By: KEHINDE AKINPELU, ILORIN.

The Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (CVCNU) has urged universities across the country to move beyond managing crises and begin building institutions capable of adapting to technological, financial and demographic changes.

The committee’s Chairman, Prof. Lawrence Ezemonye, said Nigerian universities must urgently embrace artificial intelligence (AI), strengthen their financial and governance structures and invest in human capital to remain relevant to the country’s growing young population.

Ezemonye, who is also the Vice-Chancellor of Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State, spoke in Ilorin, Kwara State, at the 37th Annual General Assembly and Conference of the CVCNU, themed “Building Resilient Universities for Nigeria.”

He said the Nigerian university system was facing one of its most critical moments since independence, stressing that the challenge confronting institutions was no longer simply how to survive but how to remain relevant in a rapidly changing society.

“We meet at an hour when the Nigerian university is being tested as it has seldom been tested since the years immediately after independence. The test is not of our survival, for we have survived much. It is of our relevance to a young, restless and expectant nation,” Ezemonye said.

According to him, resilience must involve the capacity of universities to withstand funding instability, industrial disputes, demographic pressures, technological disruption and the migration of skilled academics while maintaining excellence in teaching, research and community service.

He identified four major areas requiring urgent attention: governance, university autonomy and financial sustainability; development of AI-ready universities; stronger partnerships among universities, government, regulators, industry and labour; and improved human capital, academic excellence and the welfare of students and staff.

Ezemonye also called for a more candid assessment of the problems facing the university system, urging vice-chancellors and other stakeholders to move beyond making resolutions and focus on practical recommendations capable of producing measurable changes.

“The challenges before us are too grave and too urgent to be obscured by politeness or deference. We must speak plainly about the failures of the past and the demands of the future,” he said.

The CVCNU chairman maintained that universities remained central to Nigeria’s development, describing them as institutions responsible for producing the professionals, innovators and ethical leaders required to drive national transformation.

He warned that the emergence of AI, rapid population growth and intensifying global economic competition would continue to reshape the higher education landscape, making it imperative for Nigerian universities to prepare their students and staff for the realities of the future.

Also speaking at the conference, the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Abdullahi Ribadu, cautioned universities against violating new regulatory guidelines, particularly those governing the conferment of honorary doctorate degrees.

Ribadu reminded university authorities that institutions were not permitted to combine more than three convocations in a particular year. He also said individuals without a first degree should not be considered for honorary doctorate degrees.

The NUC boss further stated that serving public office holders should not be recipients of honorary doctorate degrees under the new guidelines.

“It has been bastardised in the past. So, for now, we say, please, you are doing well. When you leave office, the university will honour you,” Ribadu said.

In a related development, the Chairman of the Committee of Pro-Chancellors of Nigerian Federal Universities, Prof. Ahmed Yayale Ahmed, urged vice-chancellors and governing councils to prioritise cooperation and abandon rivalry in the administration of universities.

Ahmed said the growing complexity of challenges facing the higher education sector required trust, transparency and a shared commitment between university management and governing councils.

“Governing Councils are supervisory and advisory organs constituted by Government to support good governance and ensure the smooth and effective running of our institutions,” he said.

The stakeholders maintained that strengthening institutional resilience, embracing emerging technologies and improving collaboration among key actors would be crucial to repositioning Nigerian universities as engines of innovation, ethical leadership and national development.