10th U6+ Consortium of African Universities International Conference

The fundamental challenge in the post–COVID academic environment is the incessant brain-drain impinging on Nigerian universities, predominantly the exodus of skilled faculty to Europe and North America. This trend wanes institutional resilience and weakens academic effectiveness. This study examined the impact of brain-drain on the academic development in two key public universities in Lagos State, Nigeria: The University of Lagos, Akoka, Yaba and Lagos State University, Ojo. In particular, it assessed the effect of brain-drain on teaching quality, the push–pull factors driving academic migration, and its impact on the academic environment and culture. The study was anchored on Human Capital Theory and Push–Pull Migration Theory while employed a descriptive survey design. Data were obtained from 324 academic staff members chosen through stratified and simple random sampling methods. A well-thought-out questionnaire was utilized, while descriptive statistics and one-sample t-tests were conducted utilizing SPSS for analysis. Findings uncovered that brain-drain significantly does harms to academic development in public universities in Lagos State. The shortfall of experienced academics has resulted in teaching difficulty, delayed research activities, lessened mentorship opportunities, and dropped staff morale. Main drivers of relocation encompassed dissatisfied salaries, insufficient research funding, restricted career advancement opportunities, political unpredictability, and insecure working conditions. Hypothesis testing indicated significant effects on teaching quality and instructional administration (t = 49.888, p < 0.05), push–pull migration factors (t = 117.260, p < 0.05), and academic environment and culture (t = 145.962, p < 0.05), resulting in the rejection of all null hypotheses. The study concluded that persistent brain-drain endangers sustainable academic development and recommended enhanced salaries, better educational funding, improved research facilities, and robust staff retention strategies.