President of the Open Distance and eLearning Association of Nigeria (ODeLAN), Professor Francis Egbokhare, has called for a shift from a supply-based to a demand-driven model of higher education in Nigeria, arguing that such a transformation is key to improving access, relevance, and quality in the system.
In his keynote address at the association’s 3rd Annual Conference held at National Open University of Nigeria, Abuja, Professor Egbokhare challenged policymakers and institutions to realign the higher education system to meet the real needs of learners and the wider society. He stressed that the current structure overly emphasizes infrastructure and bureaucracy, sidelining the learner in the process.
“This is the best way to shift the focus of the system to a service orientation where the learner is king. There is no better way to enhance quality,” he stated.
The 2025 ODeLAN conference, themed “Adaptive Pedagogy for the Future of Education: Connecting Learners, Technologies and Communities,” attracted distinguished scholars and stakeholders from across the continent.
Among the keynote speakers were Professor Peter Scott, President of the Commonwealth of Learning; Professor Mpine Makoe, Executive Dean of the University of South Africa’s College of Education; Professor Tayo Arulogun, Vice Chancellor of Miva Open University; and Professor Samuel Amponsah of the University of Ghana, Legon.
In his address, Professor Egbokhare highlighted the importance of adaptive pedagogy, which tailors teaching to the needs and learning styles of individual students. “We cannot overemphasize its importance in a multicultural and highly diverse country like Nigeria, with over 526 languages and 250 ethnic groups,” he said.
The conference also featured pre-conference workshops aimed at capacity building, including sessions on digital literacy for school teachers and micro-credentials. These were supported by partners such as RETRIDOL, the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), ACETEL, the British Council, and the Commonwealth of Learning (COL). Notably, ten public school teachers received sponsorship to attend the workshop on digital literacy.
Professor Egbokhare raised multiple concerns about the state of ODL in Nigeria, beginning with regulatory frameworks that impose face-to-face (F2F) education models onto the distinct domain of distance learning. “A significant cost of ODL in Nigeria, at least about 30%, is the cost of transferred inefficiencies,” he revealed.
He also criticized the historical development of ODL in Nigeria, noting that it was pioneered by banks and computer vendors rather than educators. “The interest in ODL by many institutions is motivated primarily by IGR [Internally Generated Revenue] considerations rather than quality education,” he added.
Furthermore, the president took aim at the business models adopted by ODL institutions. According to him, they were too resource intensive, with redundancies and overlaps, excessive sunk cost, idle assets and low course to program ratio. He criticized the factory-style licensing of new Open Universities, warning that this undermines the organic growth of university culture.
Professor Egbokhare decried the systemic injustices faced by ODL students, noting that they are often treated as cash cows whose fees are used to subsidize their face-to-face (F2F) counterparts.
“The fees which ODL students pay are used to subsidize the F2F students as IGR while the ODL students are subjected to diverse abuse and harassments,” he said.
He also pointed out the lack of parity in esteem between ODL and conventional programs. Some professional organizations, he noted, still bar certain disciplines from being taught via ODL, despite members of those same organizations benefiting from online professional training.
He also drew attention to the pressing issue of ODL students being denied access to government subsidies and student loans. He described this as a serious injustice against Nigerians, whose only offense is pursuing a mode of education they either selected or were forced into by circumstance.
Professor Egbokhare further linked the persistence of fake universities to systemic failures in the education sector, including the lack of lifelong learning opportunities and the non-recognition of prior learning. He stressed the need for more flexible pathways to education and improved learner mobility.
