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By Olakunle Olafioye
A number of reasons could have swung the list of the most sought-after universities in favour of the southern part of Nigeria. The ravaging insecurity in the northern part of the country is certainly one key factor.
Lagos State emerged at the top of the list for the 2026 Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) rated most preferred university of choice by candidates who sat for the recently concluded Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), with the Lagos State University (LASU) and the University of Lagos (UNILAG) sitting in the first and second positions, respectively, on the list. Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), University of Ibadan, and University of Benin complete the list of the top five highly preferred universities of choice by candidates. In the sixth position is the Nnamdi Azikiwe University. University of Ilorin, the only northern university on the list, emerged as the seventh most preferred university of choice, while University of Nigeria, Nsukka; Federal University, Oye Ekiti; and University of Port Harcourt complete the list in eighth, ninth, and tenth positions, respectively.
In the not-so-distant past, highly rated northern universities, including Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria; University of Maiduguri, UNIMAID; Bayero University Kano, BUK; Usman Danfodiyo University, Sokoto; and the Federal University of Technology, Minna, had always been in contention for top-rated and highly sought-after universities. Similarly, University of Jos, Federal University of Dutse, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, and Gombe State University had, at some point, been seen as attractive brides to candidates seeking university admissions. But all that seems to belong to the past as insecurity continues to make life difficult in the northern part of the country.
Signs of the possibility of declining enrolment in the northern schools have multiplied since the night of April 14, 2014, when 276 schoolgirls were kidnapped from the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, a town in Borno State, by Boko Haram fighters. Since then, mass abductions of students within the school environment have been on the rise, especially in the northern part of Nigeria.
A 2023 report by Save the Children, a United Kingdom group, claims that a total of 1,683 schoolchildren have been kidnapped since the abduction of the 276 Chibok schoolgirls. “In addition to the abductions, over 180 schoolchildren were killed and nearly 90 injured in 70 attacks between April 2014 and December 2022, with an estimated 60 school staff kidnapped and 14 killed. Twenty-five school buildings were reportedly destroyed during that period,” the agency reports. The report also revealed a significant surge in violence occurring within the school environment between 2024 and 2026.
While attacks on northern schools have largely been focused on schoolchildren, there have been a series of similar attacks on tertiary institutions in the region. Analysts have identified this as a key factor in the declining interest shown by candidates seeking admission into universities in the northern part of the country. Boko Haram insurgents have consistently targeted northern Nigerian universities, viewing Western education as a direct affront to their ideology. Major incidents include suicide bombings and gun attacks, such as those at Bayero University, Kano, in 2012, and repeated attacks on the University of Maiduguri. In 2012, Gombe State University was equally targeted by insurgents with bombs.
Dr. Yunus Sumonu and his late wife are both products of a northern Nigerian university. While Dr. Sumonu graduated from Ahmadu Bello University, his late wife finished at the University of Ilorin. Dr Sumonu, however, maintained that the northern region is a ‘no-no’ for his children as far as university education is concerned despite his strong belief that the north still parades an array of universities that could compete with top universities not only in Nigeria but also on the continent.
Dr. Sumonu maintained that insecurity remains a major bane of development in almost every aspect in northern Nigeria in the last one and a half decades. “I am particularly distressed that the northern security problem arose at a time when leadership in the region decided to move the region out of the jinx of playing second fiddle to the south.
“As a product of northern education, I am qualified to speak on the pedigree of some of the universities in the region. Apart from having my university education up to the master’s level in the north, I also have friends and family members who schooled in the region and who are doing very well in their respective spheres. Unfortunately, the majority of us who had tertiary education in the north are no longer inclined to send our children to school over there because of insecurity,” he revealed.
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Adekunle Victor’s interest in pursuing a degree in automotive engineering was ignited by one of his tutors, a graduate of Ahmadu Bello University, at the Ford Engineering Vocational Training Centre in the Alagbado area of Lagos. Since picking interest in the course, ABU has been the young Adekunle’s choice of university. However, the ravaging insecurity affecting the northern part of the country may have forced the youngster to look elsewhere to fulfil his dreams.
“My parents are not comfortable with my choice (of the north for university education) largely because of the fear of insecurity. They are always talking about the distance from Lagos and insecurity in the region. But I know that their major source of concern is insecurity,” the young Adekunle said ruefully, revealing that he had no choice other than to yield to his parents’ suggestion.
Like Adekunle, Sadiat Lawal’s dream of leaving the southern part of Nigeria, where she completed her secondary school education, and moving to the north, where her father resides, in the pursuit of higher education was punctuated largely due to the ravaging insecurity in the northern part of the country. Born in Kano, Sadiat said she moved to Lagos with her mother when she was in junior secondary school 2 while her three elder brothers remained in the north with their father.
After two of her brothers had completed their university degrees in the north, her father decided to relocate his immediate elder brother to the south a few years ago for his university education. Sadiat said her father claimed that the deteriorating security situation in the north was responsible for his decision to confine his other children to the south for their tertiary education. “Before then, my parents’ plan was that I would return to Kano for my university degree, but they no longer seem to believe that the place is safe for me to have the sound peace of mind that one needs to study,” she revealed.
Apart from the reluctance shown by Nigerians from other parts of the country to send their children to school in the north, there is an additional major reason why analysts believe that universities in the north continue to be short of suitors despite the ever-increasing number of candidates seeking university admission every year. Not a few analysts are of the opinion that the declining rate of students completing basic and secondary school education, one of the fallouts of the growing phenomenon of out-of-school children in the country, also plays a crucial role in the development. According to statistics by Veriv Africa, a data and intelligence platform, northern Nigeria occupies the unenviable position of housing about 80 per cent of Nigeria’s 10.5-20 million out-of-school children, with the northwest and the northeast leading the pack distressingly.
An educationist, Mr Theophilus Onyekwere, said since most Nigerians consider proximity a major factor while making their decision about the tertiary institutions they want their children to attend, schools that are close to people’s places or states of residence will mostly attract the attention and interest of the people in the state. “But in the northern region, where education has been very epileptic owing to insurgency and banditry, it is crystal clear that input for admission into universities in these states will be grossly affected since insecurity has forced many northerners to withdraw their children and wards from primary and secondary schools in the region, as statistics have shown,” he said.
Onyekwere concluded that the shrinking number of students making it out of secondary school in the north coupled with the fear of insecurity in the region are major reasons for the reduced number of admission seekers in the northern Nigerian universities as indicated by the 2026 Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) rated most preferred university of choice by candidates who sat for the recently concluded UTME.
Shunning seeking university admission in the northern states of the country is not the only way Nigerian youths attempt to stay safe in the face of the ravaging insecurity in the region. A top official of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, said posting of corps members to northern states has been more than challenging in recent years. The official, who craved anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the issue, said thousands of prospective corps members explore a number of avenues to reject their posting to the north.
Although the NYSC scheme allows a window for redeployment, the source revealed that applications for redeployment by most prospective corps members are often motivated largely by fear of insecurity in the region. “Prospective corps members, on a regular basis, seek to avoid being deployed to northern states. The majority of them will often rely on requesting redeployments during the orientation camp period, citing majorly marriage or health reasons.
“The most common official route is to attend the orientation camp in the assigned northern states and then apply for relocation. Reasons often accepted by NYSC include severe health issues, marital status, or security concerns. Some will even attempt to use influence or navigate unofficial channels to change their deployment, though this is heavily discouraged. Married women can request posting to their husband’s state of residence, and those with severe, documented health challenges can request medical redeployment. But the major underlying motive behind most of these applications for redeployments often borders on security concerns,” the source stated.
