Afe Babalola raises alarm over unchecked proliferation of universities

Chief Afe Babalola, founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, issued a stern warning yesterday, stating that the unchecked expansion of universities could result in serious consequences if not properly regulated.

The respected legal icon expressed worry that the ongoing practice of rapidly approving new universities without proper regard for quality assurance and infrastructure will negatively impact the nation’s education system.

Babalola made these remarks in Ado-Ekiti, the capital of Ekiti State.

He was speaking during the High Impact Research and Journal Advancement Workshop, which was hosted by the ABUAD Journal of Sustainable Development Law and Policy.

He called on the National Universities Commission (NUC) to conduct a comprehensive reform of the university accreditation and licensing procedure to ensure top-tier educational standards are maintained.

The elder statesman further urged the NUC to take swift action in shutting down “mushroom universities,” many of which are illegal and operating without the necessary regulatory approval.

He expressed disappointment over what he perceived as a compromised system, where university licensing and accreditation, as well as the NUC’s ability to enforce quality standards and eliminate substandard institutions, have declined.

Babalola stated, “What do we have today? The mass approval of mushroom and substandard universities, with some lacking even the basic learning facilities and infrastructure. The strict compliance with the law and rules has been brushed aside now.

“As a result of the ‘anything goes’ approach to university licensing and accreditation, NUC’s ability to ensure quality control and to stamp out substandard institutions appears to have been seriously compromised. We currently have over 270 universities in Nigeria, and proposals for the approval of another 200 new institutions are currently under consideration by the National Assembly.”

He added that there is now more focus on quantity rather than quality, with many universities being licensed without thorough measures to monitor their standards. This, according to him, is leading to a deterioration in educational quality and graduate competency. He stressed that “poor education is worse than illiteracy.”

Babalola continued, “We cannot seriously speak of advancing sustainable development through high-impact research unless we address this menace of the proliferation of substandard universities in our nation.

“Mushroom and substandard universities recruit substandard faculty members, who conduct substandard research that is printed by substandard publishers, resulting in substandard and half-baked graduates that have little or nothing to offer to national development.”

Delivering the keynote lecture titled “Promoting High-Impact Research Publications for Sustainable National Development in Nigeria: Opportunities, Challenges, and Future Directions,” former Executive Secretary of the NUC, Prof. Peter Okebukola highlighted the critical challenge of insufficient funding for research and development.

He said, “Research funding in Nigeria is largely dependent on federal government allocations, which are insufficient to support large-scale or sustained commercialisation efforts. Limited access to venture capital or private-sector investment further stifles the ability to scale innovations.”

During his welcome address, the Deputy Vice Chancellor for Research, Innovation and Strategic Partnership, Prof. Damilola Olawuyi, pointed out that very few Nigerian universities have journals indexed in SCOPUS, noting that ABUAD stands out in this regard.

He said, “The ABUAD Journal of Sustainable Development Law and Policy is indexed by SCOPUS, a premier online database containing over 2000 leading journals. It is also indexed on HeinOnline, Westlaw, Asian Science and Citation Index (ASCI), EBSCO, Ingenta Connect, and SCILIT.”