Registrars of universities across Nigeria have been called upon to adopt artificial intelligence (AI) as a critical tool for enhancing research, innovation, and overall development within the country’s higher education sector.
This appeal was made by Dr Bala Ahmed, Chairman of the Association of Registrars of Nigerian Universities (ARNU) and Registrar of Nasarawa State University, during the third ARNU workshop held at Kaduna State University.
Dr Ahmed underscored the importance of greater awareness and integration of AI to bridge gaps in teaching and learning, in alignment with global best practices. He urged university registrars to adopt more intentional, strategic, and reform-oriented approaches to institution building, ensuring their continued relevance in the rapidly evolving global academic landscape.
The workshop, themed “University Ranking in the Face of Global Competitiveness: The Way Forward for Nigerian Universities”, sought to stimulate national discourse on improving Nigeria’s performance in international university rankings.
Dr Ahmed highlighted several persistent challenges undermining Nigeria’s global academic standing, including chronic underfunding, inadequate infrastructure, frequent academic disruptions due to industrial action, brain drain, low research output, and limited presence in international scholarly publications. He also cited a lack of global collaborations and bureaucratic administrative processes as significant obstacles to innovation and reform.
Also Read:Â NITDA, UNESCO Deepen Collaboration on ICT, AI and Youth Development
Delivering a goodwill message, Professor Abudullahi Ribadu, Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), described registrars as the backbone of university governance, tasked with upholding regulatory compliance and ensuring the smooth operation of academic and administrative systems. He commended ARNU for organising the workshop and encouraged participants to develop sustainable strategies aligned with international standards.
Also speaking at the event, the Registrar of Kaduna State University, Samira Balarabe, called for increased government support, stressing that universities have specific and evolving needs that require customised attention. She described AI as a transformative force in the education sector and emphasised the need to update curricula and administrative practices to reflect global developments.
She further noted that ARNU’s mission is to unify university administrators across Nigeria to foster the exchange of best practices, eliminate outdated systems, and promote consistency in academic standards and regulatory interpretation nationwide.
