The Secretary General of the Association of African Universities, (AAU) Professor Olusola B. Oyewole last Wednesday 11th June, 2025, visited the Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC), Professor Abdullahi Yusufu Ribadu to intimate him of the upcoming 16th Quadrennial General Conference of the Association taking place in Rabat, Morocco from 21st to 25th July, 2025.
The visit, according to Professor Oyewole was in order to explore areas of mutual interest in advancing higher education development across Africa and particularly the continued engagement and participation of Nigeria as a key stakeholder.
Elaborating on the theme of the conference: Shaping the image of higher education, he underscored the major role the conference is expected to play in repositioning higher education systems in response to contemporary challenges across the continent by bringing together stakeholders of higher education to discuss issues of importance to the development of higher education.
The AAU Scribe, who was a one-time Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) between 2012 and 2017 and also Secretary General of the Association of Federal Universities in Accra, Ghana, who recently got re-elected for a second term, appreciated the series of collaborations he had enjoyed with the Commission.
He mentioned especially the flagship African Centres of Excellence (ACE) initiative sponsored by the World Bank coordinated through the AAU which will be coming to an end in June even though series of discussions are being made with the World Bank to make it a permanent venture.
He commended all the Nigerian Universities involved in the project and the NUC for being very committed to the success of the project.
Professor Oyewole expressed hope that in the next four years, the NUC will be actively invlved in supporting with running programmes that are funded by the European Union (EU) side-by-side with the AAU, since the association is the highest decision representative in the African Union Commission (AUC).
He said the last conference had brought major achievements in the higher education sector due to the initiative embarked upon to bring together 50 universities from China and 50 universities from Africa to work together and learn from each other.
According to him, it is therefore imperative to involve many Nigerian universities especially their Directors of ICT and Registrars for this upcoming event with Nigeria boasting of the highest number of universities and with so much wealth of knowledge to share with the rest of the region.
He also expressed optimism that with Morocco having a very strong relationship with its universities based on evidence that the government depends on their higher institutions for development, it will provide other countries with key strategies to foster better collaborations between the two important sectors.
In his response, the Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission, Professor Abdullahi Yusufu Ribadu, FVCN, commended the AAU for the laudable initiative of bringing African Universities together to promote quality assurance, enhance academic standards and strengthen institutional capacity throughout the African continent.
He expressed delight at the reelection of the Secretary-General for a second term, charging him to sustain the commendable tempo he has maintained thus far.
Professor Ribadu agreed that Nigerian Universities indeed have a lot to offer at the upcoming conference in Morocco and assured the AAU Sec-Gen that a reminder shall be sent to the Universities immediately so they won’t miss out on a great opportunity like that.
He reiterated the unwavering commitment of the National Universities Commission in ensuring that quality is maintained in the system, assuring that its doors were always open for individuals and organisations seeking worthy collaborations with the University system within and outside the shores of Nigeria.
He said the APC government is highly committed in providing succour to the Nigerian student every step of the way and will not rest on its oars until sufficient access to quality education is provided for quality delivery of university education in Nigeria. At the meeting were the Deputy Executive Secretary (DES, Administration), Mr. Chris J. Maiyaki; Ag. Directors of: Accreditation (DA), Engineer Abraham Chundusu; Executive Secretary’s Office (DESO), Mr. Jibrin Abu Momoh and the representative of the Ag Director, Academic Planning (DAP) and Deputy Director, Curriculum Development, Dr. Esther Meka.