By Emmanuel Babafemi
August 25, 2026
Former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has called for a major expansion of Open and Distance Learning, ODL, in Nigeria, warning that conventional universities alone will not be able to accommodate the country’s rapidly growing demand for higher education.
Osinbajo made the call on Tuesday, 25 August 2026, while speaking at the fifth International Colloquium of the Distance Learning Institute, DLI, University of Lagos, UNILAG.
The colloquium was themed, “Reimagining Open Distance Learning Ecosystem, Technology, Policy and Institutional Priorities”.
Osinbajo said more than 2.2 million young Nigerians seek admission into universities annually, while the country’s tertiary education system has historically been able to admit only about 25 per cent of applicants.
He warned that the pressure on the university system would intensify as Nigeria’s population increases.
According to him, Nigeria’s population could approach 250 million by 2036, with the number of annual university applicants potentially rising to about 2.7 million or exceeding three million.
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He argued that conventional universities would struggle to meet such demand through the continued expansion of physical infrastructure alone.
The former Vice President pointed to the need for lecture theatres, laboratories, hospitals and other physical facilities as major constraints that would make it difficult for traditional universities to accommodate the projected increase in student numbers.
He therefore described Open and Distance Learning as essential to expanding access to tertiary education without relying exclusively on the construction of additional physical campuses.
The intervention placed ODL within the wider challenge of providing affordable and accessible higher education to a growing population.
At the colloquium, Osinbajo also identified artificial intelligence and digital technologies as major forces capable of transforming education, widening access to learning and changing the way skills are developed.
The University of Lagos, in its account of the event published on 26 August, said participants agreed that the growing demand for higher education, combined with the limited capacity of conventional university infrastructure, had made ODL increasingly important.
UNILAG Vice Chancellor, Professor Folasade Ogunsola, also stressed the need to strengthen the ODL ecosystem while ensuring that technological expansion does not compromise academic integrity, data privacy, intellectual property and equal access.
She said universities needed to integrate ODL into their core institutional strategies and ensure that technology was used to expand access rather than deepen existing inequalities.
The colloquium brought together academics, education experts, policymakers and other stakeholders to examine the future of distance education in Nigeria.
UNILAG had announced ahead of the event that Osinbajo would chair the colloquium, while Emeritus Professor Stephen Brown of the University of London was scheduled as keynote speaker.
The discussions underscore the growing importance of ODL as Nigeria confronts the challenge of providing university education to millions of young people who may otherwise be unable to secure places in conventional institutions.
Vanguard published its report on the intervention on 25 August 2026.
