Osinbajo, UNILAG urge wider distance learning to bridge university access gap
August 25, 2026 5:14 pm
L-R: Felow, University of London, Prof. Stephen Brown; Vice-Chancellor UNILAG, Prof. Folasade Ogunsola; former Vice-President of Nigeria, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo; and Director UNILAG DLI, Prof. Risikat Dauda, at the fifth colloquium of the UNILAG DLI Colloquium held in Lagos on Tuesday. Photo: Johnson Idowu
Former Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo and the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Prof. Folasade Ogunsola, have called for the expansion of open and distance learning as a critical solution to Nigeria’s growing demand for university education.
They made the call on Tuesday at the fifth colloquium of the Distance Learning Institute of the University of Lagos, held in Lagos, with the theme, “Reimagining the Open and Distance Learning Ecosystem: Technology, Policy & Institutional Priorities.”
Osinbajo, who chaired the colloquium, said Nigeria could not bridge its university access gap by relying predominantly on conventional campus-based education, given the growing number of young people seeking admission into tertiary institutions.
He noted that more than 2.2 million Nigerians seek admission through the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board annually, while the country’s tertiary education system had historically admitted only about a quarter of that number.
According to him, Nigeria’s projected population growth would further increase pressure on the existing university system, making it impractical to depend solely on the construction of more lecture theatres, hostels and other physical infrastructure.
He said, “The mathematics of access to university education in Nigeria simply does not work if we continue to rely mainly on conventional campus models for university education.”
Osinbajo argued that open and distance learning should no longer be regarded as a peripheral alternative to conventional university education but as a national necessity.
He said emerging technologies, particularly artificial intelligence, could help institutions provide mass access while also offering students more personalised learning experiences.
“This is why open and distance learning can no longer be seen as something on the margins of higher education. It is now clearly a national necessity,” he said.
The former VP said AI could enable students enrolled in large numbers to receive personalised academic support, including explanations, assessments, feedback and learning materials adapted to their individual pace.
He, however, warned universities against simply transferring conventional teaching methods to digital platforms, saying true transformation required a fundamental rethink of how students learn and are assessed.
“All we do is take our lecture, put it on Zoom, upload a PDF, and call that transformation. We simply have changed the medium, but we haven’t changed the model,” Osinbajo said.
According to him, distance learning should cater not only to young people seeking their first university degrees but also to older workers and professionals who require continuous reskilling as technology transforms the labour market.
Osinbajo noted that universities and policymakers must also address challenges including unreliable electricity, expensive internet services and devices, stressing the need for learning platforms that can function effectively on mobile phones and, where possible, offline.
He said the purpose of technology should remain human development, adding that innovation would only be valuable if it expanded people’s capabilities and opportunities.
Similarly, Ogunsola said the growing youth population and demand for higher education had made it imperative for Nigerian universities to rethink the traditional model of education.
She noted that Nigeria has about 89 million young people aged between 15 and 30, with an average age of 19, creating significant pressure on the country’s higher education system.
“It is clear that this old university model will not educate our teeming youth population,” the Vice-Chancellor said.
She stressed that open and distance learning should not be viewed as an inferior alternative, noting that accredited degrees obtained through ODL institutions had the same value as those from conventional universities.
According to her, UNILAG does not indicate distance learning on students’ certificates because the university applies the same quality standards to its distance and full-time programmes.
Ogunsola said the next stage of ODL development should focus on moving “from distance learning to connected learning; from content delivery to learning engagement; and from simply increasing enrolment to improving learning outcomes and employability.”
She identified artificial intelligence as an important tool for personalised learning, immediate feedback, content development, assessment and early identification of students who might be struggling.
However, she warned that universities must address concerns around academic integrity, data privacy, algorithmic bias, intellectual property and the changing role of lecturers.
The Vice-Chancellor also called for policies covering digital credentials, online assessment, AI in education, micro-credentials, credit transfers, recognition of prior learning and quality assurance.
She said universities must begin treating ODL as a core institutional strategy rather than a peripheral programme.
Ogunsola challenged stakeholders to consider whether success in distance education should be measured solely by the number of degrees awarded or by what students learn, become and contribute to society.
In his keynote address, a Fellow of the University of London, Emeritus Prof. Stephen Brown, said universities must redefine ODL expansion and adoption to suit their realities.
“You need to understand your own context, but that’s not enough. You also need to be able to deal with the untamed ability of people and institutional cultures. And I hope that the way to deal with this is through collaboration.
“It means starting with you, the stakeholders, the people in this room, the people watching online, and with your competitors, and with your suppliers, and with the regulators, and any other organisation whose goals have a real stake in the outcome of this,” Brown added.
Earlier in her welcome address, the Director of the UNILAG DLI, Prof. Risikat Dauda, said Nigeria’s situation of having higher numbers of out-of-school children made the colloquium timely.
“UNESCO continues advocacy for open educational resources, the OECD’s research on AI in education, and a global movement toward micro-credentials and stackable qualifications all point in one direction: the future of learning is flexible, lifelong, and modular.
“We have distinguished professors bringing decades of international open and distance learning scholarship to our keynotes. We have practitioners and policy voices from Ghana, the United Kingdom, and across Nigeria’s own distance learning institutions on our panels. This is precisely the kind of cross-border, cross-sectoral dialogue that open distance learning itself was built to enable,” she noted.
Johnson Idowu is a journalist at Punch Newspapers with over four years of experience covering politics, education, metro, and environment. He specializes in producing insightful and well-researched reports that inform and engage readers. Johnson’s work reflects hands-on newsroom experience, editorial insight, and a dedication to accurate, audience-focused journalism.
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