A leading scholar, Prof Ehiyamen Osezua, has strongly decried ongoing reforms in Nigeria’s public sector as mere motion without movement, contending that they are short of service-delivery outcomes.
The public administration expert said: ‘The tragedy of Nigeria is not that it lacks institutions, talent, or resources. The greater tragedy is that these have too often not been mobilised with sufficient integrity, discipline, competence, and developmental clarity.
‘Governance effectiveness depends fundamentally on the capacity of institutions to cultivate performance-oriented leadership, enforce ethical and professional norms, and translatenpolicy intent into measurable public value’.
Delivering the 11th Inaugural Lecture at the Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology, Okitipupa, Ondo State, Osezua, who is the Dean of the School of Management Sciences, said that governance systems in the country remain active but development outcomes are uneven.
Speaking on “Governing without Results: Public Administration, Leadership and Institutional Failure in Nigeria. Quo vadis?”, he said: ‘Nigeria’s experience reflects a broader governance paradox in which administrative systems remain structurally active yet functionally constrained, producing what may be conceptualised as a condition of governing without results’.
This condition exemplifies the central thrust of this lecture: that governing without results reflects not the absence of administrative structures, but the weakness of institutional mechanisms required to translate ‘policy intent into public value’.
Alluding to higher education governance as an empirical lens for understanding institutional failure in Nigeria, Osezua posits that ‘institutional failure is not solely a function of financial scarcity or policy inadequacy but also of leadership praxis and accountability discipline’.
A useful entry point into the problem of institutional failure in Nigerian higher education, according to him, is the contrast between system expansion and institutional experience.
Osesua said: ‘As of 20 March 2026, the National Universities Commission recognises 309 universities in Nigeria, comprising 74 federal, 67 state, and 168 private universities.
‘This numerical growth suggests an expanding university system. Yet the same policy environment now reflects concern about whether the rapid multiplication of institutions has been matched by adequate funding, infrastructure, staffing, and governance capacity.
‘Indeed, in August 2025, the Federal Government imposed a seven-year moratorium on the establishment of new federal universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education, citing overstretched resources, under-utilised institutions, and declining academic quality.
‘The implication is clear: the problem is no longer simply one of access or proliferation, but one of whether the system possesses the institutional depth to sustain quality.
‘Funding data reinforces this concern. In the 2026 education budget proposal, the Federal Government allocated ₦966.9 billion to universities, which represents the largest single share within the education sector envelope presented by the Ministry of Education. On paper, this appears substantial.
‘However, recent official budget defence proceedings before the National Assembly also reveal persistent concern about capital planning, fiscal discipline, monitoring, accountability, and the effective use of appropriated funds in the Nigerian University System. In other words, the challenge is not merely the size of allocation, but the enduring gap between budgetary promises and institutional delivery.
‘Universities do not experience budget figures in the abstract; they experience them through laboratories, classrooms, staff welfare, research support, power supply, digital infrastructure, and the regularity of institutional processes.
‘When releases are delayed, implementation weak, or capital projects poorly executed, the academic experience remains fragile despite impressive appropriation headlines’.
A leading scholar on Higher Education and Conflict Management, Osesua argued that ‘reform, in other words, should not be measured only by policy launches, curriculum redesign, or official roadmaps, but by whether it improves the lived reality of the university as a community of scholarship’.
In his view, this is where the concept of institutional failure becomes especially useful.
Osezua, who is also an Adjunct Professor of Public Administration at Austin Christian University, Texas, United States, further said: ‘Nigerian universities today do not suffer only from a shortage of funds or periodic union disputes. They suffer from a deeper disconnect between reform rhetoric and institutional experience.
‘A system may record more universities, more policies, more roadmaps, and more agreements, yet still leave academics working within unstable calendars, uncertain welfare conditions, weak research support, inadequate infrastructure, and inconsistent administrative implementation.
‘The issue, therefore, is not simply whether reforms exist, but whether institutions are sufficiently resilient, accountable, and well-led to convert reforms into results. That, perhaps, is one of the clearest illustrations of what it means to govern a university system without producing commensurate outcomes’.
In his view, the university sector provides a microcosm of the broader governance paradox confronting Nigeria: the coexistence of policy activism and institutional expansion with persistent limitations in service delivery and developmental impact.
‘The rapid expansion of universities, including a significant increase in private institutions, has improved access but also raised questions about equity, affordability, and quality assurance’, he said, stressing that the future of Nigeria will not be secured merely by changing faces.
‘Public administration can be renewed. Leadership can be reformed. Institutions can recover. Trust can be rebuilt. Development can be pursued with seriousness and fairness. The state can once again become a vehicle of hope rather than frustration.
‘It will be secured by changing values, strengthening systems, developing competent leaders, rewarding merit, and rebuilding trust in institutions. Our challenge is not a lack of potential, but a failure to consistently translate potential into performance. Our crisis is not merely administrative; it is also moral, developmental, and institutional’, Osezua quipped.
Chaired by the institution’s Vice Chancellor, Prof. Temi Ologunorisa, the inaugural lecture held at the university’s main auditorium was also graced by the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academics and Research), Prof. Foluso Adetuyi; Deputy Vice Chancellor (Administration and Development), Prof. Dipo Akomolafe; and the Registrar, Mr. Abiodun Peter Okunniga. Other principal officials at the event included the University Bursar, Mr. Ganiyu Aminu; and the Librarian, Dr. Adetoun Oyelude.
