Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Prof. Adenike Oladiji, has warned that Nigeria’s prolonged economic crisis has “cruelly” weakened the nation’s universities, causing major declines in infrastructure, staffing quality and academic standards. Speaking at the 8th Elizade University Annual Registry Lecture, she said the system, once respected across Africa, is now distorted and pressured by massification, social vices, and the admission of students she described as unsuited for university-level study.
Oladiji said inadequate funding, proliferation of institutions, politicisation and abuse of autonomy continue to erode standards, adding that universities now struggle with cultism, cybercrime and other vices. She urged managers to restore merit, integrity and strong leadership, while other speakers blamed government failures for the system’s collapse. They called for urgent reforms to rebuild public trust and reposition universities as centres of solutions, governance, and national development.