Wednesday, August 26, 2026 - Former President Goodluck Jonathan has expressed dismay over the poor global ranking of African universities, describing the trend as a major obstacle to the continent’s technological and industrial advancement.
Jonathan expressed the concern while delivering a lecture
titled “Harnessing Industrial Capacity for Inclusive Growth and Regional
Stability in Africa” to participants of the National Defence College Course 34
in Abuja on Monday, August 24, 2026.
The former Nigerian President pointed out that Africa would
not achieve meaningful technological development and industrialisation without
strengthening its education system and establishing specialised universities
capable of producing the skilled manpower required to drive innovation.
He lamented that no African university was ranked among the
world’s top 100 universities, while only the University of Cape Town featured
among the top 200, describing the situation as “terribly bad.”
“We must review and recalibrate our businesses from the
primary schools to the universities. We don’t have any specialised universities
in Africa. It’s terribly bad,” he said.
He urged African leaders to urgently prioritise investment
in education and human capital development, stressing that the human brain had
become one of the continent’s most important resources.
While citing Singapore as an example, Jonathan said that the
country’s transformation from a resource-poor nation into a globally
competitive economy was largely driven by deliberate investment in education
and capacity building.
He also cited India’s emergence as a global force in
information technology, noting that India’s success was not accidental, rather
the result of deliberate investment in specialised institutions designed to
develop highly skilled manpower.
“India, at independence from the British, set up
institutions that prepared India for the future. They set up specialised
institutions, not for everybody. They are training their best brains to control
and dominate the world,” Jonathan said.
He further said that African countries must move away from an education system focused largely on producing graduates without the specialised skills required by modern economies.
He urged leaders to develop institutions that would nurture innovation, science, technology, engineering and information technology, particularly among young people.
According to him, Africa risked missing out on the current
technological revolution if urgent steps were not taken to develop its human
capital.
“If we miss out from industrial revolution, agri-revolution,
all the revolutions, IT is now ruling the world. We cannot continue to lag
behind. We must focus on young people.”
Jonathan said that the continent’s abundant natural
resources would remain insufficient to guarantee prosperity unless African
countries developed the capacity to convert them into high-value goods and
services.
He noted that Africa had abundant natural resources, human
capital and a large market, but had remained behind other regions in value
addition and industrialisation.
The former President said technological development should
therefore form a central component of Africa’s industrialisation strategy,
stressing that the wealthiest economies were increasingly being driven by
knowledge, innovation and technology rather than natural resources alone.
He urged the graduating participants of the National Defence
College, whom he described as emerging strategic leaders, to champion policies
that would strengthen education, technological capacity and industrial
development in their respective countries.
"We cannot achieve that overnight, but with a
commitment by the leaders, a determination by the citizens, we can still change
the story of Africa,” he added.
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