Multi-Campus Universities in Nigeria: Why AAU’s Refusal Hurts Edo State Development
The Multi-Campus Advantage: How Parochial Politics Keeps Ambrose Alli University in the Dark
A university is not a village shrine. It is not family land. It is universal by law and by purpose. Yet for 45 years, Ambrose Alli University has been held hostage by a dangerous lie: that because an Ekpoma man, Prof. Ambrose Alli, established it, the university must remain locked inside Ekpoma - or else it is being “stolen.”
That lie has cost us development, research, and relevance. The evidence is not theoretical. It is reflected in the records of other state universities that embraced multi-campus structures while AAU clings to a one-town model.
Here is the case for multi-campus universities, based on universal best practice and AAU’s own painful history.
1. Universal Best Practice: Multi-Campus Systems Expand Access, Funding, and Impact
Globally, the strongest public university systems are multi-campus. The University of California, the University of London, the University of Texas, and India’s state university systems all use multiple campuses to:
Democratize access: Take education closer to underserved populations instead of forcing all students to migrate to one city.
Diversify funding: Each campus attracts local government, industry, and donor support. State funding is shared, not concentrated.
Specialize programs: Agriculture in rural campuses, medicine near teaching hospitals, engineering in industrial zones. One campus cannot do all.
Spread development: Roads, housing, SMEs, and internet infrastructure follow university campuses. A multi-campus model is a state development strategy.
The NUC’s Benchmark Minimum Academic Standards (BMAS), now the Core Curriculum and Minimum Academic Standards (CCMAS), do not limit a university to one location. In fact, the NUC encourages multi-campus structures for state universities to meet carrying capacity and geo-political balance.
2. Most State Universities Are Multi-Campus. AAU Is the Outlier.
Check the records: multi-campus is the norm, not the exception, for state universities.
Major Nigerian State Universities and Campus Structure
Delta State University — Abraka, Oleh, Asaba.
Oleh later became a full university, and Asaba has also evolved into a full-fledged university. Development spread across the three senatorial zones.
Abia State University — Uturu, with campuses in Umuahia, Aba, and Abakaliki.
Umuahia runs Law and Agriculture. Aba hosts Business. Each zone feels ownership.
Lagos State University — Ojo, with campuses in Epe and Ikeja.
Epe runs Engineering and Agriculture. Ikeja hosts Medicine at LASUTH.
Rivers State University — Port Harcourt, with campuses in Etche, Ahoada, and Emohua.
Agriculture and Law moved closer to host communities.
Ambrose Alli University — Ekpoma only.
In more than 45 years: one town, stunted growth.
DELSU was born from AAU in 1992 when Bendel State was split. It adopted a multi-campus structure from day one. Today, the Oleh and Asaba campuses have matured into independent institutions. That is growth. AAU has remained a single-campus university and now watches its siblings overtake it.
3. The Ekpoma Mentality: “Our University” vs “A University”
The tragedy of AAU is not a lack of funds. It is an ownership mentality.
An Ekpoma man established the university, yes. But the edict that created it in 1981 made it Bendel State University, later Edo State University, and now Ambrose Alli University. When Lucky Igbinedion encouraged the renaming of Edo State University in honour of its founder—following the establishment of Igbinedion University as Nigeria’s first private university—the institution remained a state asset, not a private or community university.
It has always been funded by taxpayers across Edo State, from Benin to Igarra.
Yet each time the Edo State Government suggests a campus in Benin, Uromi, Auchi, or elsewhere, the reaction from some Ekpoma indigenes is resistance. Petitions fly. Unions threaten strikes. Government is blackmailed with claims that “they want to carry our university.”
This is parochialism. It reduces a global institution to a local totem. No university can thrive when its host community sees every expansion as theft.
4. The Ghost of Study Centres: The Price of Refusing Real Campuses
Because AAU refused structured multi-campus growth, it resorted to illegal study centers in the 1990s and 2000s. These centers in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Warri, Abeokuta, Benin, and elsewhere became an albatross.
They were outlawed by the NUC. Their certificates created scandals. Their liabilities still haunt the university in court cases and verification backlogs.
If AAU had approved legitimate campuses in Benin, Auchi, and other locations, the demand that created those study centers would have been met legally. The university chose sentiment over structure—and paid the price.
5. The Golden Opportunity Lost in 1993
In 1993, Admiral Augustus Aikhomu facilitated moves to strengthen AAU for possible federal government takeover. One proposal included federal support for satellite faculties.
