Deep Thought

 Nigerian Universities on the Rise Again: Salute to the FGN and Academia III By Prof. MK Othman Last week, the closing sentence of the last part of this piece posed the question: What role has academia played in the global ranking of our universities? Academia comprises intellectuals engaged in teaching, research, and community service, as well as support staff, technologists, and administrators, all key stakeholders whose livelihoods are intertwined with the university system. Despite numerous challenges, including low wages, inadequate facilities, and dilapidated infrastructure, their struggles and sacrifices have built an enduring and resilient university system for Nigeria. Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) constitute the bulk of academia, and their struggles for a better university system were demonstrated through frequent industrial action: the “infamous” ASUU Strike. The glorious TETFUND interventions across tertiary institutions are the fruit of the...

 Nigerian Universities on the Rise Again: Salute to the FGN and Academia II By Prof. MK Othman As humans, we are forgetful, but we should not forget the recent decline and devastating deterioration of Nigerian universities before the current political dispensation under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Repeated disruptions fractured research agendas and instilled in students an educational culture where prolonged strikes were expected rather than exceptional; a four- or five-year academic program can stretch to six to eight years, with staff and students as the primary victims and the nation the ultimate loser. The 2009 FGN-ASUU imbroglio has a long history, culminating in 13 months of cumulative industrial action between 2010 and 2025 and 21 months between 2015 and 2023, amounting to a loss of two years and ten months of academic activities on the university campuses. The costs and consequences of the FGN-ASUU crisis in those years were devastating and indescribable, and they contribu...

 Nigerian Universities on the Rise Again: Salute to the FGN and Academia By Prof. MK Othman The most gratifying news for the Nigerian university system was the release of the 2027 Times Higher Education (THE) Rankings results last week, which placed some Nigerian universities on a higher pedestal than some African, European, and United States universities. We can vividly recall that in the 2020 Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings, only Covenant University, Ota, fell within the top 500 globally. By the 2023 edition, a broader Nigerian movement was evident, recording the largest improvement in average overall score in Africa among countries with at least five institutions ranked: Twelve of our universities were ranked in the 1000 band, which was twice the previous number; the Universities of Ibadan and Lagos were in the 500 band. The 2026 rankings, released in October 2025, listed 24 Nigerian universities, with the Universities of Ibadan and Lagos, Covenant Univers...