Former Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo, said the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) is not below any other university in terms of quality or value.

He made this comment when some of the university’s officials and alumni came to visit him and give him an award.

Obasanjo said he could speak from personal experience because he studied at NOUN himself, and that helped him understand how good the school really is.

He explained that for a long time, Nigeria had only one university — the University of Ibadan — and it stayed that way for about ten years before more schools were built.

Later on, Nigeria began creating more federal and state universities, and eventually private universities also started to appear.

Even though more schools were created, Obasanjo said the country still couldn’t meet the growing demand for university education, which made it necessary to open NOUN for people who needed flexible learning.

He said that regular universities alone couldn’t meet everyone’s needs, and that’s why the open university model was introduced — to make it easier for working people to get a degree.

Obasanjo remembered that many people once thought open universities were of low quality, but he didn’t let that stop him. Instead, he joined NOUN to see for himself if the criticism was fair.

He said two highly respected lecturers supervised his PhD program, just like they did for other PhD students, and that showed him the academic standard was not low.

Since his own experience was positive and the quality of education he got was not less than what others receive at traditional universities, he believes NOUN is just as strong as any other school.

He also mentioned that the university once had over 500,000 students, and the number continues to grow, showing that more people trust and value the institution.

Obasanjo promised the university leaders that they would always have his full support as they continue to provide education across the country.