…as NUC strengthens university governance, research, digital transformation
The Federal Government has urged Nigerian universities to adopt artificial intelligence (AI) and digital technologies while strengthening governance, regulatory compliance, and accountability to improve the quality and global competitiveness of university education.
The Minister of State for Education, Professor Suwaiba Said Ahmad, made the call on Tuesday at the opening of the 2026 retreat of the National Universities Commission (NUC) with vice-chancellors of Nigerian universities in Abuja.
The retreat, themed “Enhancing Regulatory Compliance, Governance, Leadership, and Partnership in the Nigerian University System,” brought together vice-chancellors of federal, state, and private universities; education officials; university union leaders; and other stakeholders to discuss strategies for addressing challenges in the sector.
Ahmad said the rapid changes in higher education, driven by artificial intelligence, digital learning, data analytics, research innovation, and evolving funding models, required universities to review their policies and practices to remain relevant and competitive.
She, however, stressed that the adoption of AI must be guided by safeguards on academic integrity, ethics, data protection, and responsible use. She urged universities to develop institutional policies to regulate its application.
The minister said universities must strengthen research and development, improve workforce productivity, enhance graduate employability, and promote international competitiveness to respond to changes in the global higher education landscape.
She described the retreat, scheduled for October 13 and 14 at the Idris Abdulkadir Auditorium, NUC headquarters, Abuja, as timely, noting that the challenges facing Nigerian universities required sustained collaboration between the commission and university managements.
Ahmad urged vice-chancellors to uphold transparency, accountability and due process in financial management, procurement, recruitment, admissions, examinations and staff promotion.
She also called on university leaders to establish clear institutional visions, set measurable performance targets, and create environments that support academic excellence.
According to her, universities must move beyond awarding degrees to become centers of knowledge creation, research, innovation, character development, and industrial transformation.
She said the quality of university education had direct implications for human capital development, economic productivity, national prosperity, and stability.
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The minister urged participants to ensure that the retreat produced practical recommendations and agreed policy actions rather than ending with discussions.
She said the proposed communiqué and post-retreat monitoring mechanism should provide a framework for tracking implementation and measuring improvements across the Nigerian University System (NUS).
In his address, the Executive Secretary of the NUC, Professor Abdullahi Yusufu Ribadu, said the commission was strengthening its regulatory and quality assurance mechanisms to improve the standards, relevance, and global competitiveness of university education.
Ribadu said universities in the 21st century must produce graduates with the knowledge, skills, competence, and creativity needed to contribute to society, particularly in an era of rapid advances in artificial intelligence.
He said the commission had introduced measures, including guidelines for awarding and using honorary doctorate degrees, post-matriculation monitoring, and carrying-capacity visits, to strengthen compliance with established standards.
He added that the NUC was preparing to introduce post-accreditation monitoring visits to ensure universities maintained the required standards after academic program accreditation exercises.
The executive secretary also disclosed that the commission had completed a comprehensive review of its policy framework, leading to the development of Blueprint 2.0 for the rapid revitalization of Nigerian university education.
He said the commission was developing a 21st-century strategic plan and transitioning from the Annual Performance Evaluation system to a Performance Monitoring System to improve institutional accountability and performance assessment.
In research and innovation, Ribadu urged universities to strengthen partnerships with industry, government agencies, and development partners to translate academic research into practical solutions to national challenges in agriculture, healthcare, education, technology, manufacturing, and the environment.
He disclosed that the NUC had launched the ACE Alliance platform to bring together all 20 African Centres of Excellence in Nigeria to promote collaboration on research relevant to national development.
He also announced the unveiling of a four-volume compendium documenting research outputs from the centers.
Ribadu further said the Tertiary Education Research and Application Services platform of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund had been integrated with the Nigerian Research and Education Network to facilitate research collaboration.
On artificial intelligence, he said the commission was developing a National AI Roadmap and Policy Framework for the Nigerian University System to guide the responsible integration of the technology into teaching, learning, research, and administration.
He added that the NUC was strengthening research commercialization through a dedicated division and exploring opportunities for selected vice-chancellors to study research commercialization practices at universities in Europe and Asia.
On digital transformation, Ribadu said the commission had developed and deployed the e-NUC platform to automate its operations, while accreditation software was being developed to improve transparency, data management, and quality assurance.
He warned, however, that digital transformation required more than acquiring equipment and software, stressing the importance of institutional preparedness, appropriate policies, capacity building, and cybersecurity.
On funding, the NUC executive secretary acknowledged that inadequate resources remained a major constraint on university development. He urged institutions to explore alternative funding opportunities through partnerships with the private sector, alumni associations and development partners.
He stressed that such partnerships must align with institutional objectives and existing regulatory requirements.
Ribadu also disclosed that the commission had established partnerships with organisations, including the World Bank, the Agence Française de Développement and the African Development Bank, to attract additional support for the university system.
Earlier, the Chairman of the Local Organising Committee and Director of Research, Innovation and Information Technology Transfer at the NUC, L.M. Faruk, said the retreat was organised to strengthen engagement between the commission and university managements on regulatory compliance, quality assurance, transformational leadership, governance and strategic partnerships.