Ilara-Mokin, a quiet university town in Ondo State, came alive as scholars, administrators and education stakeholders gathered on Friday, December 5, 2025 for the 8th Annual Registry Lecture of Elizade University. But beneath the academic atmosphere, a sharp rebuke echoed through the hall, one that placed the burden of Nigeria’s failing university system squarely at the feet of government.

Presiding over the event as Chairman, Afenifere chieftain and elder statesman, Basorun Sehinde Arogbofa, delivered what many attendees described as a “truth long overdue.”
According to the former Secretary-General of Afenifere and Pioneer Pro-Chancellor of the Federal University, Lafia, “the decay of the Nigerian university system is a direct result of government’s ineptitude.”

His voice was calm but firm as he listed the failures that have crippled higher education over the years to include chronic underfunding, poor remuneration for academics, and perhaps most corrosive, the political interference in the appointment of principal officers in government-owned universities. These, he warned, have combined to weaken once-proud institutions.

Yet, Arogbofa also found room to commend vision where he saw it. He praised the Founder of Elizade University, Chief Michael Ade. Ojo, describing him as a man whose foresight and selfless sacrifice have produced a world-class institution “standing as proof of what is possible when excellence, not politics, drives education.”

Delivering the keynote lecture, the Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), Professor Adenike Oladiji, painted a balanced but sobering picture of the nation’s university landscape.

Her paper, themed “The Nigerian University System: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly,” acknowledged the bright spots which are opportunities for academic growth, career progression, and the rich socio-cultural integration that universities foster amongst others.

But the positives, she said, are heavily overshadowed by deepening challenges. She highlighted severe funding and manpower shortages, worsened by the Japa phenomenon, abuse of autonomy and declining commitment from various actors, rampant politicization, where merit takes a back seat, frequent industrial disputes that disrupt academic calendars and mass proliferation of universities without corresponding resources.

Calling for a complete reset, Oladiji insisted that stakeholders must “return to the tradition of excellence,” reminding the audience that the university is a “world of its own,” equipped with laws and structures designed to uphold prestige.
At the heart of this system, she emphasized, lies the Registry: “The Registry is at the centre of all university activities.”

The Acting Vice-Chancellor of Elizade University, Professor Sunday Adeyemo, celebrated the Registry Division for maintaining a culture of professionalism and administrative distinction.
“Each edition of the Annual Registry Lecture reinforces the indispensable role of the Registry in institutional development and effective university governance,” he said.

Earlier, the Registrar of Elizade University, Mr. Omololu Adegbenro, set the tone for the day, describing the university as a natural “solution Centre, where reason interrogates experience, where research informs policy, and where innovation shapes future possibilities.”

He noted that the theme of the lecture reflects the harsh realities confronting Nigerian universities which include unstable funding, governance conflicts, infrastructural decay, and the pressures of a rapidly evolving global knowledge economy.
Through engagements like this, he affirmed, the academic community recommits itself to the intellectual rigour required to reform the system.

By the time the lecture ended, the message was unmistakable: Nigeria’s university system stands at a crossroads. Whether it is redeemed or further degraded depends largely on the choices of those in power.

But at Elizade University that day, amidst frank conversations and bold assertions, one truth rang clear, Nigeria’s intellectual community is not giving up. Not yet.