Billionaire Jim Ovia warns Nigeria over quality of its universities

Jim Ovia, the billionaire founder of Zenith Bank, has warned that the rapid growth in the number of Nigerian universities must not come at the expense of the quality of education they provide.

Ovia, who also founded James Hope University in Lagos and chairs its board of trustees, made the remarks at the launch of a book on quality assurance in higher education, held at the Lagos State Education Resource Centre in Ojodu, Berger. His speech was delivered on his behalf by Olu Akinkugbe, James Hope University’s president and vice chancellor, Vanguard reported.

Ovia said Nigeria now has about 312 universities, in addition to its polytechnics and colleges of education. Lagos State alone has about 59 higher education institutions, and neighboring Ogun State has about 49. He said the scale of that expansion raised a clear question about whether the country was growing in quantity at the expense of quality.

The book, “Education Quality Assurance in Higher Institutions,” was written by Yemisi Omoloye, director of monitoring and inspection at the Lagos State Ministry of Tertiary Education. Ovia said it addresses that question directly.

“This book confronts that question head-on, and it provides a comprehensive framework covering curriculum, faculty performance, infrastructure, governance and student support, to ensure our universities can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the best in the world,” he said.

A regulator on the council

Omoloye also sits on James Hope University’s governing council as the representative of the Lagos State government. Ovia said her two roles showed that regulators and universities should work as partners rather than adversaries.

“Dr. Omoloye is not just the one who inspects our work, she is a vital part of the team that helps us define and achieve our goals,” he said. “She brings the regulator’s sharp, objective eye to the council table, and she brings the council’s commitment to innovation back to the regulatory body.”

Speaking about his own university, Ovia said James Hope was being built to last. “At James Hope University, we are not just building an institution, we are building a legacy, and legacy cannot be built on a weak foundation,” he said. “Quality assurance is the cement that holds that foundation together.”

He said his goal was a world-class institution that produces leaders, innovators and problem-solvers, not just graduates, and that this would be impossible without a strict approach to quality assurance.

He urged policymakers, university administrators, regulators and educators to treat the book as a standing reference for raising standards. “Let us embrace its principles and work collaboratively to build a system of higher education in Nigeria that we can all be proud of,” he said.

Growth under scrutiny

The number of universities in Nigeria has surged over the past decade, as federal and state governments created new public institutions and regulators approved dozens of private ones. Critics have warned that many of the new schools lack enough qualified lecturers, laboratories and funding, and that the rapid expansion has weakened the value of Nigerian degrees.

Ovia has long been among Nigeria’s most active private funders of education. Beyond James Hope University, his foundation has awarded thousands of university scholarships to Nigerian students. He founded Zenith Bank in 1990 and built it into one of the country’s largest lenders, and his stake in the bank accounts for most of his fortune.

The launch was attended by Tolani Sule, Lagos State’s commissioner for tertiary education; Tokunbo Wahab, the state’s commissioner for environment and water resources; Adeniran Kasali, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Tertiary Education; and Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello, a former vice chancellor of Lagos State University, along with other vice chancellors and school proprietors.