Rot in the Nigerian Ivory Towers: Why We Are Not Among the World’s Best 1,000

Part 2: The Culture of Decay — Why the System Keeps Failing



Postgraduate School: The Cemetery of Dreams

In the world, a Masters takes 12 to 18 months. A PhD takes 3 years.

In Nigeria, we have invented the “Professional Student.”

He registered for M.Sc in 2014.

It is now 2026.

He is still “doing corrections.”

Why?

Because his supervisor is more interested in what the student can bring to the table rather than actual supervision.

Some supervisors will even tell students they are supervising, “I will see how you will graduate.”

That is not a threat.

That is policy.

Supervisors withhold signatures for money, for sex, for ego.

Departments lose files.

Faculties forget to sit.

Postgraduate Boards meet irregularly, except when prompted by a group of students to do so.

We have turned the highest level of learning into the lowest level of extortion.

Webometrics cannot rank students who never graduate.

Google Scholar cannot cite theses that were never defended.


Unionism Ate the University

Once, unions defended the university.

Now, the university defends itself from unions.

Senate is about allowances, not standards.

Council is about contracts, not policy.

Departmental boards are about who to witch-hunt, not who to mentor.

We shut down for several months over earned allowances.

But we cannot shut down for one day over stolen TETFUND.

We fight for our pockets.

We are silent on our rot.

The core business - teaching, research, community service - has become a side hustle.

The main business is union meetings, petitions, and press conferences.

You cannot be in the top 1,000 if your priority is the next strike.


The Final Disease: Attitude

Let us stop lying.

Funding is not the problem.

Attitude is.

The registrar or registry staff who hides a student’s file for pecuniary interests will do the same if you pay him millions.

The lecturer who sells marks for money will sell grades for millions.

The Vice-Chancellor who reinstates a rapist will do it again and again.

Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.

And our attitude is rotten.

We come late.

We do not prepare lectures.

We do not return scripts.

We do not attend conferences we were paid for.

We do not mentor.

We do not research.

We just… exist.

No amount of money can fund a dead attitude.

No TETFUND can revive a dead conscience.


Conclusion: We Are Not Ranked Because We Are Not Universities

Webometrics does not hate Nigeria.

It measures what exists: research papers, citations, web presence, innovation, impact.

We have no papers.

We have no citations.

Our websites are dead.

Our innovation is zero.

Our impact is negative.

We are not ivory towers.

We are ivory ruins.

We have neither ivory nor towers.

We have only rot, covered in union letterheads and senate stamps.

Until we dismiss the thieves instead of promoting them…

Until we jail the forgers instead of paying them…

Until we graduate students in 4 years instead of 8…

Until we see TETFUND as a trust, not an ATM…

Until we choose research over rumour, and students over strikes…

We will remain outside the best 1,000.

And we will deserve it.

The signal must be sent.

The cleaning must start.

And it must start with us.

Because if the ivory tower cannot clean itself, the world will not clean it.

It will just walk past.


Comments

  1. Obhio.28 April 2026 at 04:19

    Thank you for these detailed expositions.
    The rot is massive.
    Its a shame. I feel sorry for this country honestly
    This explains why our universities are producing half baked graduates .
    It's unfortunate.

    ReplyDelete

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