federal government must impose an immediate moratorium on new university approvals until the NUC completes a credible audit of every existing institution against minimum academic benchmarks. Those that fail must face suspension, merger, or outright deaccreditation – not exemption. Compassion in this context is corruption by another name.Second, funding must follow function. The Needs Assessment of Nigerian public universities, conducted as far back as 2012, estimated a funding gap exceeding N1.3tn. That gap has widened considerably since. Continuous underfunding while simultaneously approving new institutions is not a policy contradiction – it is a deliberate choice, and it must be named as such.Third, the NUC must be restructured as a genuinely independent regulatory body, insulated from political appointments. Its leadership selection should mirror models where quality assurance agencies have real authority – South Africa’s CHE and the UK’s QAA are instructive. Regulatory independence is not a luxury; it is the precondition for every other reform.Fourth, private universities must be held to identical accreditation standards as public ones, with no exemptions for religious affiliation or political ownership. Standards do not negotiate.Finally, quality cannot be separated from purpose. Nigeria’s university curriculum remains largely unchanged from colonial-era frameworks designed to produce civil servants, not innovators. Embedding research into undergraduate training, reforming assessment beyond rote memorisation, and aligning university output to national priorities in agriculture, health, and technology are not aspirations for the future. They are obligations already overdue.Nigeria does not need more universities. It needs the ones it already has to actually function.Oladejo is the Deputy Director, Centre for Information, Communication and Public Relations, Federal Polytechnic Ayede, Oyo State Second, funding must follow function. The Needs Assessment of Nigerian public universities, conducted as far back as 2012, estimated a funding gap exceeding N1.3tn. That gap has widened considerably since. Continuous underfunding while simultaneously approving new institutions is not a policy contradiction – it is a deliberate choice, and it must be named as such.Third, the NUC must be restructured as a genuinely independent regulatory body, insulated from political appointments. Its leadership selection should mirror models where quality assurance agencies have real authority – South Africa’s CHE and the UK’s QAA are instructive. Regulatory independence is not a luxury; it is the precondition for every other reform.Fourth, private universities must be held to identical accreditation standards as public ones, with no exemptions for religious affiliation or political ownership. Standards do not negotiate.Finally, quality cannot be separated from purpose. Nigeria’s university curriculum remains largely unchanged from colonial-era frameworks designed to produce civil servants, not innovators. Embedding research into undergraduate training, reforming assessment beyond rote memorisation, and aligning university output to national priorities in agriculture, health, and technology are not aspirations for the future. They are obligations already overdue.Nigeria does not need more universities. It needs the ones it already has to actually function.Oladejo is the Deputy Director, Centre for Information, Communication and Public Relations, Federal Polytechnic Ayede, Oyo State Third, the NUC must be restructured as a genuinely independent regulatory body, insulated from political appointments. Its leadership selection should mirror models where quality assurance agencies have real authority – South Africa’s CHE and the UK’s QAA are instructive. Regulatory independence is not a luxury; it is the precondition for every other reform.Fourth, private universities must be held to identical accreditation standards as public ones, with no exemptions for religious affiliation or political ownership. Standards do not negotiate.Finally, quality cannot be separated from purpose. Nigeria’s university curriculum remains largely unchanged from colonial-era frameworks designed to produce civil servants, not innovators. Embedding research into undergraduate training, reforming assessment beyond rote memorisation, and aligning university output to national priorities in agriculture, health, and technology are not aspirations for the future. They are obligations already overdue.Nigeria does not need more universities. It needs the ones it already has to actually function.Oladejo is the Deputy Director, Centre for Information, Communication and Public Relations, Federal Polytechnic Ayede, Oyo State Fourth, private universities must be held to identical accreditation standards as public ones, with no exemptions for religious affiliation or political ownership. Standards do not negotiate.Finally, quality cannot be separated from purpose. Nigeria’s university curriculum remains largely unchanged from colonial-era frameworks designed to produce civil servants, not innovators. Embedding research into undergraduate training, reforming assessment beyond rote memorisation, and aligning university output to national priorities in agriculture, health, and technology are not aspirations for the future. They are obligations already overdue.Nigeria does not need more universities. It needs the ones it already has to actually function.Oladejo is the Deputy Director, Centre for Information, Communication and Public Relations, Federal Polytechnic Ayede, Oyo State Finally, quality cannot be separated from purpose. Nigeria’s university curriculum remains largely unchanged from colonial-era frameworks designed to produce civil servants, not innovators. Embedding research into undergraduate training, reforming assessment beyond rote memorisation, and aligning university output to national priorities in agriculture, health, and technology are not aspirations for the future. They are obligations already overdue.Nigeria does not need more universities. It needs the ones it already has to actually function.Oladejo is the Deputy Director, Centre for Information, Communication and Public Relations, Federal Polytechnic Ayede, Oyo State Nigeria does not need more universities. It needs the ones it already has to actually function.Oladejo is the Deputy Director, Centre for Information, Communication and Public Relations, Federal Polytechnic Ayede, Oyo State