Former President Olusegun Obasanjo said that the National Open University of Nigeria (noun) is not as good as other universities in the country. He accepted speeches from university officials during a polite visit and alumni awards ceremony on Monday. Obasancho noted that he spoke based on the individual experience of the institution’s academic standards.
According to him, Nigeria used to have only one university – the University of Ibadan – for the past ten years. The former military head of state explained that federal and state universities he called the second generation of institutions were later established, followed by private universities making up the third generation.
However, he noted that despite these developments, there are still large gaps in college education. This led to the establishment of the National Open University of Nigeria (noun) to help relieve academic stress, especially for staff or those seeking distance learning options.
“Although there are more universities, we still can’t meet the needs; the gap keeps widening. That’s why I say open universities are essential. It provides working-class citizens with more opportunities and makes learning easier.”
He added that although some critics believe that open universities are inferior, he was not discouraged. He said: “I decided to register myself and see myself. I came, I saw, I conquered. Two respected lecturers directed my PhD, just like they did for others, so my PhD was not inferior.”
Obasanjo stressed that since his PhD has standard quality, and others have also been on his PhD, the noun proves its value and remains here. “Once, we had more than a million students and we were still growing,” he concluded.