The same indigenous resistance stopped it. The fear was that the federal government wanted to “take our university.” Questions arose over whether a Yoruba, Fulani, or Igbo Vice-Chancellor could lead in Ekpoma.
The Federal Government walked away and instead took over Auchi Polytechnic.
Today, Auchi Polytechnic is one of Nigeria’s strongest federal polytechnics, benefiting from TETFund, expanded programmes, and national reach.
AAU lost. Ekpoma lost. Edo State lost.
6. The Development Gap: Multi-Campus States vs One-Campus AAU
The evidence is visible.
State universities that embraced multi-campus models are developing faster:
Academic spread: DELSU runs Medicine in Asaba near the Federal Medical Centre. ABSU runs Law in Umuahia, the state capital, close to courts and government institutions. AAU forces all faculties into Ekpoma, far from industries, courts, and teaching hospitals.
Research output: Campuses in commercial cities like Aba and Asaba attract industry research partnerships. AAU has no major research breakthrough or patent in over 45 years. It cannot significantly contribute to Edo State’s GDP because it is isolated from the state’s economic hubs.
Community service: When a university operates in three cities, three communities benefit from roads, housing, clinics, and SME growth. AAU’s impact stops at Ekpoma’s gates. The rest of Edo State funds a university it cannot easily access.
7. The Core Problem: Local Politics vs Universal Mission
A university’s business is teaching, learning, research, and community service.
At AAU, that core mission is often undermined by local union politics. Senate and Council meetings are influenced by town sentiment rather than strategy. Vice-Chancellor appointments become “Ekpoma vs others” instead of “best candidate.”
This is not how universities function.
Oxford is not owned by Oxford town. Harvard is not the property of Cambridge, Massachusetts. A university is universal. That is why it is called universitas.
Until AAU accepts that it belongs to Edo State and Nigeria—not to one town—it will continue to lose relevance.
Conclusion: Choose Growth or Choose the Grave
The evidence is clear. Multi-campus systems work.
They are global and national best practice. They spread development, deepen specialization, and protect universities from parochial capture.
AAU’s 45-year refusal has produced no significant patents, limited research income, and little statewide impact. The study center scandals were the symptom. Underdevelopment is the disease.
The Edo State Government must ignore blackmail and do what is right.
Let AAU breathe.
To the people of Ekpoma: you do not lose a university when it expands. You gain a university system.
Prof. Ambrose Alli did not build a private school. He built a state asset.
His greatest honor is not a fenced campus in one town. It is an Edo State where every zone has an AAU gate.
The greatest loser today is not the government. It is the university.
And the time to free it is now.
By Ambrose Odiase, FNUPA
Former Acting Registrar
Tags: Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma; University Development; State Universities; NUC; DELSU; ABSU; Higher Education Policy
Thought-provoking piece. I align with your sentiments on the potential benefits of a multicampus arrangement. At its inception, during the tenure of Prof. Ambrose F. Alli, it was clearly established by law that BENSU would operate as a multicampus system. It was on that foundation that the then College of Education, Abraka, evolved into a full campus, alongside the Oleh and Awain campuses. Notably, the people of Ekpoma did not oppose this structure, largely because all campuses received adequate funding at the time.
ReplyDeleteI recall the appointments of the late Prof. J.E. A Osemeikhian as Provost of Abraka, and later Prof. Okecha, which further strengthened the system. However, following the creation of Delta State in 1991 and up until the advent of the Fourth Republic, Ambrose Alli University struggled significantly due to poor funding.
Have we forgotten the self-sustenance policy introduced by Col. Adamu Iyam in 1996, which led to the emergence of a sole administrator? How many state universities in Nigeria experienced such a situation and still survived?
This brings us to a critical question: how can a state government that has struggled to adequately fund a single-campus university realistically sustain a multicampus system—if not merely as a political showpiece?
Furthermore, the suggestion to relocate campuses to Auchi and Benin City appears inconsistent with the original intent of the multicampus framework. Benin already hosts more than ten universities, while Auchi is home to Auchi Polytechnic and Iyamho.
If equity and historical agreements are to be considered, I believe Owan West should take precedence. There was a gentleman’s understanding at the university’s inception between the then Speaker, Rt. Hon. Benson Alegbe, and , the Governor Prof. Ambrose Alli that the College of Medicine would be sited in Sabogida-Ora.
I stand to be corrected.