10th U6+ Consortium of African Universities International Conference

Artificial Intelligence has been with us for some time now. The United States of America and China are leading the way in this field of technology and countries like Japan, South Korea, India and Taiwan are not far behind. But the progress being made by these countries rests on their breakthroughs in various fields of science and engineering which in turn rest on the countries’ investment in education. Interestingly, Nigeria has the reputation of running a sound tertiary education system in the past and this includes research institutes and centres. The purpose of this study is to examine the state of the country’s tertiary education system in light of the challenges it is facing and then analyse how the objectives of establishing the country’s universities and polytechnics as well as research institutes and centres have not been met. This is in spite of the billions of naira being spent on yearly basis to fund these institutions. No serious country expends the kind of resources being expended by Nigeria over the years and would not be alarmed by the lack of result. One of the objectives of this study is to interrogate the inability of the country’s tertiary institutions, research institutes and centres to fulfill the purpose for which they are established. Conclusions are drawn and recommendations are made at the end of the paper in the context of the problems so identified. This study relies on secondary sources and historical method of research is adopted.