Nigeria’s Ivory Towers in Ruins: An Investigative Look at the Dilapidated State of Nigerian Universities
Despite repeated government promises, reforms, and intervention funds, the reality on the ground remains stark: lecture halls are dilapidated, hostels overcrowded or unsafe, laboratories obsolete, and academic activity repeatedly disrupted by strikes and funding shortfalls.
A Legacy Fading: What We Saw in the Country’s Premier Institutions
At the University of Ibadan (UI), Nigeria’s oldest university and once a symbol of academic strength, the decay is unmistakable. Cracked walls, leaking roofs, and peeling paint scar once-majestic buildings, even iconic landmarks such as Trenchard Hall. Frequent power outages force reliance on noisy, polluting generators. Road networks within the campus are potholed, and water scarcity undermines hygiene.
“We are trying to provide a world-class education with third-world infrastructure,” a UI student, Oluwaseun Ogunleye, laments — a sentiment echoed in universities nationwide
in an interview with Independent Newspaper, Nigeria.
Another professor who has taught at UI for over two decades tells our correspondent:
“It’s disheartening to see the state of things. When I joined the university, these buildings were well-maintained. Now, they are a constant reminder of what we have lost.”
The Cracks Across Campuses: Concrete Problems, Real Consequences
A BusinessDay investigation into multiple federal universities — including University of Lagos (UNILAG), University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), and Nnamdi Azikiwe University — reveals a familiar pattern:
Crumbling Lecture Halls: Many classrooms lack basic seating, lighting, or cooling systems. Some lecture rooms remain uncompleted, forcing students to learn amid dust, noise, or under trees.
Inadequate Hostels: Students report broken beds, infested mattresses, poor sanitation and bathroom facilities, and irregular water supply.
Outdated Laboratories & Libraries: Research spaces often have obsolete equipment or severely limited capacity compared to student numbers, constraining scientific inquiry.
Dilapidated Roads and Walkways: Campus mobility poses challenges, especially for students with disabilities.
One UNN student talked to TheCable describing daily life in lecture theatres without sound systems or functioning fans as a struggle just to stay awake and focused.
Chronic Underfunding: A Central Cause
Education financing in Nigeria has long been inadequate. Despite international benchmarks recommending 15–26% of national budgets be allocated to education, Nigeria’s allocation has rarely exceeded 8% — far below what is needed to maintain existing universities, let alone expand them.
Experts and union leaders repeatedly link budget shortfalls to the collapse in facilities and staff morale. According to ASUU chapters across campuses, poor infrastructure and inadequate funding are at the heart of recurring industrial actions.
Strikes: A Symptom and a Scourge
The cycle of strikes has become endemic. In October 2025, ASUU declared another nationwide warning strike after long-standing issues over funding, revitalisation agreements, and staff welfare remained unresolved.
Academic calendars fall apart, graduation timelines stretch unpredictably, and students lose faith in the system:
“Strikes have become the predictable result of a profound structural failure,” a Punch Newspapers commentator argues on the latest stoppage, imploring policymakers to address root causes rather than impose punitive policies such as “No Work, No Pay.”
Voices From the Ground: Students and Staff Speak Out
Across other universities, students’ testimonies paint a similar picture:
A UNILAG undergraduate described to Businessday NG how hostels with no light, no water, bad doors, and bad beds, making concentration on studies nearly impossible.
At Awka’s Nnamdi Azikiwe University, students told reporters that unfinished buildings and overcrowding characterize their learning environment.
Faculty members also blame systemic issues. One lecturer shared that decades of underfunding have eroded the capacity for meaningful research and quality teaching — a situation that dissuades talented academics from staying.
What Needs to Change
While the Nigerian government has occasionally released intervention funds and, in late 2025, convened committees to avert strikes, critics say these moves fall short without structural reforms:
-Sustained, Adequate Funding: Aligning national budget priorities with global standards to ensure universities can maintain, upgrade, and expand facilities.
-Accountability & Transparency: Ensuring intervention funds like TETFund are efficiently and transparently used for intended purposes.
-Long-Term Strategic Planning: Rather than proliferating new institutions that strain resources further, focus should be on revitalising existing ones. �
✔ Emphasis on Research & Innovation: Investing in laboratories, libraries, and research funding to restore Nigeria’s position as a knowledge producer.
A Call to Action
The dilapidated state of Nigerian universities is not merely an institutional problem — it is a national crisis with far-reaching implications for Nigeria’s economic future, workforce development, and global competitiveness.
The echoes of crumbling campuses reflect a deeper rot in policy priorities and societal investment in the next generation.
As one professor put it: “If we continue to treat education as an afterthought, we cannot expect to solve the challenges our country faces.”
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